ON MARVELLOUS THINGS HEARD

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12 Aristotle
go out to the threshing-floors and feed, and walk upon their fins, and move the tail
to and fro, and when they are pursued they flee, enter into their holes, and stand
facing their pursuer; for people often approach and tease them. Their head is like
that of the sea-frog, while the rest of the body resembles that of the gudgeon, and
they have gills like other fishes.
§ 73 · At Heraclea in Pontus, and in Rhegium, they say there are fish obtained
by digging, especially in places near rivers, and such as are well watered; and
that it sometimes happens that when these places dry up at certain seasons, the
fish shrink under the earth, and then when this dries up still more, they, in search
of humidity, enter into the mud; then when this becomes dry, they remain in the
moisture, like animals which continue in their holes; but, when they are dug up
before the waters come on, they then move.
§ 74 · They say also that in Paphlagonia the fish obtained by digging are met
with deep in the ground, and that these are of an excellent quality, though neither
is water to be seen close at hand, nor do rivers flow into the place; the earth
engenders them of itself.
§ 75 · Men say that the stags in Epirus bury their right horn, when they have
shed it, and that this is useful for many purposes.
§ 76 · They say that the lynx too covers up its urine, because of its being useful
for signet-rings as well as for other things.
§ 77 · They also state that the seal, when taken, vomits out rennet, and that this
is medicinal and serviceable to those who suffer from epilepsy.
§ 78 · It is said that on the Circaean mountain in Italy there grows a deadly
poison, which is so potent that, if it be sprinkled on any one, it straightway causes
him to fall, and the hairs of his body to drop off, and generally the limbs of his
body to waste away, so that the surface of the body of those who are dying is a
pitiable sight. They say too that Aulus the Peucestian and Gaius were detected
when about to administer this poison to Cleonymus the Spartan, and that having
been examined they were put to death by the Tarentines.
§ 79 · In the island of Diomedeia, which lies in the Adriatic, they say there is a
temple of Diomedes, wonderful and holy, and round the temple there sit in a circle
birds of a large size, having great hard beaks. These birds, they state, if Greeks