The carp is subject to the same eventualities but in a
lesser degree. The sheatfish is destroyed in great quantities in
shallow waters by the serpent called the dragon. In the balerus and
tilon a worm is engendered about the rising of the Dog-star, that
sickens these fish and causes them to rise towards the surface,
where they are killed by the excessive heat. The chalcis is subject to
a very violent malady; lice are engendered underneath their gills in
great numbers, and cause destruction among them; but no other
species of fish is subject to any such malady.
If mullein be introduced into water it will kill fish in its
vicinity. It is used extensively for catching fish in rivers and
ponds; by the Phoenicians it is made use of also in the sea.
There are two other methods employed for catch-fish. It is a
known fact that in winter fishes emerge from the deep parts of
rivers and, by the way, at all seasons fresh water is tolerably
cold. A trench accordingly is dug leading into a river, and wattled at
the river end with reeds and stones, an aperture being left in the
wattling through which the river water flows into the trench; when the
frost comes on the fish can be taken out of the trench in weels.
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