It is a sort of
perpetual coincidence, like the fact that wherever snails are
present you may be sure there is neither pig nor partridge in the
neighbourhood; for both pig and partridge eat up the snails.
The sea-serpent resembles the conger in colour and shape, but is
of lesser bulk and more rapid in its movements. If it be caught and
thrown away, it will bore a hole with its snout and burrow rapidly
in the sand; its snout, by the way, is sharper than that of ordinary
serpents. The so-called sea-scolopendra, after swallowing the hook,
turns itself inside out until it ejects it, and then it again turns
itself outside in. The sea-scolopendra, like the land-scolopendra,
will come to a savoury bait; the creature does not bite with its
teeth, but stings by contact with its entire body, like the
so-called sea-nettle. The so-called fox-shark, when it finds it has
swallowed the hook, tries to get rid of it as the scolopendra does,
but not in the same way; in other words, it runs up the
fishing-line, and bites it off short; it is caught in some districts
in deep and rapid waters, with night-lines.
The bonitos swarm together when they espy a dangerous
creature, and the largest of them swim round it, and if it touches one
of the shoal they try to repel it; they have strong teeth.
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