FISH. from its being a fish which does not go about by itself, but in shoals ([Greek: hama]). And the [Greek: skaros] is so called from [Greek: skairô] (to leap); as also is the [Greek: karis]. And the [Greek: aphyê] is so named as being [Greek: aphyês], which is equivalent to [Greek: dysphyês], that is to say, slowly propagated. Then [Greek: thynnos] has its name from [Greek: thyô] (to rush), because it is an impetuous fish, from being driven about by its fly in the head at the time of the rising of the Dog-*star. But it is a fish with serrated teeth, gregarious, and spotted all over, and also carnivorous: and when it has had young three times it becomes barren; for some little worms are engendered in its womb, which devour the young as soon as they are conceived. And from the actual facts, Epicharmus calls them hump-backed, in his Hebe's Wedding, where he says—
He brought the hump-back'd mullet too,
And the ungrateful bæones.
But Sophron, in his Male Farces, speaks of a fish which he calls [Greek: trigolê], saying,
The trigola which cuts the navel string.
And in another place he says—
The trigola which loves calm weather.
And in his play called Pædica he says—
. . . trigola . . . .
But, in his Affairs of Women, he says—
The bearded mullet ([Greek: triglê]).
But Diocles, in his books addressed to Plistarchus, says that the mullet is a fish of hard flesh; and Speusippus says that the sea-cuckoo, the sea-swallow, and the mullet are all alike; on which account Tryphon says, in his treatise on Animals, that some people think that the trigola is the sea-cuckoo, from its likeness to it, and from the dryness of its hind-*quarters; which Sophron indicates, when he says-
The fat mullets and the hinder parts of the trigola.
126. But Plato, in his Phaon, says—
The mullet is not wholesome for the nerves,
For it is sacred to the chaste Diana,
And all excitement hates.
But the mullet is attributed to Hecate as her fish, on account of the common derivation of their names; for Hecate is called [Greek: trioditis], as presiding over places where three roads meet, and [Greek: triglênos], as having three eyes; and also they provide her a banquet on the thirtieth day of each month ([Greek: tais triakasi]).
