These seem to be wonders; but have had so many confirmations from
men of learning and credit, that you need not doubt them. Nor are the
number, nor the various shapes, of fishes more strange, or more fit for
contemplation, than their different natures, inclinations, and actions;
concerning which, I shall beg your patient ear a little longer.
The Cuttle-fish will cast a long gut out of her throat, which, like as an
Angler doth his line, she sendeth forth, and pulleth in again at her
pleasure, according as she sees some little fish come near to her; and
the Cuttle-fish, being then hid in the gravel, lets the smaller fish nibble
and bite the end of it; at which time she, by little and little, draws the
smaller fish so near to her, that she may leap upon her, and then catches
and devours her: and for this reason some have called this fish the Sea-
angler.
And there is a fish called a Hermit, that at a certain age gets into a dead
fish's shell, and, like a hermit, dwells there alone, studying the wind and
weather and so turns her shell. that she makes it defend her from the
injuries that they would bring upon her.
There is also a fish called by ?lian the Adonis, or Darling of the Sea;
so called, because it is a loving and innocent fish, a fish that hurts
nothing that hath life, and is at peace with all the numerous inhabitants
of that vast watery element; and truly, I think most Anglers are so
disposed to most of mankind.
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