Arcadia produces a wonder in its fish called exocœtus,2440 from the fact that it comes ashore to sleep. In the neighbourhood of the river Clitorius,2441 this fish is said to be gifted with powers of speech, and to have no gills;2442 by some writers it is called the adonis.
About This Book
The volume assembles an encyclopedic survey of the known world and its living inhabitants, moving from detailed regional geography and descriptions of seas, rivers, islands, and peoples to extended treatments of humanity, its generation, anatomy, and the origins and inventions of arts. Subsequent books catalog terrestrial animals—their habits, capture, and uses—followed by comprehensive observations on fish and marine creatures, their sizes and behaviors. Accounts mix naturalistic description, reported marvels, medicinal uses derived from animals, and travel and secondhand reports, organized as topical chapters intended as a practical compendium of natural and human phenomena.