A polypus with all his feelers
And limbs unhurt; whose wicked tooth
Has not devour'd himself, my friend,
Is ready for our supper.
But all this is a mistake; for the fact is, that he is pursued by the congers, and has his feet hurt in that manner. And it is said that if any one strews salt over his hole, he immediately comes out. It is also affirmed, that when he flies in alarm, he changes his colour, and becomes like the places in which he conceals himself. As also Theognis of Megara says, in his Elegies—
Remark the tricks of that most wary polypus,
Who always seems of the same colour and hue
As is the rock near which he lies.
And Clearchus makes a similar statement in the second book of his treatise on Proverbs, where he quotes the following lines, without saying from whose writings they come—
My son, my excellent Amphilochus,
Copy the shrewd device o' the polypus,
And make yourself as like as possible
To those whose land you chance to visit.
THE POLYPUS.
103. And the same Clearchus says that, in olden time, about Trœzen, it was considered impious to try to catch either the polypus, which was called sacred, or that one which was called the rower. And it was contrary to law to eat either that or the sea-tortoise. But the polypus is a fish very apt to decay, and also very stupid; for it goes towards the hand of the people who are pursuing it: and sometimes even when it is pursued, it does not attempt to get out of the way. Their females waste away after laying their eggs, and get powerless; by reason of which they are easily taken. And sometimes they have been seen leaving the sea, and going on dry land, especially towards any rough or rugged ground; for they shun smooth places: and of all plants they especially delight in the olive, and they are often found embracing the trunk of an olive with their feelers. They have also been discovered clinging to such fig-trees as grow near the sea-shore, and eating the figs, as Clearchus tells us, in his treatise on those Animals which live in the Water. And this also is a proof that they are fond of the olive,—that if any one drops a branch of this tree down into the sea, in a place where there are polypi, and holds it there a little time, he without any trouble draws up as many polypi as he pleases, clinging to the branch. And all their other parts are exceedingly strong, but their neck is weak.
104. It is also said that the male has something corresponding to the parts of generation in one of his arms, in which there are his two large feelers; and that it is a limb full of nerves, sticking to the arm all along as far as the middle. But, in the fifth book of his treatise on the Parts of Animals, Aristotle says—"The polypus propagates his species in the winter, and brings forth in the spring; and it lies in its hole for about two months: and it is a very prolific animal. But the male differs from the female, both in having a longer head, and also in having what the fishermen call its parts of generation in one of its feelers. And when it brings forth, it sits on its eggs, on which account it is worse to eat at that season; and the polypus lays its eggs either in its bed, or in any potsherd, or hollow place or vessel of that sort. And after fifty days, the little polypi come forth out of the egg in immense numbers, like young spiders. But the female polypus sometimes sits upon the eggs, and sometimes clings to the mouth of the bed, holding on with one of its feelers." Theophrastus, in his treatise on those Animals which change their Colour, says that the polypus generally becomes like only to those places which are rocky, doing this both out of fear and for the sake of protecting itself. But, in his book on those Animals which live on dry Land, he says that the polypi are not fond of sea-water. But, in his treatise on those Things which are different according to the Differences of their Situation, Theophrastus says that there are no polypi about the Hellespont; for that sea is cold, and not very salt, and that both these circumstances are unfavourable to the polypus.
105. "But the fish called the nautilus," says Aristotle, "is not a polypus, though it resembles a polypus in its feelers. And the back of the nautilus is covered with a shell; and it rises up out of the bottom of the sea, having its shell upon its back, in order that it may not catch the water. But when it has turned round, then it sails on, putting up two of its feelers, which have a thin membrane growing between them, just as the feet of some birds are which have a membrane of skin between their toes. And their other two feelers they let down into the sea, instead of rudders; but when they see anything coming towards them, then out of fear they draw in those feet, and fill themselves with salt water, and so descend to the bottom as rapidly as possible." But, in his treatise on Animals and Fishes, he says—"Of the polypi there are two sorts; one, that which changes its colour, the other the nautilus."
106. Now, on this nautilus there is an epigram quoted of Callimachus of Cyrene, which runs thus:—