[2621] Isidorus of Charax, as quoted by Athenæus, B. iii.; and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. x. c. 20, make similar statements. Rondelet, in his treatise on Testaceous Fishes, B. i., complains of Pliny using the word “videt,” “sees,” in the present passage; but, as Hardouin says, he only uses it in a free sense, meaning, “is aware of the approach of,” or “has a perception of.”
[2622] Isidorus of Charax, in Athenæus, B. iii., tells a similar story; but modifies it by saying that the fish sometimes cuts off the fingers of the divers, and not the hands.
[2623] “Canes marini.” He calls by this name the same animal that a little further on he describes by the name of “canicula,” “dog-fish;” alluding, probably, under that name to various species of the shark. Procopius, in his book, De Bell. Pers. B. i. c. 4, has a wonderful story in relation to this subject. He says, that the sea-dogs are wonderful admirers of the pearl-fish, and follow them out to sea; that when the sea-dogs are pressed by hunger, they go in quest of prey, and then return to the shell-fish and gaze upon it. A certain fisherman, having watched for the moment when the shell-fish was deprived of the protection of its attendant sea-dog, which was seeking its prey, seized the shell-fish, and made for the shore. The sea-dog, however, was soon aware of the theft, and making straight for the fisherman, seized him. Finding himself thus caught, he made a last effort, and threw the pearl-fish on shore, immediately on which he was torn to pieces by its protector.
[2624] Such, for instance, as Megasthenes, quoted by Arrian in his Indica, and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xv. c. 8.
[2625] Hardouin suggests that a preferable reading to “vetuslate,” would be “venustate,” by its beauty; and indeed, Ælian, in the corresponding passage, Hist. Anim. B. xv. c. 8, says, that the chief is remarkable “for its size, and the extreme beauty of its colours.”
[2626] “Nucleos.” The Greek authors occasionally call them “stones” and “bones.” Tertullian calls them “maladies of shell-fish and warts”—“concharum vitia et verrucas.”
[2627] Cuvier says, that the most efficient mode of extracting all the concretions that may happen to be concealed in the body of the animal, is to leave the flesh to dissolve in water, upon which the concretions naturally fall to the bottom.
[2628] Isidorus and Solinus, however, say that the pearl is so called, because two are never found together. The derivation given by Pliny is, however, the more probable one. From the Latin “unio,” comes our word “onion;” which, like the pearl, consists of numerous coats, one laid upon the other.
[2629] Hence we must conclude that the word “margarita” is not of Greek, but Eastern origin.
[2630] Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xv. c. 8, says, that the Indian pearls, and those which come from the Red Sea, are the best.