Salmo is a fysshe engendred in the swete water, & he waxeth longe & gret / & also he is heuy / & his colour nor sauour is nat gode tyll he haue ben in the salt water & proued it / thus draweth the samon to the water agaynst the streme; he neuer seaseth tyll he haue ben in the se and returned agayn to his olde home, as Phisiologua saith / fisshe] ? fleshe. his fisshe is rede, & he may nat liue in a swet standinge water / he must be in a fresshe riuer that he may playe up and doune at his plesure.
[ Salpa] is a fowle fisshe and lytell set by / for it will neuer be ynough for no maner of dressinge tyll it haue ben beten with grete hamers & staues.
[ Cap. lxxij.]
SErra is a fysshe with great tethe, and on his backe he hathe sharpe fynnes lyke the combe of a cocke / and iagged lyke a sawe wherewith Cuts through ships with his fins. thys monstrous fisshe cutteth a ship thorough, & whan he seeth a shippe commynge, than he setteth vp his finnes & thinketh to sayl with the shippe as fast as it / but whan he seeth that he can nat continue / than he latteth his finnes fall agayn & destroieth the shippe with the people, and than eteth the dede bodyes. Scylla. Nota. Scilla is a monster in the see betwene Italye & Sicill / it is great ennemye vnto man. It is faced & handed lyke a gentylwoman / but it hath a wyde mouthe & ferfull tethe / & it is belied like a beste, & tayled lyke a dolphin / it hereth gladly singinge. It is in the water so stronge that it can nat be ouercome / but on the lond it is but weke.
[ Cap. lxxxiij.]
Syrene, the mermayde is a dedely beste that bringeth a man gladly to dethe / frome the nauyll vp she is lyke a woman
with a dredfull face / a long slymye here, a grete body, Siren is like an eagle below, & is lyke the egle in the nether parte / hauinge fete and talentis to tear asonder suche as she geteth / her tayl is sealed like a fisshe / sings sweet songs to mariners, and she singeth a maner of swete song, and therwith deceyueth many a gode mariner / for whan they here it, they fall on slepe commonly / & than she commeth, and draweth them out of the shippe, and tears them to pieces. and tereth them asonder / they bere their yonges in their armes, & geue them souke of their papis whiche be very grete, hanginge at their brestis / but the wyse maryners stoppe their eares whan they se her / for whan she playth on the water, all they be in fear, & than they cast out an empty tonne to let her play with it tyll they be past her / this is specifyed of them that haue sene it. Sirens, serpents. Ther be also in some places of arabye, serpntis named sirenes, that ronne faster than an horse, & haue wynges to flye.
[ [Cap. lxxxv.]
SOlaris is a fishe so named because it is gladly be the londes syde in the sonne / he hathe a great hede, a wyde mouth, & a blake skine, & slipper as an ele / it waxeth gret, & is gode to be eten. Sole. Solea is the sole, that is a swete fisshe and holsom for seke people.