There is a species of Dolphin in the River Nile, with
    a saw-shaped dorsal fin, which destroys Crocodiles by
    slicing up the soft parts of the belly.


                ORCI              MARINI, the Dugongs, are
                known as Suilli or Swine by the vulgar,
        3>~ because they snout up earth under the water
             when they eat, like pigs. Their mouth is be-
        f neath the chin, so that unless they plunge the
             snout into the mud they cannot collect food.
 4)


    untill for verie griefe and sorrow (as it is doubtless to be presumed)
he also was
    found dead upon the shore.'  HOLLAND'S Pliuy.
      This story is by no means so improbable as it sounds. At the Marine
Studios
    in Florida, in 19 52, a porpoise called Flippy has already been taught
to retrieve,
    to ring a bell, to jump through hoops and to tow a surfboard with a lady
standing
    on it.


                                    201

               G LA D I U S the sword-fish is so named
             because he has a sharp-pointed beak which he
             sticks into ships and sinks them.
               S E K R A is called this because he has a
             serrated cock's-comb and, swimming under
             the vessels, he saws them up.
               S C 0 K P I 0 the sea-scorpion gets his title
             because he stings when held in the hand.
             They say that if ten crabs are pounded to-
             gether with  a handful of Basil' all the
               'The scribe writes 'comici' when he means 'ocimi,' a form
of
             transcription which does not help the translator. Basil and
Basilisk
             both derive from the same Greek root, meaning Royal, so the
one
             was presumed to be the antidote or complement to the other.
             Hence its efficacy with scorpions also. It is good, says Turner
             Herba!, 'for the stryking of a se dragon'. Cogan states that
'a
             certaine Italian, by often smelling to Basil, had a scorpion
bred
             in his brasne