affords a much greater plenty, and at least as great a variety,
as the land. Of these the elephant fish, or _pejegallo_, mentioned in
Frezier's voyage,[136] are the most numerous; and though inferior to
many other fish, were very palatable food. Several large rays, nurses,
and small leather-jackets, were caught; with some small white bream,
which were firmer and better than those caught in the lake. We likewise
got a few soles and flounders; two sorts of gurnards, one of them a new
_species_; some small spotted mullet; and, very unexpectedly, the small
fish with a silver band on its side, called _atherina hipsetus_ by
Hasseiquist."[137]

[Footnote 136: Tom. ii. p. 211. 12mo. Planche XVII.]

[Footnote 137: _Iter Palastinum_.]

"But that next in number, and superior in goodness, to the elephant
fish, was a sort none of us recollected to have seen before. It partakes
of the nature both of a round and of a flat fish, having the eyes placed
very near each other; the fore-part of the body much flattened or
depressed, and the rest rounded. It is of a brownish sandy colour, with
rusty spots on the upper part, and whitish below. From the quantity of
slime it was always covered with, it seems to live after the manner of
flat fish, at the bottom."

"Upon the rocks are plenty of muscles, and some other small shell-fish.
There are also great numbers of sea-stars; some small limpets; and large
quantities of sponge; one sort of which, that is thrown on shore by the
sea, but not very common, has a most delicate texture; and another, is
the _spongia dichotoma_."

"Many pretty _Medusa's heads_ were found upon the beach; and the
stinking _laplysia_ or sea-hare, which, as mentioned by some authors,
has the property of taking off the hair by the acrimony of its juice;
but this sort was deficient in this respect."

"Insects, though not numerous, are here in considerable variety. Amongst
them are grasshoppers, butterflies, and several sorts of small moths,
finely variegated. There are two sorts of dragon-flies, gad-flies,
camel-flies; several sorts of spiders; and some scorpions; but the last
are rather rare. The most troublesome, though not very numerous tribe of
insects, are the musquitoes; and a large black ant, the pain of whose
bite is almost intolerable, during the short time it lasts. The
musquitoes, also, make up the deficiency of their number, by the
severity of their venomous _proboscis_."

"The inhabitants whom we met with