tter S reversed. "The inhabitants of Pesquare," says Dr.
Belon, "and of the borders of Lake Gourd are firmly persuaded that the
_Carp_ of those lakes are nourished with pure gold; and a great portion of
the people in the Lyonnois are fully satisfied that the fish called
_humble_ and _ernblons_ eat no other food than gold. There is not a
peasant in the environs of the Lake of Bourgil who will not maintain that
the _Laurets_, a fish sold daily in Lyons, feed on pure gold alone. The
same is the belief of the people of the Lake Paladron in Savoy, and of
those near Lodi. But," adds the Doctor, "having carefully examined the
stomachs of these several fishes, I have found that they lived on other
substances, and that from the anatomy of the stomach it is impossible that
they should be able to digest gold." This fable, therefore, with that of
the _Chameleon_ living on air only, and some others which we shall have
occasion to mention, may be regarded amongst those exploded by science.

The fable of the _Kraken_ has been referred to imperfect and exaggerated
accounts of monstrous _Polypi_ infesting the northern seas; how far may
not the _Cuttle-fish_ have given rise to this fiction? In hot countries
(our readers will remember that in a late paper, _Mirror_, vol. xvii. pp.
282-299, we directed their attention to the similarity of superstitions in
every country of the world, hence infering a common, and most probably
oriental origin for all)--in hot countries cuttle-fish are found of
gigantic dimensions; the Indians affirm that some have been seen two
fathoms broad over their centre; and each arm (for this kind is the
eight-armed cuttle-fish) nine fathoms long!!! Lest these animals should
fling their arms over the Indians' light canoes, and draw them and their
owners into the sea, they fail not to be provided with an axe to chop them
off.

The ancients believed that the oil of the _Grayling_ obliterated freckles
and small-pox marks. The adhesive qualities of the _Remora_, or
_Sucking-fish_, and its habit of darting against and fixing itself to the
side of a vessel, caused the ancients to believe that the possessors of it
had the power of arresting the progress of a ship in full sail.

Some Catholics, in consequence of the _John Doree_ having a dark spot,
like a finger-mark, on each side of the head, believe this to have been
the fish, and not the _Haddock_, from which the Apostle Peter took the
tribute-money, by order of our Savio