Not so the Romans.  LIVY mentions it as one of the prodigies which were to be “expiated” on the approach of a rupture with Macedon, that “in Gallico agro qua induceretur aratrum sub glebis pisces emersisse,"[1] thus taking it out of the category of natural occurrences.  POMPONIUS MELA, obliged to notice the matter in his account of Narbon Gaul, accompanies it with the intimation that although asserted by both Greek and Roman authorities, the story was either a delusion or a fraud, JUVENAL has a sneer for the rustic—­

          “miranti sub aratro
   Piscibus inventis.”—­Sat. xiii. 63.

[Footnote 1:  Lib. xlii. ch. 2.]

And SENECA, whilst he quotes Theophrastus, adds ironically, that now we must go to fish with a hatchet instead of a hook; “non cum hamis, sed cum dolabra ire piscatum.”  PLINY, who devotes the 35th chapter of his 9th book to this subject, uses the narrative of Theophrastus, but with obvious caution, and universally the Latin writers treated the story as a fable.

In later times the subject received more enlightened attention, and Beekman, who in 1736 published his commentary on the collection [Greek:  Peri Thaumasion akousmaton], ascribed to Aristotle, has given a list of the authorities about his own times,—­GEORGIUS AGRICOLA, GESNER, RONDELET, DALECHAMP, BOMARE, and GRONOVIUS, who not only gave credence to the assertions of Theophrastus, but adduced modern instances in corroboration of his Indian authorities.

As regards the fresh-water fishes of India and Ceylon, the fact is now established that certain of them possess the power of leaving the rivers and returning to them again after long migrations on dry land, and modern observation has fully confirmed their statements.  They leave the pools and nullahs in the dry season, and led by an instinct as yet unexplained, shape their course through the grass towards the nearest pool of water.  A similar phenomenon is observable in countries similarly circumstanced.  The Doras of Guiana[1] have been seen travelling over land during the dry season in search of their natural element[2], in such droves that the negroes fill baskets with them during these terrestrial excursions.  PALLEGOIX in his account of Siam, enumerates three species of fishes which leave the tanks and channels and traverse the damp grass[3]; and SIR JOHN BOWRING, in his account of his embassy to the Siamese kings in 1855, states, that in ascending and descending the river Meinam to Bankok, he was amused with the novel sight of fish leaving the river, gliding over the wet banks, and losing themselves amongst the trees of the jungle.[4]

[Footnote 1:  D.  Hancockii, CUV. et VAL.]

[Footnote 2:  Sir R. Schomburgk’s Fishes of Guiana, vol. i. pp. 113, 151, 160.  Another migratory fish was found by Bose very numerous in the fresh waters of Carolina and in ponds liable to become dry in summer.  When captured and placed on the ground, “they always, directed themselves towards the nearest water, which they could not possibly see, and which they must have discovered by some internal index.  They belong to the genus Hydrargyra and are called Swampines.—­KIRBY, Bridgewater Treatise, vol. i. p. 143.