CHAP. XXX. Of the Lampron.
THe Lampron, called in Latine Muraena, is a sea-fish something in shape,* 1.1 resembling a Lamprey, but she is bigger and thicker, and hath a larger mouth, with teeth long, sharp and bending inwards, she is of a dusky colour, distinguished with whitish spots, and some two cubits length: the Antients had them in great esteem, because they yield good nourishment and may be kept long alive, in pools or ponds, and so taken as the owners please, to serve their ta∣ble, as it is sufficiently known by the history of the Roman Crassus. She by her biting induceth the same symptoms as the viper, and it may be helped by the same means.* 1.2 Verily the Lampron hath such familiarity with the Viper, that leaving her natural element the sea, she leapeth ashoar, and seeketh out the Viper in her den to join with her in copulation, as it is written by Aelian and Nicander.