Note 526 — Chapter XV · FISH IN SACRIFICES—PICKLED FISH—VIVARIA OF OYSTERS, ETC.—ARCHIMEDES

In Pitra, op. cit., pp. 508-512, will be found a list of 156 coins, gems, etc., illustrating the connection of various fishes with deities and places. For the coins of Carteia, see A. Heiss, Description générale des monnaies antiques de l’Espagne, Paris, 1870, p. 331 f., pl. 49, 19-21 (= my Fig. supra). The salsamentum of this town was in special request; its boasted excellence might be perhaps accounted for by Strabo’s statement that the diet of the Tunnies off Carteia consisted of acorns which grew in that sea, just as land acorns with an occasional truffle achieve, according to gourmets, for the Spanish pig the primacy of hams. Alas! for such conjecture, science shows that the Tunny throve on Fucus vesiculosus, not acorns. Cf. Keller, op. cit. 383.