Appendix to the History 44

1. The cocoon of an unidentified caterpillar.

2. The discarded skin of the same.

# Appendix on Soft-Bodied Creatures, Crustaceans, and Shellfish

On the Varieties of the Sea Hare

The Sea Hare is a soft-bodied animal that Aelian compared to a snail removed from its shell—and not without reason. Pliny himself called this creature a "shapeless lump," or rather a fleshy mass instead of a fish, since neither fins, nor eyes, nor other clearly distinct limbs are visible in this type of animal as they are in other fishes.

Rondelet described three kinds of this animal, the illustrations of which were displayed in his first book on *Soft-Bodied Creatures*. In addition to these three types, another three were depicted by the most learned Ulisse Aldrovandi. The first of these clearly resembles a land hare in its color and its forward parts, but its rear appears as a shapeless lump, in keeping with Pliny’s description. The second kind differs from the previous one in form and color, as it shines with an amethyst hue varied with white spots. The third kind is dominated by an ash-grey color, then spotted with white and amethyst.

Having set these and others forth in the general *History*, we now add two more varieties: in the first, a Sea Hare of a completely amethyst color is presented, and in the second, a Sea Hare of a purple color, as shown in the following illustrations, namely