82 Supplement to the History

# ON THE COPSUS, THE BARBOTA, AND THE BOTATRIFSA

Authors give the name *Ichthyocolla* to a certain fish, as if it were overflowing with glue, just as they refer to a similar fish in the Black Sea as the *Collanus*. The Italians call it the *Colpisce*, and the common people name it the *Colabucco*, as Pierre Belon testifies. Belon was accustomed to saying that a similar fish was called the *Copsus* by the inhabitants of Bologna; however, for us and the people of Ferrara, the *Copsus* is the Rhodean dogfish of the ancients, as was explained in our *History*. It now remains for us to present to the reader a fish sent from Spain under this name, so that he may consider a figure more suited to this designation.

The French commonly call a certain fish the *Barbota*, not because of its beard (*barba*), as Belon asserts, but because they say *barborare* means to stir up muck and mud with the snout, much like geese do. Nevertheless, this does not prevent the *Barbota* from being distinguished by a straight, short whisker on its lower jaw, resembling a beard. For the present, we provide another *barbot* adorned with many whiskers, which many claim is the *glanis* described by Pliny.

The people of Lombardy call a certain species of fish the *Botatrifsa*, which is otherwise known as the lake weasel. According to Cardano, the Milanese simply call it the *Botta* because it resembles a leather wineskin, which in the Milanese dialect is called a *botta*. However, it would be more appropriate to call it *Botta* due to the resemblance of this fish's head to toads (*bufones*), which are also called *botti*; indeed, this fish mimics frogs not only in the shape of its head but also in its wide-gaping mouth. We provide here another illustration that was not included in our *History of Fishes*, which may be called the *Botatrifsa*, or a relative of Belon’s marsh weasel.

Copsus