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‘Dive
BRITISH ZOOLOGY

Far

fo oonian Instis ;
Leis Ya
os 16 3 2,
S18 a
COLLECTION.
National mies pee mt

CLASS ‘TIL. REPTILES

Iv. FISHES

LO ND ON.
PRINTED for J Walker, Wilkie and Robinson , I Nunn, White , Cochrane & C? Longman, Hurst.
J Masagtion, and J.Johnson & C?

Rees, Orme and Brown, J.%& A-Arch,.R Baldwin, Cadell & Davies, _ I Harding. EAE La
1822.

hg wan AS

IOV

5

e441TI4S _

[HTOOS cL : awa

4

BORE a EA
s 4

BRITISH ZOOLOGY,

BY

THOMAS PENNANT, Ese.
A NEW EDITION.
IN FOUR VOLUMES.

VOL. IIL.

Crass LL, REPTILES.

IV. FISHES.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR WILKIE AND ROBINSON; J. NUNN; WHITE
AND COCHRANE; LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND

" BROWN; CADELL AND DAVIES; J. HARDING; J.BOOTH;
J. RICHARDSON; J. -MAWMAN; J, AND A. ARCH;
R. BALDWIN; AND J. JOHNSON AND CO.

1812.

ORs Oe

gt ; wit pit Rit
Wiaw cau .. ynosmon 6 A ME

ORK aMiO 7.04 CH AH ‘Ou
{RPROOK.: ,OKtASAN t See GS

OD ANA BOPMROE Vt,

poi

Mk (8 9 MARCHE! 1 gg

5

SOvy es

LIST OF PLATES.

VOL. IIT.

Frontispiece. Roach.

Plate I. Coriaceous TorToIsE
If. Natter Jack Toad
III. Sealy Lizarp =
Brown L. -
IV. Warty L. ”
V. Viper SERPENT
Ringed §. -
Fragile 8. -
V1. Glass Beads =

- Explanation of Terms

side)

VIII. Blunt headed Cacuator -
IX, Teeth of Cetaceous fish =
X. Sea Lamprey- -
Lesser L. =
Pade i...) y= -
~ XI. Sharp nosed Rar
XII. Electric R. =
XIII. Thornback R. (upper
XIV (under side)
XY. Angel Sark
XVI. Basking S. -
XVII. LongtailedS. -
XVIII. Tope S. Pay eae
AIX. Spotted S. 4

Lesser spotted S.

. Beaumaris S. =

102
106
107
113

18
122

2b.
i30
134
145
146

148
150
154

VI

Plate hve

XXI. Common AneteR = -

XXII. Common Sturceon _

Oblong TetRopon-
[Shore ie haere

XXIII. Globe T. Pie eee

XXIV. Lump Sucker -

XXVI.
XXVII.
XXVIII.

XXIX.
XXX.

XXXiI.

XXXII.

XXXIII.
XXXIV.

XXXV.
XXXVI.

XXXVILI.
XXXVIII.

MRRIX:

UunctuousS. - -

. Jura S. Seria Mn sae

Bimaculated S. ~
Longer Prez Fisu -
Shorter P. 4 =
Little P. - -
Common WotLF FISH
Sand LaunceE - -
Anglesey Morris -
Beardless OPHtDIUM
Sicilian SwORD FISH
Gemmeous DraconeT
Sordid D. 2 A
Common WEEVER ~
Greater W. = =
Bib Cop FisH -~—s=
Power or Poor C. =
Coal C. - or wie
Forked Hake C. =
Three bearded C. -
Five bearded C. =
Torsk C. = =
Trifurcated TADPOLE FISH
Crested BLENNY -

- Gattorugin B. = =

Spotted 5. : .

. ViviparousB. - = —
.SmoothB. -~ -

_ Spotted Gopy -— -

. Black G. ee eS

Plate Plate
XLII. River BUbLHEAD Een piv cn 291
it Amoed B.)%) ( MV Ee 2 gs
XLIV. Father LasherB. “= 5 = = 894
ex. Common Dorkze “" .-" = 2 = jo 7 296
Peay Opah DS) | ss 20s oe mee
ee Qunulatéd Gruraeap A aay
XLVII. Smear dab FuounpeR = = - =. ~~ 309
SUEY UM Redibuck Be (7) 0 ae sa
Paves Kurbot Bs) ae ee et lS
_ L.’ Pearl F. RU UN nee Uy a Ce ial a Oe
-_. LI. Topknot F. CU Ae ree un tga
_ LIL. Whift F. Seen ome ae! ise
BEE Seald fish. abt es Ue Se gas
RIV Rayan GIrTaEaD|) \-( 0 eS 83g.
LV. Ballan Wrasse ae a Sdiete hed EE G2 ae
LVI. Trimaculated W. - = - =. 386
: Gibbous W. UND Mie eT Ge ET
LVII. Striped W ESI Sahil wine Ut rea sede EY,
LVIII. Goldsinny W. inci aN MAE Te Le)
Beery Comber We its = ui oe ey eae
— Antient W. 2 Ceci suis diel RUNES eee
LIX. Common Percu (Var.) pais vas Cecio _ 847,
pre | Sea. P. Di eee Naa hal hall MA
___LX. Basse P. ERE TP le Aas oder
__LXI. Three spined STICKLEBACK ,), >, - 353
wot Ten spined 5. pel ane ‘ spy ebay
ee Witcewspined S70 ne sae
_LXII. Common MackreL d. ep bs yyy x,

LXIII.
LXIV.
_LXV.
LXVI.
LXVII.
LXVIII.

Let Rid OTe

ea ag Neh ela, cope BOS

Tunny M. 3 i: 1 ae goannas BOO i
Striped SuRMuLLET = == 368
Grey GuRNARD ee Ness - 871
eel Gt) inves arin i eh ok ea7e
Streaked G. SEs APN Base
Piper G. Pop maa he Ni ai, 3) O78

SapphirineG. - - -.. ~ =, 376

Vil

Plate

LXIX.
~ LXX.

LXXI.
LXXII.

EXxiil.
LXXIV.

LXXV.
LXXVI.

LXXVI.
LXXVIHIlI.
LXXIX.
LXXX.
LXXXtI.

LXXXHET.
LXXXIUI.

LXXXIV.

LIST OF PLATES.

Bearded Locue =

Common SALMON -
River Trout SS. - -

Samlet S. = =
Charr S. : 3
Grayling S. = =
SmektS. ~ = =
Gwiniad S. 2 si
Common Pixze - =
Gar P. = =
Saury P. ae ie

Sheppey ARGENTINE
European ATHERINE
Grey Mullet epg ee
Parr (Samlet) ~ =
Winged FLyiINné FISH
Anchovy Herrine = -

Common H. - =
Pilcherd H. = a
Shad H. :: ss
White Bait H. =
Carp CyPRINE -
Bream C. <
Barbel C. = =
Rud C. = : =
Gibele C. - =
Chub CC. - = 2
Bleak C- - =

CLASS Il.

REPTILES.

All the works of the Lorp are good, and he will give every
needful thing in due season.
So that a man cannot say, This is worse than that; for in time
they shall all be well approved.
EccLesIAsTICus xxxIx. 33, 34.

VOL. III. B

Ei ot
Ss ge
wm,

sist Al adh: Yall teads oatbor shail > tne MarR,
<p boy Coe be ei ~ .

2U DEFSE LEAS

Nanay

‘

RE? TILES.

WE are now to consider the class of Rep-
tiles, which are, for the most part, objects of
detestation; but however the opinion of the
world may be, if a writer undertakes a general
history of animals, he must include them: they
form at lest one link in the chain of beings, and
may therefore be viewed with a degree of plea-
sure by a philosophic eye.

Notwithstanding the prejudice against this
class is almost universal, is it founded on rea-
son? In some it may be owned that the out-
ward form is disagreeable, while the noxious
qualities of others are justly productive of ter-
ror: but are we on that account to reject them?
The more fatal they are, the more deeply we
should inquire into their effects, that we may
be capable of relieving those who are sufferers,
and secure others from the same misfortune.

BQ

REPTILES. Cuass III.

But if we duly weigh their noxious qualities,
we shall, with our moral poet, find

«* All partial evil universal good.”

The teeth of wild beasts, and of serpents, are
not only created as instruments of vengeance,
but are salutary in lessening the numbers of —
those animals which are highly useful in the
degree, and only hurtful in their excess; still
if their bad qualities are serviceable, we are
more indebted to their good ones than we
chuse to acknowledge. Many also of the ani-
mals that form the class of Reptiles are of im-
mediate benefit to mankind. The Turtle, or
Sea-Tortoise, supplies the torrid zone with a
wholesome and delicious food, as the epicures of
our own country can attest. Frogs are a food
in several parts, as Lizards and Serpents are in
others. The medicinal virtues of the Viper are
partly exploded by the moderns, but time, the
overthrower of systems, as well as empires, may
restore it to the rank it held with the antients.
The Lacerta Scincus is, however, yet esteemed
in the East for its salubrious qualities, and even
Toads have contributed to the ease of patients
in the most inveterate of all diseases.

Had I followed Linneus, and included the
Cartilaginous Fishes in this class, there would

Crass III. REPTILES.

have been ample room for panegyric, for it is
very doubtful whether any are pernicious ; the
uses of many, either as food or for mechanical
purposes, were never questioned.

But if the external figure of the reptile tribe
is disgusting, they have one general beauty, an
apt configuration of parts for their way of life,
nor are they destitute of their peculiar graces :
the fine disposition of plates in the shell of the
Tortoise, with the elegant symmetry of the
colors, must strike even common observers,
while the eye of the despised Toad has a lustre
denied to more pleasing forms. The frolicsome
agility of Lizards enlivens the dried banks in
hot climates; and the great affection, which
some of them shew to mankind, should farther
engage our regard and attention. ‘The wreath-
ing of the snake, with the vivid dye of its skin,
is certainly graceful, though, from the dread of
some particular species which are venemous, we _
have acquired an antipathy for the whole. The
antients, who considered the Serpent as an em-
blem of health, could associate pleasing ideas
with this animal. We therefore find it an orna-
ment at every entertainment, and in every scene
of mirth, both in painting and in sculpture.
Virgil adopted this notion, and has accordingly

REPTILES. Cuass III.

described it with every beauty both of form
and color :

Adytis cum lubricus anguis ab imis
Septem ingens gyros, septena volumina, traxit ;
Amplexus placidé tumulum, lapsusque per aras :
Cerulee cut terga note, maculosus et auro _
Squamam incendebat fulgor ; ceu nulibus arcus
Mille trahit varios adverso sole colores.

fin. Lib. V. 84.

From the deep tomb, with many a shining fold,
An azure serpent rose, in scales that fam’d with gold:
Like heaven’s bright bow his varying beautiesshone,
That draws a thousand colors from the sun:
Pleas’d round the altars and the tomb to wind,
His glittering length of volumes trails behind.

Pirt.

But if after all some lively writer should pur-
sue the Naturalist. with more wit than argu-
ment, and more humor than good nature, it
should be endured with patience. Ridicule is,
however, not the test of truth, though, when
joined to satire, it seldom fails of seducing the
many who would rather laugh than think.
Should this prove the case in the present in-
stance, let the author be allowed to skreen him-
self from censure, by saying he writes not to the
many, but the few; to those alone who can ex-
amine the parts with a view to the whole, and
who scorn to despise even the most deformed, or
the most minute work of an all-wise CrEaTor. -

CLASS III.

REPTILES.

eee
aS

GENERA. |

I. TORTOISE.
II. FROG.
Mil. LIZARD.
IV. SERPENT.

Rie ff
aba aN we

ie

Pi t-

anti

CORIACEOUS TORTOISE.

a

VOL.IN-P.Q,

the ¥

CLASS III.

REPTILES.

el

| ial GENUS I. TORTOISE.

> fosiatte.

‘Bopy, covered either with a shell or strong hide,

divided by sutures.
Fret, four fin-like.
Tatt, short.

Testudo coriacea sive Mercu-
ri. Rondel. 4502 Gesner
pisc. 946? (

Testudo coriacea. T. pedibus
pinniformibus muticis, testa

. Coriacea, cauda angulis sep-—
fem exaratis. Lin. syst. 350.

Testudo testa coriacea, perlon-

gitudinem striata. Gm. Lin. —

1036.

des Ovip. iii. tab. 3.*
Shaw Gen. Zool. iii. 76.
Tuberculated Tortoise. Pen-
nant in Ph. Tr. 1771. 272.
tab. 10. f. 4. (Young.)
Turtle. Borlase Cornwall,
285. Plate 27.

Tus species is common to the Mediterra-
nean, and our southern seas, and is not, as far

as we know, discovered in any other.

Two of a vast size were taken on the coast
of Cornwall, in the mackrel nets, a little after

“Le Luth. De Ja Cepede. Hist. 1. CORIACE-

OUS.

10

DEscriP-
TION.

CORIACEOUS TORTOISE. Ctass Hf.

Midsummer, 1756: the largest weighed eight
hundred pounds, the lesser nearly seven hun-
dred. A third, of equal weight with the
first, was caught on the coast of Dorset-
shire, and deposited in the Leverian Museum.
The late* bishop of Carlisle informed me, that
a Tortoise was taken off the coast of Scarbo-
rough, in 1748, or 1749. It was purchased by
a family then resident there, and several per-
sons were invited to partake of it, A gentle-
man, who was one of the guests, told them it
was a Mediterranean turtle, and not whole-
some; only one of the company eat of it, who
suffered severely, being seized with dreadful
vomiting and purging,

The length of the body is four feet ten inches ;
of the head nine inches and a half; of the neck
three ; or of the whole five feet eleven inches.
The upper jaw bifurcated at the end; the ex-
tremity of the lower sharp, clasping into the
fork of the upper ; the nostrils small and round.
The breadth of the body in the largest part is
three feet. The length of the fore fins two feet
seven; of the hind thirteen inches and a half;
they are smooth, grow pointed to the extremity,

and are destitute of toes. These fins are stuffed;

* The right reverend Charles Egerton. Ep.

Crass III. CORIACEOUS TORTOISE.

perhaps the bones might have been taken out,
for in the figure given by Rondeletius, which
agrees in all other respects with this species,
there is an appearance of toes, and even nails.
The body is covered with a strong hide, exactly
resembling black leather, destitute of scales,
but marked with the appearance of them. The
back is divided into five longitudinal flutings or
grooves, with as many sharp but smooth risings.

This species is said to be extremely fat; but
the flesh coarse and bad, according to the report
made by writers* who had an opportunity of
tasting them in the Mediterranean sea. I am
informed that the Carthusians will eat no other
than this species. f

* Rondeletius. Bossuet. i

+ The inconvenience felt by the person who eats it, as mens
tioned in the preceding page, must therefore have been accidental.
The French have given this species the name of Le Luth, from
the supposition that its shell was particularly used by the antients
in the construction of the lyre or harp, which was composed by

attaching the strings or wires to the circumference of the shell.
HWE.

11

12

COMMON FROG. Crass IIL.

GENUS II. FROG.

Bopy, naked.

Lees, four.

FEET, divided into toes.
TaIL, none.

1.ComMon. Bareangos. Arist. Hist. an. Wasser Frosche. Meyer an, I.

Lib. iv. c. 9. Tab. 52.
La Grenoille. Belon poissons, Rana temporaria. R. dorso
4g. planiusculo — subangulato.
Rana fluviorum. Rondel. 217. Lin. syst. 357. Gm. Lin:
Rana aquatica innoxia. Gesner 1053.

quad. ovip. 46. Aquatil.805. | Groda, Fro, Klassa. Faun.

Rana aquatica. Rai Syn. quad. Suec. No. 102.
447, Rana. Gronov. Zooph. No. 62.

Rana fusca terrestris. Resel. La Rousse. De la Cepede.
Hist. ran. i. t. 1—8. Hist. des Ovip. 1. 528.

SO common and well-known an animal re-
quires no description, but some of its proper-
ties are so singular, that we cannot pass them
unnoticed.

Its spring or power of taking large leaps is
remarkably great, and it is the best swimmer of
all four-footed animals. Nature hath finely
adapted its parts for those purposes, the fore
members of the body being very lightly made,
the hind legs and thighs very long, and furnish-
ed with very strong muscles.

Cuass III. COMMON FROG.

While in a tadpole state, it is entirely a water
animal; the work of foecundation is performed
in that element, as may be seen in every pond
during spring; when the female remains op-
pressed by the male for a number of days. ‘The
work of propagation is extremely singular, it
being certain that the frog has not a penis in-
trans. ‘There appears a strong analogy in this
case between a certain class of the vegetable
kingdom and these animals ; for it is well known,
that when the female frog deposits its spawn,
the male instantaneously inpregnates it with
what we may call a farina fecundans, in the
same manner as the male palm tree conveys
fructification to the flowers of the female, which
would otherwise be barren.”

As soon as the frogs are released from their

tadpole state, they immediately retire to land ;

and if the weather has been hot, and there fall
any refreshing showers, the ground for a con-

siderable space becomes perfectly blackened by

myriads of these animalcules, seeking for some
secure lurking places. Some philosophers t+ not
giving themselves time to examine into this phe-
nomenon, imagined them to have been generated

* Shaw's Travels, 224. Hasselquist Trav. Engl. Ed. 416.
+ Rondeletius, 216. Wormit Mus. 327.

13

GENERA-
TION.

14

COMMON FROG. Cuass IIL

in the clouds, and showered on the earth; but
had they, like our Derham,* traced them to
the next pool, they would have found a better
solution of the difficulty.

As frogs adhere closely to the backs of their
own species, so we know they will do the same
by fish: Walton} mentions a strange story of
their destroying pike; but that they will injure,
if not entirely kill carp, is a fact indisputable,
from the followingrelation. A very few years ago,
on fishing a pond belonging to Mr. Pitt, of Hn-
comb, Dorsetshire, great numbers of the carp
were found, each with a frog mounted on it, the
hind legs clinging to the back, the fore legs
fixed in the corner of each eye of the fishes, which
were thin and greatly wasted, teized by carrying
so disagreeable a load. These frogs we imagine
to have been males disappointed of a mate.

The croaking of frogs is well known, and from
that in fenny countries they are distinguished
by ludicrous titles, thus they are stiled Dutch
Nightingales and Boston Waites ; even the Sty-
gian frogs have not escaped notice, for Aristo-
phanes hath gone farther, and formed a chorus
of them.

* Ray's Wisdom Creat.316. + Complete Angler, 161.

Crass III. COMMON FROG.

Beenenck, noak, noak,
Boenensk, noak, now,
Aipvala nenvay Texva. *
Brekekex, coax, coax,

Brekekex, coax, coax,
The offspring of the pools and fountains.

15

Yet there is a time of year when they become Prrropican

mute, neither croaking or opening their mouths
for a whole month : this happens in the hot sea-
son, and that is in many places known to the
country people by the name of the Paddock
Moon. Morton+ endeavours to find a rea-
son for their silence, but tho’ his facts are true,
he is unfortunate in his philosophy. Frogs are
certainly endued (as he well observed) with a
power of living a certain time under water with-
out respiration, which is owing to their lungs
being composed ofa series of bladders: but he
mistakes the nature of air, when he affirms that
they receive a quantity of cool air, and dare not
open their mouths for a month, from a dread of
admitting a warmer into their lungs. It is hardly
necessary to say, that in whatever state the air
was received, it would become vitiated ina certain
time. We must leave the fact to be accounted
for by farther experiments; but from what
we do know, we may partly vindicate Theo-

* Comedy of the Frogs. + Hist. Northampt. 441.

SILENCE.

16

Foop.

COMMON FROG. Crass HIE.

phrastus, and other antients, about the silence
of the frogs at Seriphus. ‘That philosopher af-
firms it, but ascribes it to the coldness of the
waters in that island. Now when Monsieur
Tournefort was there, the waters were luke-
warm, and the frogs had recovered their voices.*
Is it not probable that Theophrastus might be at
Seriphus at that season when the frogs were
mute, and having never observed it elsewhere,
might conclude their silence to be general as to
the time, but particular as to the place ? Alan,
who quotes Theophrastus for the last passage,
ascribes the same silence to the frogs of the lake
Pierus in Thessaly, and about Cyrene in Africa 5
but he is so uncertain a writer, that we cannot
affirm whether the species of the African frogs
is the same with ours.

These, as well as other reptiles, only feed
during a small space of the year. Ina tadpole
state they subsist chiefly on vegetables, but
when they quit the water, their food is flies, in-

. sects, and snails. During winter frogs and

toads remain in a torpid state ; the last of which
will dig into the earth, and cover themselves
with almost the same agility as the mole.

* Tournefort’'s voy. 1.142. + lian, Lil. III. ch. 85, 37-

Cuass III. GREAT FROG.

Rana gibbosa. Gesnerpisc.809. Green Frog. Shaw. Gen. Zool.
Rana viridis aquatica. Resel. ili. 103. tab. 31.
- Mist. ran. 53. t. 13. La Grenouille commune. De
Rana esculenta. R. corpore an- la Cepede. Hist. des Ovip.i:
gulato, dorso transversé gib- 503.
bo, abdomine marginato. Ranaesculenta. Laur. Amphib.
Lin. syst. 357. Gm. Lin. 31.
1053.

Tuts differs from the former in having a high
protuberance in the middle of the back, form-
ing a very sharp angle. Its colors are also
more vivid, and its marks more distinct; the
ground color being a pale or yellowish green,
marked with rows of black spots from the head
to the rump.

This and, we think, the former, are eaten.
We have seen in the markets at Paris whole
‘hampers full, which the venders were preparing
for the table, by skinning and cutting off the
foreparts, the loins and legs only being kept.
Our strong dislike to these reptiles, prevented
a close examination into the species.

Great Frog. Br. Zool. ili. p.

TNHABITS the woods near Loch Ransa in
the Isle of Arran.
VOL, Ill, c

MW

2. EpIBLeE.

Descrip-
TION.

3. Great.

18

DEscrIp-
TION.

4, TOAD.

Descrir-
TION.

TOAD. Cuass IIL.

Is double the size of the common frog; the
body square; the belly great; the legs short;
has four toes on the fore-feet, four and a thumb

_ to the hind; the second outmost toe the longest.

The color above, is a dirty olive, marked with
great warty spots; the head alone plain; the
color beneath whitish. It leaps slowly. _

@evves. Arist. Hist. an. lib. ix.
c. 1. 40.

Bufo. Virg. Georg. I. 184.
Rubeta. Plin. lib. VIII. c.
Bie
Rubeta sc. Phrynum. Gesner

pisc. 807. Rondel. 222.
Bufo sive Rubeta. Rai syn.
quad. 252.
Bufo terrestris.

ran. 85. t. 20.
Bufo vulgaris. Laur. Amphib.
28.

Resel. Hist.

Bufo rubetarum. Klein quad.
122).

Rana Bufo. R. corpore ventri-
coso verrucoso lurido fus-
coque. Lin. syst. 354. Gm.
Lin. 1047. 4

Padda, Tassa.
No. 275.

Gronov. Zooph. No. 64.

Le Crapaud commun. De la
Cepede. Hist. des Ovip. i.
568.

Faun. Suec.

"THE most deformed and hideous of all ani-
mals ; the body broad, the back flat, and cover-
ed with a pimply dusky hide; the belly large,
swagging, and swelling out; the legs short;
its pace labored and crawling: its retreat gloomy
and filthy: in short, its general appearance is
sueh as to strike with disgust and horror;
yet we have been told by those who have reso-

Crass III. TOAD.

lution to view it with attention, that its eyes are
fine: to this it seems that Shakespeare alludes,
when he makes his Jadiet remark,

Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes.
As if they would have been better bestowed on
so charming a songster than on this raucous
reptile.

But the hideous appearance of the toad is
such as to make this one advantageous feature
overlooked, and to have rendered it in all ages
an object of horror, and the origin of most tre-
mendous inventions. A’lan* makes its venom
so potent, that basilisk-like, it conveyed death by
its very look and breath; but Juvenal is con-
tent with making the Roman ladies, who were
weary of their husbands, form a potion from its
entrails, in order to get rid of the good man.

At nunc res agitur tenui pulmone rubete. Saé. VI. 558.
And again,

Occurrit Matrona potens, quee molle Calenum
Porrectura viro miscet sitiente rubetam. Sat. I. 6g.

To quench the husband’s parching thirst, is brought
By the great Dame, a most deceitful draught ;

In rich Calenian wine she does infuse,

(To ease his pains) the toad’s envenom’d juice.

This opinion begat others of a more dreadful
nature, for in after-times superstition gave it pre-

* Fist, an. hb. ix. ¢. 11. ib. ab. xvi. c. 12. and 15.

€ %

19

‘TOAD-STONE.

TOAD. | Cuass III.

ternatural powers, and made it a principal ingre-
dient in the incantations of nocturnal hags :

Toad that under the cold stone,

Days and nights has, thirty-one,
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou firsé 1th’ charmed pot.

We know by the poet that this charm was in-
tended for a design of the first consideration,
that of raising the dead from their repose, and
bringing before the eyes of A/acbeth a hateful
second-sight of the prosperity of Banguo’s line.

This shews the mighty powers attributed to
this animal by the dealers in the magic art ; but
the powers our poet indues it with, are far
superior to those that Gesner ascribes to it:
Shakespeare's witches used it to disturb the dead ;
Gesner’s, only to still the living, Ut vim coeunda,
ni fallor, in viris tollerent.* ,

’ We may add here another superstition in
respect to this animal: it was believed by some
old writers to have a stone in its head, fraught
with great virtues medical and magical: it was
distinguished by the name of the reptile, and
called the Toad-Stone, Bufonites, Crapaudine,
Krottenstein ; + but all its fancied powers va-
nished on the discovery of its being nothing but

* Hist. quad. ovip. 72.
+ Boet. de Boot. de Lap. et Gem. 301. 303.

Cuass III. TOAD. Q)

the fossil tooth of the sea-wolf, or of some flat-
toothed fish, not unfrequent in our island, as
well as several other countries; but we may
well excuse this tale, since Shakespeare has ex-
tracted from it a simile of uncommon beauty :

Sweet are the uses of adversity,

Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,

Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.
But these fables have been long exploded.

We shall now return to the notion of its being

a poisonous animal, and deliver, as our opinion,
that its excessive deformity, joined to the faculty
it has of emitting a juice from its pimples, and.
a dusky liquid from its hind parts, is the foun-
dation ofthe report. ‘That it has any noxious
qualities we have been unable to bring proois
in the smallest degree satisfactory, though we
have heard many strange relations on that point.
On the contrary, we know several of our friends
who have taken toads in their naked hands, and
held them long without receiving the lest in-
jury. It is also well known that quacks have Nor porsoy-
eaten them, and have besides squeezed their °"™
- juices into a glass, and drank them with impu-
nity. We may say also, that these reptiles are
a common food to many animals; to buzzards,
owls, the thick-kneed bustard, ducks, and snakes,

22

GENERA-
TION.

TOAD. - Crass Ii.

who would not touch them were they in any de-
gree noxious.

So far from having venomous, they have
of late been considered to possess benefi-
cent qualities. We wish, for the benefit of
mankind, that we could make a favourable
report of the many attempts recently made to
cure the most terrible of diseases, the cancer, by
the application of live toads; but, alas, they
seem only to have rendered a horrible com-
plaint more loathsome. My enquiries on this
subject, and some further particulars relating
to the history of this animal, may be found in
the Appendix.*

In a word, we may consider the toad as an
animal that has neither good or harm in it; that
being a defenceless creature, nature has fur-
nished it, instead of arms, with a most disgust-
ing deformity, which strikes into almost every
being, capable of annoying it, a strong repug-
nancy to meddle with so hideous and threaten-
ing an appearance.

The time of their propagation is very early
in the spring: at that season the females are
seen crawling about oppressed by the males,

* No. I.

Cuass III. TOAD.

who continue on them for some hours, and ad-
here so fast as to tear the very skin from the
parts they stick to. ‘They spawn like frogs ;*
but what is singular, the male affords the fe-
male obstetrical aid, in a manner that will be
described in the Appendix.t

To conclude this account with the marvel-
lous, this animal is said to have often been
found in the midst of solid rocks, and even in
the centre of growing trees, imprisoned in a
small hollow, to which there was not the lest
adit or entrance: how the animal breathed, or
how it subsisted (supposing the possibility of
its confinement) is past our comprehension.
Plot’s\ solution. of this phenomenon is far
from satisfactory; yet, as we have the great
Bacon’s|| authority for the fact, we do not en-
tirely deny our assent to it.

* Except that the spawn of the frog is deposited in large
jelly-like masses, while that of the toad is in double chains, re-
sembling necklaces, of the length of three or four feet. Ep.

+ No. I. + Plot's Hist. Staff. 247. § P. 2409.

|| Nat. Hist. Cent. vi. Exp. 570.

a4 NATTER JACK TOAD. Cuass II.

5. Be Rana Rubeta? R.corporever- Bufo calamita. Laur. Amphib.
ACK.

rucoso, ano obtuso subtus Dale
punctato. Lin. Syst. 355. Mephitic Toad. Shaw. Gen.
Gm. Lin. 1047. Zool. iii. 149. tab. 43.

Bufo terrestris foetidus. Resel.
Hist. ran. 107. tab. 24.

Tuts species frequents dry and sandy places :
it is found on Putney Common, and also near
Revesby Abby, Lincolnshire, where it is called
_ the Natter Jack. It never leaps, neither does
it crawl with the slow pace of a toad, but its
motion is more like running. Several are found
commonly together, and, like others of the ge-
nus, they appear in the evenings. Its deep and
hollow voice is heard to a great distance.
Descrirp- | The upper part of the body is of a dirty yel-
™*- low, clouded with brown, and covered with po-
rous pimples, of unequal sizes ; on the back is a
yellow line; the upper side of the body is of
a paler hue, marked with black spots, which
are rather rough; on the fore feet are four
divided toes; on the hind fiye, a little webbed.
The length of the body is two inches and a
quarter; the breadth, one and a quarter; the
length of the fore legs one inch one-sixth; of
the hind legs, two inches.
We are indebted to Sir Joseph Banks, Bart.
for this account.

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25

Cass II. SCALY LIZARD.
GENUS III. LIZARD.
ae slender naked.
@ é “
Lacertus terrestris lutea squa- Lacerta, Gronov. Zooph. No. 1, Scaty.
mosa anglica. _ Syn. 60.
quad. 264. : Little Brown Lizard. Edw.
Plot’s Hist. 23 252. tal. 225.
22. Sten Padzher pou. © Borlase Corn-
Lacerta agilis. ye ver- wall, 284. tab. 28.
ticillata longiuseula squamis —Scaly Lizard. Sheppamd in Lin.
acutis, collari subtus squa- Tr. vii. 49.
mis constructo. Lin. Syst. Green Lizard. var? Shaw.
303. Gm. Lin. 1070. Gen. Zool. iii. 234.
Odla, Fyrfot. Faun. Suec. Le Lezard gris. De la Cepede.
No. 284. . Hist. des Ovip. i. 298,
Seps muralis. Laur, Amphib.
61. tab.1. f. 4,
THOSE we have seen differ in color, but agree Descrir-

in all other respects with the species described
by Doctor Plot. Their length from the nose
to the hind-legs was three inches; from thence
to the end of the tail three and three quarters.
Along the back was a black list; on each side
of that a brown one: then succeeded a narrow
stripe, spotted alternately with yellow and

TION.

OTHER
SPECIES.

SCALY LIZARD. Cuass Ill.

brown; beneath that a broad black one; those
ended a little beyond the hind-legs. The belly
was yellow, and the scales large but even;
those on the back small; on the tail the ends
projected, and were varied with black and
brown. The legs and feet were dusky; on
each foot were five toes, furnished with claws.

This species is extremely nimble: in hot
weather it basks on the sides of dry banks, or
of old trees; but on being observed immedi-
ately retreats to its hole. Its food, like that of
all the other English lizards, is insects ; itself,
of birds of prey. Each of our lizards are per-
fectly harmless ; yet their form is what strikes
us with disgust, and has occasioned great ob-
scurity in their history.

Related to this species is the Guernsey lizard,
which we are informed has been propagated in
England from some originally brought from that
island. We have also heard of a green lizard
frequent near Farnham, which probably may
be of that kind: but the most uncommon spe-
cies we ever met with any account of, is that
which was killed near /Voscot, in the parish of
Swinford, Worcestershire, in 1741, which was
two feet six inches long, and four inches in
girth. The fore-legs were placed eight inches
from the head ; the hind-legs five inches beyond

Cuass III]. ANGUINE LIZARD.

those; the legs were two inches long: the feet
divided into four toes, each furnished with a
sharp claw. Another was killed at Penbury,
in the same county. Whether these are not
of exotic descent, and whether the breed con-
tinues, is what we are at present uninformed of.*

Lacertus terrestris anguiformis Viperine Lizard. Sheppard in
in ericetis. Rai Syn. quad. Lin. Tr. vii. 51.2?
264.

WE remain in obscurity in respect to this
species. It seems to be of that kind which con-
nects the serpent and lizard genus, having a long
and very slender body, and very small legs.
Such are the Seps, or Lacerta Chalcidica of Ran
Syn. quad. 272, the Lacerta anguina of Lin-

néus, 371, or that figured by Seba, tom. ii. tab.

68. under the name of Vermis serpentiformis.
[Mr. Sheppard, in the seventh volume of the
Linnean Transactions, thus describes the spe-

* Some additional information seems necessary with respect to
the Lacerta Gidura, described by Mr. Sheppard in the seventh
volume of the Linnean Transactions, p. 50. before it is admitted
as a new species into the list of British Lizards. It is chiefly dis-
tinguished from the common Lizard by << the tail bulging out a
** little below the base, which gives it the appearance of having
** been cut off, and set on again; on all the feet are five toes
** with nails. Its length four inches and an half.” Ep.

2, ANGUINE.

Bi ANGUINE LIZARD. Cuass III.

cies of Lizard supposed to have been mentioned
by Ray in his Synopsis.

Descrir- “* Head very light brown above, with four
m*« dark spots, yellowish white beneath.
“* Back, with a black line along the middle,
reaching from the head to about half an inch
beyond the hind legs; on each side of this is
a broader one of dark brown (these beyond
the black line unite, and reach to the end of
the tail); next to these succeeds a fine yellow
stripe that extends to the end of the tail;
then a black one which reaches no farther
than the middle line, and afterwards a dark
brown stripe mixed with a few yellow spots
extending to the end of the tail. A little
above the hind legs, in some specimens, is a

- slight division of the scales, forming a trans-
verse line. Belly yellowish white with a few
black spots. Tail, under part dirty white,
spotted with black as far as within an inch of

‘ the end; the remainder marked lengthways

with long bars of black. Legs dark brown,

“‘ spotted with black. Feet have all five toes

with nails. Length from seven to above

twelve inches.

“* Occasionally found near marshes, but its

“* general abode is upon heaths.” Ep.

nw

Crass III. BROWN LIZARD.

Lacertus parvus terrestris fuscus oppido rarus. Raz Syn. 3. Lirrte.

quad. 264.

Tuts species is mentioned by Mr. Ray in
his list of the English lizards, without any
other description than is comprehended in the

synonym.

Lacertus vulg. terrestris ventre dorso linea duplici fusca. 4: BRown.
nigro maculato. Rau Syn. Lin. Syst. 370. Faun. Suec.
guad. 264. No. 283. Gm. Lin. 1076.

L. vulgaris. L. cauda tereti Sheppard in Lin. Tr. vii. 52.
mediocri, pedibus unguicu- Common Newt. Shaw. Gen.
latis, palmis tetradactylis, Zool. iii. prt i. 205. é. 83.

THIS is three inches long; the body slender ;
the tail long, slightly compressed, small and
taper ; that and the upper part of the body are
of a pale brown, marked on each side the back
with a narrow black line reaching to the end of
the tail; the belly of a pale yellow, marked
with small dusky spots; the fore feet divided
into four toes; the hind into five; all without
nails, and of a dusky color, spotted with yellow.

DEscrip-
TION.

30

5. Warty.

DEscRIP-
TION.

WARTY LIZARD. Crass Ill.

Lacertus aquaticus. Gesner Triton palustris. Laur. Am-

quad. ovip. 31. phib. 39. &. 4. f: 2.
Salamandra aquatica. Raitt Sheppard in Lin. Tr. vil. 52.

Syn. quad. 273. Great Water Newt. Shaw.
Lacerta palustris. L. cauda Gen. Zool. iii. part 1. 296.

lanceolata mediocri, pedibus t. 83. Nat. misc. vill. 279.

muticis palmis tetradactylis. Skrot-abborre, Gruffgrabbe.
Lin. Syst. 370. Faun. Suec. No. 281.
Lacerta palustris. L. fusca, Lacerta Americana. Seb. Mus.
cauda lanceolata mediocri, i. tab. 89. fig. 4, 5.
maris dorsum cristatum ver- Salamandra alepidota verruco-
no tempore, crista medio al- sa. Gronov. Zooph. No. 47.
tiore. Gm. Lin. 1065. Faun. La Salamandre a queue plate.
Suec. 281. De la Cepede. Hist. des
Ovip. 1. 471.

THE length of this species is six inches and
an half, of which the tail is three and a quarter.
The irides bright yellow; the head and begin-
ning of the* back flat and covered with small
pimples or warts, of a dark dusky color; the
sides with white ones; the belly, and the side
of the tail, are of a bright yellow; . the first
spotted with black. The tail is compressed
sideways, very thin towards the upper edge,
and slender towards the end. The feet formed
like those of the preceding species. Its pace is
slow and crawling.

This species we have frequently seen in the

* The male is furnished with a thin fin-like process which
extends along the back. Eb.

Cuass III. WARTY LIZARD.

state we describe, but are uncertain whether we
ever met with it under the form of a larva.* We
have more than once found under stones and
old logs, some very minute young lizards that
had much the appearance of this kind; they
were perfectly formed, and had not the least
vestiges of fins; so that circumstance, joined to
their being found in a dry place, remote from
water, makes us imagine them to have never
been inhabitants of that element, as it is certain

many of our lizards are in their first state. At.

that period they have a fin above and below
their tail; that on the upper part extends along
the back as far as the head, but both drop off
as soon as the animal takes to the land, being
then no longer of any use. Besides these cir-
cumstances that attend them in form of a larva,
Mr. Ells} has remarked certain pennated fins
at the gills of one very common in most of our
stagnating waters, and which is frequently ob-
served to take a bait like a fish.

* The water newt deposits in the spring two strings of eggs,
connected by a viscous matter, in which also they are separately

enveloped ; in these the embryo is soon visible, and is hatched in
about eight or ten days according to the warmth of the season.

These animals very frequently cast their skins. The common -

newt or brown Lizard is said to be viviparous.
t Phil. Trans. vol. lvi. p. 191.
} These branchial processes are supposed to assist the respira-

tion of the Jarva during its growing state, after which they are

obliterated. Ep.

31

6. Lesser
W ATER-
NEWT.

Dzscrip-
TION.

LESSER WATER-NEWT. Cuass IIL.

Lacerta aquatica. L. olivaceo- Lacerta aquatica. L. cauda
fusca nigro maculata, sub- teretiuscula mediocri. Gm.
tus crocea cauda ancipiti la- Lin. 1066. Faun. Suec. 282.
teribus sinuata. Shaw. Gen. ‘Triton cristatus. Laur. Am-
Zool. iii. Part 1. 298. Naé. phab. 39.

Misc. xi. pl. 412. %

[MR. Pennant, de la Cepede, and other natu-
ralists, have considered this species to be the
same as the Warted Lizard,, but we must sub-
scribe to the distinctive character pointed out
by Dr. Shaw in his general Zoology. We take
the liberty of copying his accurate and interest-
ing description of so curious an animal.

“‘ Its general length is about three inches anda
half, and it very rarely exceeds that of four inches
at most. The male is distinguishable at first sight
from the female by its very conspicuous dorsal
crest or process, which is broader in propor-
tion, more strongly elevated, and more regu-
larly sinuated, than that of the preceding spe-
cies ; the sinuations are continued to the very
tip of the tail on the upper part, and take place
likewise in a similar proportion on the under
part as far as the junction of the tail with the
abdomen ; whereas, in the former species, the
upper part of the tail alone can properly be
said to be crested: this wide process or sinu-
ated part is remarkably transparent, and when

Cuass Tlf. LESSER WATER-NEWT.

viewed with a lens of even moderately magni-
fying power, exhibits very distinctly the ramifi-
cations of the blood-vessels dispersed through
it; but if examined by the microscope is per-
haps of all other objects that can be selected
for that purpose, the most eligible for exhibiting
a general view of the circulation; shewing, in
the most distinct and beautiful manner, the
rapid current of the blood, the particles of
which, in this animal, as well as in the rest of
the Amphibia, are of an oval form, not round,
as in the Mammalia. In the greater Water-
Newt, on the contrary, this part being nearly
opake, can by no means advantageously ex-
hibit the same phenomenon. ‘The female is
almost destitute of the dorsal crest, but the
tail is furnished with an approach to it, though
far less conspicuous than in the male. The
general color of the male is olive brown beauti-
fully and distinctly marked with numerous,
round, black spots, dispersed over every part
of the animal, but largest and most conspicuous
on the sides and tail; the abdomen is orange-
colored, the black spots often appearing less
intense on that part than on the back. The fe-
male differs very considerably in color, being
generally of a pale yellowish brown, much less
distinctly spotted, and from the want of the
VOL, III. | D ae

CS

he

LESSER WATER-NEWT. Crass IIL.

dorsal crest, might be almost mistaken for a
different species by a person inconversant in the
history of the animal. On the top of the head

- in both sexes are three or four longitudinal

dusky streaks; the eyes are small and gold
eclored ; the fore feet tetradactylous; the hind
pentadactylous: all destitute of claws, and in

some specimens more or less approaching to a

kind of palmated appearance towards the base.”
Ep. ‘i

,
xe

\ Ny

FRAGILE SERPENT. ( 1B. 46)

Cxass IIL. VIPER SERPENT:

hae
big
- we

iy
ty
.

GENUS IV. SERPENT.

Bopy long and slender, covered with scaly

plates.
FEET none. —

"Eis. Arist. Hist. an. lib. iii.

Cul.

Vipera. Vi irg. Georg. iii. 417.

Plinii lib. x. c. 42.
Vipera. Gesner Serp. 71.

Viper, or Adder. Raiz Syn.
quad. 285. Borl. Corn. 282.

tab. 28.

Coluber Berus. Lin. Syst.377.

Gm. Lin. 1090.

/

C. Berus scutis abdom. 146.
squamis caudze 39.

Hugg-orm. Faun. Suec. No.
286.

Laur. Amph. 97. tab. 2. fig. 1.

La Vipere commune. De la

35

1. VIPER.

Cepede. Hist. des Serpentis. —

mea. ta0.1. fignt.
Amen. Acad. 1. 527.
Shaw, Gen. Zool. iii. Part ii.

p- 365.

VIPERS are found in many parts of this
island, but the dry, stony, and, in particular,
the chalky countries abound with them. They
swarm in many of the Hebrides. a
They are viviparous, not but that they are

hatched from an internal egg; being of that —

class of animals, of whose generation Aristotle*
SAYS, Ey avrois wev woronet ro TeAcLoy Woy, 2w de Cworonet,

z.¢. “ They conceive a perfect ege within, but

* De Gen. an. Lab. ITI. c. 2.
DQ

36

DEscrRiPe
TION.

VIPER SERPENT. Crass III.

bring forth their young alive.”* Providence is
extremely kind in making this species far from
being prolific, we having never heard of more
than eleven eggs being found in one viper, and
those are as if chained together, and each about
the’size of a blackbird’s egg.

The viper seldom grows to a greater length
than two feet; though once we saw a female
(which is nearly a third larger than the male)
which was almost three feet long. The ground-
color of this serpent is a dirty yellow; that of
the female deeper; its back is marked the
whole length with a series of rhomboid black
spots, touching each other at the points; the

sides with triangular ones; the belly entirely

black.

There is a variety wholly black; but the
rhomboid marks are very conspicuous even in
this, being of a deeper and more glossy hue
than the rest. Petiver calls it the Vipera Ang-
lica Nigricans. Pet. Mus. No. 204.t

The head of the viper is inflated, which

* These are distinguished in modern systems by the character
of Oviviviparous. Ep.

+ Coluber Prester. Lin. Syst. 377. Bose. Faun. Suec. No.
287. La Vipere noire. De la Cepede. Hist. des Serpents. ii. 56.

Laurenti, in his Synopsis Reptilium, p. 98. coincides with
Linnaeus in considering this as a distinct species. Ep.

VOL.3.P. 36--

‘CUuvnNulr'y

ALUVM

PADS

Cuxass III. VIPER SERPENT.

distinguishes it from the common snake; the
tongue forked ; the teeth small; the four canine
teeth are paced two on Ab side the upper
jaw: these instruments of poison are long,
crooked, and moveable, and can be raised and
depressed at pleasure ; they are hollow from
near the point t to their base, near which is a
gland that secretes, prepares, and lodges the
poison, and ‘the same action that gives the
wounds, forces from this gland, through the
tooth, the fatal juice into it.

These islands may be particularly thankful
for the blessing they enjoy, in being possessed
of only one venomous animal, and that of a
kind which increases so little. They copulate
m May, and are supposed to be about three
months before they bring forth. They are said
‘not to arrive at their full growth in less than six
or seven years ; but to be capable of engen-
dering at two or three.

We have been often assured by intelligent
people of the truth of a fact mentioned by Sir
Thomas Brown,* who was far from a credulous
writer, that the young,of the viper, when terri-
fied, will run down the throat of a parent, and
seek shelter in its beily in the same manner as

* Vulgar errors, 114.

TEETH.

37

38

Foop.

VIPER SERPENT. Cuiass HI,

the young of the opossum retire into the ventral
pouch of the old one. From this some have
imagined that the viper is so unnatural as to
devour its own young ; we disbelieve the fact, it
being well known that the food of these serpents
consists of frogs, toads, lizards, mice, and, accord-
ing to Doctor Mead, even an animal as large as
a mole. These they swallow entire; which, if
we consider the narrowness of their neck,
shews it is capable of a distension hardly cre-
dible, had we not ocular proofs of the fact.
It is also said, from good authority, that they
will prey on young birds; whether on such as
nestle on the ground, or whether they ascend
trees for them as the Jndian serpents do, we
are quite uncertain; but we are well assured
that this discovery is far from a recent one:

UE assidens implumibus pullis avis
Serpentium allapsus timet.*

Thus, for its young the anxious bird
The gliding serpent fears.

The viper is capable of supporting very long
abstinence, it being known that some have been
kept in a box six months without food, yet did
not abate of their vivacity. They feed only a
small part of the year, but never during their

* Hor. Epod. I.

Crass III. VIPER SERPENT.

confinement, for if mice, their favourite diet,
should at that time be thrown into their box,
though they will kill, yet they never will eat
them. The poison decreases in violence in
proportion to the length of their confinement :
it must be also added, the virtues of its flesh
(whatsoever they be) are at the same time con-
siderably lessened. ‘These animals, when at
liberty, remain torpid throughout the winter ;
yet, when confined, have never been observed
to take their annual repose.

The method of catching vipers is by putting a
cleft stick on or near their head; after which
they are seizea by the tail, and put instantly
ito a bag. The viper-catchers are frequently
bit by them in the pursuit of their business, yet
we very rarely hear of the bite being fatal. The
remedy, if applied in time, is very certain, and
is nothing else but sallad oil, which the viper-
catchers seldom go without. The avungia vipe-
rina, or the fat of vipers, is also another remedy.
Dector Mead suspects the efficacy of this last,
and substitutes one of his own in its place ;*
but we had rather trust to vulgar receipts which
perpetual trials have shewn to be infallible.

The symptoms of the venom, if the wound is

* Essay on Poisons, 47.

40

UsEs.

VIPER SERPENT. Cuass Til.

neglected, are very terrible: it soon causes an
acute pain in the place affected, attended with
a swelling, first red, afterwards livid, which by
degrees spreads to the neighboring parts; great
faintness, and a quick though low and inter-
rupted pulse, ensue; sickness at the stomach,

_bilious convulsive vomitings, cold sweats, and

sometimes pains about the navel, and in conse-
quence of these, death itself. But the violence
of the symptoms depends much on the season of
the year, the difference of the climate, the size

or rage of the animal, or the nti or situation

of the wound.

Dreadful as the effects of its bite may be, yet
its flesh has been long celebrated as a noble me-
dicine. Doctor ead cites from Pliny, Galen,
and other antients, several proofs of its efficacy
in the cure of ulcers, the elephantiasis, and
other bad complaints. He even says he has
seen good effects from it in an obstinate /epra:
it is at present used as a restorative, though we
think the modern physicians have no great
dependence on its virtues. ‘The antients pre-
scribed it boiled, and to be eaten as fish; for
when fresh, the medicine was much more likely
to take effect than when dried, and given in
form of a powder or troche. Mr. Keys/er re-
lates that Sir Kenelm Digby used to feed his

Crass Il. VIPER SERPENT.

wife, who was-a most beautiful woman, with
capons fattened with the flesh of vipers,
The antient Britons had a strange supersti-

tion in respect to these animals, and of which —

there still remains in /Vales a strong tradition.
The account Pliny gives of it is as follows: we
shall not attempt a translation, it being already
done to our hands in a spirited manner by the
ingenious Mr. A/Zason, which we shall take the
liberty of borrowing.

Preterea est ovorum genus in magna Gallia-:

rum fama, omissum Grecis. Angues innumeri
@state convoluti, sahwis faucium corporumgue
spumis artifici complevru glomerantur ; angui-
num appellatur. Druide sibilis id dicunt in
sublime jactari, sagoque oportere intercipt, ne
tellurem attingat: profugere raptorem equo:
serpentes enim insequi, donec arceantur amnis
alicujus interventu.*

But tell me yet
From the grot of charms and spells,
Where our matron sister dwells,
Brennus, has thy holy hand
Safely brought the Druid wand,
And the potent Adder-stone,
Gender’d ’fore the autumnal moon?

* Lib. XXIX. ¢, 3. :

41

VIPER SERPENT.’ Cuass III.

When in undulating twine,

The foaming snakes prolific join ;
When they hiss, and when they bear
Their wondrous egg aloof in air;
Thence before to earth it fall,

The Druid in his hallow’d pall
Receives the prize,

And instant flies,

Follow’d by the envenom’d brood,
Till he cross the crystal flood.*

This wondrous egg seems to be nothing more
than a bead of glass, used by the Druids as a
charm to impose on the vulgar, whom they
taught to believe, that the possessor would be
fortunate in all his attempts, and that it would
gain him the favor of the great.

Our modern Druidesses give much the same
account of the ovum anguinum, Glain Neidr, as
the Welsh call it, or the Adder-Gem, as the Ro-
man philosopher does, but seem not to have so
exalted an opinion of its powers, using it only.
to assist children in cutting their teeth, or to cure
the chin-cough, or to drive away an ague.

We have some of these beads in our cabinet :
they are made of glass, and of a very rich blue
color; some are plain, others streaked: we say
nothing of the figure, as the annexed plate will
convey a stronger idea of it than words.

* Mason's Caractacus. The person speaking is a Druid.

P.42.

Cuiass III. VIPER SERPENT.

43

This reminds me of another /Velsh word that Vervatne.

is explanatory of the customs of the antients,
shewing their intent in the use of the plant Ver-
vaine in their lustrations ; and why it was called

by Dioscorides, Hierobotane, or the sacred plant,
and esteemed proper to be hung up in their
rooms. The British name Cas gan Cythrawl,
or the Devil’s aversion, may be a modern appel-
lation, but it is likewise called Y Dderwen fendi-
gaid, the holy oak, which evidently refers to the
Druid groves, Pliny informs us, that the
Gauls used it"in their incantations, as the Ro-
mans and Greeks did in their lustrations. Te-
rence, in his Andria, shews us the Verbena was
placed on altars before the doors of private
houses in Athens; and from a passage in
Plny,* we find the Magi were guilty of the
most extravagant superstition about this herb.
Strange it is that such a veneration should arise
for a plant endued with no perceptible quali-
ties; and stranger still it should spread from
the farthest north to the boundaries of India.
So general a consent, however, proves that the
custom arose before the different nations had lost
all communication with each other.

* Lib. XXV. cap. 9.

44

RINGED SERPENT. Ctass IIL

2, RINGED. Ewes. Arist. Hist. an. i. c. \ Coluber natrix. Lin. Syst.

ibs 380. Gm. Lin. 1100.
Natrix torquata. Gesner Ser- C. natrix scutis abdom. 170.

pent. 63. squamis caude 60.
Natrix torquata. Raitt Syn. Laur. Amph.75. .

quad. 334. Tomt-Orm, Snok, Ring-Orm.
Anguis vulgaris fuscus collo Faun. Suec. No. 288.

flavescente, ventre albis ma- La Couleuvrea collier. De la
culis distinctus. Pet. Dus. Cepede. Hist. des Serpents.
xvii. No. 101. li. 147.

Tue ringed or common snake is the largest of
the English serpents, sometimes exceeding four
feet in length: the neck is slender; the middle
of the body thickest ; the back and sides covered
with small scales, the belly with oblong, nar-
row, transverse plates. The first Linneus dis-
tinguishes by the name of sguame, the last he
calls scuda, and from them forms his genera’
of serpents. Those that have both sguame
and scuta he calls Colubri; those that have
only sqguame, Angues. The viper and snake
are comprehended in the first genus, the blind-
worm or Fragile serpent under the second ; but
we chuse (to avoid multiplying our genera) to
unite the few serpents we have in a single
genus, their marks being too evident to be con-
founded. |

Cuass WI. RINGED SERPENT.

43

The color of the back and sides of the snake Descrip-

are dusky or brown; the middle of the back
marked with two rows of small black spots run-
ning from head to tail; from them are multi-
tudes of lines of spots crossing the sides; the
plates on the belly are dusky, the scales on the
sides of a bluish white; on each side the neck
is a spot of pale yellow, and at the base of each
is a triangular black spot, one angle of which
points towards the tail; the teeth are small
and serrated, lying on each side the jaw in two
rows.*

This ‘species is perfectly inoffensive ; it fre-
quents and lodges itself among bushes in moist
places, and will readily take the water, swim-
ming very well. It preys on frogs, insects,

* Mr. Sheppard mentions a beautiful species or variety of
Coluber, to which he gives the name of cwruleus from the elegant
azure blue of its belly. It grows to the length of twenty-five
inches. ‘The upper part of the head is of a light brown color,
with a dark brown spot in the form of a V; the sides of the
under part yellowish white, edged with dull red ; the irides red;
the back light brown, and a string of dark brown rhomboidal
marks reaching from the head to the end of the tail; the sides
spotted with dark brown; the scuta of the belly light blue, spot-
ted with white; the sguame@, which margin them, edged with
white ; the first part of the under side of the tail blue edged with
red, the remainder yellow, spotted with white. Ep.

+ Lin. Tr, vii. 56.

TION.

46

3. FRAGILE.

FRAGILE SERPENT. (Cuiass Il.

worms, and mice, and considering the smallness
of the neck, it is amazing how large an animal
it will swallow. It is oviparous; lays its eggs
in dunghills, and in hot-beds, whose heat, aided
by that of the sun, promotes the exclusion of
the young. During winter it lies torpid in
banks of hedges, and under the roots of old
trees.

The Blind-worm, or slow-

Typhline
Grecis. Raw Syn. quad.
289. Grew’s Mus. 48.

Cecilia anglica cinerea squa-

worm, Cecilia

mis patvis mollibus, com-
pactis. Pet. Mus. xvu. No.
102.

Long Cripple. Borlase Cornw.
284. tab. 28.
Aneuis fragilis. Lin. Syst.

392. Gm. Lin. 1122.

A. fragilis squamis abdominis
caudeque 135.

Ormsla,-Koppar-Orm. Faun.
Suec. 289.

Blind-worm. Br. Zool. 4to.
ili. 33.

Laur. Amph. 68. tab. 5. fig.
2

LOrvet. De la Cepede. Hist.

des Serpents. ii. 430. tab. -

19. fig. 1.

Descurre "LE HE, usual length of this species is eleven

TION,

inches; the irides are red ;‘the head small; the
neck still more slender; from that part the
body suddenly enlarges, and continues of an
equal bulk to the tail, which ends quite blunt.
The color of the back is cinereous, marked

Crass UI. FRAGILE SERPENT.

with very small lines composed of minute
black specks; the sides are of a reddish
cast; the belly dusky, both marked like the
back; the tongue is broad and forky; the
teeth minute, but numerous; the scales
small.

The motion of this serpent is slow, from
which, and from the smallness of the eyes, are
derived its names. It is quite innocent. Like
others of the genus, they lie torpid during
winter, and are sometimes found in vast num-
_ bers twisted together,

Doctor Borlase mentions a variety of this
serpent with a pointed tail; and adds, that he
was informed that a man lost his life by the
bite of one in Oxfordshire. We are inclined
to think that his informant mistook the black
or dusky viper for this kind; for, excepting
that species, we never could learn that there
was any sort of poisonous serpent in these
kingdoms.

In Sweden is a small reddish serpent, called
there Asping, the Coluber Chersea* of Linneus,

* Gm. Lin. 1091. Faun. Suec. 285. Laur. Amph. 97. Act.
Stock. 1749. p. 246. tab. 6. Pennant’s Arct. Zool. Int, p. xc.
Ep.

47

43

4. ABER=
DEEN.

DEeEscrip-
TION.

ABERDEEN SERPENT. Ctass Ill.

whose bite is said to be mortal. Is it possible
that this could be the species which has hitherto
escaped the notice of our naturalists? I the
rather suspect it, as I have been informed, that
there is a small snake that lurks im the low ©
crounds of Galloway, which bites and often
proves fatal to the inhabitants.

Anguis Eryx. Lin. Syst.392. L’Eryx. De la Cepede. Hist.
Gm. Lin. 1121. des Serpents. i. 438.

A new Snake. Tour in Scot
1769. App.

Its length is fifteen inches ; the tongue broad
and forked; the nostrils small, round, and
placed near the tip of the nose; the eyes lodged
in oblong fissures above the angle of the mouth ;
the belly of a bluish lead color, marked with
small white spots irregularly disposed; the rest
of the body of a greyish brown, with three lon-
eitudinal dusky lines, one extending from the
head along the back to the point of the tail; the
others broader, and extending the whole length
of the sides.. It had no scuta; but was en-

Cuass III. ABERDEEN SERPENT.

tirely covered with small scales; largest on the
upper part of the head.*

Inhabits Aberdeenshire. Communicated to
me by the late Doctor David Skene. It is also
found in America. |

* The Dumfrieshire Snake of Mr. Sowerby’s British Miscel-
lany, tub. iii. is probably the young either of this or of the
Ringed Serpent. Eb.

VOL. Ill. E

AQ

CLASS IV..

FISHES.

Oh Deus! ampla tue quam sunt miracula dextrce !
O quam solerti singula mente regis !
Divite tu gaza terras, et messibus imples;
Nec minus est vasti fertilis unda maris:
Squammiger hunc peragrat populus, prolesque parentum
Stipat, et ingentes turba minuta duces.
Jonston. PSALMUS cIy.

er

2

i

PL-VIL.

EXPLANATION OF

TECHNICAL

TERMS.

BM :
NATION OF TECHNICAL TERMS.

i

7 Hi I
i At

fly
Mit

\

FISHES.

r Drv. 1 | |
- CETACEOUS FISHES.

No gills ; an orifice on the top of the head,
through which they breathe, and eject water ; a
flat or horizontal tail; exemplified in the expla-
natory plate, fig. 1. by the BorrLE-nosz, bor-
rowed from Dale's Hist. Harwich. 411. Tab. 14.

‘GENERA.

2 OWT ALE ie

alts + OX II. NARWHAL. : an {
(Ps saat Ill. CACHALOT. isla |
& G 2 IV. HYPEROODON. | )
VY. DOLPHIN. | :

Div. Il. CARTILAGINOUS FISHES.

BREATHING through certain apertures,
generally placed on each side of the neck, in
some instances beneath, in some above, and
from one to seven in number on each part, ex-
cept in the Pipe Fish, which has only one.

The muses SURpOred i ihilgees, instead
of bones. » 0 rater ye ~

‘all ME

34

FISHES. Crass IV:

Explan. Pl. jig. 2. the PickKeD SHARK.
a. The lateral apertures.

>

VI. LAMPREY.
Vil. HAG.
VIII. RAY.
IX. SHARK.
X. ANGLER.
XI. STURGEON.
XII. TETRODON.
XII. SUCKER.
RIV.’ PIPE FISH.
XV. TRUMPET FISH.

Div. II. BONY FISHES.

"L'HIS tlivision includes those whose muscles
are supported by bones or spines, which breathe
through gills covered or guarded by thin bony
plates, open on the side, and dilatable by means
of a certain row of bones on their lower part,
each separated by a thin web; which bones are
called the Radi Bi vbhiowbian or the Gillcover-
ing Rays.

The tails of all the fishes which form this nat
sion, are placed in a situation perpendicular to
the body, and this is an invariable character.

Some Icthyologists have lately attempted to
make the number of the branchiostegous rays a
character of the genera; but I found (yet too
late in some instances, where I yielded an im-~

——

Crass IV. FISHES.

plicit faith) that their rule was very fallible, and
had induced me into error; but as I borrowed
other definitions, it is to be hoped the explana-
tion of the genera will be intelligible. I should
be very disingenuous, if I did not own my obli-
gations in this respect to the works of ARTEDI,
Dr. Gronovivs, and Linnzvus.

It is from the last I have copied the great
sections of the Bony FisuEs into

APopDaAl, JUGULAR,
THORACIC, ABDOMINAL.*

He founds this system on a comparison of
the ventral fins to the feet of land animals or
reptiles ; and either from the want of them, or
their particular situation in respect to the other
fins, establishes his sections.

In order to render them perfectly isdlivible
it is necessary to refer to those several organs
of movement, and some other parts, in a perfect
fish, or to one taken out of the three last sections.

The Hapocx. Expl. Pl. fig. 4.

a. ‘The pectoral fins.

b. ventral fins.
& anal fins.
d.. caudal fin, or the tail.

* Vide Syst. Nat. 422.

59

56 FISHES. Crass IV.
e.e.¢. dorsal fins. oan
f. bony plates that cover the gills. -
g. branchiostegous rays, and their — .
membranes.
h. lateral, or side line.

Sect. I APODAL.

THE most imperfect, wanting the ventral fins ;

illustrated by the ConceEr, fig. 3.

This also

expresses the union of the dorsal and anal fins
with the tail, as is found in some few fishes.

XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.
XXII.
XXII.

Sect. II.

EEL.

WOLF FISH.
LAUNCE.
OPHIDIUM.
SCABBARD FISH.
MORRIS.

SWORD FISH.

JUGULAR.

THE ventral fins b, placed before the pectoral
fins a, as in the Hapock, jig. 4.

XXIII.
XXIV.
XXYV.
XXVI.
XXVII

DRAGONET.
WEEVER.
CODFISH.
BLENNY.
TADPOLE FISH.

Cuass IV. FISHES.

Sect. III. THORACIC.

THE ventral fins a, placed beneath the pecto-
ral fins 6, as in the Farner Lasuer, fig. 5.

XXVIII.
XXIX.
XXX.
XXXII.
XXXII.
XXXITI.
XXXIV.
XXXV.
XXXVI.
XXXVI.
XXXVIII.
XXXIX.

Secr. IV.

BAND FISH.
GOBY.
BULL-HEAD.
DOREE.
FLOUNDER.
GILT-HEAD.
WRASSE.
PERCH.
STICKLEBACK.
MACKREL.
SURMULLET.
GURNARD.

ABDOMINAL.

THE ventral fins placed behind the pectoral
fins, as in the Minow, jig. 6.

X

XL.
XLI.
XLII.
XLII.
XLIV.
XLV.
XLVI.
XLVITI.
XLVIII.

LOCHE.
SALMON.
PIKE.
ARGENTINE.
ATHERINE.
MULLET.
FLYING FISH.
HERRING.
CARP.

58

CETACEOUS FISHES. Cuass IV.

DIV. L

CETACEOUS FISHES.

NATURE on this tribe hath bestowed an in-
ternal structure in all respects agreeing with that
of quadrupeds ; and in a few the external parts
in both are similar.

Cetaceous Fishes, like land animals, breathe
by means of lungs, being destitute of gills. This
obliges them to rise frequently to the surface of
the water to respire; to sleep on the surface, as
well as to perform several other functions.

They have the power of uttering sounds, such
as bellowing and making other noises, a faculty
denied to genuine fishes. *

Like land animals they have warm blood, are
furnished with organs of generation, copulate,
bring forth, and suckle their young, shewing a
strong attachment to them.

Their bodies beneath the skin are entirely
surrounded with a thick layer of fat (blubber)
analogous to the lard on hogs.

The number of their fins never exceeds three,

* Pontop. Hist. Norw. 11.123. Blasius Anat. Animal. 288..

Sern =

CuassIV. CETACEOUS FISHES.

wiz. two pectoral fins, and one back fin; but in
some species the last is wanting.

Their tails are placed horizontally or flat in
respect to their bodies ; contrary to the direc-
tion of those of all other fishes, which have them
in a perpendicular site. This situation of the
tail enables them to force themselves suddenly
to the surface of the water to breathe, which
they are so frequently constrained to do.

Many of these circumstances induced Lin-
neéus to place this tribe among his AZammata,
or what other writers style quadrupeds.

To have preserved the chain of beings entire,
he should in this case have made the genus of
Phoce, or Seals, and that of the Trichecus or
Manati, immediately precede the whale, those
being the links that connect the AZammalia or
quadrupeds with the fishes; for the Seal is, in

respect to its legs, the most imperfect of the _

former class; and in the, Manati the hind feet
coalesce, assuming the form of a broad horizon-
tal tail.

Notwithstanding the many parts and proper- *

ties which cetaceous fishes have in common with
land animals, yet there still remain others, that
in a natural arrangement of the animal kingdom,
must determine us, after the example of the

59

60

CETACEOUS FISHES. Crass IV.

illustrious Ray,* to place them in the rank of
fishes; and for the same reasons, that first of
systematic writers assigns.

The form of their bodies agrees with that
of fishes.

They are entirely naked, or covered only with
a smooth skin.

‘They live entirely in the water, and have all
the actions of fishes.

* Who makes two divisions of fishes.

1. Pulmone respirantes.
2. Branchiis respirantes.

Criass IV.

GENUS I.

COMMON WHALE.

WHALE.

TEETH none, with horny lamine in their
mouths.

* Without a dorsal fin.

Muorinyros. Arist. hist. an.
Lib. UI. ¢. 12.

Musculus Plinii, Lib. XI. c.
37.
Balena. Rondel. 475. Gesner
Pisc. 114.
Balzena major, laminas cor-
neas in superiore maxilla
habens, fistula donata, bi-
pinnis. S2b. Phalain. 28.

Balzena vulgaris edentula, dor-
so non pinnato. Razz Syn.
pisc. 6.

Balzna. Rondel. 475. Wil.
Icth. 35.

_ The Whale. Marten’s Spitz-

berg. 130. Crantz’s Greenl. 1. Common.

I. 107.

La Baleine ordinaire. Brisson
Cet. 218.

Balzna fistula in medio capite,
dorso caudam versus acu-
minato. Arted. Syn. 106.
Sp. 106.

Balzna mysticetus. Gm. Lin.
223. Gronlands Walfisk.
Faun. Suec. No. 49.

Balena. Gronov. Zooph. 29.

Duhamel. Tr. des Pesches. iit.
sect. 10. 4. tab. 1.

La Baleine franche. De la Ce-
pede. Hist. des Cet. Tab.1.

Ss. 1.

Tus species is the largest of all animals.
Whales are even at present sometimes found in
the northern seas ninety feet in length; but
formerly they were taken of a much greater size,
when the captures were less frequent, and they

had time to grow.

Such is their bulk within

the arctic circle, but in the torrid zone, where

62.

DeEscrRIP-
TION.

COMMON WHALE. Crass IV.

they are unmolested, whales are still seen one
hundred and sixty feet long. *

The head is very much disproportioned to
the size of the body, being one-third of its
length’; the under lip is much broader than the
upper; the tongue is composed of a soft
spongy fat, capable of yielding five or six bar-
rels of oil; the gullet is very small for so vast
a fish, not exceeding four inches in width. In
the middle of the head are two orifices, through
which it spouts water to a vast height, and with
a great noise, especially when disturbed or
wounded. ‘The eyes are no larger than those
of an ox; on the back there is no fin, but on
the sides, beneath each eye, are two large ones;
the penis is eight feet in leneth, inclosed in a
strong sheath; the teats in the female are
placed in the lower part of the belly; the tail
is broad and semilunar. ‘This whale varies in
color; the back of some being red, the belly
generally white ; others are black, some mottled,

* Adanson’s voy. 174. From this account we find no reason
to disbelieve tte vast size of the indian whales, of whose bones
and jaws, both Sérabo, Lib. XV. and Phny, Lib. IX. e: 3.
relate, that the natives made their houses, using the jaws for
door-cases. This method of building was formerly practised by
the inhabitants of Greenlond, as we find from Frobisher, in his
second voyage, p. 18, published in 1587.

pony ate,

Cuass IV. COMMON WHALE. 65

and some quite white, according to the obser-
_ yation of Marten, who says, that their colors in
the water are extremely beautiful, and that their
skin is very smooth and slippery. |

The substance called* whalebone adheres to W#41z80nr.
the upper jaw, and is formed of thin parallella~ _
mine ; some of the longest four yards in length;
of these there are commonly 350 on each side,
but in very old fish more ; of these about 500 are
of a length fit for use, the others being too short;
they are surrounded with long strong hair, not
only that they may not hurt the tongue, but as
strainers to prevent the return of their food
when they discharge the water out of their
mouths. i

Tt is from these hairs that Aristotle gave the
name of Mvorixjros, or the bearded whale, to this
species, which he tells us had in its mouth hairs
instead of teeth;} and Pliny describes the same
under the name of Musculus.{ ‘Though the
antients were acquainted with this animal, yet

* Belon, who published his work ** Sur Ja Nature des Pois-
sons,’ in 1555, speaks of whalebone, ‘“ doné les dames font au-
jourdhuy leurs bustes et arrondissent leurs verdugades” by which
it appears the French were acquainted with that article at lest
forty years before we were.

f eri de uate wuorinyros ddovlos wey ev Tw oro mars Bx EX Ely
Texas Oe ouoims velas. Hist, an. Lib. Ill. c. 12.

{ Lib. XI. c. 37.

64

COMMON WHALE. Cutass IV.

as far as we recollect, they were ignorant of
their uses as well as capture. © d/drovand*
indeed describes from Oppian, what he mis-
takes for whale fishing; but he was deceived
by the word x;70s, which is used not only to
express whale in general, but any great fish.
The poet here meant the shark, and shews the
way of taking it, in the very manner practised at
present, by a strong hook baited with flesh. He
describes too its three-fold row of teeth, a cir-
cumstance that at once disproves its being a
whale :

Aewes yavalodovlas avaideas 7dr" anovlas,

Tororornel mepuwras ETAT TUTEDY THY AKRWHIS.

Halieut. V. lin. 526.

Whose dreadful teeth in triple order stand,
Like spears out of his mouth.

The whale, though so bulky an animal, swims
with vast swiftness, and generally against the
wind.

It brings only two young at a time, as we
believe is the case with all other whales.

Its food consists chiefly of the medusa or sea
blubber, and other Mollusca.

The great resort of this species is within the
arctic circle, but they sometimes visit our coasts.
Whether this was the British whale of the an-

* De Cetis. 261.

CuassIV. ‘COMMON WHALE.

tients we cannot pretend to say, only we find,
from a line in Juvenal, that it was of a very large
size ;

Quanto Delphinis Balena Britannica major.

Sat. X.

As much as British whales in size surpass
The dolphin race.

To view these animals in a commercial light,
we must add, that the English were late before
they engaged in the whale-fishery : it appears by
a set of queries, proposed by an honest mer-
chant in the year 1575, in order to get informa-
tion in the business, that we were at that time
totally ignorant of it, being obliged to send to
Biskaie for men skilful in the catching of the
whale, and ordering of the oil, and one cooper
skilful to set up the staved cask.* This seems
very strange; for by the account Octher
gave of his travels to king Alfred, near 700
years { before that period, it is evident that he
made that monarch acquainted with the Nor-
wegians practising the whale-fishery; but it
seems all memory of that gainful employ, as
well as of that able voyager Octher, and all his
important discoveries in the North were lost for
near seven centuries.

Tt was carried on by the Biscainers long

* Hackluyét’s Col. voy. I. 414. t Idem, I. 4.
VOL. 111, F

60

COMMON WHALE. Gtass IV.

before we attempted the trade, and that for the

sake not only of the oil, but also of the whale-
bone, which they seem to have long trafficked
in. The earliest notice we find of that article
in our trade is by Hackluyt,* who. says it was
brought from the Bay of St. Laurence by an
English ship that went there for the barbes and
fynnes of whales and train oil, A. D. 1594, and
who found there seven or eight hundred whale
Jynnes, part of the cargo of two great Biskaine
ships, that had been wrecked there three years
before. Previous to that, the ladies’ stays must
have been made of split cane, or some tough
wood, as Mr. Anderson observes in his Dic-
tionary of Commerce, } it being certain that the
whale fishery was carried on, for the sake of the
oil, long before the discovery of the use of whale-
bone. |

‘The great resort of these animals was found
to be on the inhospitable shores of Spitzbergen,
and the Huropean ships made that place their
principal fishery, and for numbers of years were
very successful: the English commenced that
business about the year 1598, and the town of
Full had the honor of first attempting that pro-
fitable branch of trade. At present it seems to
be on the decline, the quantity of fish being

* Hackluyé’s Col. voy. ILI. 194. + Vol. 1. 442.

CurassiV. COMMON WHALE. 67

ereatly reduced by the constant capture for
such a vast length of time: some recent ac-
counts inform us, that the fishers, from a defect
of whales, apply themselves to seal fishery, from
which animals they extract an oil. This we fear
will not be of any long continuance ; for these
shy and timid creatures will soon be induced to
quit thoses hores by being perpetually harassed,
as the morse or walrus has already in a great
measure done. Weare also told, that the poor
natives of Greenland begin even now to suffer
from the decrease of the seal in their seas, it
being their principal subsistence; so that should’
it totally desert the coast, the whole nation,
would be in danger of perishing through want.

In old times the whale seems never to have Rovat Fisu.
been taken on our coasts, but when it was acci-
dentally flung ashore: it was then deemed a
royal fish, * and the king and queen divided the
spoil; the king asserting his right to the head,
her majesty to the tail.

* Item habet warectum maris per totum regnum Badlenas et

Sturgiones captos, &c. Edwardi Il. anno 17mo.
+ Blackstone's Com. I. c. 4.

FQ

68

2. Fin.

Descrip-
TION.

FIN WHALE. Crass IV.

** With a dorsal fin or protuberance.f

Balzna edentula corpore stric- tubero pinniformi in extre-
tiore, dorso pinnato. Raz mo dorso. <Arted. syn. 107.
syn. pisc. Q. Balena Physalus. Gm. Lin.

Dale Harwich, 410. No. 2. 204.

Fin Fish. Marten’s Spitzberg. Balena Physalus. £. fistula
165. duplici in medio capite,

Egede Greenl. 65. Crantz dorso extremo pinna adi-
Greenl. I. 110. posa. Faun. Groenl. 35.

Balena tripinnis, ventre levi. La Baleinoptere Gibbar. De
Le Gibbar. Brisson Cet. la Cepede. Hist. des Cet.
222. 114."2abe LD. jen eee

Balzna fistula in medio capite

Tuts species is distinguished from the com-
mon whale by a fin on the back, placed very
low and near the tail.

In length it is equal to that of the common
kind, but much more slender. It is furnished
with whalebone in the upper jaw, mixed with
hairs, but short and knotty, and of little value.
The blubber also on the body of this kind is very
inconsiderable ; these circumstances, added to
its extreme fierceness and agility, which renders

t+ De la Cepede has formed a separate genus of this division,
under the name of Baleinoptere, but as the characters of the
Cetaceous tribe in the British Zoology are derived chiefly from
the teeth, the editor has not thought proper to multiply the
genera. Ep.

Cuass lV. FIN WHALE.

the capture very dangerous, cause the fishers to
neglect it: but the natives of Greenland hold it
in great esteem, as it affords a quantity of flesh,
which to their palate is very agreeable.

The lips are brown, and like a twisted rope:
the spout hole is as it were split in the top of its
head, through which it blows water with much
more violence, and to a greater height, than the
common whale. ‘The fishers are not very fond
of seeing it, for on its appearance the others
retire out of those seas. |

Some writers conjecture this species to have
been the veaass, and Physeter, or the blowing
whale of Oppian, lian, and Pliny ;* but since —
those writers have not left the lest description
of it, it is impossible to judge which kind they
meant; for in respect to the faculty of spouting
out water, or blowing, it is not peculiar to any
one species, but common to all the whale kind.

* Oppian, Halieut. 1. Lin. 368. lian Hist. an. ix. c. 49.
Plin. lib. ix. c. 5.

70

ROUND-LIPPED WHALE. Ctass IV.

3. Rounp- Balena tripinnis maxillam in-

LIPPED.

feriorem rotundam et supe-
riore multo latiorem habens.
Sib. Phalain. 78. tab. 3.
Raii syn. pisc. 16.
La Baleine a museau rond.
Brisson Cet. 222.

maxilla inferiore multo la-

Arted. syn. 107.

La Baleinoptere Rorqual. De
la Cepede. Hist. des Cet. 126.
tab. 1. fig. 3.

Ascan. icon. rer. nat. cah. 3.

tab. 26.

tiore.

Gm. Lin.

Balzena musculus.
226.

B. fistula duplici in fronte,

"THE character of this species is to have the
lower lip broader than the upper, and of a se-
micircular form.

That taken in 1692 near Abercorn-Castle,
was seventy-eight feet long, the circumference
thirty-five ; the rictus or gape very wide; the
tongue fifteen feet and a half long; the mouth

furnished with short whale-bone, about three

feet in length; on the forehead were two spout
holes of a pyramidal form; the eyeswere placed
thirteen feet from the end of the nose: the pec-
toral fins were ten feet long ; the back fin about
three feet high, placed near the tail, which was
eighteen feet broad : the belly was full of folds.
This species feeds principally on herrings.
[The Round-lipped Whale is frequently seen
in the Orkneys in the months of July and Au-
gust, when the seas and sounds abound with
herrings. ‘Two were thrown ashore there some
years ago, one in Hoy the other in Flotay ; the

Cuass1V. PIKE-HEADED WHALE.

length of which was not less than fifty feet; the
lips were very thick, and in the mouth, which
was very large, was a quantity of excellent
whalebone.* Ep.

Balena tripinnis nares habens rantia cornuiformi. Arted.
cum rostro acuto, et plicis Syn. 107.
in ventre. Sib. Phalain 29. Balena Boops. Gm. Lin. 225.
tab. 1. Balena Boops. B. fistula du-
Idem. Rati Syn. pisc. 16. plici, dorso extremo protu-
Pike-headed Whale. Dale berantia pinneformi, ca-
Harwich, 410. No. 3. pite recto obtuso, ventre
La Baleine a museau pointu. suleato. Faun. Groenl. 36.
Brisson Cet. 224. La Baleinoptere museau-poin-
Balena fistula duplici in ros- tu. De la Cepede. Hist. des
tro, dorso extremo protube- Cet. tab. 4. Sig. 2-4

THE length of that taken on the coast of
Scotland, as remarked by Sir Robert Sibbald,

71

4. PIKE-
HEADED.

SIzE.

was forty-six feet, and its greatest circumference ©

twenty.
The head was of an oblong form, sloping
down, and growing narrower to the nose, six

* Barry's Hist. of Orkney Islands, 298. It has also occa-
sionally wandered into the Mediterranean, &c.

+ This figure, which seems to represent the Pike-headed
Whale of the British Zoology, is essentially different from the
subject given under the same name in Tab. 8. of the Histoire
des Cetaceés, and which the editor conceives to be the Balena
rostrata of Fabricius. Whether the Baleinoptere jubarte of De
la Cepede, distinguished by a row of tubercles below the spout-
holes, is a species distinct from the Pike-headed Whale, remains
among the various uncertainties which attend the arrangement
of the cetaceous tribe. Ep.

DeEscrtip-
TION.

PIKE-HEADED WHALE. Cuass IV.

feet eight inches from the end of which were
two spout-holes, separated by a thin division ;
the eyes small. The pectoral fins five feet
long, and one and a half broad; on the back,
about eight feet and an half from the tail, in
lieu of a back fin, was a hard horny protu-
berance; the tail was nine feet and a half_
broad; the belly was uneven, and formed into
folds running lengthways ; the skin extremely
smooth and bright; that on the back black;
that on the belly white.

This species takes its name from the shape of
its nose, which Dale observes “ is like that of
the Pike fish.” ;

[A whale, probably of this species, which
was stranded in October 1808 on the barks of
the Forth near the town of Alloa, has been par-
ticularly described by Mr. Nez//in the Memoirs
of the /Vernerian Society, p. 201. Its length was
forty-three feet ; its greatest circumference twenty
feet; the dorsal fin, or rather horny protuberance,
was of a triangular shape, blunt in front, and
sloping to a thin edge behind, its height thirty
inches ; it was placed about twelve feet from
the extremity of the tail. The under jaw was
fourteen feet in length, and rather longer and
wider than the upper; in the latter were two
rows of short horny amine or whalebone, of a
dark color, shading to a greenish white in the

Crass IV. SHARP-NOSED WHALE.

thinner parts. ‘The skin of the thorax and the
fore part of the belly was plaited or folded ; the
sulci, twenty-four in number, extended from the
lower lip, to nearly four feet beyond the pectoral
fins; the tongue was black, large, soft, and
smooth. In the color of the body and general
character it corresponded with the specimen
noticed by Stbbald. The ingenious secretary of
the /Vernerian Society has distinguished this
by the name of the Fin Whale, but as this appel-
lation has been given to a species with a smooth
belly or devoid of fold, the editor has rather
referred it to the Pike-headed Whale of the
British Zoology. Ep.

Balena rostrata. B. rostro tro longissimo et acutissimo.
strictiore, dorso pinnato, la- Mull. Zool. Dan. prod. 7.
minis oris albis. Faun? ‘La Baleinoptere museau poin-
Groenl. 40. tw. Dela Cepede Hist. des

Balzena rostrata. Gm. Lin. — Cet. 134. tab. 8.

296. Hunter in Ph. Trans. 373.

Balena (rostrata) minina, ros- tab. 20, 21, 22.

[THIS is the smallest of the whale tribe, sel-
dom exceeding the length of twenty-five feet.
Its beak or the extremity of the mouth is singu-
larly prolonged, the upper jaw shorter and
narrower than the lower; the pectoral fin is

* The editor has given this trivial name to prevent its being
confounded with the Beaked Whale of the former edition of the
British Zoology, and which he has, with some hesitation, refer-
red to the new genus of Hyperoodon. Ep.

73

5. SHARP-
NoseEp.*

DEscrIpP-
TION.

74

SHARP-NOSED WHALE. Crass IV.

placed at nearly equal distances between the
belly and the ridge of the back; the dorsal
fin is immediately over the line of the anus,
triangular, notched, and rather bending towards
the tail; the tongue is remarkably thick and
fleshy ; the under side of the throat, and the
anterior part of the body, is plaited longitu-
dinally, which gives the animal an opportu-
nity of distending the skin, when the pouch
or bladder, with which nature has furnished
it, is inflated by the admission of air; the
purpose of this pouch is not clearly understood,
but it appears calculated to counteract the weight
of the bones of the head, and to occasion the
velocity of swimming for which it is remarkable.
The folds of the plaited skin are red, as is a
portion of the upper lip; the upper part of the
body is a deep black, the lower white, agree-
ably clouded with darker shades; the pectoral
fins are white in the middle, black at the extre-
mity and base. —

The specimen described by Hunter in the
Philosophical Transactions was caught near the
Dogger Bank ; it is said not to be uncommon
in the British channel. Its flesh is esteemed a
delicacy by the Greenlanders, who pursue it
with great zeal, but generally without effect
from the extreme velocity with which it swims.
Ep.

~

CrassIV. UNICORN NARWHAL. 75

GENUS Il. NARWHAL.

** With teeth.

TEETH: one, sometimes two, issuing out of
the upper jaw, direct, straight, long, spiral.
SPIRACLE, on the head.

‘Monodon Monoceros. M. WW. 1Ooe: 2 1. UNnIcOoRN.
dente cornuformi spirali, ra- Faun. Suec. 48.
tius duplici, recto, prelon- Le Narwal vulgaire. Cepede

- go, exserto in maxilla supe- Hist. des Cet. 139. tab. 5.
riore. Faun. Groen. 29. fige 2:

Gm. Lin. 222. Small headed Narwal. Flem-

M. piscis e genere cetaceo. ing in Mem. Wern. Soe. 131.
Wil. icth. 42. tab. 6.

Rait Syn. pise. ii. Artedi. Gen. 78. Syn. 108.

Narwhal. Klein. miss. pisc. Arct. Zool. ii. 349.

[TWO instances only have occurred of the
Narwhal having been observed on the coast

of Great Britain. One was cast on the shore

near Boston in Lincolnshire, in February 1800,

and was exhibited in many parts of the king-

dom. ‘The length of its body was nearly seven- Descrir-
teen feet, that of the tooth seven feet six inches; ™°*”
its girth was eight feet; the skin smooth and
polished. A drawing of this specimen was

76

UNICORN NARWHAL. Crass IV.

communicated by Sir Joseph Banks to dela Ce-
pede, who describes it (unnecessarily) as a di-
stinct species under the name of Je Narwal
Microcephale, and ignorant of English geogra-
phy, has transferred the place of its discovery to
Boston in America.

Another was found on the beach of the Sound of
Weesdale in Zetland in September 1808, and has
been accurately described by the reverend John
Fleming in the Memoirs of the WVernerian So-
ciety. It measured only twelve feet from the
snout to the notch which divides the tail; the
external length of the tooth was twenty-seven
inches, of the part inserted in the socket twelve
inches ; the head occupied a seventh part of the
total length of the body ; the forehead, on which
was a mass of fat like a cushion, rose suddenly
from the snout; on an elevated part above
were placed the spiracles or blow-holes, which
were separated in their passage through the
skull, but united before they reached the exter-
nal opening. The back swelled gradually to
within a few inches beyond the pectoral fins ;
on the belly was a ridge which extended from the
anus to the tail; on the back was a corresponding
ridge and two on the sides, which gave the pos-
terior part of the body a quadrangular appear-
ance. The mouth was rather pointed, the

Crass IV. UNICORN NARWHAL.

opening small; the upper lip longest. The eye
was about an inch diameter, situated behind the
opening of the mouth, and nearly under the spi-
racle; the pupil black, the irides chesnut. The
pectoral fins, or the organs which serve the
purpose, were small in proportion to the size of
the animal, measuring only fifteen inches in
length, and six inches in the broadest part.
The tail, as in all the cetaceous tribe, was placed
horizontally, and had a slight indentation; the
lobes were equal, and the distance between
their extreme parts was thirty-two inches. The
color of the upper part of the body was a dusky
black, variegated with obscure darker spots ;
on the sides were numerous longitudinal spots;
the belly was white. The outer skin was thin,
pellucid, and easily separated; the true skin
was nearly a quarter of an inch thick, and
closely united with the layer of fat which enve-
loped the whole body.

The subject here described had neither at-
tained its size or due proportions, as the Nar-
whal grows to the length of more than twenty
feet and its tooth to that of ten. This generally

issues out of the left side of the nose, while a

small one is concealed under the muscles on
the right; but there are instances of both teeth
growing to the same length.

77

78

UNICORN NARWHAL, Cuass IV;

The Narwhal inhabits the northern seas from
Norway to within the Arctic circle, is plentiful
in Dacis’s Straits and the north of Greenland,
where the natives for want of wood make rafters
of its teeth. These, in old times, were imposed
upon the world as the horns of the unicorn, and
sold at a high price. There is a magnificent
throne made of this species of ivory for the Da-
nish monarchs, which is still preserved in the
castle at Rosenberg. Ep. |

P1.vil.

HBRADED CACHALOT.

BLUNT

SS

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M1,

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Het Hh
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if

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ity
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NH
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i
Ahly
Hatin
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Hy)
i
nH

Hi
iit

—————

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Crass IV. BLUNT-HEADED CACHALOT.

GENUS Ill. CACHALOT. —

Teers in the lower jaw only.

Trumpa. Purchass’s Pilgrimes
ili. 471.

Balena major in inferiore tan-
tum maxilla dentata denti-
bus arcuatis falciformibus,
pinnam sive spinam in dorso
habens. Sib. Phalain. 43.
tab. A. 1.

Rau Syn. pisc. 15.

Le cachalot a dents en faus
cilles. Brisson Cet. 229.

Le Cachalot Trompo. De la

Cepede. Hist. des Cet. 212. 1. Buunt-

tab. 10. f. 2.2

The Parmacitty Whale, or
Pot Wal Fish. Dale Har-
wich, 413.

Physeter microps. Arted. Syn.
104. ,

Physeter macrocephalus. (7)
Gm. Lin. 227. -

Cashalot, Catodon, or Pot
Fish. Craniz Greenl. i.
112. ;

A FISH of this kind was* cast ashore on Cra-
mond Isle, near Edinburgh, December 224,
1769; its length was fifty-four feet, the great-
est circumference, which was just beyond the
eyes, thirty; the upper jaw was five feet longer

than the lower, whose length was ten feet.

The head was of a most enormous size, very
thick, and above one-third the size of the fish ;
the end of the upper jaw was quite blunt, and

* Mr. Barry informs us that this species is not unfrequently
thrown on the shores of the Orkney isles. Eo.

it }

‘eg

xcegttn

nee
a

HEADED.

DEscriPs
TION.

80

BLUNT-HEADED CACHALOT. Cuass IV.

nearly nine feet high; the spout-hole was
placed near the end of it. The teeth were
placed in the lower jaw, twenty-three on each
side, all pointing outwards; in the upper jaw,
opposite to them, were an equal number of
cavities, in which the ends of the teeth lodged
when the mouth was closed. The tooth, figured
in Plate iii. fig. 2. is eight inches long, the great-
est circumference the same; it is hollow within
side for the depth of three inches, and the mouth
of the cavity very wide; thickest at the bot-
tom, and grows very small at the point, bend-
ing very much; in some the flexure is more
than in others. These, as well as the teeth of
all other whales we have observed, are very
hard, and cut like ivory. The eyes are very
small, and remote from the nose; the pectoral
fins were placed near the corners of the mouth,
and only three feet long; it had no other fin,
only a large* protuberance on the middle of the
back; the tail a little forked, and fourteen feet
from tip to tip. The penis seven feet and a
half long.

* This circumstance gives us reason to suppose that the
species here described was the third variety (7) of the Physeter
macrocephalus of Gmelin and Le Cachalot Trumpo of de la
Cepede, p. 212; le Cachalot macrocephale of the latter author,
being provided with the rudiment and appearance of a true dor-

sal fin. Ep.

Crass IV. BLUNT-HEADED CACHALOT.

The figure,* we borrowed from a print in
the sixtieth volume of the Philosophical Trans-
actions, p. 321, where there is a very good
account of this species by Mr. James Robert-
son, surgeon.

This is one of the species which yield what

$1

is improperly called sperma cetz ; that substance Srermacett.

being found lodged in the head and other parts
of the fish that form this genus, which the
French call Cachalot, a name we have adopted,
having no general term for it in our tongue. T

Linneus informs us, that it pursues and terri-
fies the Porpesses to such a degree as often to
drive them on shore.

® Plate ii.

t It also produces the noted perfume called Ambergris, which
is found in masses of various sizes in the intestines, and appears
to be indurated feces, the result of some peculiar disease. Ep.

VOL. Ilf. G

82

ROUND-HEADED CACHALOT. Ciass IV.

2. Rounp- Balena minor in inferiore Le Cachalot Svineval. De la

HEADED.

Descrip-
TION.

maxilla tantum dentata sine Cepede Hist. des Cet. 216.
spina aut pinna in dorso. Physeter Catodon. Gm. Lin.
Sib. Phalain. 9. 226.
Rati Syn. pisc. 15. Catodon fistula in rostro. Ar-

Le petit Cachalot. Brisson ted. synon. 108.
Cet. 226.

Tuts species was taken on one of the Orkney
isles, a hundred and two of different sizes being
cast.ashore at one time, the largest measuring
twenty-four feet in length.

The head was round, the opening of the
mouth small: Szbdald says .it had no spout
hole, but only nostrils. We rather think, that
the former being placed at the extremity of the
nose was mistaken by him for the latter. The
teeth we have in our cabinet of this species* are
an inch and three quarters long, and in the
largest part, of the thickness of a man’s thumb ;
the top is quite flat, and marked with concen-
tric lines; the bottom is ‘more slender than the
top, and pierced with a small orifice. The back
fin was wanting; instead of it was a rough

space.
* Plate iii. fig. 4.

€xrassIV. HIGH-FINNED CACHALOT.

Balena macrocephala tripin- Physeter Tursio. Gm. Lin.

nis, que in mandibula infe- 229.?

riore dentes habet minus in- Le Cachalot a dents plattes.
flexos et in planum desi- Brisson Cet. 230.

nentes. Sil. Phalain. 18. Le Physetere* Mular. De la
Razzi Syn. pisc. 16. Cepede. Hist. des Cet. 239.

ONE of this species was cast on the Orkney

83

3. Hicu-
FINNED.

isles in 1687. ‘The spout-hole was placed in _ Descriv.

front, and on the middle of the back was a high
fin, which Szbbald compares to the mizen mast
of aship. The head abounded with sperma ceti
of the best sort. ‘The teeth of this kind are
very slightly bent ; that which we have figured t
is seyen inches three-quarters in length; the
greatest circumference nine: it is much com-
pressed on the sides; the point rather blunt
than ‘flat; the bottom thin, having a very nar-
row but long orifice, or slit, hollowed to the

depth of five inches and a quarter, and the

tooth immersed in the jaw as far as that
hollow.

* De la Cepede has placed this species in a distinct genus, in
consequence of its having a dorsal fin, with which the Cachalot
is not provided. Ep.

_ t Plate iii. fig. 1.

Lhe)

G

TION.

$4

-4. Two-

TOOTHED.

Descrip-
TION.

TWO-TOOTHED CACHALOT. Ctass IV.

Physeter bidens. Sowerby Br. ‘Cepede. Hist. des Cet. 309.
Misc. tab. 1. Hunter in Ph. Trans. 1787.
Le Dauphin Diodon. De la 373. tab. 19.*

(THIS species seems to unite the Cachalot with
the Dolphin genus; the general form of the
body strongly resembles the characteristic ap-
pearance of the latter. The snout is flattened
and prolonged like that of the common Dolphin.
The teeth placed near the extremity of the
lower jaw are pointed ; the forehead is convex ;
the greatest circumference of the body is near
the pectoral fins, which are small and oval;
the dorsal fin is situated near the tail, and is
rather pointed and bent backwards. Thé gene-
ral color is a blackish brown, growing lighter
towards the belly. The specimen described by
the late John Hunter did not exceed eleven
feet, and that figured by Sowerby, which was
caught on the coast of Scot/and, did not measure
more than sixteen feet; but it probably grows
to a much greater size. Ep. | |

* Our illustrious naturalist refers this to the Bottle-head of
Dale. The greatest uncertainty still attends the arrangement of
the cetaceous tribe, and is likely to continue, from the difficulty
of examining these monsters of the deep, and from the avidity
with which they are mutilated, for the sake of their blubber,
when they are accidentally thrown on our shores. Eb.

Crass IV. BOTTLE-HEAD HYPEROODON.

GENUS IV. HYPEROODON.*

TEETH or protuberances on the palate.
Frn dorsal, one.

85

Hyperoodon Butskopf. Dela Goose-beaked Whale. Pontop. 1. Borriz-

~ Cepede. Hist. des Cet. 319. Norway, 123.

Butskopf. Marten’s Spitzberg. But-head. Egede’s Greenland.
124, 75.

Bottle-head, or Flounders- Beaked Whale. Brit. Zool.

head. Dale’s Harwich, 411. 4to. ili. 53.

tab. 14.

Tuts species was taken near AZaldon, 1717,
and thus described by Dale and Marten.

- The length was fourteen feet, the circum-
ference seven and an half; the body very thick ;
the head like that of a dolphin; the forehead
high, the nose depressed, and of the same thick-
hess in its whole length, not unlike the beak
of a bird ; in the mouth were no teeth; the eyes
were large, the eyelids small, and placed a little
above the line of the mouth; the spout-hole
was on the top of the head, semicircular, with
the corners pointed towards the tail. The pec-

* A genus formed by de la Cepede from the circumstance of
the teeth being placed upon the palate. En.

HEAD.

Descrir-
TION.

s4 ¥ ;

BOTTLE-HEAD HYPEROODON. Cu. IV.

toral fins were seventeen inches long; the back
fin was placed rather nearer the tail than the
head, and was a foot long; the breadth of the
tail was three feet two inches.

These fish sometimes grow to the length of
twenty feet; they make but little noise in blow-
ing, are very tame, come very near the ships,
and will accompany them for a great way. F

(A fish, which we presume to be of this spe-
cies, was found on the recess of the tide in the
new cut of the river Dee, below Chester, in
October 1785; its length was twenty-four feet,
but the girth did not exceed twelve feet. In_
the periodical papers of the time it is described
as having no ¢eeth but a vast quantity of small
irregular sharp protuberances in the orifice of
the throat, and ten strong hard protuberant bones
placed horizontally in the upper and under jaw;
the eyes were of the size of those of an ox and
situated near the mouth; the nose was hard
and prominent; the body covered with a thin
skin.

Two others, probably a dam and its cub,
were left on the sands below Ader in Caer-
narvonshire, on the recess of the tide, in the .
year 1799. One was about twenty-seven feet
in length, the other eighteen; the extent of
the tail of the larger was six feet. In the

TEETH OF CETACEOUS FISH.

I

i: ==
ESB cone
S
—— >
=}

Ct. IV. BOTTLE-HEAD HYPEROODON.

stomach of one was a prodigious quantity of
the undigested remains of the Sepa Loligo,
_ which forms the principal food of most of the
whale tribe. Unfortunately they were so much
mutilated when the reverend Hugh Davies had
an opportunity of seeing them, that he was
unable to form any particular description. Ep.

87

1. COMMON.

COMMON DOLPHIN. Cudss IV.

GENUS V. DOLPHIN.

TEETH in both jaws.

Acagis. Arist. Hist. an. lib.
vi. c. 12. Acagh. SAGlian
lib. i. c. 18.

Delphinus Pliniz, lib. ix. c.8.

Le Daulphin, ou oye de mer.
Belon Poiss. 7.

Delphinus. Rondel. 459. Ges-
ner pisc. 319. Catt opusc.
113;

Delphinus Antiquorum. /V7/.
Icth. 28. Raw Syn. pisc.

Delphinus corpore longo sub-
tereti, rostro longo acuto.
Arted. Syn. 105.

Le Dauphin. Brisson Cet. 233.

De la Cepede. Hist. des Cet.
250. tab. 15. f. 1.

Delphinus Delphis. Gm. Lin.
230. :

Dolphin. Borlase Cornwall,
264. tab. 27. Crantz. Greenl.
i. Uae ;

12.

HisTorraNns and philosophers seem to
have contended who should invent most fables
concerning this fish. It was consecrated to the
Gods, was celebrated in the earliest time for
its fondness of the human race, was honored
with the title of the Sacred Fish,* and distin-
guished by those of Boy-loving, and Philan-
thropist. It gave rise to a long train of inven-
tions, proofs of the credulity and ignorance
ef the times.

* Atheneus, 281.

Cuass IV. COMMON DOLPHIN.

Aristotle steers the clearest of all the antients
from these fables, and gives in general so faith-
ful a natural history of this animal, as evinces
the superior judgment of that great philosopher,
in comparison to those who succeeded him,
But the elder Pliny, Aslian, and others, seem
to preserve no. bounds in their belief of the
tales related of this fish’s attachment to man-
kind.

Pliny* the younger (apologizing for what he
is going to say) tells the story of the enamoured
dolphin of Hippo in a most beautiful manner.
It is too long to be transcribed, and would be
injured by an abridgment; therefore we refer
the reader to the original, or to Mr. LEO s
elegant translation.

Scarcely an accident could happen at sea but
the dolphin offered himself to convey to shore
the unfortunate. Arion, the musician, when
flung into the ocean by the pirates, is received
and saved by this benevolent fish. |

Inde (fide majus) tergo Delphina recurvo,
Se memorant oneri supposuisse novo,
Ille sedens citharamque tenens, pretiumque vehendi
aa es zquoreas carmine mulcet aquas.
Ovid. Fasti, lib, it. 113.

Tie * Epist. hb. ix. ep. 33.

90

COMMON DOLPHIN. Crass IV.
- But (past belief) a Dolphin’s arched back

Preserved Arion from his destined wrack ;
Secure he sits, and with harmonious strains
Requites his bearer for his friendly pains.

We are at a loss to account for the origin of
those fables, since it does not appear that the
dolphin shews a greater attachment to mankind
than the rest of the cetaceous tribe. We know
that at present the appearance of this fish, and
the porpesse, are far from being esteemed favor-.
able omens by the seamen; for their bound-
ings, springs, and frolics in the water, are held
to be sure signs of an approaching gale.

It is from their leaps out of that element that
they assume a temporary form that is not natu-
ral to them, but which the old painters and
sculptors have almost always given them. A

dolphin is scarcely ever exhibited by the

antients in a strait shape, but incurvated:
such are those on the coin of Alexander the
Great, which is preserved by Belon, as well as
on several other pieces of antiquity. The poets
describe them much in the same manner, and it
is not improbable but that the one had borrowed
from the other :

Tumidumque pando transilit dorso mare
Tyrrhenus omni piscis exsultat freto,

Agitatque gyros.
Senec. Trag. Agam. 450.

CrassIV. COMMON DOLPHIN.

Upon the swelling waves the dolphins shew
Their bending backs, then swiftly darting go,
And in a thousand wreaths their bodies throw.

91

The natural shape of the dolphin is almost Descrir-

strait, the back being very slightly incurvated,
and the body slender ; the nose is long, narrow,
and pointed, not much unlike the beak of some
birds, for which reason the french call it L’ oye
de mer. It has in the upper jaw from twenty-four
to thirty teeth on each side, and in the lower
from twenty to twenty-six on each side, making,
in the whole, from eighty-eight to one hundred
and twelve.* These teeth are rather above an
inch long, conic at their upper end, sharp
pointed,t bending a little. They are placed
at small distances from each other, so that
when the mouth is shut, the teeth of both
jaws lock into one another. ‘The spout-hole is
placed in the middle of the head. The back
fin is high, triangular, and placed rather nearer
to the tail than to the head; the pectoral fins
situated low ; the tail is semilunar; the skin is

* The above numbers are given on the authority of the reve-
rend Hugh Davies, who, in the year 1793, had an opportunity of
éxamining near a dozen of the species which were. cast ashore
near Caernarvon. Eb.

¢ Plate 3. fig. 5.

TION.

92

COMMON DOLPHIN. Crass IV.

smooth, the color of the back and sides dusky ;
the belly whitish. |

It swims with great swiftness: its prey is
fishes. |

It was, in the reign of queen Elizabeth,
reckoned a great delicacy: Doctor Caius*
says, that one which was taken in his time,
was thought a present worthy the Duke of
Norfolk, who distributed part of it among his
friends. It was roasted and dressed with por-
pesse sauce, made of crumbs of fine white
bread, mixed with vinegar and sugar.

This species of dolphin must not be con-
founded with that to which seamen give the
name, the latter being quite another kind of
fish, the Coryphena Hippuris of Linneéus,} and
the Derado of the Portuguese, described by
Willughby, p. 213.

* Opusc. 116. + Gm. Lin. 1189.

-Cuass IV.

Suxowa. Arist. hist. an. lib.
vi. c. 12. Tursio Plinia,
hb. ix. c. 9.

Le Marsouin. Belon.

Tursio. Rondel. 474. Gesner

pisc. 711.

Porpesse. W711. Icth. 31. Ratt —

Syn. pise. 13. Crantz’s
Greenl. i. 114. -Kollen’s
Hist. Cape, ii. 200.

Le Marsouin. Bloch. icht. 111.

PORPESSE DOLPHIN.

93

Le Marsouin. Brisson Cet. 2. Porpzsse.

234.
De la Cepede. Hist. des Cet.
287. tab. 15. fig. 2.

-Delphinus corpere fere coni-

formi, dorso lato, rostro sub-
acuto. Arted. Synon. 104.
Delphinus Phocena. Gm. Lin.
220.
Marswin, Tumblare.
Suec. No. 51.

Faun.

tab. 92.

PORPESSES are found in vast multitudes in
all parts of the sea that washes these islands, but
in greatest numbers at the time when fish of
passage appear, such as mackrel, herrings, and
salmon, which they pursue up the bays with the
same eagerness as a pack of dogs does a hare.
In some places they almost darken the sea as
they rise above water to take breath: they
not only seek for prey near the surface, but
often descend to the bottom in search of sand
eels, and sea worms, which they root out of the
sand with their noses in the same manner as
hogs do in the fields for their food.

Their bodies are very thick towards the head,
but grow slender towards the tail, forming the
figure of a cone. ‘The nose projects a little, is

Descrir-
TION,

O4

“PORPESSE DOLPHIN. Crass IV.

much shorter than that of the dolphin, and is
furnished with very strong muscles, which en-
ables it the readier to turn up the sand. In
each jaw are forty-eight teeth, small, sharp
pointed, and a little moveable; like those of
the dolphin, they are so placed, that the teeth —
of one jaw lock into those of the other, when
closed. The tongue is flat, pectinated at the
edges, and fastened down to the bottom of
the mouth; the eyes are small; the spout-
hole on the top of the head; on the back is
one fin placed rather below the middle; on
the breast are two fins; the tail is semilunar.
The color of the porpesse is generally black,
and the belly whitish, not but that they some-
times vary, for in the river S¢. Laurence there
is a white kind, and Doctor Borlase, in his voy-
age to the Sci/ly isles, observed a small species
of cetaccous fish, which he calls thornbacks,
from their broad and sharp fin on the back,
some of these were brown, some quite white,
others spotted; but whether they were only
a variety of this fish, or whether they were
small grampuses, which are also spotted, we
cannot determine.

The porpesse is remarkable for the vast
quantity of the fat or lard that surrounds the
body, which yields excellent oil: from this lard,

Cuass IV. PORPESSE DOLPHIN.

or from their rooting like swine, they are called
in many places sea hogs; the Germans call
them meerschwein; the Swedes, marsuin; and
the English, porpesse, from the Italian, porco
pesce.

It would be curious to trace the revolutions
of fashion in the article of eatables ; what epi-
cure first rejected the Sea-Gull and Heron ;
and what delicate stomach first nauseated the
greasy flesh of the Porpesse. ‘This latter was
once a royal dish, even as late as the reign of
Henry VIII. and from its magnitude must have
held a very respectable station at the table; in
a houshold book of that prince, extracts of
which are published in the third volume of the
Archeéologia, it is ordered that if a Porpesse
should be too big for a horse-load, allowance
should be made to the purveyor. I find that
this fish continued in vogue even in the reign of
Elizabeth.

95

96

GRAMPUS DOLPHIN. Cuiass IV.

GRAN ue@rca Pm Lbs ck b.

Descrir-
TION.

L’oudre ou grand marsouin.
Belon, 13.

Orca. Rondel. 483. Gesner
pisc. 635. Leper, Springer,
Schonevelde, 53.

Butskopf. Marten’s Spitzberg.
93.

Balena minor utraque maxilla
dentata. Sib. Phalain. 17,

18. Wil, Icth. 40. Rait
Syn. pisc. 15.
L’Epaulard. Brisson Cet. 236.
Le Dauphin Orque. De la
Cepede. Hist. des Cet. 208-
tab. 15. fig. 1.
Delphinus crea.
231.
Lopare, Delphinus rostro sur-

Gm. Lin.

sum repando, dentibus latis:

serratis. Arted. Syn, 106.

Tuts species is found from the length of
fifteen feet to that of twenty-five. It is remark-
ably thick in proportion to its length, one of
eighteen feet being in the thickest place ten
feet diameter. With reason then did Piiny call
this an immense heap of flesh, armed with
dreadful teeth.* It is extremely voracious, and
will not even spare the porpesse, a congenerous
fish. It is said to be a great enemy to the
whale, and to fasten on it like a dog on a bull,
till the animal roars with pain.

The nose is flat, and turns up at the end.
There arey thirty teeth in each jaw; those before

* Cujus imago nulla representatione exprimi possit alia, quam
Lib. TX. c. 6.
+ Artedi counted forty in the lower jaw: in a specimen pre-

served in the French museum, the number of teeth in each jaw
did not exceed twenty-two. Eb.

carnis immense dentibus truculentis.

CuassI1V. GRAMPUS DOLPHIN.

are blunt, round, and slender; the farthest
sharp and thick; between each is a space
adapted to receive the teeth of the opposite
jaw when the mouth is closed; the spout-hole
is in the top of the neck. In respect to the
number and site of the fins, it agrees with the
dolphin. The color of the back is black, but on
each shoulder is a large white spot, the sides
marbled with black and white, the belly of a
snowy whiteness.
_ These sometimes appear on our coasts, but
are found in much greater numbers. off the
North Cape in Norway, whence they are called
the* North Capers. ‘These and all other whales
are observed to swim against the wind, and to
be much disturbed, and tumble about with un-
usual violence at the approach of a storm.
Linneéus and. Artedi say, that this species is
furnished with broad serrated teeth, which as
far as we have observed, is peculiar to the
shark tribe. We therefore suspect that those
naturalists have had recourse to Rondeletius,
and copied his erroneous account of the teeth :
* The Synonym of Nordkaper is affixed by Fabricius in the
Fauna Groenlandica, p. 39. to the Balena musculus, but he
adds “* De synonymis ejus maxime hereo, dum etiam apud auc-
‘tores mira confusio eorum.” De la Cepede (Hist. des Cet. 103.

tab. 2. 3.) gives it as the trivial name of his second species of
whale, the variety 8 of the Balena mysticetus of Gmelin. Ep.

VOL. III. H

97

98

GRAMPUS DOLPHIN. Cuass IV.

Sir Robert Sibbald, who had an opportunity of
examining and figuring the teeth of this fish,
and from whom we take that part of our de-
scription, giving a very different account of —
them. It will be but justice to observe, that no
one of our countrymen ever did so much to-
wards forming a general natural history of this
kingdom as Sir Robert Sibbald: he sketched
out a fine outline of the Zoology of Scotland,
which comprehends the greatest part of the
English animals, and, we are told, had actually
filled up a considerable part of it: he published
a particular history of the county of Fife, and
has left us a most excellent account of the whales
which frequent the coast of Scotland. We ac-
knowledge ourselves much indebted to him for
information in respect to many of those fish,
few of which frequent the southern seas of these
kingdoms, and those that are accidentally cast
ashore on our coasts, are generally cut up by
the country people, before an opportunity can
be had of examining them,

CuassIV. GLADIATOR DOLPHIN.

Delphinus dorsi pinna altissi- Cranéz’s Greenland. 152.
ma, dentibus subconicis pa- L’Epeede mer. Brisson. Cet.
rum incurvis. Muller Zool. 235.

Dan. 8. - Le Dauphin gladiateur. De la

99

4. GuapDi-
ATOR.

Delphinus Orca. 6. Gm. Lin. Cepede. Hist. des Cet. 302.

231. tab. 5. fig. 5.
Martens Spitzbergen. 84.

[THIS is chiefly distinguished from the pre-

ceding species, of which it has been considered
as a variety, by the situation and form of the
dorsal fin, it being placed near the head, and
its shape resembling that of a sabre. The
snout is short and apparently truncated; the
jaws of equal length; the teeth sharp; the
pectoral fin is above two yards in length,
and one in breadth; the tail exceeds ten feet
between the extremities of the two lobes. The
color of the upper part of the body is dark
brown approaching to black; that of the under
side a pure white; a black band extends from
the tail towards the pectoral fin; between the
eye and the dorsal fin is a white crescent.

Six of these fish came up the Thames in
1793, one of which, after making considerable
resistance, was taken near Greenwich ; it mea-
sured thirty-one feet in length and twelve in its
greatest circumference. Ep.

H 2

100

CARTILAGINOUS FISHES. Cuass IV.

Div. Il.

CARTILAGINOUS FISHES.

THIS title is given to all fishes whose muscles
are supported by cartilages instead of bones,
and comprehends the same genera to which
Linneus has given the name of amphibia
nantes: but the word amphibia ought properly
to be confined to such animals who inhabit both
elements, and can live without any inconveni-
ence for a considerable time, either on land
or under water; such as tortoises, frogs, and
several species of lizards ; and among the qua-
drupeds, hippopotami, seals, &c. &c. This
definition therefore excludes all that form this
division. |

Many of the cartilaginous fishes are vivi-
parous, being excluded from an egg, which is
hatched within them.* The egg consists of

* There is evident proof that the Picked Shark, and probably
the White, the Basking, and many others, are oviviviparous, or
hatch the young within them, whilst the Spotted shark deposits

its purse or egg in the same manner as the Ray tribe. In the

Philosophical Transactions of 1810, part 2. p. 205. is a most in-

Crass IV. CARTILAGINOUS FISHES.

a yolk, and is lodged in a case, formed of a
thick tough substance, not unlike softened horn:
such are the eggs of the Ray and Shark kinds.

Some again differ in this respect, and are
Oviparous ; such is the Sturgeon, and others.

The young of the Shark genus will, like those
of the Viper, take refuge in the stomach of the
parent, on the apprehension of danger. If they
are cut out while the old one is alive, they
‘ appear active and vigorous, but as they exist
by the air which she inhales, they cease to live
as soon as she ceases to breathe. I have seen
thirty-six, each about ten inches long, taken
out of the stomach of the Tope Shark.

Cartilaginous fishes breathe through certain
apertures, placed either beneath, as in the Rays;
on the sides, as in the Sharks, &c; or on the
top of the head, as in the Pipe-fish; for they
have not covers to their gills like the bony
fishes.

_ genious treatise by Everard Home, Esq. on this subject, and on
the aeration of the foetal blood in different classes of animals.
Ep.

101

102

1. SEA.

¥

SEA LAMPREY. Crass IV.

GENUS VI. LAMPREY.

Bopy slender, eel-shaped. ey
APERTURES seven on each side : ; one on the
top of the head. Mig |

“ADR Laer
Fins pectoral or ventral, none. — ay

Fe -
x eel

La Lamproye de mer. Belon, Petromyzon marinus. P. ore

66. intus papilloso, , pinna dorsali
Lampetra. Rondel. 398. _ posteriori a cauda distincta,
Lampreda. Gesner. Paralip. Gm. Lin. 1513. Faun. Suec.

22. Pisce. 590.x No. 292. v
Lamprey, or Lamprey Eel. La Lamproie. Bloch. ichth. ii.
Wil. Icth. 105. 31. tab. 77.
Lampetra. Rai Syn. pisc.35. Le Petromyzon Lamproic, Pe...
Petromyzon maculosus ordini- —_ Ja ee Hist. des . Re
bus dentium circiter vigintl. sons. 1.3. tab. 1. fae Shep :
Arted. synon. 90.

a
icy

Lampreys are found at dBitain seasons of

t

the year in several of our rivers, | but the Sclera

is the most noted for them.* They are a sea
fish, but, like salmon, quit the salt waters, and
ascend rivers the latter end of the winter, or
beginning of spring, and after a stay of a few
months return again to the ocean, a very few

* They are also found in the most considerable of the Scotch
and Irish rivers.

ee

x

aM

VOL.3.P.102.

(Lol'd) “AAWAWVT AdIud

aa

(90t'a) "KaWaWVI WASSa'T

AGQAMWVT Vas

Crass IV. SEA LAMPREY.

excepted. The best season for them is in the
months of Adarch, April, and May ; for they
are more firm when just arrived out of the salt
water than they are afterwards, being observed
to be much wasted, and very flabby at the
approach of hot weather. ‘They are taken in
nets along with salmon and shad, and sometimes
in weels laid in the bottom of the river.

It has been an old custom for the city of
Gloucester, annually, to present his majesty
with a lamprey pye, covered with a large raised
crust. As the gift is made at Christmas, it is
with great difficulty the corporation can pro-
cure any fresh lampreys at that time, though
they give a guinea a-piece for them, so early in
the season.

They are reckoned a great delicacy, either
when potted or stewed, but are a surfeiting
food, as one of our monarchs fatally experi-
enced; Henry I.’s death being occasioned by a
too plentiful meal of this fish. It appears, that
notwithstanding this accident, they continued
in high esteem; for Henry IV. granted pro-
tections to such ships as brought over lampreys
for the table of his royal consort.* His suc-
cessor issued out a warrant to William of

* Rymer, viii. 429.

_ Ber *
o- +e

104 _ SEALAMPREY. Gass. TV:

Nantes, for supplying him and his army with
lampreys, wheresoever they happened to march.*
Directions were afterwards given that they
should be taken between the mouth of the
Seine and Harfleur.
Descrir- | Lampreys are sometimes found so large as to
“’** weigh four or five pounds. The mouth is round
and placed rather obliquely below the end of —
the nose; the edges are jagged, which enable
them to adhere the more strongly to the stones,
as their custom is, and which they do so firmly
as not to be drawn off without some difficulty.
We have heard of one weighing three pounds,
which was taken out of the Esk, adhering to a
stone of twelve pounds weight, suspended at
its mouth, from which it was forced with no
small pains. There are in the mouth twenty
rows of small teeth, disposed in circular order,
and placed far within. The color of the body
is dusky, irregularly marked with dirty yellow,
which gives the fish a disagreeable look.
Nor tHE We believe that the antients were unac-
MeREN4- Guainted with this fish; so far is certain, that
which Doctor Arbuthnot, and other learned
men, render by the word lamprey, is a species
unknown in our seas, being the mur@ena of

* Rymer, ix. 544.

Cuass IV. SEA LAMPREY.

Ovid, Pliny, and others, for which we want an
English name. ‘This fish, the Lupus (our
Basse) and the AZyxo* (a species of mullet)
formed that pride of Roman banquets, the
Tripatinum,{ so called according to Arbuthnot,
from their bemg served up in a machine with
three bottoms.

The words Lampetra and Petromyzon, are
but of modern date, invented from the nature
of the fish; the first a lambendo petras, the
other from Térgoc, and Mucaw, because they are
supposed to lick, or suck the rocks. :

* Perhaps the species called by Rondeletius, Muge, and
Maxon. de Pisc. P. 295.

+ Atque ut luxu quoque aliqua contingat auctoritas figlinis,
Tripatinum, inquit Fenestella, appellabatur summa cenarum
lautitia: una erat Murenarum, altera Luporum, tertia Myxonis
piscis. Pini Hist. Nat. lib. xxxv. c. 12.

106

2. LESSER.

DEscrip-
TION.

LESSER LAMPREY.

La Lamproye d’eaue doulce.

Belon, 67.
Lampredz

Gesner pisc. 597.
Lampetre medium

pisc. 35.
Neunaugen. Aram. 282.

Petromyzon fluviatilis. Zin.

Syst. 394. Gm. Lin. 1514.

alterum genus.

genus.

Wil. Icth. 106. Rai Syn.

Cuass IV.

Nein-oga, natting. Faun.
Suec. No. 290. Petromyzon
pinna dorsali posteriori an-
gulata. Ibid.

Gronov. Zooph. No. 159.

La -petite Lamproie. Bloch.
ichth. i. 34. tab. 78. fig. 1.

Le Petromyzon Pricka. De la
Cepede. Hist. des Poissons,
1. 18.

‘Puts species sometimes grows to the length
of ten inches. The mouth is formed like that
of the preceding; on the upper part is a large
bifurcated tooth; on each side are three rows
of very minute ones; on thé lower part are
seven teeth, the exterior of which on each side
is the largest. The irides are yellow. In this,
as in all the other species, there is between the
eyes, on the top of the head, a small orifice of
great use to clear the mouth of the water that
remains on its adhering to the stones, for through
that orifice it ejects the fluid in the same manner
as cetaceous fish. On the lower part of the
back is a narrow fin, beneath that rises another,
which, at the beginning, is high and angular,
then grows narrow, surrounds the tail, and ends

near the anus. The color of the back is brown

CuassIV. PRIDE LAMPREY.

or dusky, and sometimes mixed with blue; the
whole under side silvery.

These are found in the Thames, Severn,
and Dee, are potted with the larger kind, and
are by some preferred to it, as being milder
tasted. Vast quantities are taken about Mort-
lake, and sold to the Dutch for bait for their
cod fishery. Above 450,000 have been sold
in a season at forty shillings per thousand.
Of late, about 100,000 have been sent to
Harwich tor the same purpose. It is said
that the Dutch have the secret of preserving
them till the Turbot fishery.

Une Civelle, un Lamproyon. Syst. 394. Gm. Lin. 1515.
Belon, 67. Lin-ahl. Faun. Suec. No. 291.

Lampetra parva et fluviatilis. | Petromyzon pinna dorsali pos-
Rondel. pisc. fl. 202. teriori lineari, labio oris la-

Lampreda minima. Gesner tere postico lobato. Jlid.
pisc. 598. Uhlen. Kram. 384.

Pride. Plot, Oxf. 182. Plate Gronov. Zooph. No. 160.
ee Le Lamprillon. Bloch. iché.

Lampern, or Pride of the Isis. ili. 37. fab. 78. fig. 2.
Wil. Ichth. 104. Ratt Syn. Le Petromyzon Lamproyon.
pisc. 35. De la Cepede. Hist. des

Petromyzon branchialis. Lzn. Poissons. i. 26. tab. 2. fig. 1.

W E have seen these of the length of eight
inches, and about the thickness of a swan’s quil,
but they are generally much smaller.

107

3. PRIDE.

108: '

DEscrir-
TION.

PRIDE LAMPREY. Crass IV.

They are frequent in the rivers near Oxford,
particularly the /szs, but are not peculiar to that
county, being found in other of the English
rivers, where, instead of concealing themselves
under the stones, they lodge in the mud, and
never are observed to adhere to any thing like
other lampreys.

The body is marked with numbers of trans-
verse lines, that pass across the sides from the
back to the bottom of the belly, which is divided

from the mouth to the anus by a straight line.

The back fin is not angular like that of the
former, but of an equal breadth. The tail is
lanceolated, and sharp at the end.

Crass IV. GLUTINOUS HAG.

GENUS VII. HAG.

EYEs none.

Bopy slender carinated beneath.

Movru at the extremity, cirrated.

Jaws both pinnated.

Tart surrounded by an adipose or rayless fin,
extending under the’ belly.

Gastrobranchus ceecus. G. livi-
dus subtus pallidior, ore cir-
ris octo. Shaw. Gen. Zool,
v. part. ii. 264. tab. 134.

Myxine glutinosa. Gm. Lin.
3082.

Mull. prod. Z. D. 227.

Fabric. Faun. Groenl. 344.

Putaohl. Faun. Suec. 2086.

Mus. Ad. Fred. I. 91. tab.
vill. f. 4.

Lampetra ceca. Wil.
107. Raiz pisc. 36.

L’Aveugle. Bloch icht. xii. p.
51. tab. 413.

Le Gastrobranche aveugle. De
la Cepede. Hist. des Pois-

sons. 1. 525.

cht.

Br. Zool. iv. 33.

(THIS singular fish which, in the former edition
of the British Zoology, was ranked among
the Vermes, is restored to the order in which
Ray had placed it, who justly observes, that
it resembles the Lamprey in almost every re-
spect, except in being deprived of the organs of
vision. Its usual length in these seas, is from
four to eight inches, but in the Jndian Ocean it
grows nearly to the size of the common eel.

Ep. |}

109

1. GLUTie
NOUS.

110

GLUTINOUS HAG. Crass IV. -
This species is amply described in the defini-

- tion. It enters the mouths of other fish when on

the hooks attached to the lines which remain a
tide under water, and totally devours the whole
except the skin and bones. The Scarborough
fishermen often take it in the robbed fish on
drawing up their lines. ‘They call it the Hag.
Linnéus attributes to it the property of turning
water into glue, which arises from its power of
exsuding a viscous fluid from the double row of
pores which extend beneath the body from the
head to the tail.

Cuass LV. SKATE RAY.

GENUS VIII. RAY.

Bopy broad, flat, and thin.
Apertures five on each side placed beneath.
Mourtu situated quite below.

* With sharp teeth.

Batic? Arist. hist. an. Lib.i. Raia varia, dorso medio gla-

c. 5. Lib. vi. c. 10. Oppian
Halieut. i. 103.

Raia undulata sive cinerea.
Rondel. 346. Gesner pisc.
791.

The Skate, or Flaire. Wil.
Ichth.69. Raw Syn. pisc. 25.

bro, unico aculeorum or-
dine in cauda. Arted. synon,
102.

Gronov. Zooph. No. 157.

La Raye cendreé. Bloch. icht.
iii. 50. fab. 79.

La Raie Batis. De la Cepede,

Raia Batis. Lin. syst. 395.
Gm. Lin. 1505.

Hist. des Poissons. i. 35.

Tuls species is the thinnest in proportion to
its bulk of any of the genus, and also the largest,
some weighing nearly two hundred pounds.
The nose, though not long, is sharp-pomted ;
above the eyes is a set of short spines; the
whole upper part of that we examined was of a
pale brown; Mr. Ray says, some he saw were
streaked with black; the lower part is white,
marked with great numbers of minute black

111

1. SKATE.

DeEscriP-
TION~

SKATE RAY. Crass IV.

spots; the jaws are covered with small granu-
lated but sharp-pointed teeth. The tail is of a
moderate length; near the end are two fins ;
along the top of it is one row of spines, and on
the edges are irregularly dispersed a few others,
which makes us imagine with Mr. Ray, that in ~
this respect these fishes vary ; some having one,
others more orders of spines on the tail. It is
remarked that in the males of this species the
fins are full of spines.

Skates generate in March and April, at which
time they swim near the surface of the water,
several of the males pursuing one female; and
adhere so fast during coition, that the fishermen
frequently draw up both together, though only
one has taken the bait. The females begin to
cast their purses, as the fishermen call them (the
bags in which the young are included) in May,
and continue doing so till September. In Octo-
ber they are exceedingly poor and thin, but in
November they begin to improve, and grow
gradually better till A/ay, when they are in the
highest perfection. The males go sooner out of
season than the females.

if

VOL.3.P.03.

SHARP NOSED RAY.

Cuass IV.

Bous? Arist. hist. an. Lib. v.
Oppian Halieut. ii.

Bo te
141.

Bos Ovidii? 94. Plini, Lib.

1x. Cc. 24.

Raia oxyrhincus. Rondel. 347.

Gesner pisc. 792.

Wil. Ichth.71. Rati Syn. pise.

26.

SHARP-NOSED RAY.

Raia oxyrinchus. Lin. Syst.
395. Gm. Lin. 1506.

Raia varia tuberculis decem
aculeatis in medio dorso.
Arted. Synon. 101.

Le Raye lisse. Bloch ichth. iii.
52. tab. 80.

La Raie oxyrinque. De la Ce-
pede Hist. des Poissons, i.

72. tab. 4. fig. 1

In fishing in the AZenai (the strait that divides
Anglesey from Caernarvonshire) July 1768,
we took one of this species, whose length was
nearly seven feet, and breadth five feet two
inches ; when just br neu on shore, it made a
remar kable snorting noise. |

The nose was very long, narrow, and sharp-
pointed, not unlike the end of a spontoon ; the
body was smooth, and very thin in proportion
to the size; the upper part ash colored, spotted
with numerous white spots, and a few black
ones ; the tail was thick; towards the end were
two small fins, on each side was a row of small
spines, with another-row in the middle, which
ran some way up the back; the lower part of
the fish was quite white ; the mouth very large,
and furnished with numbers of small sharp
teeth bending inwards.

WOls TL, i

Lt

2. SHARP-
NOSED.

Descrir-
TION.

Li4

SHARP-NOSED RAY. Cutass IV.

On its body we found the Hzrudo muricata,
which adhered very strongly, and when taken
off left a black impression.

This fish has been supposed to be the Bos of

_ the antients, which was certainly some enormous

species of Ray, though we cannot pretend to
determine the particular kind: Oppian styles it,

Evguraros wavrecot wer induc.
Broadest among fishes.

He adds an account of its fondness for human
flesh, and the method it takes of destroying men,
by over-laying and keeping them down by its
vast weight till they are drowned. Pile gives.
much the same relation.* We are inclined to
give them credit, since a modern writer,t of
undoubted authority, gives the very same
account of a fish found in the Scuth Seas, the
terror of those employed in the pearl fishery.
It is a species of ray, called there Manta or
the Qul¢, from its surrounding and wrapping
up the unhappy divers till they are suffocated ;
therefore the negroes never go down, without a
sharp knife to defend themselves against the
assaults of this terrible enemy.

* De propriet. Anim. 85.
+ Ulloa’s voy. i. 132. 8vo. edit.

Crass IV. ROUGH RAY.

115

Raia asteria aspera. Rondel. LaRonce. Bloch ichth.iii.62. 3. Roucu.

S52. tab. 84.
Gesner pisc. 794. Wil. Ichth. La Raie ronce. De la Cepede
78. Hist. des Poissons. i. 79.
Rait Syn. pisc. 28. tab. 5. fig. 1—3.

Raia rubus. Gm. Lin. 1507.

T TOOK this species in Loch Broom in the
shire of Ross.

The length from the nose to the tip of the tail Descrrr-

was two feet nine inches ; the tail was almost of
the same length with the body; the nose very
short; before each eye was a large hooked spine,
and behind each, another beset with lesser
spines ; the upper part of the body was of a
cinereous brown mixed with white, and spotted
with black, and entirely covered with small
spines; on the tail were three rows of great
spines; all the rest of the tail was irregularly
beset with lesser; the fins, and under side of
the body were equally rough with the upper™.

* Mr. Donovan, in his History of British Fishes, tab. 103,
has figured a species he calls the Mirror Ray, the Raja miraletus
of Linnaeus, resembling, in many respects, the Rough Ray, of
which it may perhaps prove a variety. On each wing is a dark
purple spot, encircled by a ring of shining silvery green, round
which are five equi-distant contiguous spots of a deep purple
color. The specimen was procured in the London markets. It
may here be remarked, that the name of Hommelin given by the
Scotch to the Rough Ray, is appropriated by Willughby to the

Skate. Ep.
I 2

TION,

116

4. Fuuwer.

Descrip-
TION.

FULLER RAY. Crass IV.

Raia fullonica. Rondel. 357. leorum ordine simplici ad
Gesner pisc. 797- oculos, duplici in cauda.
Raia aspera nostras, the white Arted. Syn. 101. Gronov.
horse. Wil. Ichth.78. Rai Zooph. No. 155.
Syn. pisc. 26. La Raie chardon. De la Ce
Raia fullonica. Gm. Lin. 1507. pede Hist. des Poissons, i.
Raia dorso toto aculeato, acu- 78.

Tuis species derives its Latin name from the

instruments fullers make use of in smoothing

cloth, the back being rough and spiny.

The nose is short and sharp ; at the corner of
each eye are a few spines; the membrane of
nictitation is fringed; the teeth small, and
sharp; on the upper part of the pectoral fins
are three rows of spines pointing towards the
back, crooked, like those on a fuller’s instru-
ment; on the tail are three rows of spines, the
middle of which reaches up part of the back;
the tail is slender, and rather longer than the
body. The color of the upper part of the body
is cinereous, usually marked with numerous
black spots ; the lower part is white. This, as
well as most other species of Rays, vary a little
in color, according to age.

It grows to a size equal to the Skate; and is
common at Scarborough, where it is called the
White Haus, or Gullet.

Crass IV. SHAGREEN RAY. 117

Br. Zool. iii. 87. La Raie chagrinée. De la Ce- 5. SHAGREEN.
Shaw Gen. Zool.v. part ii. p. pede Hist. des Poissons. i.
275. 81.

T MET with this species at Scarborough,
where it is called the French Ray.

It increases to the size of the Skate; is fond
of Launces, or Sandeels, which it takes greedily
as a bait.

_ The form is narrower than that of the com- Dzscrir-
mon kinds: the nose long and very sharp; the ="
pupil of the eye, sapphirine ; on the nose are two

short rows of spines; on the corner of the eyes
another row of a semicircular form; on the tail

are two rows, continued a little up the back,

small, slender, and very sharp; along the sides

of the tail is a row of minute spines, intermixed

with innumerable little specule. The upper

part of the body is of a cinereous brown,
covered closely with minute shagreen-like tu-
bercles, resembling the skin of the dog-fish;

the under side of the body is white; from the

nose to the beginning of the pectoral fins is a
tuberculated space; the teeth are slender, and

sharp as needles.

118

ELECTRIC RAY.

6. Evectric. Nzexy. Arist. Hist. an. lib.

v. c. 5. ix. c. 37. Oppian
Halieut. i. 104. i. 56. iti.
149.

Torpedo. Plinii lib. ix. c. 42.

La Tremble ou Torpille. Be-
fon 78, 81.

Torpedo. Rondel. Gesner pisc.

Torpedo. Cramp Fish. 7.
Ichth.81. Ratt Syn. pisc. 28.

Smiths Hist. Waterford, 271.

Raia Torpedo. Lin. Syst. 395.
Gm. Lin. 1504.

Raia tota levis. Arted. Synon.

Crass IV.

102. Gronov. Zooph. No.
153. tab.Q. ;

Walsh in Ph. Tr. 1773. p.461.
1774. p. 464. Hunter. 2b.
1773. p. 481, Cavendish. ib.
1776. p. 196.

Torpedo Ray. Shaw Gen. Zool.
v. part 2. 207.

La Torpille. Bloch ichth. iv.
40. tab. 122.

La Raie Torpille. De la Ce-
pede Hist. des Poissons. i.
82. tab. 6. fig. 1.

THE narcotic or numbing quality of this fish
has been taken notice of in all ages: it is so
powerful when the fish is alive, as instantly to
deprive the person who touches it of the use of
his arm, and even to affect him if he touches it
with a stick. Oppian goes so far as to say, that
it will benumb the astonished fisherman, even
through the whole length of line and rod.

Na} iv xas NAPKH ogéregoy voov ovx amoAelirel,

ThAyyy aviatovea. Tiravowevy 0 ddvyyot

Ofuin Aayovas meocriccerar Anba de yairys

Inmeins dovanos re diedgapev, és 0 GAIjOS

Ackirecny Erunbe gecwvumoy inbuos aAyos. :

Thoaadus 0 ex rarduns xtrawos Tevev, OTA TE IHEYs

Toios yao uguerarros avileras auTing KELOL.

PAL

VOL-.3_P.0s.
ELECTRIC RAY

ot

Crass IV. ELECTRIC RAY.
The hook’d Torpedo ne'er forgets its art,

But soon as struck begins to play its part,
And to the line applies its magic sides :
Without delay the subtile power glides

Along the pliant rod, and slender hairs,

Then to the fisher’s hand as swift repairs :
Amaz’d he stands; his arm’s of sense bereft,
Down drops the idle rod ; his prey is left:
Not less benumb’d, than if he'd felt the whole
Of frost’s severest rage beneath the arctic pole.

But great as its powers are when the fish is
in vigor, they are impaired as it declines in
strength, and totally cease when it expires.
They impart no noxious qualities to it as a
food, being commonly eaten by the French,
who find it more frequently on their coasts than

‘we do on ours. Galen even affirms, that the

meat of the Zorpedo is of service to epileptic
patients; and that the shock of the living fish
applied to the head is efficacious in removing
any pains in that part.

We may mention a double use in this strange
power the torpedo is endued with; the one,
when it is exerted as a means of defence against
voracious fish, who are at a touch deprived of

all possibility of seizing their prey. ‘The other

is well explained by Pliny, who tells us, it
attains by the same powers its end in respect to
those fish it wishes to ensnare. Novit torpedo

119

120

“ELECTRIC RAY. Crass IV.

vim suam, ipsa non torpens ; mersaque in limo se
occultat, piscium qui securt supernatantes obtor-
puere, corripiens.”

But the acknowledgements of every naturalist
are due to the late John Valsh, Esquire, for his
curious and unwearied researches into the nature
of this fish; and for the first certainty we had
of its being a native of our seas. To him I am
particularly bound, for being enabled to correct
my errors in the former account.

It is frequently seen in Torbay; has been
once caught off Pembroke, and sometimes near
Waterford in Ireland, and is generally taken,
like other flat fish, with the trawl; but there is
an instance of its taking a bait, which vindicates
the fine account Oppzan has left us of this fish.
It commonly lies in water of about forty fathoms
depth; and in company with the congenerous
Rays.

The torpedo brings forth its young at the
autumnal equinox, as affirmed by Aristotle.
A gentleman of la Rochelle, on dissecting cer-
tain females of this species, the 10th of Septem-
ber, found in the matrices, several of the fe-

* «« The dorpedo is well acquainted with its own powers,
** though itself never affected by them. It conceals itself in the

«* mud, and benumbing the fish that are carelessly swimming
*€ about, makes a ready prey of them.”

asceail

Cuass IV. ELECTRIC RAY.

tuses quite formed, and nine eggs, in no state of
forwardness : superfoetation seems therefore to
be a property of this fish.

The food of the torpedo is fish ; a surmullet
and a plaise having been found in the stomach
of two of them. The surmullet is a fish of that
swiftness, that it was impossible for the torpedo
to take it by pursuit. ‘Though by their electric
stroke, they stupify their prey, yet the crab and
sea leech will venture to annoy them.

They will live four and twenty hours out of
the sea; and but very little longer if placed in
fresh water. Inhabit sandy places; and will
bury themselves superficially in it, by flinging
the sand over, by a quick flapping of all the
extremities. It is in this situation that the tor-
pedo gives his most forcible shock, which throws
down the astonished passenger, who inadver-
tently treads upon him.

In our seas it grows to a great size, and
above eighty pounds weight. My description
was taken from a smaller, which I had the
pleasure of doing in company with Mr. Valsh.
Its length was eighteen inches from the head to
the tip of the tail; the greatest breadth twelve
inches. I could not inform myself of its weight;
but that of one, which measured four feet in
length, and two and a half in breadth, was

121

DEscrip=
TION.

122 THORNBACK RAY. Cuxass.IV.

fifty-three pounds, avoirdupoise. The tail was
six inches long, pretty thick and round; the .
caudal fin broad and abrupt; the head and
body, which were indistinct, were nearly round,
about two inches thick in the middle, atten-
uating to extreme thinness on the edges: below
the body, the ventral fins formed on each side
a quarter of a circle; the two dorsal fins were
placed on the trunk of the tail. The eyes were
small, placed near each other; behind each was
a round spiracle, with six small cutaneous rags
on their inner circumference; the mouth small;
the teeth minute, spicular. The skin was every
where smooth; cinereous brown above, white

beneath.
** With blunt Teeth.
7. Toorn- La Raye bouclée. Belon 70. losis, cartilagine transversa
BACK. Raia clavata. Rondel. 353. abdominali. <Arted. Synon.
Gesner pisc. 795. 94.
Steinroch. Shonevelde, 59. Racka. Faun. Suec. No. 293.
Thornback. Wil. Ichth. 74. La Rayebouclée. Bloch iehth,.
Rau Syn. pise. 26. ill. 60. tab. 83.
Raia clavata. Lin. Syst. 297. La Raie bouclée. De la Ce-
Gm. Lin. 1510. pede Hist. des Poissons, i.
Gronov. Zooph. No. 154. 128. *

R. aculeata dentibus tubercu-

THIS common fish is easily distinguished from
the others by the rows of strong sharp spines,

VOL.3.P.122.

THORNBACK.RAY.

VOL. 3.P.122.

THORN-BACK RAY.

CuassIV. THORNBACK RAY.

123

disposed along the back and tail. Ina large Descrip-

one we saw, were three rows on the back, and
five on the tail, all inclining towards its end.
On the nose, and on the inner side of the fore-
head, near the eyes, were a few spines, and
others were scattered without any order on the

upper part of the pectoral fins. The mouth

was small, and filled with granulated teeth; the
upper part of the body was of a pale ash color,
marked with short streaks of black, and the
skin rough, with small tubercles like shagreen ;
the belly white, crossed with a strong semilunar
cartilage beneath the skin ; in general the lower
part was smooth, having only a few spines on
each side. The young fish have very few
spines on them, and their backs are often
spotted with white, and each spot is encircled
with black.

This species frequents our sandy shores, is
very voracious, feeds on all sorts of flat fish, is
particularly fond of herrings and sand eels, and
sometimes eats crustaceous animals, such as
crabs. ‘Thornbacks sometimes weigh fourteen
or fifteen pounds, but with us seldom exceed
that weight.

‘They begin to generate in June, and’ bring
forth their young in July and August, which
(as well as those of the skate) before they are

TION.

194

g. CUVIER.

DESCRIP-
TION.

CUVIER RAY. Crass IV.

old enough to breed, are called maids. The
thornback begins to be in season in November,
and continues so later than skate, but the
young of both are good at all times of the
year.

La Raie Cuvier. Dela Cepede Neill in Mem. Wern. Soc.
Hist. des Poissons. i. 141. 554.
tab.7. f. 1.

[THIS singular Ray, first described by de la
Cepede, was taken in the Frith of Forth im
1808. It is chiefly distinguished from others
of the genus, by the situation of the dorsal fin,
which is upright, of an oval shape, and placed
in the middle of the back. The nose is pointed,
the pectoral fins large and angular ; the ventral
fins are divided into two portions, one of which
seems to represent the true ventral, the other an
anal fin; the tail is slender, of the same length
as the remainder of the body to the nose, and
terminates In a small caudal fin, on the upper
side are also two smaller fins connected with
the former. A row of spines extends from the
first dorsal fin to the origin of the tail, on which
are three rows of spines ; there are none on the
head or the rest of the body. On the upper
side are several round or oval spots. The teeth

Crass IV. STING RAY.

are blunt. Its general form is rhomboidal;
the specimen observed in Scotland was about
twelve inches broad, and the same in length,
exclusive of the tail. Ep.

Tevywy. Arist. Hist. an. ib. Fire Flaire. Raz Syn. pisc. 24.

viii, c. 13. ix. 37. Oppzan.
Halieut. i. 104. ii. 462.

Pastinaca. Plinii lib. ix. c. 42.
38.

La Pastenade de mer, ‘Tourte-
relle, ou Tareronde. Belon

783)

Pastinaca. Rondel. 331. Ges-
ner pisc. 679.

Steckroche. Grone ‘Tepel.
Schonevelde, 58.

Pastinaca marina levis. Wil.

pisc. 67.

Raia Pastinaca. Lin. Syst.
396. Gm. Lin. 1509.

Raia corpore glabro, aculeo
longo anterius serrato, cauda

apterygia. Arted. Synon.
100. Gronov. Zooph. No.
158.

La Pastinaque. Bloch ichth.
il. 57. éab. 82.

La Raie Pastenaque. De la
Cepede Hist. des Poissons.
i. 114. .

Tue weapon with which nature has armed
this fish, hath supplied the antients with many
tremendous fables relating to it. Pliny, Ah-
an,* and Oppian, have given it a venom that
affects even the inanimate creation: trees that
are struck by it instantly lose their verdure and
perish, and rocks themselves are incapable of
resisting the potent poison. ‘The enchantress

* Hist. an. ib: i. c. 36.

125

g. STING.

126

STING RAY. Crass IV.

Circe, armed her son with a spear headed with
the spine of the 77ygon, as the most irresistible
weapon she could furnish him with, and with
which he afterwards committed parricide, unin-
tentionally, on his father Ulysses.

That spears and darts might, in very early
times, have been headed with this bone instead
of iron, we have no kind of doubt: that of
another species of this fish being still used to
point the arrows of some of the South Ame-
rican Indians, and is, from its hardness, sharp-
ness, and beards, a most dreadful weapon.
But in respect to its venomous qualities, there
is not the lest credit to be given to the opinion,
though it was believed (as far as it affected the
animal world) by Rondeletius, Aldrovand, and
others, and even to: this day by the fishermen in
several parts of the kingdom. It is in fact the
weapon of offence belonging to the fish, capable
of giving avery bad wound, and which is attended
with dangerous symptoms, when it falls on a
tendinous part, or on a person in a bad habit of
body. As to any fish having a spine charged
with actual poison, we must deny our assent to
it, though the report is sanctified by the name of
Linneus.*

* Syst. Nat. i. 348. He instances the Pastinaca, the Tor-
pedo, and the Tetrodon lineatus. The first is incapable of con-

Crass IV. STING RAY.

127

This species does not grow to the bulk of the Dezscrrr-

others: that which we examined was two feet
nine inches from the tip of the nose to the end
of the tail; to the origin of the tail one foot
three inches ; the breadth one foot eight. The
body is quite smooth, of a shape almost round,
and of a much greater thickness, and more
elevated form in the middle than any other
Rays, but grows very thin towards the edges ;
the nose is very sharp pointed, but short; the
mouth small, and filled with granulated teeth ;
the irides are of a gold color; behind each eye
the orifice is very large; the color of the upper
part of the body is a dirty yellow, the middle
part of an obscure blue; the lower side white,
the tail and spine dusky. The tail is very thick
at the beginning; the spine, placed about a
third of the length of the former from the body,
is about five inches long, flat on the top and
bottom, very hard, sharp pointed, and the two
sides thin, and closely and sharply bearded the
whole way ; the tail extends four inches beyond
the end of this spine, and grows very slender at
the extremity. These fish are observed to shed

veying a greater injury than what results from the meer wound.
The second, from its electric effluvia: and the third, by impart-
ing a pungent pain like the sting of nettles, occasioned by the
minute spines on its abdomen.

TION.

128

10. WHIP.

DESCRIPe
TION.

WHIP RAY. Cuass IV.

their spine, and to renew it annually; some-
times the new spine appears before the old one
drops. off, and the Cornish call this species
Cardinal Trilost, or three tailed, when so cir-

cumstanced.

Taberete? Brazit: Mare-
grave. 175.

{Raia Aquila? R. corpore gla-
bro, aculeo longo serrato in
cauda pennata. Gm. Lin.
1508.

Aeros? Arist. hist. an. hib.v. c.
5.

Aquila? Pliniz lib. ix. e. 24.

Rondel. pise. i. 338.
Will. ichth. 64. ¢. C, 2. app. t.
10. Rati Syn. pise. 23.
Eagle Ray? Shaw Gen. Zool.
v. part ii. 284. tab. 141. ©
L’Aigle poisson? Bloch achth.
ili. 54, ¢ab. 81.
Le Raie aigle? De la Cepede
Hist. des Poissons, i. 104.

Pastinaca, secunda species.

tab. 6. fig. 2.2*]

M R. Travis, surgeon at Scarborough, had, in
the summer of 1769, the tail of a Ray brought
to him by a fisherman of that town; he had
taken it in the sea off the coast, but flung away
the body.

It was above three feet long, extremely
slender and taper, and destitute of a fin at the
end. I believe it to belong to the species called

* The editor has subjoined the above list of references from a
suspicion that the fish alluded to by Mr. Travis, may prove the
Eagle Ray, which grows to the length of fifteen feet, and is found
on the Baltic as well as on the Mediterranean sea. Ep.

Crass IV. WHIP. RAY.

_ by the Brasilians Iaberete ; and that it is like-
wise found in the Sicilian seas. I once received
the tail of one from that island, corresponding
with the description Mr. Jravis gave: I must
also add, that it was entirely covered with hard
obtuse tubercles.

[A Ray is figured in the 114th plate of Mr. Deno-
van’s History of British Fishes, under the name of the
Starry Ray, so called from the radiated divergent pro-
cesses, which constitute the base of some of the larger
spines. The length of the subject described, does not,
exclusive of the tail, exceed three inches. ‘The back is
of a deep brown color, thickly beset with spines: a
single series extends down the back and tail, Ep.

VOL. IIT. i K

129

130

1, ANGEL.

ANGEL SHARK.

Crass IV.

_ GENUS IX. SHARK.

Bopy somewhat cylindrical, growing slenderer

towards the tail.

Fins, two on the back.

SKIN rough.

APERTURES, five on the sides of the heck
MourtH generally Peers far beneath the end of

the nose.

TatL, upper part longer than the lower,

~* Without the anal fin.

Piyy. Arist. Hist. an. hb. v.
c. 5, &c. Atheneus, lb. vii.
p. 319.

Oppian Halieut. i. 388, ,

Squatina. Phin. lib. ix. c. 12.
Rhina, sc. Squatus. ib.
XXXil. c. 11.

L’Ange, ou Angelot de mer.
Belon 69.

Squatina. Rondel. 367. Gesner
pisc. 899. Wil. Ichth. 79.
Monk, or Angel Fish. Rai

Syn. pisc. 26.
Squalus squatina. Lin. Syst.

398. S. pinna ani nulla,
caude duabus, ore termi-
nali, naribus cirrosis. {bid.
Gm. Lin. 1503.

Sq. pinna ani carens, ore in
apice capitis. drted. Syn.
95.

Gronov. Zooph. No. 151.

L’Angelot de Mer. Bloch
ichth. iv. 23. tab. 116.

Le Squale ange. De la Cepede
Hist. des Poissons. i. 293.
tab. 12. fig. 1.

"THIS is the fish which connects the genus of
Rays and Sharks, partaking something of the

SHARK.

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Crass IV. ANGEL SHARK,

character of both; yet is an exception to each
in the situation of the mouth, which is placed
at the extremity of the head. It is not unfre-
quent on most of our coasts, where it prowls
about for prey like others of the kind. It is
extremely voracious, and, like the Ray, feeds
on flounders and flat fish, which keep at the
bottom of the water, as we have often found on
opening them. It is extremely fierce and dan-
gerous to be approached ; we knew an instance
of a fisherman, whose leg was terribly torn by
a large one of this species, which lay within his
nets in shallow water, and which he went to lay
hold of incautiously.

The aspect of these, as well as of the rest of
the genus, have much malignity in them: their
eyes are oblong, and placed lengthways in the
head, sunk in it, and overhung by the skin, and
seem fuller of malevolence than fire.

Their skin is very rough; the antients made
use of it to polish wood and ivory,* as we do at
present that of the greater dog-fish. The flesh

is now but little esteemed on account of its.

coarseness and rankness, yet Archestratus (as
quoted by Athengus, p. 319.) speaking of the
fish of Miletus, gives this the first place, in

* Qua lignum et ebora poliuntur. Plin. lib. ix. c. 12.

GIO

131

132

Descrir-
TION.

ANGEL, SHARK. Crass IV.

respect to its delicacy, of the whole cartilagi-
nous tribe. .

They .grow- to a gréat.size; we have seen
them of. near.an hundred: weight. . The head is
large, the teeth broad at their base, but slender
and very sharp above, and disposed in five
rows .all. round the jaws; like those..of all
Sharks, they are capable of being raised or
depressed by means of muscles uniting them
to the jaws, not being lodged in sockets as the
teeth of cetaceous fish are; the. tongue is
large; the eyes small; the pupil of a pale
green; the irides white, spotted with brown;
behind each eye is a semilunar orifice; the
back is of a pale ash color, and very rough;
along the middle is a prickly tuberculated line;
the belly is white and smooth; the pectoral
fins are very large, and extend. horizontally
from the body to a great distance ; they have
some resemblance to wings, so writers, have

given this the name it, bears in, this, work;. the

ventral fins are placed in the same manner, and
the double penis is placed in them, which forms
another character of the males in this. and the
last genus; the tail is bifurcated, the upper
lobe rather the longer : not. very. remote from
the end on the back are two fins.

Rwe

re, oH

Crass IV’ PICKED SHARK.

} ~~ AD ae

PE CTY
SOPs oe iwi

*Axavbias yareds. Arist Hist. > 397° Sq. pinina ani nulla, 2. Picken.

§ am libs viz c. 10:0 Oppian
Halieut. i. 380.

Enivwris Athenei, Lib. vit.

L’Esguillats. Belon, 61.

/ oiidorsalibus ispinosis, ‘corpore
». |, feretiusculo., did. S,acan-

; thias. Gm. Lin. 1501.

“Sq. pinna ani nulla, corpore

Galeusacanthias. Rondel. 373. subrotundo, Arted. Synon.

Gesner pisc: 607. 9 - 94.

Sperhaye, Dornhundt. Sche- Hai. Faun. Suec. No. 295.
" nevelde, 29. fad ~Gronov. Zooph. 140.
Galeus acanthids sive spinax. L’Aquillat. Bloch ichth. in.

Wil. Ichth. 56. 68. tab, 85.

The picked dog, or hound fish. Le Squale aiguillat. De la
Raii Syn. pise. 21. Cepede Hist. des Poissons.

Squalus spinax. Lin. Syst. 1 270.

THE picked Shark or dog fish takes its name
froma strong and sharp spine placed just be-
fore each of the back fins, distinguishing it at
once from the rest of the British sharks.

“The nose is long, and extends gréatly beyond
the mouth, but is blunt at the end; the teeth are
disposed in two rows, are small and sharp, and
bend from thé’ middle of each jaw towards the
corners of the mouth.’ The tail is finned for a
considerable space beneath, and the upper part
is“much the longer; the back is of a brownish
ash color; the belly white. It grows to the

weight of about twenty “pounds. |

This species swarms on the coasts of Scot-

Descrip-
TION.

134

3. Baskine.

7

BASKING SHARK. Cuass IV.

land, where it is taken, split, and dried, and
used as a food among the common people. It
forms a sort of internal commerce, being car-
ried on women’s backs, fourteen or sixteen
miles up the country, and sold or exchanged
for necessaries.

** With the anal fin.

Squalus maximus. Sq. den- Sun-fish. Smzdh’'s hist. Cork,

tibus caninis, pinna dorsali ii. 292. Hist. Waterford,

anteriore majore. Syst. nat. 271.

400. Gm. Lin. 1498. Le Squale tres grand. De la
Brugden. Squalus maximus. Cepede List. des Porssons.

Gunner Act. Nidros. iii. 33. i. 209.

tab. ii.

Tuts species has been long known to the
inhabitants of the south and west of Ireland
and Scotland, and those of Caernarvonshire and.
Anglesey ; but having never been considered in
any other than a commercial view, has till this
time remained undescribed by any English
writer ; and what is worse, mistaken for and
confounded with the luna of Rondeletius, the
same that our English writers call the. sun-fish,
The Jrish and /Velsh give it the same name,
from its lying as if to sun itself on the surface

A
re

VOR.GP. 132

PL XVI.

[AU VAS

DN TSOS V

ube Ge no. ego
tet ont |
nd at a teal ig 1 .yrot
uae rome fd: dat coy |

‘odtsh sit i. BE, sear. ry

iy ‘

ot esl Wa sitive
mit 0 zealnoivor pen ¥

CuassIV. BASKING SHARK.
of the water; and for the same reason we have
taken the liberty of calling it the Basking shark.
It was long taken for a species of whale, till we
pointed out the branchial orifices on the sides,
and the perpendicular site of the tail.

These fish are migratory, or at lest it is but

in a certain number of years that they are seen

in multitudes on the Velsh seas, though in most
summers a single and perhaps strayed fish
appears. They inhabit the northern seas, even
as high as the arctic circle. They visited the
bays of Cacrnarvonshire and Anglesey in vast
shoals, in the summers of 1756,* and a few
succeeding years, continuing there only the hot
months, for they quitted the coast about A/i-
chaelmas, as if cold weather was disagreeable
to them. ‘They appear in the Firth of Clyde ;
and among the Hebrides in the month of June,
in small droves of seven or eight; but oftener
in pairs, and continue in those seas, till the latter
end of July, when they disappear.

They seem to have nothing of the fierce and
voracious nature of the shark kind, and are
often so tame as to suffer themselves to be
stroked : they generally lay motionless on the
surface, commonly on their bellies, but some-

* Some old people say they recollect the same sort of fish visit-
ing these seas in vast numbers about forty years ago.

&

136

DescrRIP-
TION.

BASKING) SHARK. Crass IV.

times, like» tired: swimmers,)on >the backs.
Their: food::seemed: to:consist entirely of sea
plants, no remains of fish! bemg:ever discovered
in the stomachs) of numbers that: were cut up,
except'some green stuff, the half digested parts

of alge, and the like.» Linnaeus says, they feed

on meduse: » At certain» times: they are seen
sporting on the» waves, and leaping with vast
agility several feet out of the water. »They
swim very» deliberately, with the dorsal fins
above water.

Their length is from three to twelve yards,
and sometimes even longer. Their form rather
slender, like others of the shark kind ; the upper
jaw much longer than the lower, and blunt at
the end; the mouth placed beneath, and each
jaw furnished with numbers: of small teeth;
those before are much bent, those more remote
in the jaws conic and sharp pointed... On the
sides of the neck are five large transverse| aper-
tures to the gills; on the backotwo fins; the
first very large, not directly in the middle, but
rather nearer the head; the other: small, and
situated near the tail; on the lower part are
five others ; vz. two pectoral fins; two ventral
fins, placed just beneath the hind fin of the
back; and a small anal fin. Near these, the
male has two genitals, as in other sharks; and

Cuass IV. BASKING) SHARK.

between: these: fins is: situated» :thes pudendum
of the female.’ Thetail is very large, and the
upper part remarkably longerthan: the lower.
The upper part:of the: body is of a:deep leaden
color ; the belly white ; the iskim-is rough, like
shagreen, but lessiso. on: the» belly than: the
back. Within the’mouth, towards the throat,
is a very short sort of whalebone. .

The liver is of a great size, but that of the
female the largest; some weighed above a
thousand pounds, and yielded a great quantity
of pure and sweet oil,* fit for lamps, and also
much used by the people who took them, to
eure bruises, burns, and rheumatic complaints.
A large fish has afforded to the captors a profit

of twenty pounds. ‘They are viviparous, a _

young one about a foot in length being found
in the: belly:of a fish of this kind.

The measurements of one, I found dead on
the shore of Loch Ranza in the isle of Arran,
were as follow: The whole length twenty-
seven feet, four inches: the first dorsal. fin,
three feet; the second, one foot; the pecto-
ral fin, four feet; the ventral, two feet: the

* Tn 1760, one was caught off the coast of Anglesey, which
measured twenty-six feet, and produced one hundred and fifty
gallons of oil. “Ep.

137

138

BASKING SHARK. Cuass 1V.

bscilen lobe of the tail, five feet; the lower,
three.*

They will permit a boat to follow so
without accelerating their motion, till 1t comes
almost within contact ; when a harpooner strikes
his weapon into them, as near to the gills as
possible ; but they are often so insensible, as
not to move till the united strength of two men
have forced in the harpoon deeper. As soon as
they perceive themselves wounded, they fling up
their tail, plunge headlong to the bottom, and
frequently coil the rope round them in their
agonies; attempting to disengage the harpoon
from them by rolling on the eround, for it is
often found greatly bent. As soon as they
discover that their efforts are in vain, they swim
away with amazing rapidity, and with such
violence, that there has been an instance of a
vessel of seventy tons having been towed away
against a fresh gale. They sometimes run off
with two hundred fathoms of line, and with two
harpoons in them, and will employ the fishers

* A Basking Shark taken near Abbotsbury in Dorsetshire in
1801, and exhibited in London, was about twenty-eight feet in
length, and the extent of the tail, from point to point, eight feet.
Its teeth were numerous, amounting, according to the report of
the proprietor, to four thousand.

Crass IV. WHITE SHARK.

for twelve, and sometimes twenty-four hours,
before they are subdued. When killed, they
are either hawled on shore, or if at a distance
from land, to the vessel’s-side. . The liver (the
only useful part) is taken out, and melted into
oil in kettles provided for that purpose. A large
fish-will yield eight barrels of oil; and two of
worthless sediment.

The fishers often observe on them a sort of
leech of a reddish color, and about two feét
long, but which falls off when the fish is brought
to the surface of the water, and leaves a-white
mark on the skin.

Aapia? Arist. Hist. an: Lib. White Shark. Wil. Ichth: 47.

WG Ik. 6: 370

Navy. Oppian Halieut. i.
370. v. 36,”

Kapyapias Kuwy. Athen. Lib.
vil. p. 310.

Lamia? Phini, Lib. ix. c. 24.

Le chien carcharien ou Perlz
fisch de Norvege. Belon,
52, 87.

Lamia. Tiburo. Rondel. 489.
390.

Canis Carcharias. Gesner pisc.
£735

Rau Syn. pisc. 18.

Squalus carcharias. Sq. dicen)

plano dentibus serratis. Lzn.
Syst. 400. Gm. Lin. 1498.

Arted. Synon. 89. Gronov.
Zooph. No. 143.

La Lamie. Bloch ichth. iv.
31. fab. 119.

Le Squale requin. De la
Cepede Hist. des Poissons.
1. 169. tab. 8. fig. 1. 2.

Tuts grows to a very great bulk, Gillius
says, to the weight of four thousand pounds;

139)

4, Waite.

140

WHITE SHARK. Crass IV.
and:asserts that in the belly of one was found a
human corpse entire, which is far from incredible,
considering’ their vast _ after human
flesh. ) sriliea aa
They are’ the detia ‘of the ‘sailors in, all hot
climates, where they constantly attend the ships
in expectation of what may drop overboard’; a
man that has that misfortune inevitably perishes:
they have beenseen to dart at him, like gud-
geons to. a worm. A master of a Guinea ship
informed me, that a rage of suicide prevailed
among his new-boueht slaves, froma notion the
unhappy creatures had, that after death they
should be restored again to their families, friends,
and country. To convince them at lest that they
should not re-animate their bodies, he ordered
one of their corpses to be tied by the heels toa
rope, and lowered into the sea, and though it was
drawn up again as fast as the united force of the
crew could be exerted, yet in that short space of
time the sharks had devoured every part but the
feet, which were secured at the end of the-cord.
Swimmers very often perish by them; sometimes
they lose an arm or leg, and sometimes are’ bit
quite asunder, serving but for two morsels for
this ravenous animal : a melancholy tale of this
kind is related ina /Vest India ballad, preserved

Crass IV; WHITE SHARK.

in Doctor icapinci - aatapels of ancient Bpttioh
Poetry.* yi} 326 NEO
The mouth -of this pen is erm? me
(sometimes) a sixfold row of teeth, flat, triay-
gular, exceedingly sharp,at.their edges, and finely
serrated. We have.one. that; is-rather. more
than an inch and.a half long... Grew }-says, that
these in the. jaws.of a shark two, yards, in
length, are not half an inch, so that the fish to

which mine belonged must have been-six yards —

long, provided the teeth and body keep, pace in
their growth.¢ This dreadful apparatus, when
the fish is in a state of repose, lies.quite flat in
the mouth, but when he seizes his, prey, he has
the power of erecting the teeth, by the help ofa
set of muscles that join them.to the jaw. The
mouth is placed far beneath, for which reason
these, as well as the rest of the kind, are said to
be obliged to turn on their backs to-seize their
prey, which is, an observation.as antient as the
days of Pliny.§ The eyes are large: the back
broad, flat, and shorter than that of other sharks; ;
the tail is of a semilunar form, but the upper
part is longer than, the lower. . It has vast

* Vol. 1. 331. + Rarities; 91.

} Fossil teeth of this fish are very frequentin Malta, some of
which are four inches long,

§ Omnia autem curnivora sunt talia et supina vescantyr. Lib.
IX. c. 24.

14)

DeEscrip-
TION.

142,

WHITE SHARK. Crass IV.
strength in the tail, and can strike with great
force, so that the sailors instantly cut it off with
an axe as soon as they draw one on board ; the
pectoral fins are very large, which enables it to
swim with great swiftness; the body and fins are
of a light ash-color.

‘The antients were acquainted with this fish ;
and Oppian gives a long and entertaining ac-
count of its capture. ‘Their flesh is sometimes
eaten, but is esteemed both coarse and rank.

Unfortunately for mankind, this species is
almost universal in both the southern and north-
ern hemispheres. It frequents the seas of Green-
land, feeds on holibuts and the greater fish, on
seals and young porpesses, and will even attack
the little skin-boats of the Greenlanders, and bite
the person whose lower parts are lodged in it, in
two. Its only enemy is the blunt-headed cacha-
lot or Spermacett whale, at sight of which
it will even fling itself out of the water on the
rocks, and there perish.*

* See that admirable book the Fauna Groenlandica of the
Reverend Otto Fasricivs, printed at Copenhagen in 1780.

Cuass IV.

Taavuos. Zilian. an. Lib. I.
c. 16.

Galeus glaucus. Rondel. 378.
Gesner pisc. 609.

Blew shark. Wl. Ichth. 49.
Rau Syn. pisc. 20.

Squalus fossula triangulari in

BLUE SHARK,

Squalus glaucus. Lin. syst,
401. Gm. Lin. 1496.

Le Cagnot bleu. Bloch ichth.
il. 71. ¢ab. 86,

Le Squale glauque. De la Ce-
pede Hist. des Poissons. 1.
213. tab. 9. fig. 1.

extremo dorso, foraminibus
nullis ad oculos. Arted. syn.

98.

FELIAN relates strange things of the affection
this species bears to its young; among others,
he says, that it will permit the small brood,
when in danger, to swim down its mouth, and
take shelter in its belly. This fact has been
since confirmed by the observation of one of our
best ichthyologists,* and is no more incredible,
than that the young of the Opossum should seek
an asylum in the ventral pouch of its parent, a
fact too well known to be contested. But this
degree of care is not peculiar to the blue shark;
it is we believe common to the whole genus.

' This species frequents many of our coasts,
but particularly those of Cornwall during the
pilchard season, and is at that time taken with
great iron hooks made on purpose.

* Rondeletius, 388.

143

5. BLur.

144

DeEscripe-
TION.

BLUE SHARK. Cuass IV.

It grows to the length of six or seven feet.
The color of the head, back, and sides is a rich
deep blue; the belly white; the nose sharp,
yet rounded at the end; the teeth which are
sharp, broad, and serrated, are often found fossil,
and in that state are called, Glossopetre. It
wants the orifices behind the eyes usual to the
genus. ‘The pectoral and first dorsal fins are
large and sharply pointed on their lower part;
between the second dorsal fin and the tail is
a triangular dent. ‘The tail is bifid, the upper
part very long, and a little incurvated. The skin
is much smoother than that of other sharks. |

RonDELETIUs says, that he was an eye-wit-
ness to its fondness for human flesh, and that he
saw a boy, who was walking in the sea close to
the shore, attacked and nearly caught by this
ravenous fish.

This species is found in the South Seas, and
in the Vest Indies.

The public is indebted to Doctor Watson
junior, for enabling me to give a better account
of this fish than I was capable of doing in my
former edition.*

® The Second Edition. Eb.

VOL.3.P.145.

-3PYWVITS Car iVvab ONO'TL

IPL, Davauke

ake WoL ae f

Crass IV.

Adwmet? Arist, Hist. an. Lib.
ix. c.37. lian Var. Hist.

Babi ice. 5.

-Oppian Halteut. i. 381. iil.

144.

Vulpes Pliniz Lib. ix. c. 43.

Singe de mer. Belon, 88.

Vulpes marina. Rondel. 337.

Gesner pisc. 1045.
Cereus Cait opusc. 110.

Sea Fox, or Ape. Wil. Ichth.

LONG-TAILED SHARK. 14

Squalus cauda longiore quam 6. Lone-
ipsum corpus. Arted..syn.' | TAILED.
96.

Squalus Vulpes. Sq. caude
lobo superiore longitudine
corporis. Gm. Lin. 1496.

Sea Fox. ‘Thresher.
Cornwall. 265.
Le Squale Renard. De la Ce-
pede Hist. des Poissons. i.

267.

Borlase

54. Rati syn. pisc, 20,

Tus fish is most remarkable for the great Descrip-

length of the tail; the whole measure of that we
had an opportunity of examining, was thirteen
feet, of which the tail alone was more than six,
the upper lobe extending greatly beyond the
lower, almost in a strait line. The body was
round and short; the nose short but sharp
pointed ; the eyes large, and placed immediately
over the corners of the mouth, which was small,

and not very distant from the end of the nose; —

the teeth triangular, small for the size of the fish,

and placed in three rows; the back ash color ;

the belly white; the skin universally smooth.
The antients styled this fish Adw7ef, and

Vulpes, from its supposed cunning. They be-
VOL. VEI. L

TION.

146

7. TOPE.

DEscrIP-
TION.

TOPE SHARK, Crass IV.

lieved, that when it had the misfortune to have
taken a bait, it swallowed the hook till it got at
the cord, which it bit off, and so escaped.

They are sometimes taken in our seas, and
have been imagined to be the fish called the
Thresher, from its attacking and beating the
Grampus with its long tail, whenever that
species of whale rises to the surface to breath.

Kuwy? Arist. Hist. an. Lib.
VilsxGe dlls

foraminibus exiguis ad ocu-
los. Arted. synon. 97.

Canicula? Pliniw Lil. ix. c.

46.
Canis galeus.
Gesner pisc. 167.
The Tope.
Raii syn. pisc. 20.

Rondel. 377.

Wil. Ichth. 51.

Squalus Galeus. Lin. syst.
399. Gm. Lin. 1492.
Le Milandre. Bloch ichth. iv.
29. tab. 118. ;
Le Squale Melandre. De la

Cepede Hist. des Poissons.

Squalus naribus ori vicinis; i. 237.

ONE that was taken on the Flintshire coast
weighed twenty-seven pounds, and its length
was five feet; but they sometimes grow to a
greater size, some, according to Artedius, weigh-
ing an hundred pounds. The color of the
upper part of the body and fins was a light
cinereous; the belly white; the nose was very
long, flat, and sharp pointed, beyond the nos-
trils semitransparent; the nostrils were placed

“Ie YO?

1.

VOL. 3.P, 147.

_*

Cuass IV. TOPE SHARK.

very near the mouth; behind each eye was a
small orifice; the teeth numerous, disposed
im three rows, small, very sharp, triangular, and
serrated on their inner edge. The first back fin
was placed about eighteen inches from the head ;
the other very near the tail; the tail finned be-
neath, the upper part ended in a sharp angle.
This species is said by Rondeletius to be very
fierce and voracious, even to pursue its prey to
the edge of the shore. Its skin and flesh have
an offensive rank smell; therefore we suppose
Mr. Dale gave it ironically the title of Sweet
William.* .

*® Hist. Harwich, 420.

147

148

SPOTTED SHARK.

8. Srorrep. Nebgias, Exvasoc, Aorepias ?

DescriP-
TION.

Arist. Hist. an. Lib. v. c.
10. vi. c. 10, 11.

Tlaxiros? Oppian Halieut. i.
381.

La Roussete commune. Belon,
65. |

Canicula Aristotelis. Rondel.
380. Gesner pisc. 168.

Catulus major vulgaris. Wal.
Ichth. 62.

Greater Cat Fish : the Bounce.
Rani syn. pisc. 22,

CuAss IV.

a

ani medio inter anum et
caudam pinnatum. Arted.
syn. Q7.
Squalus Canicula. Lin. sysé.
399. Gm. Lin. 1490.
Gronov. Zooph. No. 145.
Greater Cat fish. Edw. 280.
La Roussette tigrée. Bloch
achth. iv. 13. éab. 112.
Le Squale Roussette. De la
Cepede Hist. des Poissons.
i. 221. tab. 9. fig. 2. (1
Semelle.)

Squalus ex rufo varius, pinna

Tuts species being remarkably spotted, may
be the same known to the antients by the names
expressed in the synonyms ; but they frequently
leave such slight notices of the animals they
mention, that we are obliged to add a doubt-
ful mark (?) to numbers of them.

The weight of one we took was six pounds
three ounces, and yet it measured three feet
eight inches in length; so light are the cartila-
ginous fish in respect to their size. The nose
was short, and very blunt, not extending above
an inch and an half beyond the mouth; the
nostrils were large, placed near the mouth, and
covered with a large angular flap; the head yery

. (2.150)

LESSER SPOTTED SHARK

SHARK...

SPOTTED

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Crass IV, SPOTTED SHARK.

flat ; the eyes were oblong; behind each a large
orifice opened to the inside of the mouth; the
teeth small, sharp, smooth at their sides, strait,
and disposed in four rows; both the back fins
were placed much behind, and nearer the tail
than is common; the tail was finned, and below
extended ‘into a sharp angle. ‘The color of the
whole upper part of the body, and the fins, was
brown, marked with numerous large distinct
black spots: some parts of the skin were tinged
with red; the belly was white. ‘The whole was
most remarkably round, and had a strong smell.

The tendrils that issue from each end of the
purse * of this fish, are much more delicate and
slender than those of the other, are-as fine as
Indian grass, and very much resemble it.

The female of this species, and we believe of
other sharks, is greatly superior in size to the
male ; so that in this respect there is an agree-
ment between the fish and the birds of prey. f
They bring about nineteen young at a time: the
fishermen believe that they breed at all times of
the year, as they scarcely ever take any but
what are with young.

* This is figured in Doctor Shaw’s General Zoology, v. 335.
fab. 152. Eb.
+t Vide British Zoology, Vol. f. 216.

149

150

Zz
§. Lesser
SPOTTED.

DEscripe
TION.

LESSER SPOTTED SHARK. Crass IV.

To this kind may be added, as a mere variety,
the

Catulus maximus. W721. Ichth. 63. Rati syn. pisc. 22.

Squalus cinereus, pinnis ventralibus discretis. Arted. syn. 97.

Squalus stellaris. Lun. syst. 399.

No. 145. Gronov. Zooph.

Le Squale Rochier. De la Cepede Hist. des Poissons. i. 233.
tab. 10. fig. 1.

the chief difference seeming to be in the color
and the size of the spots; the former being grey,
the latter fewer but larger than in the other.

Le muscarol? Belon, 64. Squalus Catulus. Lin. syst.
Catulus minor. Wil. Ichth. 64. 400. Gm. Lin. 1490.
id. C. major. 62. Gronov. Zooph. No. 144.
Lesser Rough Hound, or Mor- La Roussette. Bloch ichth. iv.
gay. Raz syn. pisc. 22. 19. tab. 114.
Squalus dorso vario, pinnis Le Squale Roussette. De Ja
ventralibusconcretis. Arted. Cepede Hist. des Poissons.
synon. Q7- i. 221. (le male.)

THE weight of one that was brought to us by
a fisherman was only one pound twelve ounces;
the length two feet two inches; it was of a
slender make ‘in all parts; the head was flat;
the nostrils covered with a long flap ; the nose
blunt, and marked beneath with numerous small
punctures ; behind each eye was a small orifice.
The back fins, like those of the former, placed

Cuass IV. SMOOTH SHARK.

far behind ; the ventral fins united, forming as
if it were but one, which is a sure mark of this
species ; the tail finned like that of the greater
dog fish. ‘The color cinereous, streaked in some
parts with red, and generally marked with num-
bers of small black spots ; but we have observed
in some that they are very faint and obscure;
the belly white.

This species breeds from nine to thirteen
young at a time, is very numerous on some
of our coasts, and very injurious to the fisheries.
Both these spotted species are most tenacious
of life.

Tasos Agios? Arist. Hist. an.
Lib. vi. c. 10. Oppian,
Lib. i. 380.

Squalus dentibus obtusis seu
granulosis. Arted. Syn. 93.
Squalus Mustelus. Lin. syst.

Galeus levis. Rondel. 375. 400. Gm. Lin. 1492. Gro-
Gesner pisc. 608. nov. Zooph. No. 142,
Mustelus levis primus. Wil. Le squale emissole. De la

Ichth. 60.
Smooth or unprickly hound.

Cepede Hist. des Poissons.
1, 242.

Rau Syn. pisc. 22.

Tuts species is called smooth, not that the
skin is really so, but because it wants the spines
on the back, which are the character of the
second species, the Picked Shark.

The nose extends far beyond the mouth; the

151

10. SMooTH,

Descrir-
TION.

152

11. PorBEA-
GLE.

PORBEAGLE SHARK. Cuass IV.

end is blunt; the holes behind the eyes are
small; the back is less flat-than that of others

of this genus; the first back fin is placed mid-

way above the pectoral and ventral fins; the
pectoral fins are small; the tail forked, but the
upper part is much the longest ; the teeth re-
semble those of a Ray, rough and sharp. The
color of the back and sides ash, and free from
spots; the belly silvery.

Squalus cornubiensis. Sq. plica Goodenough in Lan. Tr. ii.

longitudinali ad utrumque 80. ¢ab. 15.
caude latus. Gm. Lin. 1497. Le Squale long-nez. De la
The Porbeagle. Borlase Corn- Cepede Hist. des Poissons.

wall, 265. Tab. 26. Shaw i. 216. tab. 2. fig. 3.?
Gen. Zool. v. part il. p.
349.

THE figure of this fish, engraved after a draw-
ing by the Rev. Mr. Jago,* is preserved in
Doctor Borlase’s Natural History of Cornwall.
As it is not attended with any account farther

* This gentleman was minister of Loo, in Cornwall, and ap-
pears to have been well acquainted with the History of Fishes.
He communicated figures of several of the Cornish fishes, witha
brief account of each, to Petiver, at whose instance, as Doctor
Derham tells us, in the preface to Mr. Ray’s Itineraries, p. 69,
he added them to the Synopsis avium et piscium, p. 162. A few
others of his drawings are also preserved in the Natural History
of Cornwall, and seem to be executed with skill and accuracy.

CuassIV. PORBEAGLE: SHARK.

than that it is a Cornish fish, and a small species
of shark, we in. our former edition were obliged
to form the best description. we, could from, the
print. : 330

In 1793 Lhad an opportunity at, Brighthelm-
stone, of examining a recent, specimen. Its
length was three feet nine inches; the girth in
the thickest part two feet one inch. The nose
very long, slender towards the end, sharp point-
ed, and punctured beneath ; the teeth long and
slender, with a small process on each side ; three
rows in the upper jaw, the same on the sides of
the lower, but only two rows in the front of the
latter; the body very thick and deep, but ex-
tremely slender and flatted just on the setting
on of the tail. The sides near that part distended
and sloping, thinning to an edge. The first
back fin placed almost in the middle, the other
pretty near the tail; the belly very deep; the
ventral and anal fins small ; the tail bifurcated ;
the upper fork a little longer than the lower;
adjoining to it was a transverse dent above and
below: the color of the whole upper part, the
sides, fins and tail, dusky, tinged obscurely with
green and blue; beneath, from the tip of the
nose, and also part of the sides, were entirely
white,

Descrip=
TION.

154

2. BEAU-
MARIS.

BEAUMARIS SHARK. Crass IV.

[The Porbeagle Shark, so well described by
Doctor Goodenough, Bishop of Carlisle, in the
third volume of the Linnean Transactions, dif-
fered only in some trifling circumstances from —
the above. Its color was of a deep blue; the
punctures extended from the nose to the nostrils ;
in the mouth were only two rows of teeth, in the
upper jaw, except in the front, where the two
middle ones stood single ; in the under jaw were
also two rows, except in the front, where the
two middle teeth had a triple row. As the
number of teeth, however, seems to depend upon
age, no specific distinction can be drawn from
them. The subject described by the learned
Prelate measured three feet ten inches from the
tip of the nose to the extremity of the tail; he
was informed that they sometimes grow to the
length of eight feet, and when of a large size have
a triple row of teeth. Ep.

Br. Zool. ed. 1776. ii. p. 128. | Squalus Monensis. Shaw, Gen.
gh 1%. Zool. v. part ii. 350.

Tuts species was observed by my friend the
Rev. Hugh Davies of Beaumaris, who favored
me with the description, and an accurate draw-

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CrassIV. BEAUMARIS SHARK.

ing* made from the fish taken in a neighboring
wear.

The length was seven feet; the snout and
body of a cylindrical form; the greatest cir-
cumference four feet eight inches; the nose
blunt; the nostrils small; the mouth armed
with three rows of slender teeth, { flatted on
each side, very sharp, and furnished at the
base with two sharp processes ; the teeth are
fixed to the jaws by certain muscles, and are
liable to be raised or depressed at pleasure.
The first dorsal fin was two feet eight inches
distant from the snout, of a triangular form;
the second very small, and placed near the tail ;
the pectoral fins strong and large; the ventral
and anal small; the space between the second
dorsal fin and the tail much depressed, the
sides forming an acute angle ; above and below
was a transverse fossule or dent. ‘The tail was
in the form of a crescent, but the horns of un-
equal lengths ; the upper, one foot ten inches ;
the lower, one foot one inch.f The whole fish

* This drawing is now in the possession of the Editor, and cor-
responds exactly with the original plate, notwithstanding the
unqualified assertion made by a recent writer, of its ‘* having
been injudiciously altered, to the fancy of the artist or the en-
graver.” Ep.

+ These teeth are often found fossil, and are styled by Liuyd,
Ormthoglossum, from their resemblance to a bird’s tongue.

} Doctor Shaw in his valuable work on General Zoology, vel.

155

DeEscrIiP-
TION.

156

BEAUMARIS SHARK. = Crass IV.

was of a lead color. The skin comparatively
smooth, being far less rough than that of the
lesser species of this genus.

[In the third volume of the late edition of Mr.
Pennant’s Tour in Vales, the Reverend Hugh
Davies has favored the public with some farther
observations, on the Beaumaris Shark, and a
comparative outline is given of that species, and
of the Porbeagle Shark. The Editor is happy
to have it in his power to subjoin the following
letter which he recently received from that able
naturalist :

“* Dear Sir, 2

‘* Since I communicated some observations
“on the Beaumaris Shark, to the editor of Mr.
“* Pennant’s Tour in Vales, 1 am enabled to add
“a few more; a fish of that species, having a
“* few days ago (on the 9th of Juze 1811) strand-
“ed near Bangor ferry, on the Anglesey side
“the Aenai, which gives it an additional claim
** to the trivial name which it bears in Doctor
¢ Shaw’s General Zoology, Monensis.

“This fish was nine fect six inches in length,
“ that is, two feet and an half longer than that

v. p. 351, falls into a singular errof. He observes in a note,
‘In the British Zoology, the upper lobe is said to be ten, and
the lower thirteen inches long,” omitting ‘‘ one foot,” which
precedes the ‘* ten inches.” Eb.

tic

Cuass IV. BEAUMARIS | SHARK.

nics I had formerly seen nik aes a disae
“‘ing of; but each part, of this, bore an exact
*“ proportion to the corresponding parts of the
“ other, except, that the nese of this, although

“above one third, a larger. animal than the

5 Foner, was smaller. in every respect, being

‘ more abruptly tapering, but blunt and shorter,
“as it measured. but four inches and eight
‘tenths from the eye to the end, whereas the
“‘ snout of that smaller fish was six inches in
“length from the end to the eye. This was a
“ vast animal; its general circumference seemed
“ greater in proportion-to its length, than that
“ of the former, but it was particularly so at the
“region of the abdomen. — This is readily ac-
*¢ counted for, when we say, that it was a female,
“and had in its belly four young ones, each
“about eight-and-twenty or thirty inches long.*
** Seventeen quarts of oil were obtained from the
“liver. As it is supposed, with reason, that in
“this tribe of ferocious animals, the female is
“ invariably the larger, I am induced to con-
“elude, that the specimen which I observed

* In the description of the Porbeagle Shark, in the Memoirs
of the Wernerian Society, p. 150, it is stated, that ‘‘ No fewer
than thirty young ones appeared in the belly of this female, fully
formed, and apparently ready for exclusion,” whereas four only
were found in the female of this species. H. D.

157

158

~BEAUMARIS SHARK. Crass IV;

“ near forty years ago, might have been»a full
*‘ crown male, and that the difference between
* the two sexes is inferiority of size with regard
** to the male, but with a front in every respect
“ larger than that of the female.

* Tam, &c. &e.

“ Hues Daviess.”

Beaumaris, June 18, 1811.

Crass IV. CHIMERA.

GENUS *X. CHIMARA.

Heap pointed on the upper part.
Mouru placed beneath.

Lip upper, five cleft.

TEETH Cutting, two in front in each jaw.

Centrina prima. Aldrov. de Art. gen. 68.

Pisce. 462. La Chimere. Bloch Ichth. iii.
Galeus Acanthias. Wl. Ichth. 69. tab. 124.

Tio t) Begs Gs De la Cepede Hist. des Pois-
Rati Syn. Pise. 23. sons. 1. 392.

Chimera monstrosa. Gm. Lin. Arct. Zool. Int. xxxix.
1488.

[THIS strange and mishapen fish is a native of
the Northern ocean, and inhabits the deepest
waters. A drawing of a specimen taken off the
Schetland isles, was communicated to Mr.

1. Nortr-
ERN.

Pennant by the late George Paton, of Edin-

burgh.

It grows to the length of two feet and an half
and even four feet. The head blunt, and
rounded beneath; the mouth small; the eyes,
which shine like those of a cat, have a sea-green
pupil, surrounded with a white iris; the first
dorsal fin is of a triangular shape, with an

DEscrips
TION.

%160

CHIMERA. Cuass IV.

extremely strong and sharp spine in front
of it; the second and third shallow, the last
extends to the tail, which is filiform and of
the same length as the rest of the body; the
body rather compressed diminishes rapidly
from the anterior part; the pectoral fins
are of a disproportionate size; the ventral
rather smaller; the lateral line white, and

strongly defined with a brown edge. The Nor-

wegians give this fish the name of gold or silver
fish, from the resplendent color which forms
the ground of the body, and which is set off
by the dark spots above and below the lateral
line; the fins are of a deep brown; it is also
called by them sea rat, from the form of the
tail, and king fish, from a filament terminating
in a tuft, which is found on the head of the
male. They obtain an oil from the liver by
filtration, which is esteemed useful in com-
plaints of the eyes, and is also applied to
wounds. Ep.

V O1L..3 eee

COMMON ANGLER.

at Willams Jel

Cuass IV.

COMMON ANGLER.

GENUS X. ANGLER.

APERTURE, one behind each ventral fin.

Heap and body large, flat, and circular,

TEETH numerous and small in the jaws, roof of
the mouth, and on the tongue.

Tins pectoral, broad and thick.

Bareanos. Arist. Hist. an.

. Lil. iv. c. 37. Oppian Ha-
lieut. ii. 86.

Rana piscatrix. Ovid. Ha-
leut. 126. Plintt Lib. ix.
c. 24.

La Grenouille de mer, ou
pescheuse. Le Diable de
mer, Bauldroy & Pesche-
teau. Belon, 77.

Rana piscatrix. Rondel. 363.
Gesner pisc. 813.

Seheganss, seheteufiel, sehe-
tode. Schonevelde, 59.

Toad-fish, Frog-fish, or Sea-

Devil. Wil. Ichth. 85. Ravi
Syn. pisc. 2Q.

Lophius ore cirroso. <Arted.
Syn. 87.

Lophhius piscatorius. Zin,
“Syst. 402. Gm. Lin. 1479.

L. p. depressus capite rotun-
dato. Fuun. Suec. No. 208.
Gronov. Zooph. No. 207.

Le Diable de Mer. Bloch
achth. i. 74. tab. 87.

La Lophie bardroie. De la
Cepede Hist. des Poissons.
i. 304. tab. 15. fig. 1.

Tuis singular fish was known to the antients
by the name of Bargazyos, and Rana, and to us
by that of the Fishing frog, for it is of a figure

159

1. CoMMOoN.

460

DeEscrip-
TION.

COMMON ANGLER. Crass IV.

resembling that animal in a tadpole state.

Pliny takes notice of the artifice used by it to
take its prey: Eminentia sub oculis cornicula
turbato limo everit, assultantes pisciculos attra-
hens, donec tam prope accedant, ut assiliat.
** It puts forth the slender horns it has beneath
“ its eyes, enticing, by that means, the little
“ fish to play round, till they come within
“* reach, when it springs on them.” * 7

The fishing frog grows to a large size, some
being between four and five feet in length; and
we have heard of one taken near Scarborough,
whose mouth was a yard wide. The fishermen
on that coast have a great regard for this fish,
from a supposition that it is a great enemy to
the dog fish, t and whenever they take it with
their lines set it at liberty.

It is of very great deformity; the head is
much bigger than the whole body, round at the
circumference, and flat above; the mouth of a
prodigious wideness; the under jaw is much

* Cicero, in his second book De Natura Deorum, gives
much the same account of this fish: Ranw autem marine di-
cuntur olruere sese arena solere, et moveri prope aquam, ad quas,
guast ad escam, pisces cum accesserint, confici a ranis, atque
consum?.

+ The bodies of these fierce and voracious fish are often found
in its stomach.

Crass IV. COMMON ANGLER.

longer than the upper; the jaws are full of
slender sharp teeth; in the roof of the mouth
are two or three rows of the same; at the root
of the tongue, opposite each other, are two
bones of an elliptical form, thick set, with very
strong sharp teeth; the nostrils do not appear
externally, but in the upper part of the mouth
are two large orifices which serve instead of
them; on each side of the upper jaw are two
sharp spines, and others are scattered about
the upper part of the head. Immediately
above the nose are two long tough filaments,
and on the back three others, united by a web,
and forming the first dorsal fin; these are what
Pliny calls cornicula, and says it makes use of
to attract the little fish; the longest and fore-
most of these filaments is furnished with a
bifurcated thin appendage, which they may
easily enough mistake for a bait. They seem to
me like lines flung out for that end: I therefore
have changed the old name of Fisuine Froe
for the more simple one of Ancrer. Along
the edges of the head and body are a multitude
of short fringed skins, placed at equal distances;
the ventral fins are stout, broad, thick, and
fleshy, and withinside divided into fingers.
The aperture to the gills is placed behind the
VOL. It. M

161

2. Lone.

DESCRIP=
TION.

LONG ANGLER. Cuass IV.

pectoral fins, each of these is very wide, so that
some writers have imagined it to be a receptacle
for the young in time of danger. In a specimen
I saw at Brighthelmstone, which was four feet
long and weighed fifty pounds, the receptacle
or sack was fourteen inches deep; the aperture
or spiracle is at the bottom of it, and opens
into the mouth. The second dorsal fin is
placed very low near the beginning of the tail ;
the anal fin is placed beneath, almost opposite
the former; the body grows slender near the
tail, the end of which is quite even. The color
of the upper part of this fish is dusky, the lower
part white: the skin smooth.

Fishing Frog of Mount’s-Bay. 27. fig. 6. Phil. Trans. Vol.
Borlase Cornwall, 266. tab. liii. 170.

Tuts is a species at present unknown to us,
except by description.

It is, says Doctor Borlase, of a longer form
than the common kind; the head more bony,
rough, and aculeated. It had no finlike appen-
dages round the head, but on each side the
thinner part of the body, beginning béneath
the dorsal fin, and reaching within two inches

CrassIV. LONG ANGLER.

—
fp)
cs

of the tail, was a series of them, each three
quarters of an inch in length; at the end of
the pectoral fins were spines an inch and three
quarters in length; at the end of the tail, others
three quarters of an inch long.

mM 2

164

1. COMMON.

COMMON STURGEON. Czuass IV.

is \

GENUS XI. STURGEON.
APERTURE one narrow on each side. _
Movtu placed far below, tubular and without
teeth. cee
Bopy long, and often angular. ah
Ovonos. Athen. Lib. viii.315. Acipenser Sturio. Lin. Syst.
"Annimyoios ? Athen. p. 294. 403. Gm. Lin. 1483. Mus.
Acipenser? Plinit Lib. ix. c. Ad. Fred. 54. tab. 18. fig.

17. Ovidit Halieut. ? 2. .
L’Esturgeon. Belon, 89. Stor. Faun. Suec. No. 299.
Acipenser. Rondel. 410. Ges- Seb. Mus. iii. 101. éab. 29.
ner pisc. 2. No. 19.
Sturio. Gesner pisc. L’Esturgeon. Bloch ichth. iii.
Stoer. Schonevelde, 9. . 80. tab. 88.
Sturgeon. Wil. Ichth. 239. L’ Acipensere esturgeon. De
Raii Syn. pise. 112. la Cepede Hist. des Pois-
Schirk. Kram. 383. : sons, i. 411. tab. 20. fig. 1.

Acipenser corpore tuberculis Arct. Zool. ii. 356.
spinosis exasperato. drted.

Syn. 1.

THAT this is the ‘Owexos of Dorion, as quoted
by Atheneus, is very probable, as well from the
account he gives of its form, as of its nature.
He says its mouth is always open, in which it
agrees with the Sturgeon, and that it conceals

(19. Y NOADUALS

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CiassIV. COMMON STURGEON.

itself in the hot months: this shews it to be
a fish of a cold nature, which is confirmed
by the history of the Huropean fish of this spe-
cies, given by Mr. Forster,* in his Essay on
the Volga, who relates that they are scarcely
ever found in that river in spring or summer,
but in vast quantities in autumn and winter,
when they crowd from the sea under the ice,
and are then taken in great numbers.

Whether the acipenser is the sturgeon of the
moderns, may be doubted, otherwise Ovid
would never have spoke of it as a foreign fish:

Tuque peregrinis, Acipenser, nobilis undis.

And thou, a fish in foreign seas renowned.
it being well known that it is not uncommon
in the Mediterranean, and even in the mouth of
the Jiber, at certain seasons; but this passage
leaves us as much in the dark as to the particu-
lar species intended by the word acipenser, as
the description Plimy has given us; for that
philosopher relates, that its scales are placed in
a contrary direction to those of other fish, being
turned towards the mouth, which disagrees with
the character of all that are known at present.
Whatever fish it might have been, it was cer-
tainly the same with the Elops, or Helops, as

* Phil. Trans. lvii. 352.

165

166

MIGRATORY.

COMMON STURGEON. Cuass IV.

appears from Pliny, who makes it synonymous
with the acipenser,* and from another line of
the poet beforementioned :

Et pretiosus Helops nostris incognitus wndis.
The pretious Helops stranger to our seas.

The sturgeon annually ascends our rivers,
but in no great numbers, and is taken by acci-
dent in the salmon nets. It seems a spiritless
fish, making no manner of resistance when
entangled, but is drawn out of the water like a
lifeless lump. It is seldom taken far out at
sea, but frequents such parts as are not remote
from the estuaries of great rivers. It is admired
for the delicacy and firmness of its flesh, which
is as white as veal, and extremely good, when
roasted. It is generally pickled. Most we
receive come either from the Baltic rivers, or
from North America: those cured at Pillau
have been in the greatest repute, but through
the encouragement given by the society insti-
tuted for promoting trade and manufactures,
the sturgeon from our colonies begins to rival
those of the Baltic.

Great numbers are taken during summer in
the lakes Frischehaff, and Curisch-haff near
Pillau, in large nets made of small cord. The

* Quidam eum Elopem vocant. Lib. ix. ¢. 17.

Cass IV. COMMON STURGEON.

adjacent shores are formed into districts, and
farmed out to companies of fishermen, some
of which are rented for six thousand guilders,
or near three hundred pounds per annum.

Sturgeons are found in vast abundance in the
American rivers in May, June, and July, parti-
cularly in those of Virgmia, where they are in
such multitudes, that six hundred have been
taken in two days, with no more trouble than
putting down a pole with a hook at the end, to
the bottom, and drawing it up again, on per-
ceiving that it rubbed against a fish. *

Caviare is made of the roes of this, and also
of all the other sorts of sturgeons, dried, salted,
and packed up close. The best is said to be
made of those of the Sterlet, t a small species
frequent in the Vaik and Volga. Icthyocolla,t
or ising-glass, is also made of the sound of our
fish, as well as that of the others, but the Be-
luga affords the best.§

* Doctor Burnaby’s Travels, p. 15.

+ Strahlenlerg’s Hist. Russia, 337. Accipenser Ruthenus.
Gm. Lin. 1485.

} Phil. Trans. lvii. 354. A very small quantity is made from
this species, and that only designed as presents to great men, as
Mr. Forster assured me.

§ The antients were acquainted with the fish that afforded this
substance. Pliny lib. xxxii. c.'7. mentions it under the name of
Icthyocolla, and says, that the glue that was produced from it
had the same title; and afterwards adds, that it was made out of

167

168

Descrir-
TION.

COMMON STURGEON. Crass IV.
{
The sturgeon grows to a great size, to the

length of eighteen feet, and to the weight of five
hundred pounds, but it is seldom taken in our
rivers of that bulk. The largest we have known
caught in those of Great Britain weighed four
hundred and sixty pounds, which was taken
about two years ago in the Esk, where they are
more frequently found than in our southern
waters.

The nose is very long, slender, and ends in a
point; the eyes are extremely small; the nos-
trils placed near them: on the lower part of
the nose are four cirri or beards; the mouth is
situated far beneath, is small, and unsupported
by any jaw-bones; neither has it any teeth.
The mouth of a dead fish is always open; when
alive it can close or open it at pleasure, by
means of certain muscles. The body is long,
pentagonal, and covered with five rows of large
bony tubercles ; one row of which is placed on
the back, and two on each side; the whole
under side of the fish, from the end of the nose

the belly of the fish. The Mario, said by Phiny hb. ix. ¢. 15. to
be found in the Danube and the Borysthenes, was certainly of
this genus, a cartilaginous fish (nullis ossibus spinisve intersitis)
resembling a small porpesse (Porculo marino simillimus;) and
very probably may be the same with the Beluga, which, accord-
ing to Mr. Forster, Phil. Trans. lvii. 354. has a short blunt
nose, agreeing in that respect with the porpesse.

Crass IV. COMMON STURGEON.

to the vent, is flat; on the back, not remote
from the tail, is a single fin; it has besides two
pectoral fins, two ventral, and one anal fin;
the tail is bifurcated, but the upper part much
longer than the lower. The upper part of the
body is of a dirty olive color; the lower part
silvery; the middle of the tubercles white.

In the manner of breeding it is an exception
among the cartilaginous fish, being like the bony
fish oviparous, spawning in winter.

169

170

1. OBLONG.

OBLONG TETRODON. Crass IV.

GENUS XII. TETRODON.

Bopy very deep, and as if cut off in the
middle.

Mout small.

TEETH, two only in each jaw.

Sun-Fish from Mount’s Bay. lique annexa, spiraculis lu-
Borlase Cornwall, 268. tab. natis. Reéz. nov. act. Stockh.
26. fig. 7- 6. 2. p. 116.
_ Ostracion levis. Gronov. Cephalus oblongus. C. corpore
Zooph. No. 185. oblongo truncato. Shaw
Tetrodon Mola truncatus. fA. Gen. Zool, v. part ii. 439.
Gm. Lin. 1448. Le Tetrodon Lune. De la Ce-
Tet. inermis, levis, compres- pede Hist. des Poissons, 1.
sus, oblongus, cauda_bre- 509. tab. 22. fig. 2.

vissima, pinna dorsali ana-

RONDETLETIUS has given this genus the
synonym of Orthragoriscus, as if it was that
which Pliny* intended by the same name; but
the account left us by that naturalist is so brief,
that we do not think ourselves authorized to
place it as a synonymous creature. He says
no more than that it was the greatest of fish,
and that it grunted when it was first taken,

* Til. xxxil. c. 2.

Cuass1V. OBLONG TETRODON.

from which probably rose the name, for, accord-
ing to Athencus, éodeayoeoxss* was that given to
a young pig. We are inclined to believe, that
this fish had escaped the notice of Pliny, other-
wise he must have unavoidably made some
remark on its striking figure.

This fish grows to a great bulk: that which
was examined by Salvianus} was above a hun-
dred pounds in weight: and Doctor Borlase
mentions another taken at Plymouth im 1734,
that weighed five hundred.

In form it resembles a bream, or some dee
fish cut off in the middle. ‘The mouth is very
small, and contains in each jaw two broad
teeth, with sharp edges.

- The eyes are little; before each is a small
semilunar aperture; the pectoral fins very small,
and placed behind them. ‘The dorsal fin and

the anal fin are high, and situated at the extre-_

mity of the body; the tail fin is narrow, and
fills all the abrupt space between those two
fins.

The color of the Hecke is dusky, and dappled;
the belly silvery; between the eyes and the
pectoral fins are certain streaks pointing down-
wards. ‘The skin is free from scales.

When boiled, it has been observed to turn

* Lib.iv. p. 140. + Hist. Pisc. 155.

171

Sizz.

DeEscrir.
_ TION.

2. SHORT.

DeEscRIP-
TION.

SHORT TETRODON. Cuass IV.

into a glutinous jelly, resembling boiled starch
when cold, and served the purposes of glue, on
being tried on paper and leather. The flesh
of this fish is uncommonly rank: it feeds on
shell-fish.

There seems to be no satisfactory reason for
the old English name. Care must be taken not
to confound it with the sun-fish of the Jrish,
which differs in all respects from this.

Orthragoriscus sive Luna pis-
cis. Rondel. 424.

Mola Salvianz, the Sun-fish.
Wil. Ichth. 151. Rati Syn.
pase. 51.

Ostracion cathetoplateus sub-
rotundus inermis asper, pin-
nis pectoralibus horizonta-
libus, foraminibus quatuor

in capite. Arted. synon.
83.
Tetrodon Mola. T. levis,

compressus, cauda truncata,
pinna brevissima dorsali a-

nalique annexa. Lin. Syst.
412. Gm. Lin. 1447. Gro-
nov. Zooph. No. 186.

Brunnich pisc. Massil. No.
16.

Sun-fish, from Loo. Borlase
Cornwall, 267. tab. 26. fig.
6.

La Lune. Bloch ichth. iv.
83. tab. 128.

Le Tetrcdon Lune. 6. De la
Cepede Hist. des Poissons,
i. 514,

"THIS differs* from the former, in being much

shorter and deeper.

The back and the anal

* Linneus and de la Cepede consider this and the preceding

as constituting but one species.

Bloch denies that it has any

teeth, but merely a division of the jaws which resembles two

teeth. Ep.

Cuass IV. SHORT TETRODON.

fins are higher, and the aperture to the gills not
semilunar, but oval. ‘The situation of the fins
are the same in both.

This species was taken off Penzance, and is
engraved in Doctor Borlase’s Natural History
of Cornwall, from one of Mr. Jago’s drawings.
Both kinds are taken on the western coasts of
this kingdom, and not unfrequently in the Frith
of Forth, but in much greater numbers in the
warmer parts of Europe.

Mr. Brunnich informs us, that between 4n-
tibes and Genoa, he saw one of this species lie
asleep on the surface of the water: a sailor
jumped overboard and caught it.

wi 62th

3. GLoseE.

DescriP-
TION.

Ted

GLOBE TETRODON. Crass IV.

Tetrodon lagocephalus. T. ab- to et subrotundo. <Artedi
domine aculeato, corpore Syn. 86. Gron. mus. 1. 1.
levi, humeris prominenti- 1202
bus.. Gm, Lin. 1444.? L’Orbe etoilé.* Bloch ichth.

Ostracion catheroplateo-oblon- iv. 127. tab. 140.2

gus, ventre tantum aculea~

THis species is common to Hurope and South
Carolina.. As yet only a single specimen has
been discovered in our seas, which was taken at
Penzance in Cornwall. a

The length was one foot seven inches; the
length of the belly, when distended, one foot;
the whole circumference in that situation two
feet six. The form of the body is usually
oblong, but when alarmed it has the power of
inflating the belly to a globular shape of great
size. This seems designed as a means of
defence against fish of prey; as they have less
means of laying hold of it; and are besides ter-
rified by the numbers of spines with which that
part is armed, and which are capable of being

* Some doubts may be entertained whether this is the Orbe
etoilé of Bloch, as it differs materially in color, and the spines
on the belly arise from four instead of three processes which
distinguish the fish described by the German naturalist ; it may,
however, be remarked, that his figure does not correspond with
the description in respect to the number of processes. Ep.

‘3

VOL.3,P.174

Pl. xXxm.

|

_NOGOULTH WaIottys

CuassIV. GLOBE TETRODON.

erected on every part. ‘The mouth is small;
the irides white, tinged with red; the back
from head to tail almost strait, or at lest very
slightly elevated; of a rich deep blue color.
It has the pectoral, but wants the ventral fins ;
the dorsal is placed low on the back; the anal
is opposite ; the tail almost even, divided by an
angular projection in the middle; the tail and
fins brown; the belly and sides are white, sha-
greened or wrinkled, and beset with innumera-
ble small sharp spines, adhering to the skin by
four processes.

175

176

1. Lump.

DeEscrIP-
TION.

LUMP SUCKER.

GENUS XIII. SUCKER.

Bony thick, back arched. _

Cuass IV.

Fins ventral, united, by

Lumpus anglorum. Gesner
Paralip. 25.
Seehaess, Haffpodde. Scho-

nevelde, 41.

Cyclopterus. Arted. Synon.
87. Gronov. Zooph. No.
197.

pore squamis osseis angula-
to. Lin. Syst. 414. Gm.
Lin. 1473.

Sjuryge-fisk, Stenbit, Quabb-
su. Faun. Suec. No. 320.
Le Lievre de Mer. Bloch

ichth 111. 92. tab. gO.

vert 4

Lump, or Sea-Owl, Scotis
Cock paddle. Wil. Ichth.
208. Raw Syn. pisc. 77.

Cyclopterus Lumpus. C. cor-

Le Cycloptere Lompe. De la
Cepede Hist. des Poissons.
il 52.

‘Tuts singular fish increases to the weight of
seven pounds, and the length of nineteen inches:
the shape of the body is like that of the bream,
deep and very thick, and it swims edgeways ;
the back is sharp and elevated; the belly flat ;
the irides are of a cherry color ; the lips, mouth,
and tongue, of a deeper red; the jaws lined
with innumerable small teeth; the tongue very
thick ; along the ridge of the back is a row of

large bony tubercles; from above the eye to

within a small distance of the tail is another
row ; beneath that a third, commencing at the

PL XXxty. i VOL.3. P.176.

ek.
ge UNCTUOUS SUCKER -(P. 179)

CiassIV: | LUMP SUCKER.

gills; and on each side the belly a fourth row,
consisting of five tubercles like the other; the
whole skin is rough, with small tubercles.

On the upper part of the back is a thick ridge
improperly called a fin, being destitute of rays;
beneath that is the dorsal fin, of a brownish

hue, reaching within an inch of the tail; on the

belly, just opposite, is another of the same
form; the belly is of a bright crimson color ;
the tail and anal fins are purple; the pectoral
fins are large and broad, almost uniting at
their base; beneath these is the part by which
it adheres to the rocks, &c.; this consists of
an oval aperture, surrounded with a fleshy
muscular and obtuse soft substance, edged with
small thread-like appendages, which concur as
so many claspers ; by means of this it adheres

with vast force to any thing it pleases. As a

proof of its tenacity we have known, that on
flinging a fish of this species just caught, into a
pail of water, it fixed itself so firmly to the
bottom, that on taking it by the tail, the whole
pail by that means was lifted, though it held
some gallons, and that without removing the
fish from its hold.

These fish resort in multitudes during spring

to the coast of Sutherland, near the Ord of

Caithness. The seals which swarm beneath,
VOL. 111. N

177

178 .

LUMP SUCKER. Crass IV.

prey greatly on them, leaving the skins; num-
bers of which thus emptied float at that season
ashore. It is easy to distinguish the place
where seals are devouring this or any unctuous
fish, by a smoothness of the water immediately
above the spot; this fact is now established ; it
being a tried property of oil to still the agitation
of the waves, and render them smooth. *

Great numbers of these fish are found in the
Greenland seas during the months of dpral and
May, when they resort near the shore to spawn.
Their roe is remarkably large, which the Green-
landers boil to a pulp, and eat. They are
extremely fat, which recommends them the
more to the natives, who admire all oily food:
they call them Nipisets, or Cat-fish, and take
quantities of them during the season. +

This fish is sometimes eaten in England,
being stewed like carp, but is both es and
insipid.

[The beautiful variety { of this fish, ccied by
Doctor Shaw, the Pavonian sucker, was first
described and figured by the reverend Hugh

* Philos. Trans. 1774. p. 445.

+ Crantz’s Hist. Greenland, i. 96.

+ Klein indeed makes a species of it in his Hist. Pisc. Miss,
iv. n. 3. t. 14. f. 5. under the title of Oncotion dilute viridis et _

vivide colorilus pavoneis resplendens; dorso parum nigricante,
pinnis viridibus, ad ambitum decoratis.

Cuass IV. UNCTUOUS SUCKER.

Davies of Beaumaris, in the ninth volume of
the Naturalist’s Miscellany, tab. 310, and differs
from the common sort, merely in the brilliancy
of its colors. ‘‘ The back,’’ says that accurate
naturalist, “‘ is of a fine azure, deepening to-
wards the edge ; the sides are tinged with crim-
son; the mouth, sides of the head, and all the
under parts to the tail, are of a delicate sea-
green, with a silvery tinge on the cheeks, the
pectoral fins, and the part of the body next the
tail ; the iris is likewise silvery, the pupil black;
the fins and tail terminate in a fine pale yellow.”

Ep.

Syst. 414. Gm. Lin. 1477.
Cyclogaster. Gronov. Zooph.

Liparis? Rondel. 272. Gesner
pisc. 483.

Liparis nostras Dunelm et Ebo-
rac. Sea Snail. Wil. Ichth.
App. 17. Raii Syn. pisc. 74.
Pet. Gaz. tab. 51. fig. 5.

Liparis. Arted. Synon. 177.

Cyclopterus Liparis. C. cor-
pore nudo, pinnis dorsali
anali caudalique unitis. Lin.

No. 198.

La Cycloptere barbue. Bloch
ichth. iv. 50. tab. 123. fig.
3. A.

Le Cycloptere Liparis. De la

1 Cepede Hist. des Poissons,
ii. 69.

‘THIS fish takes the name of sea snail from

the soft and unctuous texture of its body, resem-

bling that of the land snail. It is almost trans-

parent, and soon dissolves and melts away. It

is found in the sea near the mouths of great
N 2

179

2. Unctt-
ovs.

DEscRIP-

180

TION.

“

UNCTUOUS SUCKER. Cuass IV?

rivers. We have seen it in January full of
spawn.

The length is five inches; the color, when
fresh taken, a pale brown, sometimes finely
streaked with a darker; the shape of the body
round, but near the tail compressed sideways;
the belly is white and very protuberant; the
head is large, thick, and round; there are no
teeth in the mouth, but the jaws are very
rough; the tongue very large; the eyes very
small; the orifice to the gills is very small;
it has six branchiostegous rays; the pectoral
fins are very broad, thin, and transparent, and
almost unite under the throat; the first ray
next the throat is very long, extends far beyond
the rest, and is as fine as a hair; over the base
of each is a sort of operculum, or lid, ending in
a point; this is capable of being raised or de-
pressed at pleasure; behind the head begins
the dorsal fin, which extends quite to the end
of the tail; the ventral fin begins at the anus,
and unites with the other at the tail; beneath

the throat is a round depression of a whitish

color, like the impression of a seal, surrounded
with twelve small pale yellow ¢ubera, by which
it probably adheres to the stones like the other
species.

a

VOL.3.P. 181

BIMACULATED SUCKER (e -182 )

MM EMA) ae

Una :

Crass IV. JURA SUCKER.

181

A. 86£ °C). sy ag *
Lesser Sucking Fish. Borlase Lepadogaster. Le Barbier ou 3, Jura.

Nat. Hist. Cornwall, 269. Porteecuelle. Gowan. pise.
tab. xxv. fig. 28. Weil tals. dhe Jig: OF.

'THIs species is found in Cornwall. 1 also
discovered it in the Sound of Jura.

Its length is about four inches ; the skin with- Descrip-

_ out scales, slippery, and of a dusky color, occa-
sionally spotted; the body taper; the nosé
grows slenderer from the head, and ends round;
the teeth small; before each eye are two small
filaments united at their base; behind the eyes
are two circular ocellated spots, sometimes blue,
but varying in color, and not: perceptible in
young fish. In the middle of the back is an
oval mark formed by small dots, of a whitish
color. The dorsal fin lies near the tail, and
consists of eleven rays; the anal is placed
opposite, and has nine rays; the tail is round-

ed; the ventral fins have four rays, joined by

an intervening membrane with an oval depres-
sion in the middle; beyond that is another
strong membrane with a similar depression.
By means of these instruments it adheres to
stones or rocks.

TION.

182 BIMACULATED SUCKER. Ctass IV.
4. Brmacu- Br. Zool. iti. 397. App. Montagu in Lin. Tr. vii. 293:
LATED. id. in Wern. Mem. 92.

OE THe head is flat and tumid on each side; the
ON.

body taper. The pectoral fins placed unusually
high. It has only one dorsal fin; placed low,
or near the tail ; -the tail is even at the end ; the
color of the head and body is of a fine pink
and white in minute spots; the mouth small;
the teeth small and regular; on each side of
the engine of adherence on the belly, behind
the pectoral fin, is a purple spot, surrounded
by a ring of white. When young, it is of a
ereen color, minutely speckled with blue, and
without pectoral spots; in this state it is propor-
tionally longer, and differs a little in the shape
of the fins. The eyes are considerably promi-
nent, capable of very considerable motion, inde-
pendent of each other, and revolve within a
fixed transparent sphere, which protects those
delicate organs. It rarely exceeds an inch and ©
a half in length.

This species was taken at Weymouth, and
was communicated to me by the late Dutchess
Dowager of Portland.*

* Mr. Montagu informs us, it is frequently taken by deep
dredging at Torcross in Devonshire. The editor has, on his

CrassIV. MONTAGU SUCKER,

Cyclopterus Montagui. Mon- Turton Br. Fauna. 115.
fagu in Wern. Mem. Ql.
tab. 5. f. 1.

[THIS species, which seldom exceeds two
inches in length, was first discovered by the
able naturalist whose name it bears. The body
is rounded as far as the vent; the posterior
part somewhat compressed; the head broad,
inflated about the gills; the mouth armed with
several rows of teeth; the eyes small and
placed high; before them are two minute erect
tubes or filaments; the dorsal fin consists of
about twenty-six rays; the anal of twenty-four;
the united pectoral and ventral fins, of twenty-
nine, and the tail of twelve; the general color
of the body is a purplish brown, the under
parts and the sucker white; the latter is cir-
cular and composed of thirteen concave tuber-
cles; the belly is very tumid. It inhabits only
the rocky parts of the coast, and has only been
obtained at extraordinary low tides, chiefly at
Milton on the south coast of Devonshire. En.

respectable authority, enlarged the description and corrected
some trifling errors of the former edition, which arose from Mr.
Pennant never having had an opportunity of seeing a fresh spe-
cimen, Ep.

183

5. Monraau.

DeEscrIipe
TION.

184

1. LoNGER.

Descrip-
TION.

LONGER PIPE FISH: Cuass IV.

? A ‘

GENUS XIV. PIPE FISH.

Nose long and tubular.

ORIFICE, none to the gills.

APERTURE, the breathing, on the hind part of
the head.

Frns ventral none.

Bopy covered with a strong crust.

Acus Aristotelis cauda serpen- gulo, pinn& caude carens?
tina. Sib. Scot. 24. Tab. Arted. Spec. 3.
19. _ Syngnathus barbarus. S. pin-
Typhle altera. Gesner pise. | nis caude anique aniullis,
1025. corpore sexangulato? Lin.

Syngnathus corpore quadran- syst. 417. Gm. Lin. 1457.

Tuts species, described by Sir Robert Sib-
bald, was two feet in length ; that we examined
only sixteen inches. The nose was an inch long,
compressed sideways, and the end of the lower
mandible turned up : the aperture of the mouth
very small; the irides were red; behind each
eye was a deep brown line; the body, in the
thickest part, was about equal to a swan’s quil,
hexangular from the end of the dorsal fin ; from
thence to the tail quadrangular; the belly was

ag RTT TRON TR NRTA TTER ROH ONTO

at

—

Vol3L TEA.

WV? 60.

WV? 61.

N62,

Cuass IV. LONGER PIPE FISH.

slightly carimated, and marked along the middle
with a dusky line; under the tail, commencing
at the anus, was a sulcus or groove, six inches
and a half long, covered by two longitudinal
valves which concealed a multitude of young
fish; on crushing this part, hundreds may be
observed to crawl out. The general color of
the fish was an olive brown: the sides marked
with numbers of bluish lines pointing from the

back to the belly, which, in dried fish, seemed like

the signs of so many joints; those in a fresh
subject ceased beyond the vent ; all beyond that
was spotted with brown ; the dorsal fin was nar-
row and thin, consisting of forty rays, was two
inches long, and placed rather nearer to the
head than the tail; the vent was seven inches
from the tip of the nose; the body to that orifice
was of an equal thickness, but from thence

tapered to a very small point, having no mark

of a fin; the pectoral fins had twelve rays; the
anal three. |
When this fish and the next species are dried,
they appear covered with numbers of angular
-erusts, finely radiated from their centre.
As we want a generical name in our language
for this genus, we call it the Pipe Mish, from its
slender body.

185

186

SHORTER PIPE FISH.

9, SHoRTER. L’ Orueul marin. Belon, 446.

DEscrir-
TION.

Acus secunda species, sive,
acus Aristofelis. Rondel.229.

Typhle. Gesner pisc. 1025.

Trummeter, Meherschlange.
Schonevelde, 11.

Acus Aristotelis seu secunda.
Wil. [chth. 158. Rai syn.
pisc. 47.

Syngnathus corpore
heptagono, cauda pinnata.
Arted. synon. 2.

Syngnathus acus. S. pinnis
caude ani pectoralibusque

medio

Crass IV.

radiatis, corpore septeman-

gulato. Lin. syst. 416.
Gm. Lin. 1455.

Kantnahl. Faun. Suec. No.
376.

Syngnathus cauda__pinnata.
Gronov. Zooph. No. 172.

Sea-adder. Borlase Cornw.
267.

La Trompette. Bloch ichth.
iil. 102. tab. QI. f- 1.

Le Syngnathe trompette. De
la Cepede Hist. des Pois-

sons, ll. 27.

THIS is shorter and thicker than the former,
yet I have seen one of the length of sixteen
inches. The middle of the body in some is hex~
angular, in others heptangular.. Linneus con-
stitutes two species of them, his Syngnathus
Typhile, and his Syngnathus Acus ; but we join
with Doctor Gronovius, in thinking them only
varieties of the same fish.

The mouth is formed like that of the former ;
the irides are yellow ; close behind the head are
the pectoral fins, which are small and short; on
the lower part of the back is one narrow fin;
beyond the vent the tail commences, which is
long and quadrangular ; at the extremity is a fin
round and radiated. The body is covered with
a strong crust, elegantly divided into small com-

Crass IV. LITTLE PIPE FISH.

partments ; the belly is white; the other parts
brown. ,

- Besides these species of hard-skinned Pipe
fish, we have been informed, that the Syngna-
thus Hippocampus of Linneéus, or what the
English improperly call the sea horse, has been
found on the southern shores of this kingdom.

Acui Arisfotelis congener pis- toralibus caudaque carens.
ciculus, pueris Cornubien- Arted. synon. 2.
sibus Sea Adder, Acus Lum- Syngnathus ophidion. Lz.
briciformis, aut Serpenti- syst. 417. Gm. Lin. 1456.
nus. Wil. Ichth. 160. Rait Hafsnahl, Tangsnipa. Faun.
syn. pisc. Suec. No. 375.

Syngnathus teres, pinnis pec- Le Serpent de mer. Bloch
ichth. iil. 104. tab. 91. f. 3.

THE little pipe fish seldom exceeds five inches
in length, is very slender, and tapers off to a point.
It wants both the pectoral and tail fins; is
covered with a smooth skin, not with a crust as
the two former kinds are. ‘The nose is short
and turns a little up; the eyes are prominent ;
on the back is one narrow fin.

This species is not viviparous ; on the belly of
the female is a long hollow, to which adhere the
eggs, disposed in two or three rows. They are
large, and not numerous. |

The synonym of Serpent is used in several

187

3. LITTLE.

DescriPre
TION.

188

4. FEquo-
REAL.

DEscr1iP-
TION.

/EQUOREAL PIPE FISH. Crass IV.
languages to express these fishes; the French
call one species Orueul, from a sort of snake
not unlike the blindworm; the Germans call it
Meherschlange ; and the Cornish, the sea adder:

Syngnathus equoreus. 5. pore angulato. Gm. Lin. ~

pinna caudz radiata, pec- 1456.
toralibus anique nullis, cor- Montagu. Mem. Wern. Soc.
85. tab. 4. f. 1.

[THIS species, which had hitherto remained
among the uncertainties of this ill-ascertained
genus, was discovered by the indefatigable Mr.
Montagu, near Salcomh in Devonshire, and is
described by him with precision, in the first
volume of the Memoirs of the /Vernerian So-
ciety.

Its length was twenty-one inches ; the snout
similar to that of the Shorter Pipe-Fish; the
body compressed, rather angular, with an acute
dorsal and abdominal ridge, which, with three
slight angles on each side, give it an octangular
appearance ; it is of equal size from the gills to
the vent; from thence to the extremity of the
tail it is almost round and extremely taper. The

dorsal fin, which commences considerably before
the vent, and terminates rather behind it, con-

sists of forty rays; the end of the tail is ex-
tremely small, compressed into a spurious fin,

Crass IV. f/EQUOREAL PIPE FISH.

invisible to the naked eye. It has neither pec-
toral or ventral fins. In another specimen,
fifteen inches in length, found on the coast in
summer in a dried state, there was no visible
caudal fin ; and the angle on the back and belly
was also less defined. The color of the body is
yellowish, with transverse pale lines, with dark
margins. Ep.

189

190

1. SNIPE
NOSED.

DEscrip-
TION.

TRUMPET FISH. Criss IV.

GENUS XV. TRUMPET FISH.

Snout prolonged.

Bopy compressed, carinated beneath.
Frwns ventral united.

Centriseus Scolopax. C. cor- Will. ichth. 160. tab. 25.
pore squamoso scabro, cauda SJ. 2. Raii syn. pise. 50.
recta extensa. Gm. Lin. La Becasse. Bloch ichth. iv.
1461. Gron. Zooph. 128. 64. tab. 123. f. 1.

Balistes aculeis 2 loco pinna- Le Centrisque Beccasse. De
rum ventralium, solitario in- la Cepede Hist. des Pois-
fra anum. Arted. synon. 82. sons, li. 95. j

Klein, pisc. mass. iv. 24. Snipe Centriseus. Shaw Gen.

Trumpet or Bellows Fish. Zool.'v. part. ii. 549.

[THE body of this fish is short and deep, com-
pressed on the sides, and covered with rough
hard scales, of a pale red color. The head, which
is rather wide, terminates in a long cylindrical
snout, at the extremity of which, is situated a
small mouth. ‘The eyes are large, the pupil
black, the irides pale red. The fins are of a
grey color; the first dorsal fin consists of four
strong rays, of which the first is the largest, and
is remarkably indented on two sides ; the ventral
fins are occasionally concealed in a bony sulcus
which is lodged behind them. One of these
extremely rare fish was taken in St. Austle’s
bay in Cornwall, in 1804. Ep.

Cuass IV.

COMMON EEL.

Div. III.

BONY FISHES.

Sect. I.

APODAL.

GENUS XVI. EEL.

Bopy long, slender, and slippery.

Nosrrits tubular.

_ Fins, back, ventral, and tail, united.
APERTURE to the gills small, and placed behind

the pectoral fins.

Rays branchiostegous ten.

Eyxiaus. Arist. Hist. an. Lib.
iy. c. 11. vi. 14.16. Oppian
Halieut. i. 516. iv. 450.

Anguilla Plini Lib. ix. ¢. 21.

L’ Anguille. Belon, 291. Ols.
55.

Anguilla. Rondel. fluv. 198.
Gesner pisc. 40.

Ael. Schonevelde, 14.

The Fel. Wil. pisc. 109. Rai
syn. pisc. 37.

Murena unicolor maxilla in-

feriore longiore. Aréed. syn.
30.

Murena Anguilla. Lin. syst.
426. Gm. Lin. 1133. Gro-
nov. Zooph. No. 166.

Ahl. Faun. Suec. No. 301.
Aal. Kram. 387.

L’ Anguille. Bloch ichth. iii.
3. a0. 73:

La Murene anguille. De la
Cepede Hist. des Poissons,
ii. 226.

THE cel is a very singular fish in several
things that relate to its natural history, and

ig1

1. Common.

COMMON EEL. Gtass IV.
in some respects borders on the nature of the
reptile tribe. ;

It is known to quit its abeeat and pean
night to wander along the meadows, not only
for change of habitation, but also for the sake
of prey, feeding on the snails it finds in its
passage. During winter it beds itself deep in
the mud, and continues in a state of rest like the
serpent kind. It is very impatient of cold, and
will eagerly take shelter in a wisp of straw flung
into a pond in severe weather, which has some-
times been practised as a method of taking them.
Albertus* goes so far as to say, thatshe has
known eels to shelter in a hay-rick, yet alk
perished through excess of cold.

It has been observed, that in the river Nyne,f
there is a variety of small eel, with a lesser head
and narrower mouth than the common kind, that
they are found in clusters in the bottom: of the
river, and are called Bed-eels: these are some
times roused up by violent floods, and are never!
found at that time: with meat in their stomachs.
This bears such-an analogy with the clustermg
of blindworms in their quiescent state, that we

* Gesner pisc. 45.
t Morton's Hist. Northampt. 419. Pung observes, that the
eels of the lake Benacus collect together in the same manner in

the month of Octoler, possibly to retreat from the winter's cold.
Lib. ix. c. 22.

Crass IV; COMMON EEL.

cannot but consider it as a further proof of
a partial agreement in the nature of the two
genera.

The antients adopted a most wild opinion
about the generation of these fish, believing
them to be either created from the mud, or that
the scrapings of their bodies, which they left on
the stones, were animated and became young
eels. Some moderns gave into these opinions,
and into others that were equally extravagant.
They could not account for the appearance of
these fishes in ponds that never were stocked
with them, and which were even so remote as to
make their being met with in such places, a
phenomenon that they could not solve. But
there is much reason to believe, that many
waters are supplied with these fishes by the
aquatic fowl of prey, in the same manner as
vegetation is spread by many of the land birds,
either by being dropped as they carry them to
feed their young, or by passing quick through
their bodies, as is the case with herons; and
such may be the occasion of the appearance of
these fishes in places where they were never
seen before. As to their immediate generation,
it has been sufficiently proved to be effected in
the ordinary course of nature, and that they are
viviparous.

Ve. T1l. fa)

198

GENERA-
TION,

Vivipa-
ROUS:

194

Descrip-
FIONe

SILVER
EELs.

GRIGS.

-

COMMON EEL. Crass IV.

They are extremely voracious, and very de+
structive to the fry of other species. No fish
lives so long out of water as the eel: it is ex-
tremely tenacious of life, as its parts will move
a considerable time after they are flayed and
cut into pieces. !

The eel is placed by Linneus in the genus of
Murena, his first of the apodal fishes, or such
which want the ventral fins. ‘The eyes are
situated not remote from the end of the nose ;
the irides are tinged with red; the under jaw is
longer than the upper; the teeth are small,
sharp, and numerous; beneath each eye is a
minute orifice; at the end of the nose are two
others, small and tubular. It is furnished with
a pair of pectoral fins, rounded at their ends;
another narrow fin, on the back, unites with that
of the tail ; and the anal fin joins it in the same
manner beneath ; behind the pectoral fins 4s the
orifice to the gills, which are concealed in the
skin. Eels vary much in their colors, from a
sooty hue to a light olive green ; and those which
are called silver eels, have their bellies white,
and a remarkable clearness throughout.

Besides these, there is another variety of this
fish, known in the Thames by the name of Grigs,
and about Oxford by that of Grigs or Gluts.
These are scarcely ever seen near Oxford in the

Crass IV. COMMON EEL.

winter, but appear in spring, and bite readily at
the hook, which common eels in that neighbour-
hood will not. They have a larger head, a
blunter nose, thicker skin, and are less fat than
the common sort; neither are they so much
esteemed, nor do they often exceed three or
four pounds in weight.

Common eels grow to a large size, sometimes
so great as to weigh fifteen or twenty pounds,
but that is extremely rare. As to instances
brought by Dale and others, of their increasing
to a superior magnitude, we have much reason
to suspect them to have been congers, since the
enormous fish they describe, have all been taken
at the mouths of the Thames or Medway.

The eel is the most universal of fishes, yet is
scarcely ever found in the Danube, though it is
very common in the lakes and rivers of Upper
Austria. The Romans held it very cheap, pro-
bably from its likeness to a snake.

Vos anguilla manet longz cognata colubre,
_Vernula riparum pinguis torrente cloaca. *

For you, is kept a sink-fed snake-like eel.

They are likewise detested by the Scottish
highlanders. :
On the contrary, the luxurious Sybarites

* Juvenal. Sat. vy. 103.
oO 2

195

196

2. CONGER.

SIZE.

Descrip-
TION.

Cuass Iv.

were so fond of these fishes, as to exempt
from eHY 3 kind of tribute the peraans who

CONGER EEL.

sold them. *

Koyye0s. Arist. Hist. an. lib.
i. &c.

Toyyeos. Oppian. Halicut. i.
113. 521..

Conger. Plinii lib. ix. ¢. 16.
20. A

Le Congre. Belon 159.

Conger. Rondel. 394. Gesner
pisc. 290.

The Conger, or Conger Eel.

Wil. Ichth. iit. Raitt syn.

Murena supremo margine
pinne dorsalis nigro. Arted.
synon. 40.

Murena Conger. M. rostro
tentaculis duobus, linea la-
terali ex punctis albida. Lan.

- syst. 426. Gm. Lin. 1135.

Le Congre. Bloch ichth. v:
33. tab. 155.

La Murene Congre. De la Ce-

pede Hist. des Poissons, ii.

pisc. 37. 269. .
THE conger eel grows to a vast size. Doctor
Borlase, to whom we are obliged for much in-
formation relating to this species, assures us,
that it is sometimes taken near Mount’s-Bay of
one hundred pounds weight. +

It differs from the common eel in the follow-
ing particulars :
dark.

* Atheneus. Lil. xii. p. 521.
+ We have heard of some taken near Scarborough that were

1. Its color in general is more
2. Its eyes much larger in proportion.

ten feet and a half long, and eighteen inches in circumference in
the thickest part. The proportions of one taken in the Dee were:
length four feet; girth, a little below the head, one foot; weight
ten pounds.

=

Crass IV. CONGER EEL

3. The irides are of a bright silvery color.
4. The lower jaw is rather shorter than the
upper. 5. The side line is broad, whitish, and
marked with a row of small spots; (Mr. Ray
says a double row, but we did not observe it
in the fish we examined.) 6. The edges of the
dorsal and anal fins are black. 7. It has more
bones than the common eel, especially along
the back quite to the head. 8. It grows toa
much larger size. As to the distinction that
Mr. Ray, and other writers, make of the small
beards at the end of the nose, we think it not to
be depended on, they being sometimes found in
both kinds, and sometimes entirely wanting.
We believe they generate like the fresh-water
species: innumerable quantities, of what are
supposed to be their fry, come up the Severn
about the month of April, preceding the Shad,
which it is conjectured migrate into that river
to feed on them: they are called Elvers. ‘They
quite swarm during their season, and are
taken in a kind of sieve made of hair-cloth,
fixed to a long pole; the fisherman standing on
the edge of the water during the tide, puts in
his net as far as he can reach, and drawing it
out again takes multitudes at every sweep, and
will catch as many during one tide as will fill’a

197

Evers. —

198

CAPTURE,

CONGER EEL. Crass IV.

bushel. They are dressed, and reckoned very
delicate.

Congers are extremely voracious, preying on
other fish, and on crabs at the time they have
lost their shell, and are in a soft state. They
and eels in general are also particularly fond of
carcasses of any kind, being frequently found
lodged in such that are accidentally taken up.

These fishes are an article of commerce
in Cornwall; numbers are taken on that coast,
and exported to Spam and Portugal, parti-
cularly to Barcelona. The quantities that
were sent from Aount’s Bay for te years,
were as follow;

Ch ig gape: Ab
1756 46 0 k3
1757 164: 0 91
1758 164 1 3
1759 213 O 3
1760 71 3 O

Some are taken by a single hock and line,
but (because that method is tedious, and does
not answer the expence of time and labour) they
are chiefly caught by Bulters, which are strong
lines five hundred feet long, with sixty hooks,

Cuass IV. CONGER EEL,

each eight feet asunder, baited with pilchards
or mackrel ; the Budters are sunk to the ground
by a stone fastened to them: sometimes such a
number of these are tied together as to reach a
mile. We have been told that the fishermen
-are very fearful of large congers, least they
should endanger their legs by clinging round
them; they therefore kill them as soon as pos-
sible by striking them on the navel.

They are afterwards cured in this manner:
they are slit, and hung on a frame till they dry,
having a considerable quantity of fat, which it
is necessary should exude before they are fit
_for use. It is remarkable that a conger of a
hundred weight will waste by drying to twenty-
four pounds; the people therefore prefer the
smallest, possibly because they are soonest
cured. During the process there is a consider-
able stench, and it is said, that in the fishing
villages the poultry are fed with the maggots
thatdrop from the fish.

The Portuguese and Spaniards use those

dried congers after they have been ground into —

a powder, to thicken and give a relish to their
soups. We think they are sold for about forty
shillmgs the quintal, which weighs one ’ hundred
and twenty-six pounds. =~

199

CONGER EEL. Crass IV

A fishery of congers would be of great ad-
vantage to the inhabitants of the Hebrides.
Perhaps they would at first undertake it with
repugnancy, from their absurd aversion to the
eel kind.

ey,
3

Rare?
eee

yes

a

pest

VOL. 3.P.201.

“HOST WlOAA

CuassIV. COMMON WOLF FISH.

GENUS XVII. WOLF FISH.

Heap blunt.
Bopy long.

Fin dorsal, one, reaching almost from the head.

to the tail.

TreETH fore, conic and large; grinders flat

and round.

Rays branchiostegous, six.

Anarrhicas. Gesner Paralip. 4.

Lupus marinus. Cai opusc.
113.

Lupus marinus nostras, quem
ancole Wolff. Schonevelde,
45. tab. 5.

Cat-Fish. Sib. Scoé. iti. 25.
tab. 16.

Wolf Fish, Sea Wolf, or
Woof. Wil. Ichth. 130.
Rau Syn. pisc. 40.

Steen-bider. Pontop. Norway,

di, 150.

Kigutilik 7. e. dentatus.
Crantz’s Green. i. 96.

Anarhichas. Arted. Synon. 39.

Anarhichas Lupus. Lin. Syst.
430. Gm. Lin. 1142.

A. strigosus 7b. 1144.

Zee Wolf. Gronov. Mus. No.
44. Zooph. No.400. ,

Le Loup marin. Bloch ichth.
ili. 15. tab. 74.

L/Anarique Loup. De la Ce-

pede Hist. des Poissons, ii.

300.

Tuts fish seems to be confined to the north-

ern parts of the globe.

We find it in the seas

of Greenland, in those of Iceland* and Norway,

* Where it is called Steinbeisser.

Schonevelde, 45.

201

1. Common,

PLacs.

Foop.

- COMMON WOLF FISH. Czass IV.

on the coasts of Scotland, and of Yorkshire, and
lastly, in that part of the German ocean, which
washes the shores of Holland, the most southern
of its haunts we can with any certainty men-
tion.

It is a most ravenous and fierce fish, and
when taken, fastens on any thing within its
reach: the fishermen dreading its bite, endea-
vour as soon as possible to beat out its fore
teeth, and then kill it by striking it behind the
head. Schonevelde relates, that its bite is so
hard that it will seize on an anchor, and leave
the marks of its teeth in it ; and the Danish and
German names of Steenbider. and Steinbeisser,
express the sense of its great strength, as if
it was capable of crushing even stones with its
jaws.

It feeds almost entirely on crustaceous ani-
mals, and shell fish, such as crabs, lobsters,
prawns, muscles, scallops, large whelks, &e:
these it grinds to pieces with its teeth, and
swallows with the lesser shells. It does not
appear they are dissolved in the stomach, but
are voided with the f@ces, for which purpose
the aperture of the anus is wider than in other
fish of the same size. It is full of roe in Febru-
ary, March, and April, and spawns in May
and June. This fish has so disagreeable and

*

Crass IV. COMMON WOLF FISH.

horrid an appearance, that nobody at Scar-
borough, except the fishermen, will eat it, and
they prefer it to holibut. They always, before
dressing, take off the head and skin.

The sea wolf grows toa large size : caestie on
the Yorkshire coast are sometimes found of the
length of four feet, and, according to Doctor
Gronovius, they have been taken near Shetland,
seven feet long, and even more. That which
we examined was three feet two inches and an
half from the tip of the nose to the end of the
tail; the length of the head was eight inches;
from the gills to the vent, ten; from thence
to the tip of the tail, twenty and a half; the
circumference of the head was seventeen inches,
at the shoulders twenty, but near the tail only
four and a half; its weight was twenty pounds
and a quarter. The head is a little flatted on
the top; the nose blunt; the nostrils very
small ; the eyes small, and placed near the end
of the nose. Irides pale yellow. ‘The teeth are
very remarkable, and finely adapted to its way
of life. The fore teeth are strong, conical,
diverging a little from each other, stand far out
of the jaws, and are commonly six above, and
the same below, though sometimes there are
only five in each jaw; these are supported
withinside by a row of lesser teeth, which

203

DEscrir-
TION.

204

BUFONITES.

COMMON WOLF FISH. Cuass IV?

makes the number in the upper jaw seventeen
or eighteen, in the lower eleven or twelve; the
sides of the under jaw are convex inwards,
which greatly adds to their strength, and at the
same time allows room for the large muscles
with which the head of this fish is furnished ;
the dentes molares, or grinding teeth of the
under jaw, are higher on the outer than the
inner edges, which incline their surfaces in-
ward; they join to the canine teeth in. that
jaw, but in the upper are separate from them ;
in the centre are two rows of flat strong teeth,
fixed on an oblong basis upon the bones of the
palate and nose. ‘These and the other grinding
teeth are often found fossil, and in that state
called Bufonites, or Toad-stones: they were
formerly much esteemed for their imaginary
virtues, and were'set in gold, and worn as rings.
The two bones that form the under jaw are
united before by a loose cartilage, which me-
chanism admitting of a motion from side to
side, most evidently contributes to the design of
the whole, viz. a facility of breaking, grinding,
and comminuting its testaceous and crusta-
ceous food. At the entrance of the gullet,
above and below, are two echinated bones;
these are very small, being the less necessary,
as the food is in a great measure comminuted

ca

CrassIV: COMMON WOLF FISH.

in the mouth by aid of the grinders. The body
is long, and a little compressed sideways; the
skin smooth and slippery. The pectoral fins
consist of eighteen rays, are five inches long,
and seven and a quarter broad; the dorsal fin
extends from the hind part of the head almost
to the tail; the rays in the fresh fish are not
visible; the anal fin extends as far as the dorsal
fin ; the tail is round at its end, and consists of
thirteen rays. The sides, back, and fins are of
a livid lead color ; the two first marked down-
wards with irregular obscure dusky lines; these
in different fishes have different appearances.
The young are of a greenish cast, resembling
the sea wrack, which they reside amongst for
some time after their birth.

We think ourselves much indebted to Mr.
Travis, Surgeon, at Scarborough, for his inge-
nious remarks on this fish, as well as on several
others that frequent that coast, being a gentle-
man much skilled in ichthyology, and extremely
liberal in communicating his knowledge.

205

wee

1. Sanp.

Ms a 4
SAND LAUNCE. Crass IY.

GENUS XVII. LAUNCE.

Heap slender.

Bopy long and square.

Lip upper, doubled in.

Fin dorsal and anal, reaching almost to the
tail.

Rays branchiostegous, seven.

Ammodytes piscis, ut nos vo- Ammodytes Tobianus. Lin,

cavimus pro anglico Sandilz. Syst. 430. Gm. Lin. 1144.
Gesner paralip. 3. Tobis. Faun. Suec. 302. Gro-
Tobian, vel Tobias Sandtspir- nov. Zooph. No. 404.
ing. Schonevelde, 76. Le Lancon. Bloch ichth. wi.
Ammodytes Gesneri, Wil. 20. tab: 75.
~ Ichth. 113. L’Ammodyte appat. De la Ce-
Sand Eels, or Launces. Raii pede Hist. des Poissons, ii.
Syn. pisc. 38, 105. 274.

Ammodytes. Arted. Synon. 20.

THE launce is found on most of our sandy
shores during some of the summer months:
it conceals itself on the recess of the tides be-
neath the sand, in such places where the water
is left, at the depth of about a foot, and in
some places is dug out, in others drawn up by
means of a hook contrived for that purpose. It’
is commonly used for baits for other fish, but is
also very delicate eating.

VOL.5.P. 206.

(907-4) woNaya aNVS

(ete a) ‘STUUMOW KASTTONV

Pl.

Ean

tel Se
Lar
isu

Crass IV. SAND LAUNCE.

These fish are found in the stomachs of the
Porpesse, an argument that the last roots up
the sand with its nose as hogs do the ground.

They grow sometimes the length of nine or
ten inches ; the females are longer and slenderer
than the males. The form of the body is square,
the sides are rounded, and the angles not sharp:
it is nevertheless long and slender; the head is
small and taper; the under jaw much longer
than the upper: the upper jaw is moveable,
capable of being protruded, so that when open
the gape is very wide. ‘The irides are silvery.
The dorsal fin runs almost the whole length of
the back, is very narrow, and consists of fifty-
eight rays; the pectoral fins are small, and
have twelve rays; the anal is placed much nearer
the tail than the head, is narrow, and extends
almost to the former; the tail is forked, but
the lobes rounded at their extremities. The
color of the back is blue, varying with green ;
on each side the back is a narrow dusky line or
two; the sides and belly are silvery ; the lateral
line strait.

207

DeEscrIp-
TION.

208

1, BEARD-
LESS.

Descrip-
TION.

> ae
“

BEARDLESS OPHIDIUM. Cuass IV. .

GENUS XIX. OPHIDIUM.

Heap rather naked. .

TEETH in the jaws, palate, and throat.
GiLLs, aperture of, large.

Bopy ensiform.

Ophidium imberbe. Oph. max-
illis imberbibus cauda obtu-
siuscula. Gm. Lin. 1147.

Faun. Suec. 319.

Ophidium cirris carens. Arted.
Syn. pisc. 42.

Ophidium alterum flavum et

Br. Zool. App. iii. 398.

Shaw Gen. Zool. iv. parti. p.
70. 2

L’Ophidie imberbe. De Ja
Cepede Hist. des Poissons,
li. 281.

Montagu in Mem. Wern, Soc.

imberbe, Rai Syn. pisc.

95. tal. 4. f. 2.
39. Wil. ichth. 113.

(THE Beardless Ophidium was first added to
the catalogue of British fishes, by Mr. Pen-

nant, to whom it was communicated by the

Dutchess of Portland ; the specimen was found
near /Veymouth, and a figure of it given in the
Appendix to-the Zoology, unaccompanied by
any description. ;

Mr. Montagu thus describes one of this rare
species, which was taken on the southern coast
of Devonshire.

Its length was about three inches; its depth
did not exceed a quarter of an inch. The pec-

/

5)

BEARDLESS OPHIDIUM.

ay

HHL

“XIXX Td

‘80¢6'°d © TOA

Crass IV. BEARDLESS OPHIDIUM.

toral fin was furnished with eleven rays, the
dorsal with about seventy-seven, the anal with
forty-four, and the tail with eighteen or twenty;
the head was obtuse; the eyes large and placed
forward ; the body ensiform, and considerably
compressed toward the tail; the lateral line
obscure; the pectoral fin rounded; the dorsal
_ fin commenced near the head, and with the
anal continued and united to the tail; the
mouth, when closed, inclined obliquely up-
wards; the lip marginated; the gill mem-
branes inflated beneath. The color purplish
brown, disposed in minute speckles; the fins
the same, except the pectoral and caudal, the
first of which is pale, the last yellowish.* Ep.

* Montagu in Mem. Wern. Soc. 95.

WoL. LT. P’

209

210

1. Four-

TOOTHED.

Descrip-
TION.

FOUR-TOOTHED SCABBARD FISH. Cu, IV)

GENUS XX. SCABBARD FISH.

HEAD lengthened.

Eves, large lateral.

Bopy compressed, carinated, ensiform.
Fins, no true ventral.*

Xipotheca tetradens. Montagu in Mem. Wern. Soc. i. 82 & 623.

[LENGTH five feet six inches; depth near
the gills four inches and an half; thickness ‘in
the same part not exceeding an inch and a
quarter; weight, without the intestines, six
pounds one ounce. Each jaw furnished with
an irregular row of extremely sharp pointed
teeth, standing very conspicuous, even when
the mouth is closed; the under jaw longest,
terminating im a callous projecting substance:
in the upper jaw are four large teeth in front;
eyes large; irides silvery ; the color of the skin,
which is quite smooth, and destitute of scales,

* A pair of seales, situated considerably behind the pectoral
fins, seem to supply their place. This fish, therefore, appears to
be a link in the chain of nature, which connects the Apodal
Fishes with the three_other sections which have ventral fins.

13 eb

ae

Ci. 1V. FOUR-TOOTHED SCABBARD FISH.

is like burnished silver, with a bluish tint; the
dorsal fin extends from the head to the tail; the
pectoral fins long and pointed; the anal short ;
the tail forked and small in PE orn ions to the
size of the body. :

This singular fish was caught in Salcomb
harbour in South Devon, in Juze 1808, and
fortunately fell into the hands of Mr. Montagu,
who has described and figured it in the first
volume of the Memoirs of the Wernerian
Society. Ep.

211

ANGLESEY MORRIS. Czuass IV.

GENUS XXII. MORRIS.

HEAD small.
Bopy extremely thin, compressed.
Frws pectoral, ventral, caudal, none.

i. ANGLE- Leptocephalus. Gronov. Zooph. Turton’s Brit. Fauna. 88.

SEY.

DeEscrir-
TION.

' No. 410. ab. 13. f. 3. Le Leptocephale Morrisien.
L. Morristi. Gm. Lin. 1150. De la Cepede Hist. des
Shaw Gen. Zool. iv. 84. tab. Poissons, ii. 143.

10.

Tus species was discovered in the sea near
Holyhead by the late Mr. William Morris, and,
in memory of our worthy friend, we have given
ithis name. On receiving it from Mr. Morris,.
we communicated it to that accurate Ichthyo-
logist, Doctor Laurence Theodore Gronovius,
of Leyden, who has described it in his Zoophy-
lacium, under the title of Leptocephalus, or
small head.

The length was four inches; the head very
small; the body compressed sideways, extremely
thin, and almost transparent, about the tenth of
an inch thick, and in the deepest part about
one third of an inch; towards the tail it grew
more slender, and ended in a point; towards
the head it sloped down, the head lying far

CiassIV. ANGLESEY MORRIS. —

beneath the level of the back; the eyes large ;
the teeth in both jaws very small; the lateral
line strait; the sides marked with oblique
strokes, that met at the lateral lme; the aper-
ture to the gills large. It wanted the pectoral,
ventral, and caudal fins; the dorsal fin was
extremely low and thin, extending the whole
length of the back nearly to the tail. The anal
fin was of the same delicacy, and extended to
the same distance from the anus.

- [An attempt having lately been made to can-
cel this subject from the British Zoology, we
shall, we trust, be pardoned for borrowing from
the late edition of Mr. Pennant’s Tours. in
Wales,* the following part of the Rev. Hugh
Davies's \etter on this subject.

“* I beg leave to add, I know the fish well;
it has been my lot to see four specimens of
it; one was taken in Lhenawg wear, about
three miles distant from Beaumaris, the other
three (in the amusement of prawning) below
Beaumaris green, to the north east, in shallow
water, on the recess of the tide, among some
bushy sea-weed. They who have taken most
pleasure in bestowing attention on the works
of Providence, cannot fail to admire, with

* Vol. iii. app. p. 425.

Q14

ANGLESEY MORRIS. Crass IV?

Ray and Derham, how the several parts of
animals are peculiarly formed and adapted
to their different modes of living, and the

places which they are intended to inhabits.

under this idea, I cannot help thinking, that
the make of this animal may be accounted:
for. As those of the specimens I have seen
were taken in a dense mass of wrack or sea-
weed, I may reasonably conclude that the
animal was designed by the Great Author of
nature to pass his life in such a’situation ;
the parts of it were therefore adapted to its
condition. The small head is well calculated
to lead the way through so intricate a mass ;
its very compressed body to glide between
the numerous folds and confined \ passes,
formed by the frequent ramifications of these
vegetables ; its large eyes to discover its mi-
nute prey in the gloom of so dense-a grove,
when without doubt, feet, wigs, and rudder,
that is to say, caudal, pectoral, and ventral
fins, are not only useless, but would be abso-
lute incumbrances.”

In addition to the proofs which Mr. Davies

has here produced of the existence of this fish,
we have the unexpected satisfaction of intro-

ducing one more; for this we are obliged to
the attention of John Lloyd Esq. ot Gwig Fair,

\

Cuass IV. ANGLESEY MORRIS.

who discovered it in a copy of Ray’s Sy-
nopsis Pisc. which had belonged to Mr. Lewis
Morris; this gentleman was elder brother of
Mr. /Villiam Morris, who presented the speci-
men the subject of this paper to Mr. Pen-
nant. Mr. Lewis Morris has made a figure of
it, rather rude indeed, but characteristic, as his
description will also be found to be. His
words are, “ This fish I found in the month of
“ January 1745, in Penrhyn Dyfi, just left
“ by the tide, and alive. It was in length five
-“ inches; and about one tenth of an inch wide,
“ as transparent almost as glass ; its thickness
“ at the back and belly, about one sixth of its
“ breadth; and all its bones appeared as in
“ the cut, with small black spots from one end
“ to the other.”* . Ep. |

* The above memorandum is preserved in the copy of the

British Zoology, in the invaluable library of the President of the
Royal Society in Soho Square. Ep.

215

216 SICILIAN SWORD FISH. Cuass IV.

ar:
+h

GENUS XXII. SWORD FISH.

Jaw upper, extending to a great length, hard,
slender, and pointed.

TEETH none. ate

Rays branchiostegous seven.

Bony slender. — . Re

Nw

Eigias. Arist. Hist. an, I j.
il. c. 13. viii. c. 19. Oppian —
Haiieut. lib. ii. 462. iii.
442. “tale

Xiphias. Ovid Halieut. 97. —

Xiphias, z e. Gladius. Plinit

ib. xxxil. c. 2.*

j. SICILIAN. cn
35. Sword Fish. Wil. Ichth.
161. Raz Syn. pisc. 52.

Xiphias. Arted. Synon. 47.

Xiphias Gladius. Lin._ Syst.
432. Gm. Lin. 1149.

Swerd-fisk. Faun. Suec. No.

L’Heron de mer, ou grand
Espadaz. Belon, 102. _

Xiphias. Rondel. 251.

Xiphias, 7. e. Gladius piscis.
Gesner pise. 1049. Cai
opusc. 104.

303.

L’empereur. Bloch ichth. iii.
23. tab. 76.

Le Xiphias espadon De la
Cepede Hist. des Poissons.
li. 289.

Tuts fish sometimes frequents our coasts, but

is much more common in the Mediterranean

sea, especially in the part that separates Italy

from Sicily, which has been long celebrated for

it: the promontory Pelorus,t now Capo di Faro,
yee,

igh. Tillage. 314.

are 5S
j ae ty,
x 4
f

PL. XxX. VOL.3 .P. 216.

SWORD - FISH.

Cuass IV. SICILIAN SWORD FISH.

was a place noted for the resort of the X7zphias,
and possibly the station of the speculatores, or
the persons who watched and gave notice of the
approach of the fish.

One was taken in October 1785, in the new
cut for the Dee above Fiint, nearly at the same
time with the Beaked Whale.

The antient method of taking them is particu-
larly described by Strabo,* and agrees exactly
with that practised by the moderns.

A man ascends one of the cliffs that over-
hang the sea: as soon as he spies the fish, he
gives notice either by his voice, or by signs, of
the course it takes. Another, that is stationed
in a boat, climbs up the mast, and on seeing the
sword fish, directs the rowers towards it. As
soon as he thinks it is within reach, he descends,
and taking a spear in his hand, strikes it into
the fish, which, after wearying itself with its
agitation, is seized and drawn into the boat.
It is much esteemed by the Sicilians, who buy
it up eagerly, and at its first coming into season
give about sixpence English per pound. The
season lasts from May till August.f The
antients used to cut this fish into pieces, and

* Lib. i. p. 16. + Ray’s Travels, i. 271.

217

Capture.

218°

SICILIAN SWORD FISH. Ctass IV;

‘salt it, whence it was called Tomus Thurianus,*

from Thurii, a town in the bay of Tt an ae
where it was taken and cured.

Kircher, in his Ausurgia, has preserved a
strange incantation used by the Svciian fisher-
men, at the capture of the Pesce Spada, as they
call it, which is expressed im the following unin-
telligible jargon :

Mamassu di pajanu,
Paletia di pajanu,

Majussu di stignela,
Palettu di paenu pale,

Pale la stagnetta,

Mancuta stigneta.

Pro nastu, vardu, pressu da
Visu & da terra.

But this use of charmed words is not confined
to Sicily ; the Irish have their song at the tak-
ing of the razor shell, and the Cornish theirs, at
the taking of the whistle fish.

The sword fish is said to be very voracious,
and a great enemy to the Tunny, which (accord-
ing to Belon) is as much terrified with it as
sheep are at the sight of a wolf.

Ac durus Xiphias, ictu non mitior ensis 5

Et pavidi magno fugientes agmine Thunni.

Ovid. Halieut. 97.

* Tomus Thurianus, quem ali Xiphiam vocant. Plinii “6.

XXKIl. c. 11.

CrassIV. SICILIAN SWORD FISH.

Sharp as a sword the Xiphzas does appear ;
And crowds of flying Tunnies struck with fear.

219

It grows to a very large size; the head of Dzscrir-

one, with the pectoral fins, found on the’ shore

near Laugharn, in Caermarthenshire, alone
weighing seventy-five’ pounds: the snout was
three feet long, rough, and hard, but not hard
enough to penetrate ships and sink them, as
Pliny pretends. *

The snout is the upper jaw, produced to a
great length, and has some resemblance to a
sword, irom whence the name; it is compressed
at the top and bottom, and sharp at the point;
the under jaw is four times as short as the
upper, but likewise sharp pointed; the mouth
is destitute of teeth. The body 1s slender,
thickest near the head, and growing less and
less as it approaches the tail; the skin is rough,
but very thin; the color of the back is dusky,
of the belly silvery; the dorsal fin begins a
little above the gills, and extends almost to the
tail; it is highest at the beginning and the end,
but very low in the middle; a little above the
tail, on each side, the skin rises and forms two
triangular protuberances, not unlike the spu-

* Xiphiam, zd esé, Gladium, vostro mucronato esse, ab hoc
naves perfossas mergiin oceano. Plin. Lib. xxxii. c. 11.

TION.

220

SICILIAN SWORD FISH. Crass IV.

rious fins of the tunny; the pectoral fins are
long, and of a scythe-like form, and their first
rays the longest; the anus is placed at the
distance of one-third part of the body from the
tail; beneath are two anal fins; the tail is
exactly of the shape of a crescent.

Ctass IV. GEMMEOUS DRAGONET.

Secz. II.

JUGULAR.

GENUS XXIII. DRAGONET.

Lip upper, doubled.

Eyes near each other. |
APERTURES breathing two on the hind part of

the head.

Rays first of the dorsal fin very long.

La tierce espece de Exocetus?
Belon, 218.

Dracunculus. Rondel. 304.

Dracunculus, aranei species
altera. Gesner pisc. 80.

Dtagon fish. Marten’s Spitz-
berg. 123.

Yellow Gurnard. Ph. Trans.
No. 293.

Lyra Harvicensis. Pet. Gaz.
tal. 22. Dale Harwich,
431.

Callionymus Lyra. C. dorsalis
prioris radiis longitudine

corporis. Lin. Syst. 433.

Gm. Lin. 1151. Faun. Suec.
No. 110.

Uranoscopus. Gronov. Zooph.
No. 206.

Floy-fiske. Pontop. Norway,

Dracunculus marinus. Borlase
Cornwall, 270. Seb. Mus.
ill. 92. tab. 20. fig. 7.

Neillin Mem. Wern. Soc. 529.

La Lacert. Bloch ichth. v. 67.
tab. 161.

Le Calhonyme Lyre. De la
Cepede Hist. des Poissons,
ii. 329.

LINN EUS has given this genus the name of
Callionymus, a fish mentioned by several of the

22)

1, GEMME-
OUS.

(MAte.)

Name.

222

Descrirp-
TION.

=

GEMMEOUS DRAGONET. Crass IV;

antients, but the notices they have left of it are
so very slight, as to render it difficult to deter-
mine what species they intended. * Pliny makes
it asynonym to the Uranoscopus, a fish frequent
in the [¢ahan seas, but very different from our
Dragonet, a name we have taken the liberty of
forming, from the diminutive Dracunculus, a -
title given it by Rendeletius, and other authors.
The English writers have called it the Yellow
Gurnard, but having no one character of the
Gurnard genus, we think ourselves obliged to
drop that name.

It is found as far north as Norway} and
Spitsbergen, and as far south:-as the Mediterra-
nean sea, and is not unfrequent on the Scarbo-
rough coasts, where it is taken by the hook in
thirty or forty fathoms water. It is often found
in the stomach of the Cod-fish.

This species grows to the length of ten ‘or
twelve inches; the body is slender, round, and
smooth; the head is large, and flat at the top;
in the hind part are two orifices, through which

* Lib. xxxii. ec. 11:

+ We have received it, with other curiosities, from that well-
meaning prelate, Erich Pontoppidan, Bishop of Bergen. He
was also Vice-Chanceller of the University of Copenhagen, in
whieh station he died, December 20th, 1764, aged 66, much
respected by his countrymen.

~

VOL. 3B i242

VOL .3.P 224:

Pi. XXxtIr.

(oze‘a ) "UCLA CLAN. NOWHO O

Crass IV. GEMMEOUS DRAGONET.

it breathes, and also forces out the water it
takes in at the mouth, in the same manner as’
the cetaceous fishes. The apertures to the
gills are closed; on the end of the bones that
cover them is a very singular trifurcated spine.
The eyes are large, and placed very near each
other on the upper part of the head, so that they
look upwards; for which reason it has been
ranked among the Uranoscopi ; the pupils are
of a rich sappharine blue, the irides of a fine
fiery carbuncle ; the upper jaw projects much
farther than the lower; the mouth is very wide ;
the teeth are small ; the pectoral fins are round,
and of a light-brown color ; the ventral placed
before them, are very broad, and consist of five
branched rays. The first dorsal fin is very
singular, the first ray being setaceous, and so
long as to extend almost to the tail; those of
the second dorsal fins are of a moderate length,
except the last, which is produced far beyond
the others. ‘The anus is placed about the mid-
‘dle of the belly ; the anal fin is broad, and the

last ray the longest. Pontoppidan calls this.

species the flying fish; whether it makes use of
any of its fins to raise itself out of the water, as
he was informed it did, we cannot pretend to
say. The tail is rounded and long, and consists
of ten rays. ‘The side line‘is strait; the colors

224.

#9, SORDID.
(FEMALE,)

Descrip-
TION.

SORDID DRAGONET. Crass IV.

are ycllow, blue, white, and make a beautiful
appearance when the fish has been just taken ;
the blue is of an inexpressible splendor, the
richest ceerulean glowing with a gemmeous bril-
liancy ; the throat is black; the membranes of
all the fins extremely thin and delicate.

Dracunculus. Wil. Ichth. 136. 434. Gm. Lin. 1152.

Raz Syn. pisc. 79. Le Doucet. Bloch ichth. v.
Cottus pinna secunda dorsi al- Wltals 102i fo:

ba. Arted. Synon. 77. Le Callionyme dragoneau. De
Callionymus Dracunculus. C. la Cepede Hist. des Pois-

dorsalis prioris radiis cor- sons, li. 335.

pore brevioribus. Lin. Syst.

Tus species we received from Mr. Travis.
Its length was only six inches and an half. The
head was compressed; the forehead sloped down |
to the nose, being not so level as that of the pre-
ceding; the eyes large, and almost contiguous ;
the mouth small; the teeth very minute ;, over
the gills was a strong trifurcated broad spine.

* Mr. Neill, at p. 529 of the Memoirs of the Wernerian So-
ciety, states, that he has examined several dozens of the Drago-
nets, which were taken promiscuously on the same lines, in the
Frith of Forth, that the gemmeous were uniformly milters, and
the sordid, spawners, hence he reasonably concludes that they-
are only male and female of the same species. The Dragonet is
common near the mouth of the Frith of Forth, and is frequently
caught, in water from twelve to twenty fathoms deep, on the
Haddock lines, which are baited with muscles. Eb.

Crass IV. SORDID DRAGONET.

The first dorsal fin had four rays ; the first ray
setaceous, extending a little higher than the

others, the last very short ; the two first rays and »

webs were yellow, the others black; the second
dorsal had ten soft rays, their ends extending
beyond the webs, which were pellucid ; the pec-
toral fins consisted of twenty rays, and were
ferruginous, spotted with a deeper cast of the
same; the ventral fins consisted of five broad
and much branched rays, like those of the first
species; the anal fin was white, and had ten
rays; the tail had ten rays. In both species
they are bifurcated at their ends, and the ray
next the anal fin in both is very short. In
colors this is far inferior to the former, being of
a dirty yellow, mixed with white and dusky
spots ; the belly is entirely white.

VOL. Iii. Q

225

COMMON WEEVER. — Crass IV.

GENUS XXIV. WEEVER.

Jaw lower, sloping down.
GILL Covers aculeated.
Rays branchiostegous, six.

Frys dorsal, two.
ANus near the breast.

¥.Common. Apaxuy? Arist. Hist. an. Lib.

vil. c. 13. 4Alian. Hist. an.
Lib. ii. c. 50. Oppian Ha-
lieut. i. 459.

Draco marinus. Pliniz Lib. ix.
c.27. Draco, Dracunculus.
Dib. xxxii. c. 11. Araneus.
Enb. ix. c. 48.

La vive. Belon. 209.

Draco. Rondel. 300. Gesner
pisc. 77, 78.

Peter-manniken, Schwertfis-
che. Schonevelde, 16.

The Weever. Wil. Ichth. 238.
Raii Syn. pisc. gl.

Trachinus maxilla inferiore

longiore, cirris destituta.
Arted. Syn. 71.

Trachinus Draco. Lin. Syst.
453. Gm. Lin. 1157. Gro-
nov. Looph. No. 274.

Farsing, Fiassing. Faun. Suec.
No. 305.

La petite Vive. Duhamel Tr.
des Pesches. iii. 135. sect.
6. tab. 1. fig. 21.

La Vive. Bloch ichth. ii. 119.
tab. 61.

La Trachine vive. Dela Ce-
pede Hist. des Poissons,
ii. 354.

THE qualities of this fish were well known to.
the antients, who take notice of them without
any exaggeration: the wounds inflicted by its
spines are exceedingly painful, attended witha

Crass IV. COMMON WEEVER.

violent burning, and most pungent shooting, and
sometimes with an inflammation that will ex-
tend from the arm to the shoulder.* It is
a common notion that these symptoms proceed
from something more than the small wound

this fish is capable of inflicting ; and that there

is a venom infused into it, at least such as is.

made by the spines that form the first dorsal
fin, which is dyed with black, and has a most
suspicious aspect. ‘The remedy used by a fisher-
man in our neighbourhood is the sea sand, with
which he rubs the place affected for a consider-
able time. t At Scarborough, stale urine, warm-
ed, is used with success.

This fish buries itself in the sands, leaving
only its nose out, and, if trod on, immediately
‘strikes with great force; and we have seen it
direct its blows with as much judgment as a
fighting cock.

* Itis probable that the malignity of the symptoms arises from
the habit of body the person is in, or the part in which the
wound is given.

+ In the Universal Museum for November 1765, is an instance
of a person who was reduced to great danger by a wound from
this fish, and who was cured by the application ofsweet oil, and
taking opium and Venice treacle.

[We may add, on the authority of the reverend Hugh Davies,
that a cure may be effected by the application of the liver of the
Weever to the wound. Eb.

Q 2

227

228

DeEscrIPp-
T1ONe

COMMON WEEVER. Crass IV.

The English name seems to have no meaning,
being corrupted from the French, la vive, so
called as being capable of living long out of the
water, according to the interpretation of Belon.

It grows usually to the length of five inches.
The irides are yellow; the under jaw is longer
than the upper, and slopes very much towards
the belly; the teeth are small; the eyes promi-
nent; the back is strait; the sides flat; the
belly prominent;, the lateral line strait; the
covers of the gills are armed with a very
strong spine. The first dorsal fin consists of
five very strong spines, which, as well as the
intervening membranes, are tinged with black ;
this fin, when quiescent, is lodged in a small
hollow; the second consists of several soft rays,
commences just at the end of the first, and
continues almost to the tail; the pectoral-fins
are broad and angular; the ventral fins small.
The vent is placed remarkably forward, very
near the throat; the anal fin extends to a small
distance from the tail, which is a little hollowed
in the middle, but not so much as to be called
forked. The gills and top of the head are of a
silvery brightness; the first striped, the last
spotted with yellow. The whole body is semi-
pellucid and silvery; the back marked with in-
terrupted lines of yellow; beneath that, and

RS

WH LVAW)D

Ue A WH M,

Gee d° ¢° IOA

CuassIV. GREATER WEEVER.

above the lateral line, is a continued one of the
same color; beneath the side line is a faint
tinge of yellow; from the back to the belly,
are numerous lines of a zigzag form. The tail
is light yellow, marked with black at the end.

Bah NG

- 909

Draco major seu araneus. Sa/- La Vive. Duhamel Tr. des 2. GREATER.

vian. 70. 2. Pesches, iil. 134. sect. 6.
Greater Weever. Tourin Scot- tab. 1. Jig. 1.
land. 1769. p. 27. : 2

Tue eyes are large; the intl itn ; under Dezscrip-

jaw longer than the upper; before each eye are
two short spines ; on each gill-cover, is a strong
and very sharp pellucid spine. ‘The first dorsal
fin has five sharp spines; the connecting webs
of the three first-black; the second dorsal fin
extends almost to the tail, and has thirty-one
soit rays ; the anal fin, thirty-two, thick and soft,
the ends reaching beyond the webs, and hooked ;
the pectoral fins pale red. On the base of the
tongue and on the palate, is a series of small
teeth. The tail is slightly lunated. The color
_ of the head and back cinereous the former
marked with dusky spots ; the gill-covers striped
with yellow. The scales are very small, and
run singularly in oblique rows to the belly; the
sides are marked with oblique lines of dull

TION.

ai

0

GREATER WEEVER. Crass IV.

yellow mixed with faint blue, pointing to the
belly, which is white; the tail striped like the.
sides. ‘The body is nearly of an equal depth,
namely, about two inches. The length of a
large one is about sixteen inches; its weight
two pounds.

This species is found in the sea off Scarbo-
rough, but most frequently in that off Bright-
helmstone, where it is the dread of the fishermen,
who instantly cut away the spines. Itis a firm
and well tasted fish.

Cuass IV.

COMMON COD FISH.

GENUS XXV. COD FISH.

HEAD smooth.

Rays branchiostegous seven, or eight, slender.

Bopy oblong; scales deciduous.

Fins covered with a common skin.

Fins ventral, slender, and ending in a point.

TEETH in the jaws; and in the palate, a series
of minute teeth closely set together.

* With three dorsal fins; the chin bearded.

La Morue. Belon, 121.

Molva. Rondel. 280.

Molva sive morhua _altera.
Gesner pisc. 88.

Kablauw. Schonevelde, 18.

Asellus major vulgaris. Wil.
Ichth. 165.

Cod-fish, or Keeling.
Syn. pisc. 53.

Gadus dorso tripterygio, ore

Rau

cirrato, cauda ezquali fere
cum radio primo spinoso.

Arted. Synon. 35.

Gadus Morhua. Lin. Syst.
436. Gm. Lin. 1162. Gro-
nov. Zooph. No. 319.

Arct. Zool. Int. ccciii.

Cabblia. Faun. Suec. No. 398.

La Morue. Duhamel Tr. des
Pesches, ii. 37. tab. 4—12

—19-
La Morue. Bloch ichth. it.
131. tab. 66.

De la Cepede Hist. des Pois-

sons, 11. 369.

THIS fish is found only in the northern part
of the world; it is, as Rondeletius calls it, an

231

1. ComMMon.

COMMON COD FISH. Crass IV.

ocean fish, and never met with in the Medi-
terranean sea.* It affects cold climates, and
seems confined between the latitudes 66° and
50°: those caught north and south of those
degrees being either few in quantity, or bad in
quality. The Greenland fish are small and
emaciated through want of food, being very
voracious, and having in those seas a dearth of
provision. ‘This locality of situation is common
to many other species of this genus, most of
them being inhabitants of the cold seas, or such
as lie within zones that can just clame the title
of temperate. ‘There are, nevertheless, certain
species found near the Canary Islands, called
Cherny, } of which we know no more than the
name ; but according to the unfortunate Cap-
tain Glass, are better tasted than the Newfound-
land kind.

The great rendezvous of the cod fish is on the
banks of Newfoundland, and the other sand
banks which lie off the coasts of Cape Breton,
Nova Scotia, and New England. ‘They prefer
those situations, on account of the quantity of
worms produced in those sandy bottoms, which
tempt them to resort there for food : but another

* None (says Captain Armstrong in his history of Minorca)
of the Aselli or cod fish kind, frequent our shores, p 163.
+ Hist. Canary Islands, 198.

Crass IV. COMMON COD FISH.

cause of the particular attachment the fish have
to these spots, is their vicinity to the polar seas,
where they return to spawn; there they depose
their roes in full security, but want of food
forces them, as soon as the first more southern
seas are open, to repair thither for subsistence.
_ Few are taken north of Iceland, but on the
south and west coast they abound: they are
again found to swarm on the coasts of Norway,
in the Baltic, off the Orkney and the /Vestern
Isles ; after which their numbers decrease, in
proportion as they advance towards the south,
when they seem quite to cease before they reach
the mouth of the Straits of Gibraltar.

_ Before the discovery of Newfoundland, the

greater fisheries of cod were on the seas of Ice-
land, and off our /Vestern Isles, which were the
grand resort of ships of all the commercial
nations; but it seems that the greatest plenty
was met with near Iceland. The English re-
sorted thither before the year 1415; for we find
that Henry V.was disposed to give the king of
Denmark satisfaction for certain irregularities
committed on those seas by his subjects. In
the reign of Kdward 1V. the Lnglish were
excluded from the fishery by treaty; and for-
bidden to resort there under pain of forfeiture of
life and goods. Notwithstanding this, our mo-

233

234

COMMON COD FISH. Crass IV.

narch afterwards gave licence to a ship of Hull
to sail to Iceland, and there relade fish and
other goods, without regard to any restrictions
to the contrary. Our right in later times was
far from being confirmed, for we find Queen
Elizabeth condescending to ask permission to
fish in those seas from Christian IV. of Den-
mark, yet afterwards she so far repented her re-
quest, as to instruct her embassadors to that
court, to insist on the right of free and universal
fishery.* How far she succeeded, I do not
know, but it appears, that in the reign of her
successor, our countrymen had not fewer thana
hundred and fifty ships employed in the Lceland
fishery. I suppose this indulgence might arise
from the marriage of James with a Princess of
Denmark. But the Spanish, the French, and
the Bretons, had much the advantage of us in all
fisheries at the beginning, as appears by the state
of that in the seas of Newfoundland in the year
1578, + when the number of ships belonging to
each nation stood thus: t
Spaniards, 100, besides 20 or 30 that came
from Biscay, to take whale for train, being
about five or six thousand tons.
Portuguese, 50, or three thousand tons.

* Rymer’s Fed. XV1. 275, 425.
t+ Hackluyl’s Coll. Voy. W111. 132.

Cuass IV. COMMON COD FISH.

French and Bretons, 150, or seven thousand
tons. |
English, from 30 to 50.

Mr. Anderson, in his Dictionary of Com-
merce, I. 363, says, that the Irench began to
fish there as early as 1536; and we think we
have somewhere read, that their first pretence
for fishing for cod in those seas, was only to
supply an English convent with that article.

The increase of shipping that resort to those
fertile banks, is now unspeakable: our own
country still enjoys the greatest. share, which
ought to be esteemed our chiefest treasure, as it
brings wealth to individuals, and strength to the
state.

All this immense fishery is carried on by the
hook and line only ; * at first the fishermen use
pork or bits of sea fowl for a bait; but as they
proceed, they supply themselves with shell
fish, called Clams, which are found in the belly

of the cod; the next bait is the lobster; after

that the herring and the launce, which last till

* We have been informed that they fish from the depth of
fifteen to sixty fathoms, according to the inequality of the Bank,
which is represented as a vast mountain, under water, above five
hundred miles long, and near three hundred broad, and that sea-
men know when they approach it by the great swell of the sea,
and the thick mists that impend over it.

235

256 COMMON COD FISH. Cuass IV.

June, when the Cupelan* comes on the coast,
which lasts till dugust, when the herring is
employed again for the purpose. With these
are caught fish sufficient to find employ for
nearly fifteen thousand British seamen, and to
afford subsistence to a much more numerous
body of people at home, who are engaged in
the various manufactures which so vast a fishery
demands. :

The food of the cod is either small fish, worms,
crustaceous, or testaceous animals, such as crabs,
large whelks, &c. and their digestion is so power-
ful, as to dissolve the greatest part of the shells
they swallow. They are very voracious, and
catch at any small body they perceive moved by
the water, even stones and pebbles, which are
often found in their stomachs.

Taz Sounps- Fishermen are well acquainted with the use
of the air-bladder or sound of the cod, and are
very dexterous in perforating this part of a live
fish with a needle, in order to disengage the in-
closed air; for without this operation it could
not be kept under water in the well-boats, and
brought fresh to market. The sounds of the

* Le Lodde. Bloch ichth. xi. 80. tab. 381. fig. 1. This
species of Salmon, the Capelan of America, must not be con-

founded with the fish of the same name, which is found in the
Mediterranean, and is the Power Cod fish of this work. Ep.

Cuass IV. COMMON COD FISH.

cod salted is a delicacy often brought from New-

_foundland. Isinglass is also made of this part
by the Zceland fishermen: as the process may
be of service to instruct the natives of the North
of Scotland where these fish are plentiful, I beg
leave to give it in the Appendix,* extracted
from a useful paper on the subject, in the Phi-
losophical Transactions of 1773, by Humphrey
Jackson, Esq.

Providence hath kindly ordained, that this
fish, so useful to mankind, should be so very
prolific as to supply more than the deficiencies
of the multitudes annually taken. Lewwenhock
counted nine millions three hundred and eighty-
four thousand eggs in a cod fish of a middling
size, a number surely that will baffle all the
efforts of man, or the voracity of the inhabitants
of the ocean, to exterminate, and which will
secure to all ages an inexhaustible supply of
grateful provision. !

In our seas they begin to spawn in January,
and deposit their eggs in rough ground, among
rocks. Some continue in roe till the beginning
of April. The cod fish in general recovers quicker
after spawning than any other fish, therefore it
is common to take some good ones all the
summer. When they are out of season they

* No. ITI.

237

IsINGLASs.

VASTLY
PROLIFIC.

438

Size.

DEscRIP-
TION.

COMMON COD FISH. Cuass IV.

are thin tailed and lousy, and the lice: chiefly
fix themselves on the inside of their mouths.

Fish of a middling size are most esteemed for
the table, and are chosen by their plumpness
and roundness, especially near the tail, by the
depth of the sulczs or pit behind the head, and
by the regular undulated appearance of the sides,
as if they were ribbed. The glutinous parts
about the head lose their delicate flavor after it
has been twenty-four hours out of the water,
even in wiiter, in which these and other fish of
this genus are in highest season.

The largest we ever heard of on our coasts,
weighed seventy-eight pounds, the length was
five feet eight inches; and the girth round the
shoulders five feet ; it was taken at Scarborough
in 1755, and was sold for one shilling. But the
general weight of these fish in the Yorkshire
seas, is from fourteen to forty pounds.

This species is short in proportion to its
bulk, the belly being very large and prominent.
The jaws are of an equal length, at the end of
the lower is a small beard; the teeth are dis-
posed in the palate as well as the jaws; the
eyes are large. On the back are three soft fins;
the first has fourteen, the two last nineteen
rays each; the ventral fins are very slender,
and consist but of six rays ; the two first extend-

Cxass IV. VARIABLE COD FISH.

ing far beyond the other; it has two anal fins ;
the first consisting of twenty, the last of sixteen
rays. ‘The tail is almost even at the end; the
first ray on each side is short, and composed of

a strong bone. ‘The color of this fish is cine-.

reous on the back and sides, and commonly
spotted with yellow ; the belly is white, but they
vary much, not only in color* but in shape,
particularly that of the head. The side line is
white and broad, strait, till it reaches opposite
the vent, when it bends towards the tail.

39

Gadus varius aut striatus. Asillus varius vel striatus. 2. VARIABLE.

Schonfield in Raiit Syn. Wil. ichth. 172. tab. L. 1.
Pisc. 54. Jig. 1.

Ascan, Scon. 27.

Gadus Callarias. Gm. Lin.
1160.

Faun. Suec. 307.

Gadus dorso tripterygio, ore

Rai syn. pisc. 54.

De Dorset. Muller. iv. 80.
Faun. Groenl. 144.

Le Dorse. Bloch Ichth. ii.
128. tab. 63.

cirrato, colore vario, maxilla Le Gade Callarias. De la
superiore longiore, cauda Cepede Hist. des Poissons.
eequali. Arted. Gen. 20. ii. 409.

Syn. 35.

[IN Mr. Pennant’s copy of the British Zoology,
is the following short note, with a reference to

* Codlings are often taken of a yellow, orange, and even red _

color, while they remain among the rocks, but on changing their
place assume the color of other cod fish.
+ De la Cepede in the second volume of the Histoire des

40

DEscRIP-
TION.

VARIABLE COD FISH. — Cuass IV.

Ray and Ascanius: “ We have the Gadus Cal-
larias very common on our coasts.” From
what quarter this intelligence was communi-
cated, we are ignorant; but as the fish is com-
mon in the Northern seas, and the Baltic, it
does not seem improbable, that it frequently
visits the coasts of this island, and has been’
confounded with the common Codfish to which
it bears a considerable resemblance. Bloch
considers its distinctive character to consist in
the breadth of the lateral line, and its being
marked with spots. The head is smaller than
that of the Hadock; the mouth large, furnish-
ed in the upper jaw with several rows of teeth;
on the lower, which is shortest, is a single row;
on the chin is a single beard; the eyes large

Poissons, p. 393, speaks of a Red or Rock Codfish, found off the
Isle of Man, as a variety of the common Codfish, but in the
Supplement, p. 673, he gives it on the authority of Monsieur
Noel, as a distinct species. He says it is very common on the
Western isles of Scotland, where it grows to the length of forty
inches ; that the belly is large; the head long; the teeth small
and sharp; the chin bearded; a groove on the top of the head ;
the tail elevated ; the lateral line white, and bent. He also adds
another under the name of Le Gade negre, caught off the isle of
Bute, in the Solway frith, and in the Mersey, near Liverpool.
His description is short ; he merely says, it grows to the length of
eight inches or a foot ; the lower jaw longest, and provided witha
beard ; two long filaments distinguish each ventral fin; and that
the first dorsal consists only of one ray which is jointed. Ep.

CuassiV. HADOCK COD FISH.

and round; the body covered with minute soft
scales. ‘The general color of the upper part of
the body is grey spotted with brown, that of the
under part white; but it is observed, that these
tints, particularly the color of the spots, vary
extremely according to age or season: the few
spots on the head become in winter nearly
black, and occasionally a red tinge extends
over the back and fins. . Its flesh is tender and
good, but sometimes appears of a green color.

Its usual weight does not exceed two pounds,

but there. are instances of its weighing from ~

eight to fourteen pounds. Ep.

Aigrefin, ou aiglefin. Belon parum bifurca. Aréed. synon.

118.

Tertia asellorum species. Ron-
del. 277.

Tertia asel. Sp. Eglesinus.
Gesner pisc. 86.

Onos sive asinus
Turner epist. ad Gesner.

veterum.

Asellus minor, Schelfisch.
Schonevelde 18.
Hadock. Wil. Ichth. 170.

Raw syn. pisc. 55.

Gadus dorso tripterygio, ore
cirrato, max. sup. longiore,
corpore

albicante, cauda

36.

Gadus AXglefinus. G.° trip-
terygius cirratus albicans,
cauda biloba. Lin. syst. 4356
Gm. Lin. 1159.

Kolja. Faun. Suec. No. 306.

Gronov. Zooph. No. 321.

L’Anon. Duhamel Tr. des
Pesches. ii. 133. tab. 23.
jimi le

L’ Aicrefin. Bloch ichth. ii.
125. tab. 62.
De la Cepede Hist. des Pois-

Sons. li. 307.

Our countryman Turner conjectured this
species to have been the Oves, or Asinus, of the
VOL. III. R

3. Hapock.

Name.

242

SEASON.

HADOCK COD FISH. Cus IV.
antients, and Belon that it was the Keds, and
the Meséarss of Oppian. We have carefully con-
sulted most of the antient naturalists, but can-
not discover any marks by which we can deter-—
mine the species they intended. The words
*Ovos, | Asinus, Asellus, + Callarias, and Bacchus

are familiarly applied to several of our species

of cod fish by the more modern writers ; “yet
the antients, from whom they are borrowed,
have not authorized the application to any par-
ticular ‘kind, either by description or any other
method. Different reasons have been assigned
for giving the name of Ovs, or Asinus, to this
species, some imagining it to be from the color
of the fish, others because it used to be carried
on the backs of asses to market; but we shall
drop this uncertain subject, and proceed to what ©
we have fuller assurance of. |
Large hadocks begin to be in roe the middle
of November, and continue so till the end of
January ; from that time till A/ay they are very
thin tailed, and much out of season. In May
they begin to recover, and some of the middling-
sized fish are then very good, and continue im-

* Arist. Hist. an. Lib. viii. c. 15. Oppian Halieut. I. 151.

HII. 191.

+ Ovidii Halieut. Lin. 131. Plinit Lib. UX. c. 16. 17.
t Lib. c. 17.

Crass IV. HADOCK COD FISH.

proving till the time of their greatest perfection.
The ‘small ones are extremely good from JZay
till February, and some even in February,
March, and April, viz. those which are not old
enough to breed. ‘The fishermen assert, that in
rough weather. hadocks sink down into the sand
and ooze in the bottom of the sea, and shelter
themselves there till the storm is over, because
in stormy weather they take none, and those
that are taken immediately after a storm are
covered with mud on their backs. In summer
they live on young herrings and other small fish ;
in winter on the stone-coated worms, * which
the fishermen call hadock meat. :
The grand shoal of hadocks comes periodi-
cally on the Yorkshire coasts. It is remarkable
‘that they appeared in 1766 on the 10th of De-
cember, and exactly on the same day in 1767:
these shoals extended from the shore near three
miles in breadth, and in length from Flambo-
rough head to Tinmouth castle, and perhaps
much farther northwards. An idea may be
given of their numbers by the following fact:
Three fishermen, within the distance of a mile
from Scarborough harbour, frequently loaded
their cob/e or boat with them twice a-day, taking

each time about a ton of fish: when they put |

* A species of Serpula.
RY

‘243

Foop.

VAsT
SHOALS.

244

Descrip-
TLON.

HADOCK COD FISH. Cuass IV.

down their lines beyond the distance of three
miles from the shore, they caught nothing but
dog fish, which shows how exactly these fish
keep their limits. The best hadocks were sold
from eightpence to a shilling per score, and the
poor had the smaller sort at a penny, and some-
times a halfpenny per score. * The large ha-

docks quit the coast as soon as they go out of

season, and leave behind great plenty of small
ones. Itis said that the large ones visit the coasts

of Hamburgh and Jutland in the summer.

It is no less remarkable than providential,
that all kinds of fish (except mackrel) which
frequent the Yorkshire coast, approach the

-shore, and as if it were offer themselves to us,

generally remaining there as long as they are in
hich season, and retire from us when ey be-
come unfit for use.

It is the commonest species in the London
markets.

They do not grow to a great bulk, one of
fourteen pounds being of an uncommon size,
but those are extremely coarse; the best for the
table weighing from two to three pounds. The

* Here Mr. Travis, to whom I am much obliged for a most
accurate account of the Yorkshire fish, with great humanity pro-
jects an inland navigation, to convey at acheap and easy method,

those gifts of Providence to the thousands of poor manufacturers
who inhabit tne distant parts of that vast county.

CuassIV. HADOCK COD FISH.

body is long, and rather more slender than that
of the common codfish; the head slopes down
to the nose; the space behind the hind part of
the first dorsal fin is ridged; on the chin is a
short beard. On the back are three fins re-
sembling those of the common codfish ; on each
side beyond the gills is a large black spot. Su-
perstition assigns this mark to the impression St.
Peter left with his finger and thumb when he
took the tribute out of the mouth of a fish of
this species, which has been continued to the
whole race of hadocks ever since that miracle.
The lateral line is black; the tailis forked. The
color of the upper part of this species is dusky
or brown ; the belly and lower part of the sides
silvery; the irides silvery; the pupil large and
blaek.

245

246)

4, Pout.

DEscrip-
TION.

POUT COD FISH.

Mr.
Ichth.

Asellus mollis latus.
Lister apud Wil.
App. 22.

Whiting Pout, Londinensibus.
Ratt syn. pisc. 55.

Gadus dorso tripterygio, ore
cirrato, longitudine ad lati

Crass IV.

Lin. syst. 437. Gm. Lin.
1163.

Gronov. Zooph. No. 320:

Sma-Torsk. Faun. Suec. No.
iol

Le Tacaud. Duhamel Tr. des
Pesches. \i. 136. tab. 23.

tndinem tripla, pinna ant Jig. 2.
prima ossiculorum triginta. Le Molle. Bloch achth. v. 87.
Arted. synon. 37. tal. 166.

Faun. Groenl. 146.
Gadus barbatus. G. triptery-

Le Gade Tacaud: De la €e-
pede Hist. des Poissons. ii.

gius cirratus maxilla inferi- 413.

ore punctis utrinque septem.

Tuts species never grows to a large size, sel-
dom exceeding a foot in length. It is distin-
guished from all others by its great depth; one
of the size abovementioned being nearly four
The back is
very much arched, and carinated; the scales
larger than those of the common codfish; the
mouth small; the beard short; on each side of
the lower jaw are seven or eight punctures. ‘The
first dorsal fin is triangular, and terminates in a
long fibre: the color of the fins and tail black ;
at the bottom of the pectoral fins is a black
spot ; the lateral line is white, broad, and crook-
ed; the tail is even at the end, and of a dusky
color. The color of the body is white, but

inches deep in the broadest part.

(6ve +) “USIa Goo wAMod | AUXKK“Ta

ee
Say i gay

ae ee ~- baetie

ii

Cuass IV. BIB COD FISH.
more obscure on the back than the belly, and
tinged with yellow.

It is called at Scarborough a Kleg. Itis.a
very delicate fish.

Bib. & Blinds Cornubiensibus. setam producto. Aried. sy-

Wil. Ichth. 169. non. 35.

Asellus luscus. Raii syn. pisc. Gadus luscus. Lin. syst. 437.
54. | Gm. Lin. 1163.

Gadus dorso, tripterygio, ore Le Gade Bib. De la Cepede
cirrato, ossiculo pinnarum, Hist. des Poissons, ii. 403.

ventralium primo in longam

247

5. Bis.

Tuts species grows to the length of one foot; Des

_ the greatest depth three inches and a half. The

scales are large, and, so far from adheri ing to, the
skin, as is asserted by naturalists, are extremely
deciduous. The body is deep, the sides com-
pressed; the eyes covered with a loose mem-
brane, which it can blow up at pleasure, like a
bladder; the mouth is small ; beneath the chin
is a beard, an inch long. In the first dorsal fin
are twelve rays ; in the second, which is longest,
twenty-three ; in the third, twenty; in the pec-
toral fins about sixteen; in the ventral six or
seven, of which the first and second rays are
long, and setaceous; the first anal fin has
twenty-seven; the last twenty-one rays. The

BIB COD FISH. Crass IV.

back is of a light olive; the sides finely tinged _

with gold; the belly white; the anal fins dusky,
edged with pure white; the tail with black.

[From the observations of Mr. Hanmer at
Penzance, where the species is common, we are
enabled to add the following particulars: The
head and gill covers are silvery; both jaws are
dotted with small punctures; the contour of the
body is oval, quickly declining from the back
towards the head and tail; the fins are thick,
fleshy at their base, and capable of inflation ;
with the exception of the anal fin, they are of a
light color edged with black; the lateral line is
brown and slightly bent; the belly white; at
the base of the pectoral fin is a black spot. The
flesh is very good, resembling that of the whit-
ing. At St. Ives it is known by the name of Lug
a Leaf, at Penzance by that of Bothock, i. e.
Large Eyes.

Bloch forms one species of this and the Pout
Codfish, an opinion to which we are inclined to
subscribe. Ep.

Cuass IV.

Le Merlan? Belon 120.
Anthiz secunda species. Ron-
del. 191. Gesner pisc. 56.
Asellus seu
Asellus omnium minimus,
Motto Venetiis. CAPELAN
Massilie. Wil. Ichth. 171.

Poor or Power Cornub. Mr.
Jago. Rati syn. pisc. 163.
Jig. 6.

mollis minor,

POWER COD FISH.

Gadus minutus.
438. Gm. Lin. 1164.
LOffcier. Duhamel Tr. des
Pesches. ii. 127. tab. 21.

Jig. 2-

Le Capelan ou Tl Officier.

Bloch ichth. it. 148. tab. 67.

fil
Le Gade Capelan. De la Ce-

pede Hist. des Poissons. ii.

Gadus dorso tripterygio, ore 414,

cirrato, corpore sescunciali,

ano in medio corporis.

Arted. synon. 36.

Tus is the only species of cod fish with three
dorsal fins that we (at this time) are assured is
found in the Mediterranean sea. It is taken
near Marseilles, and sometimes in such quan-
tities as to become a nuisance; for no other
kinds of fish are caught during their season.* It
is esteemed good, but incapable of being salted
or dried: Belon says, that when it is dried in
the sun, it grows as hard as horn; C’est dela
que les ANG Lois Vont nomme Bouclzs horn.

It is the smallest species yet discovered, being

little more than six inches long. On the chin

* Rondel. 191.
is hailed with joy by the fisherman, as it is considered the fore-
Ep,

In the Baltic, on the contrary, its presence

runner of hadock, and the larger species of codfish.

249 |

Lin. syst. 6. Power.

Descripe
TION.

aren

7. Coan.

COAL COD FISH.

is a small beard;
loose. membrane ;

jaws, are on each side nine punctures.
first dorsal fin has twelve rays ;

Crass IV.

the eyes are covered with a
on the gill-covers, and the

The
the second

nineteen ; the third seventeen ; the pector al fins
thirteen ; the ventral fins six ; the first anal fin
twenty-seven; the second seventeen. The color
on the back is a light brown ; on the belly a dirty

white.

We owe the discovery of this kind j in our. seas

to the Rev. Mr. Jago.

** Three dorsal fins: chin beardless.

Colfisch. Belon 128.

Colfisch Anglorum.
pisc. 89.

Asellus niger. Kolfisch. Koler.
Schonevelde 19:

Cole fish Septenfrionalium an-
glorum. Rawlin Pollack
Cornuliensium. Wil. pise.
168. eau syn. pisc. 54.

Gadus dorso tripterygio, ore
imberbi, maxilla inferiore
longiore et linea laterali

Arted. synon. 34.

Gesner

recta.

Gadus carbonarius. Lin. syst.
438. Gm. Lin. 1168.
Gronov. Zooph. No. 317.

Le Colin. Duhamel Tr. des
Pesches. ii. 125. tab. 21.
Jig. 1.

LeColin. Bloch achth. ii. 146.
tab. 66. ~

Le Gade Colin. De la Ce-
pede Hist. des Poissons. ii.
417. ,

THE coal fish takes its name from the black

color that it sometimes assumes.

Belon cails it -

VOL. 3.P. 250.

“MOO TTWOO

pay)

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Cuiass IV. COAL COD FISH.

the Colfisch, imagining it was so named, by the

English, from its producing the: Icthyocolla, bat,

Gesner gives the true etymology.

These fishes are common on most of our

rocky and deep coasts, but particularly those
of the north of Great Britain. They swarm
about the Orknies, where the fry are the great
support of the poor.
_ The fry is known by different names in differ-
ent places: they are called at Scarborough,
Parrs, and when a year old, Billets. About
nine or ten years ago such a glut of Parrs
visited that part, that for several weeks it was
impossible to dip a pail into the sea without
taking some.

The young begin to appear on the Yorkshire
coast the beginning of Jz/y in vast shoals, and
are at that time about an inch and an half lone;
in August they are from three to five inches in
length, and are taken in great numbers with the
angling rod, and are then esteemed a very deli-
cate fish, but grow so coarse when they are a
year old that few people will eat them. Fishes
of that age are from eight to fifteen inches long,
and begin to have a little blackness near the
gills, and on the back, and the blackness in-
creases as they grow older.

Though this fish is so little esteemed when

DEscrip-
TION.

COAL COD FISH. Cuass IV.

fresh, yet it is salted and dried for sale; a person
in one year having cured above a thousand at
Scarborough.

The coal fish is of a more elegant form than
the common cod fish; it generally grows to the
length of two feet and an half, and weighs about
twenty-eight or thirty pounds at most. The
head is small; the under jaw a little longer than
the upper; the irides silvery, marked on one
side with a black spot. It has three dorsal fins,
the first consists of fourteen, the next of twenty,

‘the last of twenty-two rays; the pectoral fins
consist of eighteen ; the ventral of six; the first
anal fin of twenty-two, the second of nineteen
rays. ‘The tail is broad and forked. These fish
vary in color; we have seen some whose back,
nose, dorsal fins and tail, were of a deep black ;
the gill covers silver and black ; the ventral and:
anal fins white; the belly of the same color.
We have seen others dusky, others brown, but in
all the lateral line was strait and white, and the
lower part of the ventral and anal fins white.

CtassIV. . GREEN COD FIsH. oes

Gadus virens. G. dorso vires- Sey, Norvegis. Ascan. icon. 8. GREEN.

cente, cauda bifurcd. Gm. EX1il.

Lin. 1166. Faun. Suec. Gron. act. ups. 1742. p. 90.

309. Le Gade Sey. De la Cepede
Faun. Groenl. 148. Hist. des Poissons. ii. 421.

Muil. prodr. Zool. dan. 43.

THE green Cod fish is beardless, smooth, of a Desane:
dusky green on the back, and silvery in every a
other part; the jaws are of equal length; the
side line strait; the tail forked.
I was favored by Sir John Cullum, Bart. with
the notice of this species being British ; he ob-
served numbers of them, which had been taken
in the German ocean; none exceeded seven
inches in length: Linmneus does not attribute to
them a greater size than that of the Perch.

| O54,

POLLACK COD FISH.

9. PoLLAck. Asellus flavescens; Gelbe Kol-

mulen. Schonevelde 20.
Asellus “Huitingo-Pollachius,
Wil. Ichth. 107.
Whiting Pollack. Razz syn.
pisc. 53.

Chass IV.

Gadus Pollachius. Lin. syst.
439. Gm. Lin. 1169.

Gronov. Zooph. No. 318.

Faun. Suec. No. 309.

Le Lieu. Duhamel Tr..des
Pesches. ii. 121. tab. 20.

Gadus dorso tripterygio, ore Le Lieu. Bloch ichth. ii. 152.
imberbi, max. inf. longiore, tal. 68. -
linea laterali curva. Arted. Le Gade Pollack. De la Ce-

pede Hist..des Potssons. ii.

416.

‘symon, 35.

\

‘Tuts species is common on many of our

rocky coasts. Pollacks are seen during summer
in great shoals frolicking on the surface of the
water, and flinging themselves into a thousand
forms. They are at that time so wanton as to
bite at any thing that appears on the top of the —
waves, and are often taken with a goose’s feather
fixed to the hook. They are very strong, and
are observed to keep their station at the feet
of the rocks in the most turbulent and rapid sea.
They are a good eating fish, but do not grow to
a very large size; at lest the biggest we have
seen did not exceed six or seven pounds: we
have heard of some that were taken in the sea
near Scarborough, which they frequent during
winter, that weighed near twenty-eight pounds.
They are there called Lee¢s.

CuassIV. WHITING COD FISH.

255

The under jaw is longer than the upper; the Descrir-

‘head and body rise pretty high, as far as the
first dorsal fin ; the side line is incurvated, rising
‘towards the middle of the back, then sinking
and running strait to the tail, which is broad, and
of a brown color; the first dorsal fin has eleven
rays, the middle nineteen, the last sixteen; the
tail is a little forked. The color of the back is
‘dusky, of some inclining to green ; the sides be-
neath the lateral line marked with lines of yel-
low; the belly white; sometimes of a bright
‘red on the back and fins, and the sides of a
bright yellow, spotted with green. *

Gadus merlangus. Lin. syst.
438. Gm. Lin. 1167.

Secunda asellorum species.

Rondel. 276.

Merlanus. Fondel. Gesner Gronov. Zooph. No. 316.
pisc. 85. Hwitling, Widding. Faun.
Asellus candidus _ primus, Suec. No. 310.

Witling. Schonevelde 17. Le Merlan. Duhamel Tr. des

Aseilus mollis major, seu al-
bus. Wil. Ichth. 170.
Whiting. Raw syn. pisc. 55.
Gadus dorso tripterygio, ore
imberbi, corpore albo, max-
Ar-

illa superiore longiore.
ted. synon. 34.

Pesches. ii. 128. tab. 22. .
Le Merlan. Bloch ichth. ii.
143. tab. 65.
Le Gade Merlan. De Ja Ce-
pede Hist. des Poissons. ii.
424,

W HITINGS appear in vast shoals in our
seas in the spring, keeping at the distance of

* Ascan. icon. &xil.

TION.

10. Wut-
TING.

DEscrRIP-
TION.

WHITING COD FISH. Cuass IV.

about halfa mile to that of three miles from the
shore. They are caught in great numbers by the
line, and afford excellent diversion. ‘They are
the most delicate, as well as the most wholesome
of any of the genus, but do not grow to a large
size; the biggest we ever saw * not exceeding
twenty inches, but that is very uncommon, the
usual length being ten or twelve. 2
It is a fish of an elegant make; the upper
jaw is the longest; the eyes large, the nose
sharp, the teeth of the upper jaw, long, and ap-
pear above the lower when closed; the first
dorsal fin has fifteen rays, the second eighteen,
the last twenty. The color of the head and back
is a pale brown; the lateral line white, and

_erooked; the belly and sides silvery; the last

streaked lengthways with yellow.

* We have been informed that whitings, from four to eight
pounds in weight, have been taken in the deep water at the edge
of the Dogger-Bank.

Cuass IV.

HAKE COD FISH.

\

* * With two dorsal fins.

Le Merluz. Belon, 115.
Asellus, 6yos, Gvicxos. Rondel,
272.

Merlucius. Gesner pisc. 84.

Asellus primus sive Merlucius.
Wil. Ichth. 174.

The Hake. Raii syn. pisc. 56.

Gadus dorso dipterygio, max-

_ illa inferiore longiore. Ar-
ted. synon. 36.

Faun. Suec. No. 314.
Faun. Groenl. 148.
Gronov. Zooph. No. 315.

Le Merlin. Duhamel Tr. des
Pesches. ii. 141. fub. 24,
La Merluche. Bloch ichth. v.

78. tab. 164.

Le Gade Merlus. - De la Ce-

pede Hist. des Poissons. ii.
446.

Gadus Merlucius. L£7n. syst.
439. Gm. Lin. 1169.

A FISH that is found in vast abundance on
many of our coasts, and of those of Ireland.
There was formerly a vast stationary fishery of
Hake onthe Nymph Bank off the coast of Water-
ford, immense quantities appearing there twice
a year; the first shoal coming in June, during
the Mackrel season, the other in September, at
the beginning of the Herring season, probably
in pursuit of those fish: it was no unusual thing
for six men with hooks and lines to take a thou-
sand Hake in one night, besides a considerable
quantity of other fish. These were salted and
sent to Spain, particularly to Bilboa, * We are

* Smith's Hist. Waterford, 261.
MONG. NEE, s

shi be Hake:

258

DescrIpPe
TION.

HAKE COD FISH. _ Ctass IV.

at this time uninformed of the state of this fishery,
but find that Mr. Smith, who wrote the history
of the county of /Vaterford, complains even in
his time (1746) of its decline. Many of the
gregarious fishes are subject to change their
situations, and desert their haunts for numbers
of years, and then return again. We see p. 135,
how unsettled the Basking Shark appears to be

_ Mr. Smith instances the loss of the Hadock on

the /Vaterjord shores, where they used to swarm;
and to our knowledge we can bring the capri-

ciousness of the herrings, which frequently quit:

their stations, as another example.

Sometimes the irregular migration of fish is
owing to their being followed and harassed by an
unusual number of fish of prey, such as the
shark kind; sometimes to deficiency of the
smaller fish, which served them as food; and
lastly, in many places to the custom of trawling,
which not only demolishes a quantity of their
spawn, which is deposited in the sand, but also
destroys or drives into deeper waters numberless
worms and insects, the repast of many fishes.

The hake is in England esteemed a very
coarse fish, and is seldom admitted to table
either fresh or salted. *

These fishes grow from a foot and an half to

* When cured it is known by the name of Poor John.

Ciass IV. FORKED HAKE COD FISH.

near twice that length; they are of a slender
make, of a pale ash color on their backs, and-of
a dirty white on their bellies. Their head is
flat and broad ; the mouth very wide; the teeth
very long and sharp, particularly those of the
lower jaw; the first dorsal fin is small, consist-
ing of nine rays; the second reaches from the
base of the former almost to the tail, and is com=
posed of forty rays, of which the last are the
highest; the pectoral fins have about twelve,
the ventral seven ; the anal thirty-nine; the tail
is almost even at the end.

Galee, claria marina. Belon, Blennius Phycis. Lin. syst.
126. 442. Gm. Lin. 1179.
Phycis. Rondel. 186.\ Gesner Le petit Lingue, ou Merlex
pisc. 718. barbu. Duhamel Tr. des
Tinca marina. Aldr. Wil. Pesches. ii. 147. tab. 25. fig.
Ichth. 205. Rati syn. pise. 4.
75. Le Blennie Phycis. De la Ce-
Phycis. <Arted. synon. App. pede Hist. des Poissons. ii.

lil. 465. .

WPHIS is the fish to which Rondeletius gives
the name of Phycis, borrowing it from Aristotle

and Pliny, who have not so sufficiently charac-

terized it, as to enable us to judge what species

they intended. It is found in the Mediterranean

more frequently than in our-seas, and we believe
s 9

259

12. ForKep
Hakg.

260

DESCRIP=
TION.

FORKED HAKE COD FISH. Cuass IV.

is the fish mentioned by Mr. Armstrong, and
Doctor Cleghorn, * in their histories of JZinorca,
under the name of Molo, Mollera, and Molle.
It is known on the coast of Cornwall by the
name of the great forked beard, where it was
first discovered by Mr. Jago. We place it in
this genus, as it has more the appearance of the
cod fish kind, the hake especially, than of the
Blenny, into which genus Linnéus has flung it ;
we therefore have given this species the name of
the Forked Hake.

The length of one that was taken on the Flint-
shire shores was eleven inches and an half, its
greatest depth three inches; but according to Dr.
Borlase, some grow to be above eighteen inches
long. The head sloped down to the nose in the
same easy manner with others of this genus; the
mouth was large; besides the teeth in the jaws
was a triangular congeries of small teeth in the
roof of the mouth ; at the end of the lower jaw
was a small beard. ‘The first dorsal fin was
triangular ; the first ray extended far beyond
the rest, and was very slender; the second fin
began just behind the first, and extended almost

* Armstrong, 161. Cleghorn, 43.
t Barbus major Cornubiensis cirris lifurcatis: the great
forked beard. Mr. Jago. Raii syn. pisc. 163. fig. 7.

CrassIV. LEST HAKE COD FISH.

to the tail; the ventral fins were three inches
long, and consisted of only two rays, joined at
the bottom, and separated or bifurcated towards
the end; the vent was in the middle of the body ;
the anal fin extended from thence just to the
tail; the lateral line was incurvated; the tail
rounded. The color was a cinereous brown.

Barbus minor Cornubiensis cir- Rati syn. pisc. 164. fig.
ris bifurcis, The Lesser 8.
Forked Beard. Mr. Jago. Blennius Phycis. 8. Gm. Lin.
1180.

WE never saw this species, and having but
very imperfect descriptions of it, cannot with
any certainty pronounce it to be of this genus,
but are unwilling to separate them, as we found
them united by that judicious Ichthyologist Mr.
Jago.

It is said not to exceed five inches in length;
the first dorsal fin (in the print) is shorter than
that of the preceding ; the second resembles that
of the other kind: the ventral fins are bifurcated.
It has a small beard, and a rounded tail, but
- the head is shorter and more steep; the color
black, the skin smooth, and the appearance
disagreeable,

261

13. Lest
Hake.

Descrir-
TION.

14. Line.

LING COD FISH.

Ling, Lingfische. Belon, 130.

Gesner pisc. 95.

Molva major, Charleton ex.
pisc. 3.

Asellus longus, eine Lenge.
Schonevelde, 18.

Cuiass IV.

Gadus Molva. Lin, syst. 439,
Gm. Lin. 1170.

Faun. Groenl. 148.

Langa. Fuun. Suec. No. 313,

Le Lingue. Duhamel Tr. des
Pesches. ii. 145. tab. 25.

Ling. Wal. Ichth. 175. Raw iy ieee
syn. pisc. 56. Le Lingue, Bloch ichth. ii.
Gadus dorso dipterygio, ore 155. tab. 69.

serrato, maxilla superiore

Le Gade Molve. De la Cepede

longiore. Arted. synon. 36. Mist. des Poissons. iu. 432.

THE ling takes its name from its length, being
corrupted from the word long. It abounds
about the Sczlly Isles, on the coasts of Scarbo-
rough, and those of Scotland and Ireland, and
forms a considerable article of commerce.* In
the Yorkshire seas they are in perfection from
the beginning of February to the beginning of
May, and some till the end of that month. In’
June they spawn, depositing their eggs in the
soft oozy ground of the mouth of the Zees: at
that time the males separate from the females,
and resort to some rocky ground near Flambo-
rough Head, where the fishermen take great
* This branch of trade was considerable so long ago as the reign

of Edward III. an act for regulating the price of Lob, Ling, and
Cod, being made in his 31st year.

Crass IV. LING COD FISH. —

numbers without ever finding any of the female
or roed fish among them.

While a ling is in season its liver is very
white, and abounds with a fine flavored oil; but
as soon as it goes out of season, the liver be-
comes red as that of a bullock, and affords na
oil. The same happens to the common cod
and other fishes in a certain degree, but not se
remarkably as in the ling. When the fish is in
perfection, a very large quantity of oil may be
melted out of the liver by a slow fire, but if a
violent sudden heat be used for that purpose,
it yields very little. This oil, which nature
hoards up in the cellular membranes: of fishes,
returns into their blood, and supports them in
the engendring season, when they pursue the
business of generation with so much eagerness
as to neglect their food.

Vast quantities of ling are salted for expor-
tation, as well as for home consumption. When
it is cut or split for curing, it must measure
twenty-six inches or upwards from the shoulder
to the tail; if less than that it is not reckoned a
‘sizeable fish, and consequently not entitled to
the bounty on exportation; such are called
Drizzles, and are in season all summer.

The usual size of a ling is from three to four
feet, but we have heard of one that was seven

263

Descrip-
TION.

264,

LING COD FISH. Cuass IV.

feet long. The body is very slender; the
head flat; the upper jaw the longer; the teeth
in that jaw small and very numerous; in the
lower, few, slender, and sharp; on the chin
is a small beard. The first dorsal fin is small,
placed near the head, and consists of fifteen
rays; the second is very long, reaching almost
to the tail, and consists of sixty-five rays; the
pectoral fins have fifteen radiated rays; the
ventral fins six; the anal sixty-two; the tail
is rounded at the end. These fishes vary in
color, some being of an olive hue on the sides
and back, others cinereous; the belly white.
The ventral fins white; the dorsal and anal
edged with white. The tail marked near the
end with a transverse black bar, and tipt with
white.

Crass IV.:

o

Strinsias, ou Botatrissa. Belon,
300.

Lota. Rondel. fluviat. 165.
Gesner pisc. 599.

Quappen, Elfi-quappen, Ti-
der-quappen, Truschen ?
Schonevelde, 49.

Burbot, or Bird-bolt. Plot
Staff. 241. tab. 22. fig. 4.

Mustela fluviatilis nostratibus
Fel-pout. Wil. Ichth. 125.
Rati Syn. pisc. 67.

BURBOT COD FISKE.

Aal-rutte, Rutte. Aram. 388,

Gadus dorso dipterygio, ore
cirrato, maxillis eequalibus.
Arted. Synon. 38.

Gadus Lota. Lin. Syst. 440.
Gm. Lin. 1172.
Zooph. No. 97.

Lake. Faun. Suec. No. 113.

La Lote. Bloch ichth. ii. 158.
tab. 70.

Le Gade Lote. De lu Cepede
Hist. des Poissons. ii. 435.

Gronov.

265

15. Bureor.

THIs fish is found in the Zvent and the

rivers which fall into it, but in greater plenty i
in the river /Vitham, and in the great Hast Fen
in Lincolnshire. It is a very delicate fish for
the table, though of a disgusting appearance
when alive: it is very voracious, and preys on
the fry and lesser fishes. It does not often
take a bait, but is generally caught in weels.

It abounds in the lake of Geneva, where it is
called Lota, and it is also met with in the Lago
Maggiore, and Lugano.

The largest that we ever heard of in Great
Britain, was taken in the Trent, by Sir Jervase
Clifton, which weighed eight pounds ; but that
is a very unusual size; it seldom attains the
weight of two or three pounds. The body has

Descrip-
TION.

266

nily

BURBOT COD FISH. Crass IV.

some resemblance to that of an eel, only shorter
and thicker, and its motions also resemble those
of that fish; it is, besides, very smooth, slippery,
and slimy. The heatl is very ugly, being flat,
and shaped like that of a toad; the teeth are
very small, but numerous; the irides yellow;
on the end of the nose are two small beards ; on
the chin another ; the number of its branchios-
tegous rays are seven. ‘The first dorsal fin is
short; the second is placed immediately behind
it, and extends almost to the tail; the pectoral
fins are rounded; the ventral fins consist of six
rays, of which the two first are divided near
their ends from each other; the vent is placed
in the middle of the belly, and the anal fin
reaches almost to the tail ; the tail is rounded at
the end. The color of this species varies;
some are dusky, others of a dirty green, spotted
with black, and oftentimes with yellow, and the
belly in some is white; but the real colors are
frequently concealed by the slime.

“

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VOL. 3.P.267.

Pe RXXVT.

CrassIV. THREE BEARDED COD FISH.

Mustella vulgaris. Rondel. Rockling, Mr. Jago. Rau
2981. Gesner piscs 89. Syn. pise. 164. fig. Q.

Gadus Mustela. Gm. Lin. La Mustele. Bloch zehth. v.

1174. £. 83. fab. 165. ay

Sea Loche Cestrie,. Whistle Le Gade Mustele. De la Ce-
fish Cornulie. Pil. Tehth, pede Hist. des Poissons, ii.
121. Rui Syn. pisc. 67. A441,

¢

"Furs species commonly frequents the rocky
shores of these islands, and is sometimes taken’

with a bait.

“It grows to the length of nineteen inches ; the
weight is two pounds two ounces. The head is
larse and flat; the eyes not remote from the

end of the nose; the body is long,

compressed sideways, especially towards the

slender, and

tail; at the end of the upper jaw are two

267°

16. THREE
BEARDED.

Descrir-
TION.

beards ; on the chin one. ‘The teeth are nume-

rous and small, disposed along the jaws in form
of.a broad plate; in the roof of the mouth is a

set of sinall teeth, disposed in a triangular form.
The number of branchiostegous rays is seven.
The first dorsal fin is lodged in a deep furrow
just beyond the head, and consists of a number
of short. unconnected rays; the second rises
just behind it, and reaches very near the tail;

the pectoral fins are broad and round; the ven-

tral fins small; the second ray the longest; the

268

17. FIve
BEARDED.

Descrir-
TION.

FIVE BEARDED COD FISH. Crass IV.

anal fin reaches almost to the tail; the tail is
rounded at the end. ‘The scales are very small ;
the color of the body and head a reddish yel-
low, marked above the lateral line with large
black spots ; the back fin and tail are darker;
the vent fin of a brighter red, but all are spot-
ted. ‘The lateral line bends in the middle, then
passes strait to the tail.

Gadus dorso dipterygio, sulco gius cirris 5, pinna dorsali
magno ad pinnam dorsi pri- priore exoleta. Lin. Sys¢.
mam, ore cirrato? <Arted. 440. Gm. Lin. 1173. Gre-
Synon. 37. nov. Zooph. No. 314.

Gadus mustela. G. diptery- :
Mr. Willughby makes this species with five
beards, a variety only of the former; but hav-
ing had an opportunity of examining several
specimens, we must dissent from his opinion, as
we always observed the number of the beards in
the spotted kind not to exceed three, or the
number in the brown kind to be less than five.
The first ray of the dorsal fin is very long.
There is also some difference in the form as
well as color, this species being rather thicker
in proportion than the fermer. Excepting these
particulars, and the number of beards, there is
a general agreement in the parts of both. The

qj

;
ata
eh

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Rs ced)
SO

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“HSL

aoo wISYOoL

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S
=
—)
=

&

a

i

Cuass IV. TORSK COD FISH.

beards on the upper jaw are four, viz. two at
the very end of the nose, and two a little above
them; on the end of the lower jaw is, a single
one. ‘These fish are of a deep olive brown,
their belly whitish. They grow to the same
size as the former.

The Cornish fishermen are said to whistle,
and make use of the words Bod, Bod, vean,
when they are desirous of taking this fish, as if
by that they facilitated the capture. In the
same manner the Sicilian fishermen repeat their
Mamassu di pajanu, &c. when they are in pur-
suit of the Sword Fish.*

* * — With one dorsal fin.

Gadus Broome. G. ore cirro- Barry's Hist. of Orkney Isles,
so, cauda ovata. Gm. Lin. 202. ,
1175. Eller Torsk. Strom Sondmoer,

Faun. Groenl. 149. D7 2eetoUrk: f: 1Q-

Mull. prod. Zool. dan. 41. La Blennie Torsk. De la Ce-

Ascan. icon. rer. nat. 17. pede Hist. des Poissons, ii.

' Pontopp. Norway, ii. 110. 510.

THIS fish has been hitherto supposed to be
of the section of this genus, which has three
Mlorsal fins. The species known in Szweden by

* Vide p. 218.

269

18. Torsx.

270

DeEscrIP-
TION.

TORSK COD FISH. Crass IV)

that name is included in that division; and as
such I described ‘it in the former edition from
the account Linneus has given us. But from
the information of the Rev. Mr. Low, minister
of Birsa, Orkney, who in 1774, made (at my
request) the voyage of the Shetland islands, 1
find the British Torsk to be totally different ;
and will occasion the addition of a fourth any
sion’in this genus.
“The Torsk is described and engraven in Mr.
Strom’s history of Sondmoer, under the same
name, and when dried, under that of Klip fish.
The figure agrees with that Mr. Low favored
me with.

The Torsk, or, as it is cated j in the Shetlands,
Tusk and Brismak, is a northern fish; and as
yet undiscovered lower than about the Orknies,
and even there it is rather scarce.’ In the seas
about Shetland, it swarms, and forms (barrelled
or dried) a considerable article of commerce.

The length of the specimen, Mr. Low de-
scribed for me, was twenty inches, the greatest
depth four and a half. The head small, the
upper jaw a little longer than the lower; both
jaws furnished with multitudes of small SEI

on the chin was a small single beard; from the,

head to the dorsal fin was a deep furrow. ‘The
dorsal fin began within six inches from the tip of

Cuass lV. TORSK COD FISH.

the nose, and extended almost to the tail; the
pectoral fins were small, and rounded ; the ven-
tral short, thick, and fleshy, ending in four c7rri.
The belly from the throat very prominent; the
anal fin was long, and reached almost close to
the tail, which is small and circular; the num-
ber of rays could not be counted with accuracy
by reason of their softness, and the thickness of
the skin; the side line was scarcely discernible.
The color of the head was dusky; the back and
sides yellow ; the belly white; the edges of the
dorsal, anal, and caudal fins, white; the other
parts dusky; the pectoral fins brown.

I flatter myself, that in a small time, the
public will receive from Mr. Low, a fuller
account of this important fish, in a compre-

hensive history of the islands of Orkney and
Shetland.*

* This wish has been frustrated, but subsequent accounts of
the Orkney and Shetland isles have been given by Mr. Neill, the
reverend George Barry, and by Doctor Edmonston. These gen-
tlemen inform us, that the Torsk, or more properly Tusk (the
former appellation being given to the common Cod fish), is
shaped something like the ling, but is much shorter and thicker
in proportion to its length; it also resembles that fish im its ha-
bits, but is not so gregarious. It has occasionally been met with
in the Edinburgh markets, but is a complete northern fish, and
observed more frequently on the coasts of the Shetland than of
the Orkney isles. Ep. .

=

~~

pe)

\

TRIFURCATED TADPOLE FISH

Hiss

. Cuass IV.

GENUS XXVIL

TADPOLE FISH.

Heap depressed, very large. _
Bopy much compressed.

Movuts very wide.

BEARDS one or more on the lower j jaw.

1. Trirur- Batrachoides* trifurcatus, in

CATED.

foveola dorsali pinne primz
rudimento, serie verrucarum
Q—10 utringue ; cirro men-
tali. Gent. Magaz. June
18@9. Pennants Tour in
Wales, ed. 1810. vol. in. p.
41 & 420.

Trifurcated Hake. Br. eats
iv. No. 84.
Blennius tridactylus. De le

Cepede Hist. des Poissons. v-
p- 480.
Blennius trifureatus
Gen. Zool. iv. 174.

Turton's Brit. Fauna, Pp 3. i

- Shaw

THE different specimens, which have been
seen of this fish, measured from eight to twelve

inches.

Its color is a deep brown, except the

foldings of the lips, which are snow- white 5 the: j

* So named from the resemblance it bears to the Batrachus
(from Barexyos, a frog) a name as old as Phny for the Rana
piscatrix, Toad fish, or sea Devil of Ray and Wi illughby, the Le~
phicus of Linneus, and the Angler of the present work. H. D.

Crass IV. TRIFURCATED TADPOLE FISH.

head depressed and very broad; eyes large,
irides yellowish; mouth very wide, with irre-
gular rows of incurvated teeth; in the roof of
the mouth is likewise a congeries of teeth. No
tongue, a broad abrupt rudiment only supplying
the defect. The body is compressed, but re-
markably so as it approaches the tail. It has,
placed in a furrow, the rudiment of a first dorsal
fin, consisting of three slender feeble rays,
which may elude the ken of a cursory observer ;
the second dorsal fin reaches almost to the tail,
and has sixty-two rays ; the anal corresponds,
and has fifty-nine; the tail thirty-six ; the pec-
toral has twenty-three ; the ventral six rays, the
three last of which are very slender and short,
and the whole connected by so very delicate a
membrane, as to be readily separated in drying,
which happening to be the case, with the sub-
“ject which was sent to Mr. Pennant, deceived
him, and induced him to bestow on it a trivial
name not very apposite, but which it is by
no means adviseable to change, as it has been
transferred into so many eminent works. Above
the pectoral fins, on each side, is a row of tuber-
cles, nine or ten in number, from the last of
which commences the lateral line, which de-
scends in a curved direction at the middle, and
VOL. III. T

oO

~

73

274

TRIFURCATED TADPOLE FISH. Cuass IV,

from thence continues straight to the tail. The
tail and pectoral fins are rounded.

It seems rather extraordinary that the Count
de Cepede should have placed this fish in the
genus BLENNIUS, as it is so very nearly allied
to both his species of BaTRACHOIDES; from
Barr. Tau it differs not much in the general
form, but greatly in wanting the fringe of beards
on the lower jaw, and the spines on the gill-
covers. From Barr. blennioides it differs still
less, as we may judge by Muller's figure, Zool.
Dan. f. 45. but the single cirrus on the lower
jaw distinguishes it from Batr. Tau, and the
rudiment of a first dorsal fin placed in a szdcus,
and a series of tubercles on each side of it,
distinguish it perfectly from Barr. dblennioides,
as well as from Barr. fuliginosus* of Wal-
baum, who, exclusive of the last mentioned par-_
ticulars, seems inclined to suppose it a variety
only of his G. fuliginosus, but those proving’
constant, which has been found to be the case,
he does not hesitate to pronounce it a distinct
species. Indeed, the series of tubercles, and
the arrangement of them, seem to constitute a
particular specific distinction between Barr.

* See Gent. Magaz. June 1809, and Tours in Wales, vol. iii.
421. ‘

Crass IV. TRIFURCATED TADPOLE FISH.

Tau, and Barr. trifurcatus, exclusive of every
other; in B. Tau, they surround the eyes, Ocult
utringue serie duplict verrucarum minorum
cinctt. Gmel. Lin. 1172: in B. trifurcatus,
they run in nearly parallel lines, one on each
side of the suw/cus, which contains the rudiment
of a first dorsal fin.*

* "The editor is indebted to the reverend Hugh Davies for the

enlarged description, and valuable observations on this singular

fish. Ep.

7 9

hs)
or

276

1. CRESTED,

22Zy

CRESTED BLENNY. Crass IV.

GEN US XXVIL -BLEN NY. i

Ly am :
Heap blunt at the end, and very steep.

TEETH slender. .

Bopy smooth and slippery, compressed side-
ways.

Fins ventral, consisting generally of only two
united rays.

Frw dorsal, one.

* With a crested head.

Adonis, ou exocetus. Belon, versa cutacea. Arted. Synon,
219. sy gy

Galerita. Rondel. 204. Gesner Blennius Galerita. Lin, Syst.
pisc. 14, 17, 18. 441. Gm. Lin. 1175.

Alauda cristata, sive Galerita. Le Blennie coquillade. De Ja
Wil. Ichth. 134. Raii Syn. - Cepede Hist. des Poissons,
pisc. 73. il. 477.

Blennius crista capitis trans-

Tuis species is found, though not frequently,
on our rocky shores, and is commonly about

t There being no English name for this ec Blenny is
given it, derived from the word Blennius, the generical term

used by Artedius, who forms it from BAzvya, mucus, it being of
a slimy nature.

PL. XXXIX. VOL.3.P.276.

Crass IV. CRESTED BLENNY.

B77

four or five inches long. On the head is a Descrip-

small crest-like fin, which it can erect or depress
at pleasure. On the top of the head, between
the eyes, is a triangular lump pointing back-
wards, and red about its edges. The skin at
the corner of the upper jaw is loose, and. pro-
jects; from the hind part of the head, almost to
the tail, extends the dorsal fin; the ventral fin
is small; the vent is placed under the ends of
the pectoral fins. ‘The body is smooth and
slippery: the color brown, and spotted.

Montagu in Mem. Wern. Soc. 98. tab. 5. f. 2.

[Mr. Montagu describes a Blenny frequently
caught on the western coast, which differs from
the above in many respects, particularly in the
breadth of the dorsal and anal fins, and in the
former having a remarkable flexure in the mid-
dle, instead of being straight ; on the head is no
triangular lump, but a transverse, fleshy, fim-
briated membrane. The body is rather more
slender than that of the Smooth Blenny; the
head much sloped ; the upper lip furnished with
a bony plate that projects at the angles of the
mouth into a thin lamina, which turns down-
wards, the eads of which are orange colored ;

TION.

(Var.?)
DIMINUTIVE,

78

2, GATTO-
RUGIN.

Prace.

GATTORUGIN BLENNY. Crass IV.

the nostrils are furnished with a minute bifid
appendage; behind the crest are several mi-
nute, erect, filiform appendicule ; the lateral
line is curved near the head; the pectoral fins
are large and ovate, and consist of twelve rays ;
the ventral of two unconnected rays; the dorsal
of thirty, and which, from the different lengths
of the thirteenth and fourteenth rays, appears to

‘be divided into two fins; the anal extends from

the vent to the tail, and consists‘ of eighteen
rays; the tail, which is rounded, of fourteen
rays. The color of the upper part of the body
is generally olive green, spotted with pale blue,
shaded to white; the belly white, and the pec-
toral fins spotted with orange. The general
length from one inch and an half to two inches
and an half. Ep.

Scorpioides. Rondel. 204. Ges-
ner pisc. 847.

Gattorugine Venetiis. Pil.
“Ichth. 132. -Rait Syn. pise.
72.

Blennius pinnulis duabus ad
oculos, pinna ani ossiculo-

rum viginti trium. Arted.
Synon. 44.

Blennius Gattorugine. Lun.
Syst. 442. Gm. Lin. 1177.

La Gattorugine. Bloch ichth.
v.94. tab. 167. f. 2.

De la Cepede Hist. des Pois-
sons, il. 468.

'THIs curious kind was discovered to be a
British fish on the Anglesey coast.

Ciass1V. GATTORUGIN BLENNY.

279

Its length was seven inches and an half; the Descrip-

body was smooth, and compressed on the sides;
the belly a little prominent; the vent situated
as in the preceding fish. The teeth slender,
almost setaceous, and very close set: between
the eyes was a small hollow, and above each,
just on the summit, was a narrow loose mem-
brane, trifurcated at the top, which distinguishes
this from all other species. ‘The pectoral fins
were broad and rounded, consisting of fourteen
rays, which extended beyond the webs, making
the edges appear scalloped; the ventral fins
like those of others of the genus; the dorsal fin
consisted of fourteen strong spiny rays, and
nineteen soft rays; the last of which were
higher than the spiny rays; the anal fin had
twenty-one rays, the ends in every fin extend-
ing beyond their webs; the tail was rounded at
the end, and consisted of twelve rays, divided
towards their extremities. This fish in general
was of a dusky hue, marked across with wavy
lines ; the belly of a light ash color. The lower
part of the pectoral fins, and the ends of the
ventral fins, of an orange color.

TION.

280

‘Ae

SMOOTH BLENNY. Cuass IV.

&

** Witha smooth head.

3. SMOOTH, La tierce espece de Exocetus?

Descrip-
TION.

Belon, 219.
Alauda non cristata. Rondel.
205. Gesner pisc. 18.
Mulgranoc, & Bulcard Cornu-
bie. Wil. Ichth. 133. Rait
Syn. pisc. 73.

Cataphractus levis Cornubien-

sis. Smooth Shan. Mr. Jago
apud Rai Syn. pisc. 164.
Jig. 10.

Blennius maxilla superiore
longiore, capite summo acu-
minato. Arted. Synon. 45.

Blennius Pholis. Lin. Syst.
443. Gm. Lin. 1180. Gro-
nov. Zooph. No. 259.

Le Perce pierre. Bloch ichth.
ii. 164. tab. 71. f. 2.

Le Blennie Pholis. De la Ce-

pede Hist. des Poissons, ii.

489.

WS discovered this species in plenty lying
under the stones among the tang on the rocky ~
coasts of Anglesey, at the lower water-mark.~
It was very active and vivacious, and would by —
the help of its ventral fins creep up between the’

stones with great facility. It bit extremely
hard, and would hang at the finger for a consi-
derable time. It was very tenacious of life,
and lived for near a day out of water. It feeds
on shells and small crabs, whose remains we
found in its stomach.

The length in general was five inches; the
head large, and sloping suddenly to the mouth;
the irides red; the teeth slender, very sharp,
and close set; there were twenty-four in the

VOL. 3. P. 280.

“ANNUITA HLOOWS

CiassIV. | SMOOTH BLENNY.

upper, and eighteen in the lower jaw. The
pectoral fins were broad and rounded, consist-
ing of thirteen rays; the ventral fins of only
two thick rays, separated near their ends; the
dorsal fin consisted of thirty-two soft rays, and
reached from the hind part of the head almost
to the tail; the vent was in the middle of the
body ; the anal fin extended almost to the tail,
and consisted of nineteen rays, tipt with white ;
the tail was rounded at the end, and composed
of twelve branched rays. The color varied ;
“some were quite black, but generally they were
of a deep olive, prettily marbled with a deeper
color; others spotted with white ; the last often
disposed in rows above and beneath the lateral
line.

981

4. Spotrep. Gunnellus

Descrip-
TION.

SPOTTED BLENNY.

Cornubiensium,
nonnullis Butter-fish, q. d.
Liparis. Wal. Ichth. 115.
Rau Syn. pisc. 144.

Blennius maculis circiter de-
cem nieris, limbo albicante
utrinque ad pinnam dorsa-
‘lem. Arted. Synon. 45.

Blennius Gunnellus. B. pinna

Cuass LV.

Seb. Mus. iii. p. 91. dab. 20.

Jig. 6.

Pholis maculis annulatis ad
pinnam dorsalem, pinnis
ventralibus obsoletis. Gro-
nov. Zooph. No. 267. |

Le Papillon de Mer. Bloch
ichth. ii. 166. tab. 71. f. 1.

La Blennie Gunnel. De la

dorsali ocellis X nigris. Lin.
Syst. 443. Gm. Lin. 1181.
Faun. Suec. No. 318.

Cepede Hist. des Poissons,
ii. 503.

Tuts species is found in the same place with
the preceding, lurking like it under stenes,
is equally vivacious, and is used as a bait for
larger fish.

Its length is six inches; the depth only half
an inch; the sides very much compressed ; the
head and mouth is small; the last points up-
wards, and the lower jaw slopes considerably
towards the throat ; the teeth are very small;
the irides whitish; the pectoral fins rounded,
and of a yellow color; instead of the ventral
fins are two minute spines; the dorsal fin con-
sists of seventy-eight short spiny rays, and
runs the length of the back almost to the tail ;
on the top of the back are* eleven round spots,

* The number of spots varies. Eb.

i

oe.

VOL .3.P. 283,

. XL.

(cez"ad ) -ANNWIE

SNOUVdIIATA

rs

VIVIPAROUS BLENNY.

which reach to the lower half of the dorsal fin ;
they are black, half encircled with white. The
vent is in the middle of the body; the anal fin
extends from it almost to the tail; the tail is
rounded, and of a yellow color; the back and
sides are of a deep olive; the belly whitish.

Cuass IV.

tentaculis duobus. Ein, Syst.
443. Gm. Lin. 1182.

Mustela marina vivipara, Ael-
quappe, Ael-puet, Ael-mo-

moder. Schonevelde, 50.¢ab. Tanglake. Faun. Suec. No.
4“, 4 317. Mus. Ad. Fr. i. ae
Guffer, Eelpout. Sil. Scot. tab. 32.

ili. 25. Euchelyopus corpore lituris

Mustela vivipara Schoneveldit.

' Wil. Ichth. 122. Rati Syn.

variegato; pinna dorsi ad

caudam sinuata. Gronov.

_ pisc. 69.
Blennius capite dorsoque fusco
flayescente lituris nigris, pin-
na ani flava. Arted. Synon.

Zooph. No. 265.

La Lote vivipare. Bloch ichth.
il. 168. fab. 73.

Le Blennie vivipare. De la

45.
Blennius viviparus, B.

Cepede Hist. des Poissons,
ii. 496.

ore

SCHONEVELDE first discovered this spe-
cies; Sir Robert Sibbald afterwards found it on
the Scotch coasts; and Linneus has described
it in his account of his Swedish Majesty’ S ae

Seum. a

It is viviparous, bringing forth two or hres
hundred young at a time; its season of partu-
rition is a little after the depth of winter. Be-
fore Midsummer it quits the bays and shores,

285

5. Vivipa-
ROUS.

284

Descrir-
TION.

VIVIPAROUS BLENNY. Cass LV.

and retires into the deep, where it is commonly

taken. It is a very coarse fish, and eat only »
by the poor. It is common in the mouth of
the river Ksk, at Whitby, Yorkshire ; where it
is taken frequently from off the bridge.

It sometimes grows to the length of a foot.
The form slender; the skin smooth and slip-
pery; the teeth very minute and sharp; the
upper lip thin and skinny. The dorsal fin com-
mences just behind the head, and joins with
that:of the tail; but near the tail, the rays are
short, so as to form the appearance of a divi-
sion;, the pectoral fins rounded; the ventral
consist of only four short rays’; the anal extends

- far, and unites with the tail; the tail is round.
. The dorsal fin, back, and sides, are of a yellow-

ish brown, stained with dusky spots and lines;
the end of the tongue, the chin, throat, and anal
fin of a fine yellow; the back-bone is green,
like that of a sea-needle.

Crass IV. RED BAND FISH. 285

Seon dibs hile el
THORACIC FISHES.

GENUS XXVIII. BAND FISH.

Heap short: teeth curved, sharp.
Bopy very long and compressed.
ABDOMEN extremely short. (0 ;

Cepola rubescens. C. pinna Brunn. pisc. mass. 28. tae Rep,

caude attenuata maxillisa- Montagu in Lin. Tr. vii. 201.
cutis. Gm. Lin. 1187. Mus, tab. 17.

Ad. Fr. ii. 63. Le Cepole serpentiforme. De
Tenia serpens rubescens dicta. la Cepede Hist. des Poissons,
Arted. Synon. 115. ii. 529.

[THIS fish has been added to the list of Bri-
tish species by Mr. Montagu, and thus de-
scribed by that excellent naturalist from a spe-
cimen taken in Salcomb bay on the coast of
Devonshire, in February 1803.

“Long, slender, smooth, semi-pellucid, Descrir-
TION. —

somewhat compressed sideways, tapering from
the head gradually to the tail; head not larger

RED BAND FISH. Cass IV.

than the body, sloping from the eye to the end
of the upper jaw; the under jaw longest, slop-
ing upwards ; mouth large ; both jaws furnished
with one row of distant, subulate, curved teeth
at their very edge, the front ones projecting for-
ward ; eyes large, placed high up in the head;
irides silver mixed with crimson; pupil blue-
black; gill-coverts composed of two plates ;
branchiostegous rays four; pectoral fins, small,
rounded, consisting of sixteen rays; ventral
small, oval, with six rays, the first short and
spiny, with a filament adjoining longer than the
other rays, and detached from them; these fins
are close together and rather before, than im--
mediately under the pectorals; the dorsal fin
commences just behind the head, immediately
above the opening of the gills, and continues
without a division to join the tail, consisting of
about seventy rays; the anal fin commences
just behind the vent, which is scarcely an inch
from the ventral fins, and continues like the
dorsal, to join the tail; this has about sixty-one
rays; the caudal fin is lanceolate, the middle
ray being much the longest, and gradually short-
ening on each side, till the distinction is lost in
the dorsal and anal fins, and is composed of
about twelve rays; the tongue is short, and
with the palate is smooth; lateral line. a little

Crass IV. RED BAND FISH.

curved near the head, and afterwards runs quite
straight to the tail; skin smooth, but, when
examined by a lens, appears finely punctured.

“ Color pale carmine, darkest above and to-
wards the tail; gill-plates and undulated trans-
verse lines along the sides, silvery; fins of the
same color as the body, except the ventral,
which are nearly white.

“¢ Length of the above specimen, supposed
to be a female, ten inches; depth behind the
head rather more than three quarters of an
inch. Another taken a month afterwards at
the same place was an inch longer, but not
quite so deep; the color rather darker, and the
base of the dorsal fin inclining to orange. This
was probably a male.” Ep.

287

283

3

BLACK GOBY. —_ Cuass IV.

GENUS XXIX. GOBY.*

Eves placed near each other.
Frws ventral united.
Rays branchiostegous four.

1. Buacx. Gobio niger. Rondel. 200. lorum quatuordecim. Arted.

Gesner pisc. 395. Synon. 46.
Schwartzer Goeb. Schonevel- Gobius niger. Lin. Syst. 449.
de, 36. Gm. Lin. 1196.

Sea Gudgeon. Rock-fish. Wil. Le Boulerot. Bloch ichth. ii.
Ichth. 206. Raw Syn. pisc.~ 4. tab. 38. f. 2. 3.
76. De la Cepede Hist. des Pois-
“Gobius ex nigricante varius, sons, il. 552.
pinna dorsi secunda ossicu-

IT is to this fish that naturalists have given
the synonym of Kw&ios, and G'obo, names of cer-
tain species mentioned by Aristotle, Pliny, and
Oppian. The two first have not left any cha-
racters for us to distinguish them by; and Op-
pian at once shews that he never intended this
kind, as he has placed it among those which are
armed with a poisonous spine. Aristotle was

* Formed from Gobius, the generic name bestowed by natu-
ralists on these fish.

fel, XAT

GOBY.

BLACK

VOL.3.P. 288.

Crass IV. BLACK GOBY.

acquainted with two species; one a sea fish
that frequented the rocks, another that was
gregarious, and an inhabitant of rivers, which
last seems to have been our common gudgeon.
This species grows to the length of six inches;
the body is soft, slippery, and of a slender form;
the head is rather large; the cheeks inflated ;
the teeth small, and disposed in two rows; from
the head to the first dorsal fin is a small sulcus.
The first dorsal fin consists of six rays; the
second of fourteen; the pectoral fins of sixteen
or seventeen, closely set together, and the mid-
dlemost the longest; the others on each side
gradually shorter; the ventral fins coalesce and
form a sort of funnel, by which these fish affix
themselves immoveably to the rocks, for which
reason they are called rock-fish ; the tail is
rounded at the end. The color is brown, or
deep olive, mixed with dark, and spotted with
black; the dorsal and anal fins are of a pale

blue, the rays marked with minute black spots. —

“CC 1saa 9 3 all U

239

Descripe
TION.

290

SPOTTED GOBY. Crass IV.

2. Spottep. Agua? Athen. Lib. vii. p. am pinnarum fuscis. Lin.
284.2? Syst. 450. ?
Aphia. Belon, 207.? G. minutus. Gm. Lin. 1199.
Aphya cobites. Rondel. 210. Gobius minutus. G. albicans
Gesner pisc. 67. Wil. pisc. ferrugineo-maculatus, radiis
207. Raii syn. pisc. 76. ? dorsalibus et caudalibus fer-
Gobius Aphya et Marsio dic- rugineo obsolete — strictus.
tus. Arted. Synon. 47.? Pail. Spec. Zool. viii. 4.

Descrip-
TION.

Gobius Aphya. G. fasciis eti-

VW E have seen several of this species taken
on.our sandy shores in the shrimp nets. -

The length of the largest was not three.

inches ; the nose was blunt; the eyes large and
prominent, standing far out of the head; the
irides sapphirine; the head flat; the tongue
large; teeth in both jaws. ‘The first dorsal fin
consisted of six rays; the second of eleven, and
placed at some distance from the other; the
ventral fins were united; the anal consisted of
eleven rays; the tail was even at the end. The
body was of a whitish color, obscurely spotted
with ferruginous; the rays of the dorsal fins,
and the tail, barred with the same color.

ag as
Vita saiy

nA

rT

fs mh

Pil Saying

‘(162-2 ) AVE -TING MEATS

(eez-d)* aVEH-ITAd GUNUY

Crass IV.

RIVER BULL HEAD.

GENUS XXX. BULL HEAD.

Heap large flat, armed with sharp spines.
Rays branchiostegous six.

Boiros. Arist. Hist. an. Lib.
Iv. c. 8.

Chabot. Belon, 213.

Cottus. Rondel. Fluviat. 202.

Gobio capitatus. Gesner pisc.

' 401.

Een Miiller.
Stiles. 431.
Bull-head, Millers Thumb.

Wil. Ichth. 137. Raut Syn.
pisc. 76.
Cottus alepidotus glaber, ca-

Schwenckfelt

pite diacantho, Arted. Sy-
non. 76.

Cottus Gobio. C. levis, ca-
pite spinis duabus. Lin. Syst.
452. Gm. Lin, 1211.

Sten-simpa, Slagg - simpa.
Faun. Suéc. No. 323.

Koppe. Kram. 384. Gronov.
Zooph. No. 270.

Le Chabot. Bloch ichth. ii. 11.
tab. 29. f. 1. 2.

De la Cepede Hist. des Pois-

sons, ill. 252.

Tuts species is very common in all our clear
brooks; it lies almost always at the bottom,
either on the gravel or under a stone, deposits
its spawn in a hole it forms in the gravel, and
quits it with great reluctance. It feeds on
water insects ; and we found in the stomach of
one the remains of the fresh water shrimp, the
pulex aquatilis of Ray.

wig

291

1. River.

“298

Descrip-
TION.

RIVER BULL HEAD. Crass IV.

This fish seldom exceeds the length of three
inches and an half; the head large, broad, flat,
and thin at-its circumference, being well adapted
for insinuating itself under stones; on the mid-
dle part of the covers of the gills is a, small
crooked spine turning inwards. The eyes are
very small; the inides yellow; the teeth very
minute, see in the jaws and. the roof of the
mouth; the body. grows slender. towards the
tail, and: is very smooth. The first'dorsal fin
consists of six rays, the second seventeen ; the
pectoral fins are round, and prettily scalloped
at their edges, and are composed of thinteen
rays; the ventral of only four; the anal of thir-
teen ; the tail of twelve, and is rounded at, the
end. The color of this fish is as disagreeable as
its form, being dusky, mixed with a dirty yel-
low ; the belly whitish,

CuassIV. ARMED BULL HEAD.

293

Cataphractus, Stein-bicker, Lin. Syst. 451. Gm. Lin. 2. ARMED.

Miiller, Turss-bull. Schone- 1207.
velde, 30. tab. 3. Botn-mus. Fuun. Suec. No.
Cataphractus Schoneveldit Sep- 324.
_tentr. Anglisa Pogge. Wil. Seb. Mus. iii. tab. 28. Gro-
Ichth. 211. Raz Syn. pise. nov. Zooph. No. 271.

Fae Le Cataphracte. Bloch ichth.
Cottus cirris plurimis corpore il. 14. tab. 39. f. 3. 4.

octagono. Arted. Synon.77. L’Aspedophore armé. - De /a
Cottus Cataphractus. C. lori- Cepede Hist. des Poissons,
_ €atus, rostro verrucis 2 bi- _ ili, 222.

fidis, capite subtus cirroso.

'THE armed Bull head or pogge is very com-
mon on most of the British coasts.

- “Tt seldom exceeds five inches and an half in Descrre-

length, and even seldom arrives at that size.
The head is large, bony, and very rugged; the

end of the nose is armed with four short upright

spines; on the throat are a number of short
white beards; the teeth are very minute, situ-
ated in the jaws. The body is octagonal, and
covered with a number of strong bony crusts,
divided into several copartments, the ends of
which project into a sharp point, and form
several echinated lines along the back and sides
from the head to the tail. ‘The first dorsal fin
consists of six spiny rays; the second is placed
just behind the first, and consists of seven soft

TION.

294

3. FATHER=
LASHER.

DEscRIp-
TION.

FATHER-LASHER BULL HEAD. Cuass IV.

rays; the pectoral fins are broad and rounded,

and are composed of fifteen rays.

Scorpios. Ovid. Huleut. 116.

Scorpius marinus, Waelkuke,
Buloffe, Schorp-fische.
Schonevelde, 67. tab. 6.

periore paulo longiore. Lin.

Syst. 452. Gm. Lin. 1210.
Rot-simpa, Skrabba, Skialry-

ta. Faun. Suec. No. 323.

Ulke. Crantz. Greenil. 1. 95.
Gronov. Zooph. No. 268.

Sea Scorpion. Edw. 284.

Le Scorpion de Mer. Bloch
Ichth. ii. 17. tab. 40.

Scorpenz Belonii similis Cor-
nub. Father-lasher. Wl.
Ichth. 138. Rati Syn. pisc.
145. Scorpius virginianus.

Idem 142. Wil. Ichth. App.

25. Le Cotte Scorpion. De la Ce-
Cottus scorpius. C. capite pede Hist: des Poissons, iil.
spinis pluribus, maxilla su- 236..

THIS fish is not uncommon on the rocky
coasts of this island: it lurks under stones, and
will take a bait.

It does not grow to a large size, seldom ex-
ceeding (as far as we have seen in the speci-
mens that are taken on our shores) eight or nine
inches.

The head is flat, very large, and has a most
formidable appearance, being armed with spines,
which it can oppose to any enemy that attacks it,
by swelling out its cheeks and gill covers to a
large size.

Et capitis duro nociturus Scorpios ictu.
The hurtful Scorpion wounding with its head.

VOL.3.P.294.

P1.XLIV.

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getty bah ee 4O fd. BF a

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lie’ B TO 2: ylled ox peer .

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ul sins taste) to Jeso9 od 2
isqiomig s a jl anode 8:
etd: to sbsmu quoe oa bap
a MO-SION e& lise ae |

Cuass IV. FATHER-LASHER BULL HEAD.

The eyes are very close to each other. Be-
tween them and the mouth are two short spines;
on the coverts of the gills is one spine of great
length, strength, and sharpness; contiguous to
it are three others very short, but sharp; the
mouth is large; the jaws covered with rows of
very small teeth; the roof of the mouth is fur-
nished with a triangular spot of minute teeth.
The back is more elevated than that of others
of this genus; the belly prominent; the side-line
rough, the rest of the body very smooth, and
grows slender towards the tail. The first dor-
sal fin consists of eight spiny rays; the second
of eleven high soft rays; the pectoral fins are
large, and have sixteen; the ventral three; the
anal eight ; the tail is rounded at the end, and
is composed of twelve bifurcated rays. The
color of the body is brown, or dusky, and white
marbled, and sometimes is found also stained
with red; the fins and tail are transparent,
sometimes clouded, but the rays barred regu-
larly with brown; the belly is of a silvery
white.

This kind is very frequent in the Newfound-
land seas, where it is called Scolping: it is also
as common on the coast of Greenland in deep
water near shore. It is a principal food of the
natives, and the soup made of it is said to be
agreeable as well as wholesome.

AMERICAN:

296

1. Common.

COMMON DOREE.

Cuass IV.

GENUS XXXII. DOREE.

Bopy very deep and compressed sideways.
FILAMENTS very long issuing from the first

dorsal fin.

Rays branchiostegous, seven.

Xaaxzeuvs- Athen. lib. vii. 328.
Oppian Halieut. i. 133.

Faber? Ovid Halieut. 110.
Zeus idem Faber Gadilus.
Plin. hb. ix. c. 18.

La Dorée. Belon, 146.

Faber sive Gallus marinus.
Rondel. 328. Gesner pisc.
369.

A Doree. Wil. Ichth. 294.
Raii syn. prise. 99.

Zeus ventre aculeato, cauda
in extremo circinato. Arted.
synon. 78.

Zeus Faber. Z. cauda rotun-

data, lateribus mediis ocello
fusco, pinnis analibus dua-
bus. Lin. syst. 454. Gm.
Lin. 1223. Gronov. Zooph.
No. 311.
Zeus spinosus. Mus.
Ad. 67. tab. xxx.
La Doree. Duhamel Tr. des
Pesches, iii. 85. sect. 5. tab.
ey eat

La Doree. Bloch ichth. ii. 23.
tab. 41.

Le Zee forgeron. De la Ce-
pede Hist. des Poissons, iv.
577:

Fred.

SUPERSTITION hath made the Doree rival
to the Hadock, for the honor of having been the
fish out of whose mouth St. Peter took the tri-
bute-money, leaving on its sides those incon-
testable proofs of the identity of the fish, the

marks of his finger and thumb.

It is rathér

a

oil nt vino pet ol Oe 2a wield De Sa

ath ee endaisud mobgaid aidi fo, ande miodiuo
bas yuslewormerim to 2tzsoa ods ao bar
AKI O16 IIe Atay alt fo seo =e

i at geo aid mont insbive ei 2c .swiste Vere
svssuk 1s total [lite s bos rw Js aol 5
aul au as qrojei! at = gid 399) yimovee woe «F dnia i w
gorlw .w0i /e~ 10 bsit1s9 oved of bise gnisd 355. 988. oe

so aft Io mais nee oe

Crass IV. COMMON DOREE.

difficult at this time to determine on which part
to decide the dispute; for the Doree likewise
asserts an Origin of its spots ofa similar nature,
but of a much earlier date than the former.

‘St. Christopher,* in wading through an arm of

the sea, having caught a fish of this kind ex
passant, as an eternal memorial of the fact, left
the impressions on its sides to be transmitted to
all posterity.

In our own country it was very long before
this fish attracted our notice, at lest as an edible
one. We are indebted to that judicious actor
and ben vivant the late Mr. Quin, for adding a
most delicious luxury to our table, who over-
coming all the vulgar prejudices on account of
its deformity, has effectually established its
reputation.

This fish was supposed to be found only in the
southern seas of this kingdom, but it has been dis-
covered on the coasts of Caernarvonshire and
Anglesey. ‘Those of the greatest size are taken
in the Bay of Biscay, off the French coasts:
they are also very common in the MMediterra-

* Belon, Rondel, also Aldrovand de pisc. 40. St. Christopher
was of a Colossal stature, as is evident from his image in the
church of Nétre Dame at Paris, and a still larger at Auaerre:
the last we think is near seventy feet high. His history is in his
name, 72197000605, being said to have carried our Saviour, when
a child, over an arm of the sea.

297

Piacz.

98

Descrip-
TION.

COMMON DOREE. Cuass IV.

nean ; Ovid rust therefore have styled it rarus
Faber, on account of its excellency, not its
scarcity. —

The form of this fish is hideous; its body is
oval, and greatly compressed on the sides; the
head large; the snout vastly projecting; the
mouth very wide; the teeth very small; the
eyes great; the irides yellow; the lateral line
oddly distorted, sinking at each end, and rising
near the back in the middle; beneath it on each
side is a round black spot. The first dorsal fin
consists of ten strong spiny rays, with long fila-
ments, reaching far beyond their ends; the
second is placed near the tail, and consists of
twenty-four soft rays, the middlemost of which
are the longest; the pectoral fins have fourteen
rays, the ventral seven; the first spiny, the
others soft ; it has two anal fins; the first con-
sists of four sharp spines, the second of twenty-
two soft ones, and reaches very near the tail;
the tail is very small in proportion to the body,
round at the end, and consists of fifteen branched
rays. The color of the sides is olive, varied with
light blue and white, and while living is very
resplendent, and as if gilt, for which reason it is
called the Doree. The largest fish we have
heard of, weighed twelve pounds.

ve i sleit ieogiel ‘edt er ae el me
aa pebnvog, ovlomt borlgiow de Basor|

Pl.XEV1.

LUNULATED
GILT HEAD.(P 327)

Cuass IV. OPAH DOREE.

Opah, or King-fish. Ph. Zeus Luna. Gm. Lin. 1225.
Trans. abr. xi. 879. tab. v. Poisson de Lune. Duhamel

Zeus cauda bifurca, colore ar- iil. 74. tab. 15.

- genteo purpureo splendens. Le Chrysotose Lune. De la
Strom. Sondmor. 323, 325. Cepede Hist. des Poissons,
tab. 1. Jig: 20. iv. 588.

We have only* five instances of this fish
being taken in our seas, four of them in the
North, viz. twice off Scotland, + once off North-
umberland, one in Filey-Bay, Yorkshire ; anda
fifth was caught at Brivham, in Torbay, in 1772.
The last weighed a hundred and forty pounds.
The length was four feet and an half; the
breadth two feet and a quarter; the greatest
thickness, only four inches. Its general color
was a vivid transparent scarlet varnish over
burnished gold, bespangled with oval silver
spots of various sizes; the breast was an hard

* The reverend George Barry informs us in his History of the
Orkney islands, that the Opah is not very uncommon in those
seas, and that several have been taken or driven on shore as well
near the island of Sanday as in the bays of Scapa and Kirkwall
on the Mainland. Eb.

+ The fish engraved by Sir Robert Sibbald, Hist. Scot. Tab.
6. and thus described, is of this kind. Piscts maculis aureis
aspersus non scriptus, pollices 42 longus.

2. OPAH.

99

300

Descrir-
TION.

OPAH' DOREE. Crass IV.
bone, resembling’ the keel of a ship; the flesh
looked, and tasted like ‘beef.*

I finda more ample description of another, by
Mr. Robert Harrison, of Newcastle. !

Newcustle, Sept. 2,1769:° “ On Saturday
last was thrown upon the sands at Blyth, a very

are and beautiful fish, weighing between seventy

and eighty pounds, shaped like the sea bream.
The length was three feet and an half; the
breadth from back to belly almost two feet ; but
the thickness from side to side not above six
inches. ‘The mouth small for the size of the
fish, forming a square opening, and without any
teeth in the jaws. The tongue thick, resem-

bling that of a man, but rough and thick set

with beards or prickles, pointing backwards, sa
that any thing might easily pass down, but
could not easily return hack, therefore these
might serve instead of teeth to retain its prey.
The eyes remarkably large, covered with a
membrane, and shining with a glare of gold.
The cover of the gills like the salmon. The
body diminishes very much to the tail, which is
forked, and expands twelve inches ; the gill fins
are broad, about eight inches long, and play

* This description was sent to me by a gentleman, who savg
the fish soon after it was taken.

Cruass IV. - OPAH DOREE.

horizontally ; a little behind their insertion the
back fin takes its’ original, where itis about
seven inches high, but slopes away very'sud-
denly, running down very near the tail, and at
its termination becomes a little broader ;/ the
belly fins, are very strong, and placed near the
middle of the body; a narrow fin also runs
from the anus to the tail. All the fins, and
also the tail, are of a fine scarlet; but the
colors and beauty of the rest of the body, which
is-smooth and covered with almost impercepti-
ble scales, beggars all description; the upper
part being a, kind of bright green, variegated
with-whitish spots, and enriched with a shining
golden hue, like the splendor of a peacock’s
feather; this, by degrees, vanishes in a bright
silyery, and near the belly the gold again predo-

minates.in-a lighter ground than on the back.”

301

302 HOLIBUT. FLOUNDER. Ctass IV.
sutel onedus else of beeeqx9! s18 yt tore
- ig) GENUS: XXRIL FLOUNDER, >:

Bopy quite flatpand very thim. (ono
‘Eyes, both on the same side the head. | —
Rays branchiostegous from four to'sevey.

* With the eyes on the right side:

1. Hovisut. Hippoglossus. Rondel. 325. Plenronectes) , Hippoglossus.

Gesner pisc. 669. Lin. syst. 456. Gm. Lin.
-Heglbutte, Hilligbutte. Scho= 1227.
nevelde, 62. Halg-flundra. Faun. Suec.

Holibut, Septentr. Angls'Tur- No. 329. Gronov. Zooph.
bot. Wil. Ichth. 99. Raii No. 247.

Sum. pisc. 3a. Le Fletan. Bloch ichth. ii. 44.
Pleuronectes oculis a dextris, tab. 47.

totus glaber. Arted. synon. De la Cepede Hist. des Pois-

Bi. sens, iv. 601.

"THIS is the largest of the genus: some have
been taken in our seas weighing from one to
three hundred pounds; but much larger are
found in those of Newfoundland, Greenland,
and Iceland, where they are taken with a hook
and line in very deep water. _ They form a part
of the food of the Greenlanders,* who cut them
into large slips, and dry them in the sun.

* Crantz’s Hist. Greenl. 1. 8.

CiassIV. HOLIBUT FLOUNDER.

They are common in the London markets,
where they are exposed to sale cut into large
pieces ; but are very coarse eating, excepting
the part which adheres to the side fins, which
is extremely fat’ and: delicious, but surfeiting.
They are the most voracious of all flat. fish.
Two instances occurred in one year of their
swallowing the lead weight at the end of a line,

with which the seamen were sounding the bot-

tom from on board a ship, one off Flamborough
Head, the other going into 7inmouth Haven:
the latter was taken, the other disengaged
itself.

The holibut, in respect to its length, is the
narrowest of any of this genus except the sole.
It is perfectly smooth, and free from spines
either above or below. The color of the upper
part is dusky; beneath of a pure white. We
do not count the rays of the fins in this genus,
not only because they are so numerous, but be-
cause nature hath given to each species charac-
ters sufficient to distinguish them by.

“ The body on the upper side thickens
abruptly from the dorsal fin; the color brown
with marbled spots of a lighter shade. Thé
eyes are supported upon a moveable process
rising out of a large oval frame or socket ; the
irides bright yellow. The side line plainly

303

Descrir-
TION.

304

2. PLAISE.

PLAISE FLOUNDER. Crass IV.

marked but smooth, bent at its commencement
near the gills; the dorsal fin commences near
the right eye, and consists of ninety-seven rays;
the tail is forked. The length of a specimen
trom the Land’s End, which weighed fifty-six
pounds, was four feet from the nose to the root
of the tail, its breadth, between the dorsal and
anal fins, eighteen inches and an half. The
flesh is used principally in Cornwall for bait.”

These flat fishes swim sideways; for which
reason Linneus hath styled them Pleuronectes.

Platessa? Ausonit Epist. ad lateribus glabris, spina ad

Theon. 62. anum. Arted. Synon. 30.
Le Quarlet. Belon, 139. Pleuronectes Platessa. Lin.
Quadratulus. Rondel. 318. Syst. 456. Gm. Lin. 1228.

Gesner pisc. 665.
Scholle, Pladise. Schonevelde,

Gronov. Zooph. No. 246.
Skalla, Rodsputta. Faun. Suec.

61. No. 328.
Plaise. Wil. Ichth. 96. Raitt La Plie. Bloch schth. ii. 29.
Syn. pisc. 31. tab. 42.

Pieuronectes oculis et tuber-

culis sex a dextra capitis,

De la Cepede Hist. des Pois-

sons, iv. 628.

'PHESE fishes are very common on most of
our coasts, and sometimes taken of the weight
of fifteen pounds; but they seldom reach that
size, one of eight or nine pounds being reckoned

CrassIV. COMMON FLOUNDER.
a large fish. The best and largest are taken off

Rye, on the coast. of Susser, and also. off the

Dutch coasts... They spawn on the Sedan i

of February. e.
_-They are very flat,. and much more square

than the preceding. Behind the left eye is a

305

Descrip-
TION.

row of six tubercles, that reaches to the com-

mencement of the lateral line. ‘The upper part
of the body and fins is of a clear brown, mark-
ed with large bright orange-colored epelag : the
belly is white.

Le Flez. Belon, 141. Pleuronectes Flesus, Lin. syst.
Passeris tertia species. Rondel. 457. Gm. Lin. 1229.

319. Gesner pisc. 666,670. Gronov. Zooph. No. 248.
Struff-butte. Schonevelde, 62. Flundra, Slatt-skadda. Faun.
Flounder, Fluke, or But. Suec. No. 327.

Wil. Ichth. 980. Raii syn. Le Flez. Bloch Ichth. ii. 36.

pisc. 32. tab. 44.
Pleuronectes oculis a dextris, De la Cepede Hist. des Pois-
linea laterali aspera, spi- sons. iv. 633.

nulis supiné ad radices pin-
marum, dentibus obtusis.
Aried. synon. 31.

THE flounder inhabits every part of the British

sea, and even frequents our rivers at a great

distance from the salt waters; and for this reason

some writers call it the Passer fluviatilis. It never

grows large in our rivers, but is reckoned sweeter
VOL. III. x

3. ComMmMoN.

06

Dezscrip-
TION.

COMMON FLOUNDER. Crass IV.

than those which live in the sea. It is inferior
in size to the plaise, for we never heard of any
that weighed more than six pounds.

It may very easily be distinguished from the
plaise, or any other fish of this genus, by a row
of sharp small spines that surround its upper
sides, and are placed just atthe junction of
the fins with the body. Another row marks the
side-line, and runs half way down the back. The
color of the upper part of the body is a pale
brown, sometimes marked with a few obscure
spots of dirty yellow ; the belly is white.

We have met with a variety of this fish with
the eyes and lateral line on the left side. Lzn-
néus makes a distinct species of it under the
name of Pleuronectes Passer ;* but since it dif-
fers in no other respect from the common kind,
we agree with Doctor Gronovius in not separat-
ing them.

* This is le Moineau de mer of Bloch (Ichth. ii. 54. tab. 50.)
who coincides with Linneus in considering it as a distinct spe-
cies; it certainly differs materially in form, and we conceive it
probable that the true Pleuronectes Passer may be unknown on
our shores, while the flounder, with eyes on the left side, is
extremely common. Duhamel distinguishes flat fishes under
these circumstances, viz. with eyes placed contrary to their usual
direction, by the appellation of ‘* contournés.” This change ap-
pears confined to those which have the eyes usually on the right

side. The Turbot and Pearl are often found double, or with the
under side resembling the upper. Ep.

Crass IV. COMMON FLOUNDER.

“‘ Fach spine at the base of the fins, consists
of a small bony tubercle, covered with many
sharp points, sometimes more or less bent. ‘The
side line is slightly bent at the commencement.
The body tapers towards the tail which is some-
what rounded: in the dorsal fin are fifty-two
rays. ‘The variety having the eyes placed on
the left side is very common: after examining
several specimens, (no less than six were pro-
cured at the same time at one place of sale,) no
other difference was perceived. The Pleu-
ronectes roseus, Rose colored Flounder of the
Naturalist’s Miscellany, tab. 238, appears to
differ from the common species in no other re-
spect than in its color; if so, it can at most
claim no greater distinction than that of a

variety. E. (eEy

307

308

4, Das.

Descrir-
TION.

DAB FLOUNDER.

La Limande. Belon, 142.

Passer asper, sive squamosus.
Rondel. 319. Gesner pise.
665.

Dab. Wil. Ichth. 79. Raii
‘syn. pisc. 32.

Pleuronectes oculis a dextra,
squamis asperis, spina ad

Cuass IV.

Pleuronectes Limanda. Pl. o-
culis dextris, squamis cilia-
tis, spinulis ad radicem pin-
narum dorsi, anique. Lizz.
syst. 457. Gm. Lin. 1231.

La Limande. Bloch ichth. ii.
42. tab. 46.

De la Cepede Hist. des Pois-

dentibus obtusis.
Arted. synon. 33,

anum, sons. iv. 621.

THE dab is found with the other species, but
is less common. It is in best season during
February, March, and April: it spawns in
May and June, and becomes flabby and watery
the rest of summer. It is superior in good-
ness to the plaise and flounder, but far inferior
in size.

It is generally of an uniform brown color on
the upper side, though sometimes clouded with
a darker. ‘The scales are small and rough,
which is a character of this species. The lateral
line is extremely incurvated at the beginning,
then goes quite strait to the tail.
part of the body is white.

The lower

ats

VOL.3.P. 309.

Hi

Ht

z | ‘MaaNnota avauv aWws
ral

CxuassIV. SMEAR-DAB FLOUNDER.

Rhombus levis Cornubiensts Pleuronectes levis. Pl. oculis
maculis nigris, a Kit. Mr. dextris, corpore glaberrimo,
ee Rait syn. pisc. 162. oculis fere contiguis, ore
SE: angusto, labris exertis. Ed.

Smear- ae Br. Zool. 4to. iii. Hanmer. Mss. —
202. eee es

We found one of is species at a fishmon-

ger’s in London, where it is known by the name .
of the Smear-dab, on account of the bor being 8

covered with a thick slime.
It was a foot and a half long, and wee
inches broad between fin and fin on the widest

part. The head» appeared very small, as the —
dorsal fin began very near its mouth, and CX-

tended very near to the tail; it. consisted of

seventy-nine rays, and was of a yellowish color

spotted with dusky. The eyes were pretty near
each other; the irides pale yellow. T he mouth
full of small teeth. The lateral line slightly
incurvated for the first two inches from its origin,
then continued strait to the tail, The back was
covered with small smooth scales, was of a light
brown color, spotted obscurely with yellow and
dusky; the margins of the gill- -covers yellow.
The belly white, and marked with five large
dusky spots.*

* Not a constant character. Eb.

309

5. SMEAR=>
AB.

DEscrip-
TION.

310

_SMEAR-DAB FLOUNDER. Crass IV.

It was a fish of goodness equal to the com-
mon dab.*

“‘ The lips are projecting. The dorsal fin
consists of about ninety rays: the tail is
rounded. The two principal fins have no
pointed extension of breadth near the center.
The length of a specimen from Afount’s Bay,
was twelve inches ; the breadth five inches and
an half. ‘The greatest common weight is about
two pounds. It is very frequent on the coast
of Cornwall. Of the few that are brought
to London, the principal part are from the trawls
of Brivham, and the Sussex coast: they are in
season during the autumn and winter months.
At Bath they are known by the name of the
Lemon Sole, at Plymouth, of the Merry Sole,
at Looe, of the Kit, and at Penzance, of the
Queen, or Queen Fish. E. H.”

* This is probably the Vraie Limandelle of Duhamel Tr.
des Pesches. iii. sect. 9. tab. 6. fig. 3.4. Itis also mentioned by
Mr. Neild in the list of fishes found in the Frith of Forth, under
the name of Pleuronectes microcephalus, Sand-fleuk. Mem.
Wern, Soc. 537. Ep.

Cuass IV.

Bayawecos Athen. lib. viii. p.
288. Oppian Halieut. 1. 99.
La Sole. Belon, 142.

Buglossus. Rondel. 320. Ges-
ner pisc. 660.

Tungen. Schonevelde, 63.

Pleuronectes oculis a sinistra

SOLE FLOUNDER.

Pleuronectes Solea. Lin. syst.
457. Gm. Lin. 1232.

Zooph. No. 251.
Tunga, Sola. Faun. Suec.
No. 326.

La Sole. Bloch Ichth. ii. 39.
tab. 45.

Gronov.

De la Cepede Hist. des Pois-

sons. iv. 623.

corpore oblongo, maxilla

superiore longiore, squamis
utrinque asperis. Aréed. syn.
32.

‘THE sole is found on all our coasts, but those
on the western shores are much superior in
size to those of the north. On the former they
are sometimes taken of the weight of six or
seven pounds, but towards Scarborough they
rarely exceed one pound; if they reach two, it
is extremely uncommon. They are usually
taken in the trawl-net: they keep much at the
bottom, and feed on small shell fish.

It is of a form much more narrow and oblong
than any other of the genus. ‘The irides are
yellow ; the pupils of a bright sapphirine color ;
the scales are small, and very rough; the upper
part of the body is of a deep brown; the tip of
one of the pectoral fins black; the under part
of the body is white; the tail rounded at the
end.

311

6. SOLE.

DEscrir-
TION.

312

SOLE FLOUNDER. Cuass IV,

It is a fish of a very delicate flavour ; but the
small soles are much superior in goodness to
large ones. * The chief fishery for them is at
Brixham in Torbay.

“‘ The upper side is uniformly reticulated
over the body, head, and fins, with a small net-

- work pattern of a darker color, and sometimes

marked with cloudy spots; the scales fringed
at the outer edge with a row of transparent
points. The side line much bent at its com-
mencement near the right eye. The Torbay
trawl boats will at particular seasons range for
them as far as the Land’s End, and even to the
islands of Sczlly, and then it is not unusual to
take them of two feet or more in length. They
are in season all the year, the month of day
excepted. The dried skins are much used for
fining liquors, and are for that purpose a good
substitute for isinglass. E. H.”

* By the antient laws of the Cinque ports, no one was to take
soles from the 1st of November to the 15th of March; neither

was any body to fish from sun-setting to sun-rising, that the fish,
might enjoy their night-food.

4

VOL.3.P. 313

Mera NAOT MOV ad

Cea

Ciass1V. RED BACK FLOUNDER.

313

Pleuronectes Lingula. Pl.ocu- Solea parva seu Lingula. Ron- 7, Rep Back.

lis dextris, corpore lingulato, del. 324.
squamis ciliatis, linea late- Gesner pisc. 669.
rali recta. E. Hanmer. Mss. Rati syn. pisc. 34.

‘6 Bopy, tongue-shaped (lingulatum) rather Descrtr-

thick and fleshy at the edges ; color of the upper
side a very light brown, tinged with red; the
scales shewing a pattern, something like that of
the sole, though in proportion coarser; the
dorsal, anal, and caudal fins marked with brown.
or blackish spots, which extend some lines to
the body of the fish; scales rough, fringed at
the outer edge with red transparent points; the
eyes and mouth, both in shape and position,
resemble those parts in the sole; the side line
from its commencement near the gills to its
termination at the tail quite straight; the dorsal
fin, which originates near the right eye, and
extends nearly to the tail, consists of about
sixty-eight rays; the tail rounded. The length
of a specimen from the coast near Plymouth,
was six inches and three quarters, the breadth
two inches and an half.

“« Asin general character it much resembles
the sole, it may be worth while to observe, that it
differs from that fish—1, In color.—2, In shape,

TION,

314

RED BACK FLOUNDER. — Crass IV.

bemg* much thicker in proportion to its length,
particularly at the margin of the body.—3, In
its scales, which are shorter and wider, having
on their circular edges from twenty-one to
twenty-six points, instead of sixteen or eighteen
as in the sole.—4, In having a straight side line.
—5, In the dorsal fin, which consists of about
sixty-eight rays only, whereas the sole has
usually eighty-four.—6, In the terminations of
the dorsal and anal fins, which do not approach
the tail so closely as they do in the sole—7, In
size, for it is seldom known to exceed the length
of nine inches..—8, In marketable estimation,
for though there is some resemblance to the
texture and flavour of the sole, it is inferior in
richness and firmness of flesh.
“¢ It is common in the spring upon the coast
near Plymouth. E. H.”
* Duhamel Tr. des Pesches. iti. part. 2. sect. 9. tab. 3. fig.

3. gives the figure of a fish under the name of Pole panachée,
which resembles this species. Ep.

VOL.3.P.3%5.

Pl .XLiXx.

“MERON OOTA

Wh {'
sy i)

Mili

LOtTHod

Cuass LV.

TURBOT FLOUNDER.

** With the eyes on the left side.

Rhombus. Ovid Halieut.
Le Turbot. Belon, 134.
Rhombus aculeatus. _ Rondel.

310. Gesner pisc. 661.

Steinbutt, Torbutt, Treen-
butt, Dornbutt. Schone-
velde, 60.

Turbot, in the north a Bret.
Wil. Ichth. 94.

Rhombus maximus asper non

Pleuronectes oculis a sinistra,
corpore aspero Arted. sy-
non. 32.

Pleuronectes maximus.! Lin.
syst. 459. Gm. Lin. 1236.
Gronov. Zooph. No. 254.

Butta. Faun. Suec. No. 325.

Le Turbot. Bloch Ichth. ii.
51. tab. 49.

De la Cepede Hist. des Pois-

squamosus. aii syn. pisc. sons. iv. 645.

31.

Tursots grow to a very large size; we
have seen them of three and twenty pounds
weight, but have heard of some that weighed
thirty. They are taken chiefly off the north
coast of England, and others off the Dutch
coast; but we believe the last has, in many
instances, more credit than it deserves for the
abundance of its fish.

The large turbots, and several other kinds of
flat fish, are taken by the hook and line, for they
lye in deep water: the method of taking them
in wares, or staked nets, is too precarious to be
depended on for the supply of our great mar-
kets, because it is by mere accident that the

3135

8. TursBor.

SIZE.

FisHery.

316

LINEs.

TURBOT FLOUNDER. Crass IV.

great fish stray into them. It is a misfortune
to the inhabitants of many of our fishing coasts,
especially those of the north part of North
Wales, that they are unacquainted with the
most successful means of capture: for their
benefit, and perhaps that of other parts of our
island, we shall lay before them the method
practised by the fishermen of Scarborough, as
it was communicated to us by Mr. Travis.
When they go out to fish, each person is pro-
vided with three lines, which are fairly coiled
upon a flat oblong piece of wicker-work ; the
hooks baited, and placed very regularly in the
centre of the coil. Each line is furnished with
fourteen score of hooks, at the distance of six
feet two inches from each other ; these are fast-
ened to the lines upon sneads of twisted horse-
hair, twenty-seven inches in length. When fish-
ing there are always three men in each coble,
and consequently nine of these lines are fastened
together, and used as one line, extending in
length nearly three miles, and furnished with
2520 hooks. An anchor and a buoy are fixed
at the first end of the line, and one more of each
at the end of each man’s lines; in all four an-
chors, which are commonly perforated stones,
and four buoys made of leather or cork. The
line is always laid across the current. The

CuassIV. TURBOT FLOUNDER.

tides of flood and ebb continue an equal time
upon the coast, and when undisturbed by winds
run each way abcut six hours. They are so
rapid that the fishermen can only shoot and
haul their lines at the turn of tide; and there-
fore the lines always remain upon the ground
about six hours.* The same rapidity of tide
prevents their using hand-lines; and therefore
two of the people commonly wrap themselves
in the sail, and sleep while the other keeps a
strict look-out, for fear of being run down
by ships, and to observe the weather; for
storms often rise so suddenly, that it is with
extreme difficulty they can escape to the shore,
leaving their lines behind.

The coble is twenty feet six inches long, and
five feet extreme breadth. It is about one ton
burthen, rowed with three pair of oars, and ad-
mirably constructed for the purpose of encoun-
tering a mountanous sea: a sail is hoisted when
the wind suits.

The five-men boat is forty feet long and fif-
teen broad, and of twenty-five tons burthen: it
is so called, though navigated by six men and a
boy, because one of the men is commonly hired

* In this time the Glutinous Hag, p. 109, will frequently
penetrate the fish that are on the hooks, and entirely devour
them, leaving only the skin and bones.

317

CosBur.

Bair.

TURBOT FLOUNDER. Cuass IV.

to cook, &c. and does not share in the profits
with the other five. All our able fishermen go
in these boats to the herring fishery at Yar-
mouth the latter end of September, and return
about the middle of November. The boats
are then laid up until the beginning of Lent,
at which time they go off in them to the edge
of the Dogger, and other places, to fish for
turbot, cod, ling, skates, &c. They always
take two cobles on board, and when they come
upon their ground, anchor the boat, throw out
the cobles, and fish in the same manner as
those do who go from the shore in a coble;
with this difference only, that here each man is
provided with double the quantity of lines, and
instead of waiting the return of tide in the coble,
returns to the boat and baits their other lines ;
thus hawling one set, and shooting another every
turn of tide. They commonly run into harbour
twice a week to deliver their fish. The five-men
boat is decked at each. end, but open in the
middle, and has two large lug-sails.

The best bait for all kinds of fish is fresh
herring cut in pieces of a proper size; and
notwithstanding what has been said to the con-
trary, they are taken here at any time in the
winter, and all the spring, whenever the fisher-
men put down their nets for that purpose. The

Crass IV. TURBOT FLOUNDER.

five-men boats always take some nets for that
end. Next to herrings are the lesser lam-
preys,* which come all winter by land-carriage
from Tadcaster. The next baits in esteem are
small hadocks cut in pieces, sand worms, mus-
sels, and limpets (called here Fizdders ;) and
lastly, when none of these can be had they use
bullock’s liver. The hooks used here are much

smaller than those employed at Jceland and

_Newfoundiand.. Experience has shewn that
the larger fish will take a living small one upon
the hook, sooner than any bait that can be put
on; therefore they use such as the small fish
can swallow. The hooks are two inches and
an half long in the shank, near an inch wide
between the shank and the point. The line is
made of small cording, and is always tanned
before it is used. Turbots, and all the rays,
are extremely delicate in their choice of baits.
If a piece of herring or hadock has been twelve
hours out of the sea, and then used as bait, they
will not touch it.

This and the pearl are of a remarkable square
form ; the color of the upper part of the body is
cinereous, marked with numbers of black spots

* The Duéch also use these fish as baits in the turbot fishery,
and purchase annually trom the Thames fishermen as much as
amounts to 700/. worth, for that purpose.

319

Dzscrir-
TION.

TURBOT FLOUNDER. Cuass IV.

of different sizes ; the belly is white; the skin
is without scales, but greatly wrinkled, and
mixed with small short spines, dispersed with-
out any order.

- “ The eyes small and sunk; the margin of
the eye-lid highly burnished ; the side line much
bent near the head; the dorsal fin originates:
near the mouth; the tail rounded.

. “ Of all the known species of the genus, this,
in point of quality, ranks eminently the first,
and in size is second only to the Holibut.
On the western coast the greatest common
weight is twenty pounds. At London the sup-
ply of this fish is said to be as follows: January
to March inclusive, trawled fish from Torbay
and other parts of the Channel; April and
May trawled fish from off the Terel ; June to
August inclusive, caught by the line upon the
Dutch coast. In best season during the sum-
mer months. E, H.”

VOL.3.F .321.

“MAGNOOTA IUvVaid

wlbyg

Cuass IV.

La Barbue. Belon, 137.

Rhombus levis. Rondel. 312:
Gesner pisc. 662.

Schlichbutt. Schonevelde, 60.

Rhombus non aculeatus squa=
mosus the Pearl. Londinens:
Cornub. Lug-aleaf. Wil.
Ichth. 95. Raii Syn. pisc.
ol.

Pleuronectes oculis‘a sinistris;

PEARL FLOUNDER.

corpore glabro. Arfed. Syn.
eile

Pleuronectes Rhombus. Lin.
Syst. 458. Gm. Lin. 1236.
Gronov. Zooph. No. 149:

Pigehvarf. Iz. W. Goth. 178.

La Barbue. Bloch ichth. ti. 34.
tab. 43.

La Pleuronecte carralet. De la
Cepede Hist. des Poissons.

iv. 649.

Iris frequently found in the London markets,
but is inferior to the turbot in goodness.

The irides are yellow; the skin is covered
with small scales, but is quite free from any
spines or inequalities. “ The color of the
upper side is brown of different shades, more
or less distinctly marbled or spotted in different
specimens, generally with large and small spots
of a deeper color, and many very small white
dots irregularly sprinkled over the surface;
the under side is of a pure white and scaly.
The side line much bent near the head ; the
dorsal and anal fins less arched than those of
the turbot; the tail rounded. Its proportional
breadth fifty-six ;* its body therefore narrower

* See Appendix No. lV. Ep.

VOLE. Lt. WY

321

Q. Pzaru:

Descrip-
TION:

10. Top-
KNOT.

DEscrIP-
TION.

TOPKNOT FLOUNDER. Cuass IV.

and less rhomboidal than the turbot.* ‘This
fish is now more generally called Brill than
Pearl: it probably derived the latter name
from the white pearly dots with which the up-
per side is sometimes very distinctly marked.
Upon the coasts of Devonshire and Cornwall it
is known by the name of Kite.

“Tt is in season during the winter and
spring months. The London supply is first
from Torbay, and the western coast; afterwards
principally from’ Susser. The greatest com-
mon weight eight pounds.” EH. H.

Pleuronectes punctatus. Pl. Le Targeur. Bloch ichth. vi.

oculis sinistris, corpore lato 23. tab. 188.
asperoque. Gm. Lin. 1235. Duh. Tr. des peches iii. 266.
tab. 5. f. 4.

ca Bopy, the fins included, is very square
in its form. Color of the upper side a dark and
somewhat reddish brown, with many star-shaped
or round spots of a darker color, which also
seem red when the light passes through them;
some are large; the smaller ones of different

* The Linnwan specific name Rhombus does not seem bet-
ter adapted to this species than does that of maximus to the tur-

bot. E. H.

VOL.4.P.322.

P11.

/

‘YHaCNQOOTI LONM ao L

y

bavghy

Crass IV. TOPKNOT FLOUNDER.

sizes are thickly scattered over the surface ; one
remarkable black ribband-shaped mark or band
crosses the head nearly in a line with the eyes ;
the scales are very rough, small, closely set, and
ciliated with points. The eyes are placed in
round sockets and are rather prominent; the
pupil black ; the irides a bright sea-green. The
mouth protrusile, opening wide, and thickly set
with teeth in both jaws. ‘The side line much
bent near the head. ‘The dorsal and anal fins
gradually lengthen towards the tail, near which
they shorten and embrace the lower side of it,
when they almost meet; the ventral and anal
fins are united by a continuation of the skins
that cover them (a circumstance not noticed in
former descriptions); at this junction there is
a passage to the vent, which is at the external
margin. ‘The tail isrounded. The length ofa
specimen from the Plymouth coast was five
inches and three quarters, the breadth three
inches and a quarter.

“¢ Upon the coasts of Denmark and Norway,
where it is better known than with us, it is said
to be held in much estimation. Our specimen
was taken in the spring near Plymouth; the
fishermen had no name for it.” E. H.

¥Y g

823

3

WHIFF FLOUNDER. Ctass IV.

11. Wutrr. Pleuronectes pseudopalus. Pl. Passer Cornubiensis asper, mag-

Descrip-
TION.

oculis sinistris, corpore ob- no oris hiatu. Mr. Jago.
longo, maxilla inferiore lon- Raii syn. pise. 163. fig. 2-
giore, pinna caudz fere qua- Tour in Wales, ed. 1810. i.
drata. E. Hanmer. Mss: 29. tal. 3.

Tuts bears some resemblance to the Holibut.
One was brought to me by my fisherman, Octo-
ber 31, 1775. Its length was eighteen inches ;
the greatest breadth not seven, exclusive of the
fins ; the mouth extremely large; the teeth very
small; the under jaw hooks over the upper; the
eyes large, and placed on the left side. The
scales great and rough; the side line uncom-
monly incurvated at the beginning, after making
a sharp angle, it goes strait to the tail, and is
tuberculated ; the tail is rather rounded. The
color of the upper part of the body is cinereous
brown, clouded in parts, and obscurely spotted ;
the under side white, tinged with red.

“‘ The whole fish somewhat pellucid; scales
easily separated from the skin; head and jaws
large. The eyes elevated, the pupils purple;
the irides yellow, with an effulgence resembling
the Pseudopalus or Cat’s eye. The dorsal fin
which originates near ihe mouth, consists of

1 iad a O10

HT ATELM.

VOL. 3.P. 325.

ial.

“UTAGNOOTH MOVE

} i } HT)

)

Koay)

aivos

Crass IV. SCALD FISH FLOUNDER.

eighty-four* rays. |The tail, which at its extre-
mity is nearly straight or square, censists of
about fifteen rays; each ray towards the end
branches into smaller ones. The rays of all
the fins are united by a thin and almost color-
less membrane. The length of a specimen
from Mount’s-bay was fifteen inches, its breadth
six inches. It is very common at MJount’s
Bay, the Land’s End, and the neighboring
part of Cornwall, where it is known by the
name of the Lantern; at. Plymouth, where it
is less frequent, it is called French Sole or
Megrim. Its flesh is considered of little va-
lue?’. 5 E. Hy, |

Pleuronecies casurus. Pl. cor- Arnoglossus vel Solea levis.

pore oblongo, squamis deci- Will. ichth. 102. tab. F. 8.
duis, miaxillis equalibus, £7.

pinna caude rotundata. FE. aii syn. pisc. 34. 4.?
Hanmer Mss. Rondel. 324. Gesn. pisc. 668.?

"THE color of the upper side a pale brown
or dirty white. The body has something of
the same pellucid appearance as the Lantern,

* « The reverend Hugh Davies counted, on a specimen
caught on the coast of Anglesey, eighty-one rays on the dorsal
fin, twelve on the pectoral, five on the ventral, sixty-four on the
anal, and seventeen on the tail. Eb.

325

12. ScaLs
Fisa.

DEScRIPe
TION.

526

SCALD FISH FLOUNDER. Cuass IV.
though in a less degree. Head rather small ;
the jaws of equal length, blunt; the lateral line
bent near theshead: » The dorsal fin consists of
eighty-two rays, as does the anal, which reaches
to the tail; the pectoral of ten rays; a double
row of rays, five in each, form the ventral fins ;
behind them is one or more short and sharp
spines; the tail is rounded at the extremity ;
the rays of all the fins, including those of the
tail, are bristly, and connected by a thin film
or pellicle, which is easily broken. The scales
are so deciduous, that the friction of the trawl
alone is sufficient to remove them; when taken
out of the net they are usually dead, and in
that bare state which gives some propriety to
the name they are known by of Scaldfish.
They seem only to be known at Plymouth,
and occur there very rarely. ‘Their length is
rather more than five inches, their breadth not
exceeding two inches; and are probably the
smallest of the English species, and of a cor-
responding value.” KE. H.*

* The editor has to express his obligations to Edward Han-
mer, Esq. of Stockgrove, for the valuable additions distin-,
guished by the above initials. To the same friend he is indebted
for farther observations on this genus, which are inserted in the

Appendix. No. IV. Ep.

CuassIV, LUNULATED GILT-HEAD.

GENUS XXXII.

GILLS covers scaly.

GILT-HEAD.

Rays branchiostegous five.
TEeEtH fore sharp, grinders flat.
Fin one dorsal, reaching the whole length of the

back.
Tait forked.

Xeucogeus. Oppian. Haheut.
i. 169.

Chrysophrys. Ovid. Halieut.
iil.

Aurata. Plinii, Lib. ix. c. 16.

La Dorade. Belon 186. Chry-
sophry. Caii opusc. 112.

Aurata. Rondel. 115. Gesner
pisc. 110. 112.
Gilt-head or Gilt-poll. Wil.

Ichth. 307. Raw syn. pise.
131.

Sparus dorso acutissimo, linea
arcuata inter oculos. Arted.
synon. 63.

Sparus lunula aurea inter ocu-
los. Lin. syst. 467. Gm.
Lin. 1276. Gronov. Zooph.
No. 220.

La Dorade. Bloch ichth. viii.
A3. tab. 266.

Le Spare Dorade. De la Ce-
pede Hist. des Poissons, iv.

57.

THIS is one of the pisces saxatiles, or fishes
that haunt deep waters on bold rocky shores:
those that form this. genus, as well as the fol-
lowing; ‘feed chiefly on shell ‘fish, which they
comminute with their teeth before they swallow

327

1. Lunu-
LATED.

28

DEscRir-
TION.

_~LUNULATED GILT-HEAD. © Ciass IV.

them. The teeth of this genus in particular are —

extremely well adapted for that purpose, the
erinders being flat and strong, like those of cer-
tain quadrupeds; besides those are certain
bones in the lower part of the mouth, which
assist in grinding their food.

They are but coarse fishes; nor did the Ro-
mans hold them in any esteem, except they had
fed on the Lucrine oyster.

Non omnis laudem pretiumque AURATA meretur,
Sed cui solus erit concha Lucrina cibus.*

No praise, no price a Gi/t-head e’er will take,
Unfed with oysters of the Lucrine lake.

They grow to the weight of ten pounds. The
form of the body is deep, not unlike that of a
bream ; the back is very sharp, and of a dusky
green color; the jrides of a silvery hue; be-
tween the eyes is asemilunar gold colored spot,
the horns of which point towards the head ; on
the upper part of the gills is a black spot, be-
neath that another of purple. ‘The dorsal fin
extends almost the whole length of the back,
and consists of twenty-four rays, the eleven
first spiny, the others soft; this and the anal
rise out of a shallow furrow; the pectoral fins

* Martial. Lib. xiii. Ep. 90.

Cuass IV. © RED GILT-HEAD.

consist of seventeen soft rays’; the'ventral of six
rays, the first of which is very strong and spiny;
the anal fin of fourteen ; the three first spiny ;
the tail is much forked.

This fish takes its name from its predominant
color; that of the forehead and sides being as if
gilt, but the last is marked lengthways with
numbers of bright lmes,

Pagur? Oued. Halieut. 107.

Le Pagrus. Belon 245.

Pagrus. Rondel. 142. Gesner
pisc. 656.

Sea Bream. Wil. ichth. 312.

in sinum producta. dried.
Synon. 64.
@ .

Sparus Pagrus. Lin. Syst. 469.
Gm. Lin. 1273.

Le Pagre. Bloch ichth. viiie

50. tab. 267.
De la Cepede Hist. des Poise

sons, iv. 93.

Rau Syn. pise. 131.
Sparus rubescens, cute ad ra-
dicem pinnarum dorsi et ani

‘Tuts species grows to a size equal with that
of the former; its shape is much the same.
The irides are silvery; the inside of the covers
of the gills, the mouth, and the tongue, are of a
fine red; the teeth small and pointed. At the
base of the pectoral fins is a ferruginous spot.
What is peculiar to this species is, that the skin
at the end of the dorsal and anal fins is gathered

up, and hides the last rays ; the scales are large ;

the tail forked. The color of the whole body
is red,

329

2. Rep.

DeEscrir-
TION.

580

3. RAYAN.

RAYAN GILT-HEAD. Crass IV.

Brama marina cauda forcipata. Blochichth. viii. 75. tab. 273.

D. Jonston. Rati Syn. pisc. Duhamel Tr. des Peches, iii.

115. 26: tabes. J...
Lin. Tr. vil. 292. De la Cepede Hist. des Pois-
Sparus niger. Turd. Lin. 1. sons, iv- 111.

780. Toothed Gilt-head. Br. Zool.
Sparus Rati, La Castagnole. 4to. iil. 213.

f

Tuts species was communicated to Mr. Ray
by his friend Mr. Jonston, a Yorkshire gentle-
man, who informed him it was found on the
sands near the mouth of the Tees, Sept. 18,
1681.*

Descrip- It was adeep fish, formed like a roach, twenty-

TION.

six inches long, ten broad, and grew very slender
towards the tail. The eyes were large, like
those of quadrupeds; in the lower jaw were
two rows of teeth, slender and sharp as needles ;
and on each side a slender canine tooth; in the
upper only a single row of teeth; the aperture
of the gills very large; the body scaly ; in the
middle of the back was one fin extending almost

* ‘There is no instance on record of this rare fish having been
seen on the British coast from the above period, till the year
1799, when one was left by the tide in the inlet that runs up to
Kingsbridge on the south coast of Devonshire, and fortunately
fell into the hands of Mr. Montagu. ‘The length of this speci-
men was sixteen inches, the depth five, the breadth of the back
not above two. Mr. Nei/l states, that several have been taken of
late years in the Frith of Forth. Ep.

VOL.3.P. 3330

“(LV LET - LILO

Ga AowOO.L

CuassIV. TOOTHED GILT-HEAD. 331

to the tail; the seven first rays high, the rest
low; behind the vent was another, correspond-
ing; both were entirely covered with scales
over each other. The back black; the sides
of a brighter color ; the belly quite of a silvery
brightness.

Synagris. Belon, 181. Sparus varius dorso acuto den- 4, TooTHep.
Rondel. de Pisc. 1. 150. tibus quatuor majoribus. Ar-
Dentex sive Synodon. Wil. ted. Gen. 360.
Ichth. 312. Le Denté. Bloch ichth. viii.
Rau Syn. 132. 58. tab. 268.

Sparus dentex. Gm. Lin. Donovan Br. Fishes, tub. 73.
1278.

[THIS species is chiefly distinguished by the Descar-
numerous small teeth, and the four canine with 7'°™
which each jaw is furnished. Its general color
is silvery shaded with yellow, but as it grows
older it assumes a purplish tint; the head is
partly silvery, partly of a greenish gold color;
the back a reddish brown; the ventral and anal
fins deep yellow ; the pectoral inclining to red ;
the dorsal and tail yellow edged with blue.

It inhabits the Red and Afediterranean seas,
and the coasts of Jamaica. Mr. Donovan states,
that a specimen weighing sixteen pounds, was
caught near Hastings and brought to Billings-
gate ; its colors were not so vivid as of those
taken in warmer climates. Ep.

332

1. ANTIZNT.

ANTIENT WRASSE.

Cuass LV.

GENUS XXXIV. WRASSE.

GILLs covers scaly.

Rays branchiostegous unequal in number.*

TEETH conic, long and blunt at their ends. One
tuberculated bone in the bottom of the
throat: two above opposite to the other.

Frn one dorsal reaching the whole length of the
back: a slender skin extending beyond the

end of each ray.
TAIL rounded.

Vielle, Poule de mer, Gallot,
une Rosse. Belon 248.

Turdorum undecimum genus.
Rondel. 179. Gesner pisc.
1019.

Turdus vulgatissimus.
Ichth. 319.

Wrasse, or Old Wife. Raii
Syn. pisc. 136.

Labrus rostro sursum reflexo

Wil.

cauda in extremo circulari.

Arted. synon. 56.

Labrus Tinca. Lin. syst. 477.
Gm. Lin. 1289.

La Vieille ou Vielle. Duhamel
Tr. des Pesches, iit. 34.
sect. 4. tab. 6. fig. 1.

La Vielle demer. Blochichth.
ix. 14. tab. 293.?

Le Labre tancoide. De la Ce-
pede Hist. des Poissons, iti.
502.

* TLinneus says six: this species had only four; the second,
six; the third and fourth, five. We also find the same variation
in the rays of the fins, the numbers being different in fishes of the
same species, not only of this but of other genera.

Ciass1V. ANTIENT WRASSE.

Tuts species is found in deep water adjacent
to the rocks. It will take a bait, though its
usual food is shell-fish, and small crustacea.

‘ It grows to the weight of four or five pounds :
it bears some resemblance to a carp in the form
of the body, and is covered with large scales,
The nose projects ; the lips are large and fleshy,
and the one turns up, the other hangs down;
the mouth is capable of being drawn in or pro-
truded; the irides are red; the teeth are dis-
posed in two rows; the first are conic, the
second very minute, and as if supporters to the
others ; in the throat just before the gullet are
three bones, two above of an oblong form,
and one below of a triangular shape; the
surface of each rising into roundish protu-
berances ; these are of singular use to the fish,
to grind its shelly food before it arrives at the
stomach. The dorsal fin consists of sixteen
sharp and spiny rays, and nine soft ones,
which are much longer than the others; the
pectoral fins large and round, and are composed
of fifteen rays; the ventral of six; the first
sharp and strong; the anal of three sharp
spines, and nine flexible; the tail is rounded at
the end, and is formed of fourteen soft branch-

Descrir-
TION.

tn
o9
nes

2. BALLAN.

Descrir-
TION.

BALLAN WRASSE. Crass lV.

ing rays. The lateral line is much incurvated
near the tail.

These fish vary infinitely in color; we have
seen them of a dirty red, mixed with a certain
duskiness; others most beautifully striped,
especially about the head, with the richest
colors, such as blue, red, and yellow. Most of
this genus are subject to vary; therefore care |
must be taken not to multiply the species from
these accidental teints, but to attend to the form
which never alters. ,

The Welsh call this fish Gwrach, or the old
woman; the French, la Vieille; and the En-
glish give it the name of Old Wife.

Neill’s Orkney islands. 43. Br. Zool. Ato. iti. 216. tab. 44.

Tuts species, which is different from the pre-
ceding, was sent from Scarborough by Mr.
Travis. They appear during summer in great
shoals off Fley-Bridge: the largest weigh about
five pounds.

It is of the form of the common wrasse, only —
between the dorsal fin and the tail is a consider-
able sinking; above the nose is a deep sulcus ;

VOL .3.P. 334.

ASSVeLM NWT TV

pe sore.

\ Saar sg

Pi SNe

Tram

( GSE ° a)

“HSSVUM GCHOLVINOVARLL

(sce a)
‘HISSVUM SAOMHAIO

Ciass1V. BIMACULATED WRASSE.

on the farthest cover of the gills is a depression
radiated from the center. It has only four
branchiostegous rays. ‘The dorsal fin has
thirty-one rays, twenty spiny, eleven soft; the
last branched, and much longer than the spiny
rays; the pectoral fins fourteen; the ventral
six; the first of which is short and spiny; the
anal twelve; the three first spiny, the nine
others branched and soft; the tail rounded at

the end; at the bottom, for about a third part

of the way, between’each ray is a row of
scales. The color, in general, is yellow, spot-
ted with orange. |

to
Le)
ery

Labrus bimaculatus. L. pinna Fred. i. 66. tab. xxi. fiz-3, Brmacu-

dorsali ramentacea, macula 66.
fusca in latere medio, et ad Le Labre double tache. De la.
caudam. Lin. Syst. 477. Cepede Hist. des Poissons,
Gm. Lin. 1289. lil. 502.

Scizna bimaculata. Mus. Ad.

Wir. Brunnich observed this species at Pen-.

sance, and referred me to Linneus’s description
of it in the Museum Ad. Fred. where it is de-
scribed under the name of Sciena Bimaculata.
The body is pretty deep, and of a light color,
marked in the middle on each side with a round
brown spot; on the upper part of the base of

LATED.

Descrip-
TION.

336

&. TRIMACU-
LATED.

Descrip-
TION.

pe’
TRIMACULATED WRASSE. Ciass IV.

the tail is another; the lateral line is incurvated.
The branchiostegous rays are six in number ;*
the first fifteen rays of the dorsal fin are spiny;
the other eleven soft, and lengthened by a
skinny appendage; the pectoral fins consist of
fifteen rays; the ventral of six; the first spiny;
the second and third ending in a slender bristle;
the anal fin is pointed; the four first rays being,
short and spiny; the rest long and soft. |

Labrus trimaculatus. Gm. Lin. extremo dorsi. Ascan. icoft.
1294. ii. 13.
Labrus carneus maculistribus Mull. prod. Zood. dan. 46.
nigris in fine pinne dorsiet Le Paon rouge. Bloch ichth.
ix. 3. fab. 289.

Tue species we examined was taken on the
coast of Anglesey ; its length was eight inches.
It was of an oblong form; the nose long;
the teeth slender; the fore teeth much longer
than the others; the eyes large; the branchio-
stegous rays, five; the back fin consisted of
seventeen spiny rays, and thirteen soft ones;
beyond each extended a long nerve; the pec-
toral fins were round, and consisted of fifteen

* D[inneus, in his last edition, has removed this species from
the genus of Sciena, to that of Labrus, though it does not agree
with the latter in kis number of branchiostegous rays.

te

nw

“ASSVUA CGCHdTUiLs

ume

The form was oblong, but the beginning of —

CuassIV. STRIPED WRASSE.

branched rays; the ventral fins consisted of six
rays, the first spiny; the anal fin of twelve,
the three first short, very strong, and spiny,
the others soft and branched; the tail was
rounded ; the lateral line was strait at the be-
ginning of the back, but grew incurvated to-
wards the tail. The body was covered with
large red scales; the covers of the gills with
small ones. On each side of the lower part of
the back-fin were two large spots, and between
the fin and the tail another.

Labrus variegatus. Gm. Lin. 1204.

THIS was taken off the Skerry Isles, on the
coast of Anglesey, its length was ten inches.

the back a little arched; the lips large, double,
and much turned up; the teeth like those of the
preceding; the branchiostegous rays, five; the
number of rays in the back, pectoral, and ven-
tral fins, the same as in those of the former; in

the anal fin were fifteen rays, the three first

strong and spiny; the tail was almost even at
the end, being very little rounded; the covers
of the gills cinereous, striped with fine yellow ;
the sides were marked with four parallel lines
VOL, 111, Z .

337

5. STRIPED,

DEscriP-
TION,

338 -

6. GrpBous.

DEscrip-
TION.

GIBBOUS WRASSE. _Cuass IV. _

of greenish olive, and the same of most elegant
blue; the back and belly red; but the last of a
much paler hue, and under the throat almost
yellow ; along the beginning of the back-fin
was a broad bed of rich blue; the middle part
white ; the rest red; at the base of the pectoral
fins was a dark olive spot; the ends of the anal
fin, and ventral fins, a fine blue; the upper half
of the tail blue; the lower part of its rays
yellow.

Labrus gibbus. Gm. Lin. Sparus gibbus. Shaw Gen.
1205. Zool. iv. part ii. 461.

Tuts species was taken off Anglesey: its
length was eight inches; the greatest depth
three; it was of a very deep and elevated form,
the back being vastly arched, and very sharp
or ridged. From the beginning of the head to
the nose, was a steep declivity ; the teeth like
those of the others ; the eyes of a middling size ;
above each a dusky semilunar spot; the near-
est cover of the gills finely serrated. The six-
teen first rays of the back fin strong and spiny,
the other nine soft and branched; the pectoral
fins consisted of thirteen; the ventral of six
rays; the first ray of the ventral fin was strong

Won. > P1339.

COMBER. WRAS SE .(e.s42.)

Crass IV. GOLDSINNY WRASSE.

and sharp; the anal fin consisted of fourteen
rays, of which the three first were strongly acu-
leatéd. The tail was large, rounded at the
end, and the rays branched; the ends of the
rays extending beyond ‘the webs; the lateral
line was incurvated towards the tail; the gill
covers and body were covered with large scales ;
the first were most elegantly spotted, and strip-
ed with blue and orange, and the sides spotted
in the same manner; but nearest the back the
orange was disposed in stripes; the back fin
and anal fin were of a sea-green, spotted with
black ; the ventral fins and tail a fine pea-green;

the pectoral fins yellow, u marked at their base
with transverse stripes of hy

Labrus cornubicus. Gm. Lin. Jago. Raw syn. pisc, 163.

1297. fig. 3.
Goldsinny Cornuliensium, Mr.

Tuts and the following species were disco-

vered by Mr. Jago on the coast of Cornwall: .

we never had an opportunity of examining them,
therefore are obliged to have recourse to his
descriptions, retaining their local names.

In the whole form of the body, lips, teeth,
and fins, it resembles the common Wrasse: it

7. Go.p-
eINNY.

DEeEscrir-
TION.

- 340

8. Coox.

DEscrip-
TION:

COOK WRASSE. Cuass IV.

is said never to exceed a palm in length; near
the tail is a remarkable black spot; the first
rays of the dorsal fin are tinged with black.

The Melanurus of Rondeletius (adds he)
takes its name from the black spot near the
tail; but in many instances it differs widely
from this species, the tail of the first is forked,
that of the Goldsinny is even at the end. ©

I suspect that this species was once sent
to me from Cornwall; besides the spot near the
tail, there was another near the vent.

In the dorsal fin were sixteen spiny, and nine
soft rays; in the pectoral fourteen; in the anal
three spiny, eleven soft ; in the ventral six. The
tail almost even at the end.

Cook (i. e. Coquus) Cornubi- Labrus coquus. Gm. Lin.
ensium. Rati Syn, pisc. 163. 1207.
Jig. 4.

Tus species, Mr. Jago says, is sometimes
taken in great plenty on the Cornish coasts.
It is a scaly fish, and.does not grow to any
great size. The back is purple and dark blue ;

the belly yellow. By the figure it seems of ©
the same shape as the Comber, and the tail

rounded.

Cuass IV. COOK WRASSE.

[Among drawings of fishes caught near Pen-
zance, the editor has received one of a species

of Wrasse, called at Cornwall the Cuckoo fish, ©

and which may probably be the Cook Wrasse of
-Ray. The head is large, and slopes rapidly to
the nose; the mouth large; the lips fleshy;
the teeth few and sharp; the pupil of the eye
dark, the irides yellow; the dorsal fin straight,
the rays extending rather beyond the web, and
are thirty-one in number, twenty-two of which
appear soft, and are of a yellow color; the fore
‘ part of the fin a bright blue tipt with yellow;
the color of the head blue, mottled with oliva-
ceous; the same tints extend to about one-
third of the upper part of the back, and below
the lateral line to the tail, which is slightly
rounded; the remainder of the back deep
orange, the belly of a lighter shade; the tail
azure; the anal and ventral fins yellow, tipt
with blue; the upper part of the pectoral fin
blue; the lower yellow. ‘This species is said
to grow to the length of one foot. Ep.

341

COMBER WRASSE. Crass IV,

\

9. Comper. Comber Cornub. Ratt syn. Labrus comber. Gm. Lin.

DeEscrip-
TION.

pisc. 163. fig. 5? 1297.

ff RECEIVED this species from Cornwall,

and suppose it to be the Comber of Mr. Jago.

It was of a slender form. ‘The dorsal fin
had twenty spiny, eleven soft rays; the pec-
toral fourteen; the ventral five; the anal three

‘spiny, seven soft; the tail round; the color of

the back, fins, and tail, red; the belly yellow;
beneath the lateral line ran parallelly a smooth,
even stripe from gill to tail, of a silvery color.

Besides these species, we recollect seeing
taken at the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland, a
most beautiful kind of a vivid green, spotted
with scarlet; and others at Bandooran, in the
county of Sig, of a pale green.* We were at
that time inattentive to this branch of natural
history, and can only say they were of a species
we have never since seen.

* This may perhaps be the streaked Wrasse figured by Mr.
Donovan, in his History of British Fishes, tab. 74, of which he

gives the following specific character: ‘‘ Fins greenish, dorsal ~

one ramentous; body green, with numerous yellowish longitu-
dinal lines.” Tt is said to be an occasional visitor to the coast of
Cornwall, in the summer season. Ep.

Cuass IV. RAINBOW WRASSE.

H “lovats. Arist. Hist. nat. dinali fulva utrinque dentata,
fib. ix. c. 2. Ailian. Hist. — Gm. Lin. 1288.
an. lib. ii. c. 44. Oppian. Arted. gen. 54.

lib. i. Gronov. Zooph. 71. No. 241.
Julis. Plin. Hist. nat. lib. Don. Hist. Br. Fishes, tab.

Be. .C. Os 96.
Belon 254. La Girelle. Bloch ichth. -viii.
Girello. Girella. Donzella. 114. tab. 287.

Rondel. 180. Gesner 464. De la Cepede Hist. des Pois-
Labrus Julis. L. lateribus cz- sons. lil. 497.

tulescentibus; vitta longitu-

[A WRASSE, apparently of this species, but
varying in color from those taken in the J/edi-
terranean, is said to have been caught upon the
coast of Cornwall in the summer of 1502.

10. RAtn-
BOW.

The Cornish specimen rather exceeded the Descrip-

length of seven inches ; it was of a slender, or
elongated form, and remarkable for the elegant
distribution of its colors, green, yellow, and pur-
ple, changeable in various directions of light; a
broad dentated stripe extended from the head
nearly to the tail, the color of which was silvery
and fulvous; the dorsal fin marked towards the
front with a black spot contained nine spiny and
thirteen soft rays ; the pectoral twelve rays ; the
ventral, one spiny, and five soft; the anal two
spiny and thirteen soft; the tail thirteen rays.

TION.

344 RAINBOW WRASSE. Crass IV.

The subject figured by Bloch, has the body
marked by parallel longitudinal stripes of green,
yellow, deep violet, and lighter shades of the
same color, fading into a silvery hue. These
stripes are very distinct; the principal yellow
lateral line is undulated, rather than indented,
as it is represented to be in the Cornish speci-
men. Ep.

«:

Crass IV.

COMMON PERCH.

GENUS XXXV. PERCH.

GILL-coveErs edges of serrated.
Rays branchiostegous seven.

Bopy covered with rough scales.
Fin first dorsal spiny ; the second soft.*

Tégxy. Arisé. Hist. an. Lib.
vi. c. 14.

Perca Ausonit Mosella, 115.

Une Perche de riviere. Belon
291.

Perca fluviatilis. Rondel. flu-
viat. 196. Gesner pisc. 698.

Ein Barss. Schonevelde, 55.

A Perch. Wil. Ichth. 291.
Rati syn. pisc. 97.

Perca lineis utrinque sex trans-

-versis nigris, pinnis ventra-
libus rubris. Arted. synon.
66.

Perca fluviatilis. P. pinnis
dorsalibus distinctis, secun-

Tue perch of Aristotle and Ausonius is the
same with that of the moderns.

345

da radiis sedecim. Lin. syst 1; CommMom

481. Gm. Lin. 1306. Gro-
nov. Zooph. No. 301.

Abboree. Faun. Suec. No.
332.

Perschling, Barschieger. Kram.
384. Wulff. Boruss. No. 27.

La Perche de riviere. Duhamel
Tr. des Pesches. iii. 98. sect.
5. tab. 5. fig. 3.

La Perche. Bloch ichth. ii. 62.
tab. 52.

La Perseque Perche. De la
Cepede Hist. des Poissons.
iv. 395.

r

That men-

* The Ruffe and Black Perch are exceptions, having only one
dorsal fin, but the first rays of it are spiny.

346

2
COMMON PERCH. Crass IV.

tioned by Oppian, Pliny, and Atheneus,* is a
sea-fish probably of the Labrus or Sparus kind,
being enumerated by them among some conge-
nerous species. Our perch was much esteemed
by the Romans : |

Nec te delicias mensarum Perea, silebo
Amnigenos inter pisces dignande marinis. | AUSONIUS.

It is not less admired at present as a firm and
delicate fish; and the Dutch are particularly
fond of it when made into a dish called Vater
Souchy.

It is gregarious, and loves deep holes and
gentle streams: is a most voracious fish, and
bites eagerly : if the angler meets witha shoal of
perch, he is sure of taking every one. It is
a common notion that the pike will not attack
this fish, being fearfut of the spiny fins which
the perch erects on the approach of the former.
This may be true im respect to large fish ; but it
is well known the small ones are the most tempt-
ing bait that can be laid for the pike.

The perch is very tenacious of life: we have
known them carried near sixty miles in) dry
straw, and yet survive the journey. They sel-

* Oppian Halieut. i. 124. Plinit Lib. ix. .c. 16. Athenaus
Lil. vii. p. 319.

=p Ninn aie a

Bi

PUK . ma VOL.3.P.347.
a COMMON PERCH. VAR

SEA PERCH. (P.349)

CiassIV. COMMON, PERCH... .., 347.

‘dom grow ie a large size: we once heard of
one that was taken in the Serpentine river,
Eh iyde- Par, that weighed nine pounds, but that

is very uncommon. Py
The body is deep ; the sles very rough ; na
é back much arched; the side-line near the ™°™ |

& the ivides golden ; the teeth small, dis-
ed in the j jaws and on the roof of the mouth ;

the edges of the covers of the gills serrated; on

the lower end of the largest is a sharp spine.
The first dorsal fin consists of fourteen strong
spiny rays; the second of sixteen soft ones ;

the pectoral fins are transparent, and consist af

fourteen rays; the ventral of six; the anal of
eleven; the tail is a little forked. The colors

are beautiful; the back and part «. the sides
being of a deep green, marked with five broad
black bars pointing downwards; the belly is

white, tinged with red; the ventral fins are of a
rich scarlet; the anal iiits and tail of the same

color, but rather paler.

In a lake called Llyn Roun. in “oe Crooxep

_ nethshire, is a very singular variety of perch: ae

= ~ the back is quite hunched, and the lower part hy

of the back bone, next the tail, ‘strangely dis- hay

ted : in color, and in other respects, it resem- Oo ae ‘ :

es the common kind, which is as numerous if

in the lake as ‘these deformed fish, Aes are

y

%. Basse.

Descrip-
TION.

BASSE PERCH.

Crass IV.

not peculiar to this water, for Linneus takes

his own country.

‘notice ofa similar variety found at Fahlun, in
I have also heard that they

are met with i in the 7% hames near alow.

Ms

Adfeak? Arist. Hist. an: lib.
iv. c, 10. &c.

Lupus? Ovid. Halieut. 112.

Le Bar, le Loup. Belon 113.

Lupus. Rondel. 268. Gesner

cundz tredecim, ani quatu-
ordecim. dried. synon. 6G.
Perca Labrax. Lin. syst. 482.
Gronov. Zooph. No. 300.
Le Loup. Bloch ichth. ix. 45.

tal. 301.

‘La Centropome Loup. De pe
Cepede Hist. des Poissons.
iv. 207.

pase. 506.
A Basse. Wil. Tehth. on.

Rati syn. pise. 83. ae.
Perca radiis pinne dorsalis se- —
THE* baseesseo strong, active, and voracious
fish: Ovid calls them rapidi lupi, a name con-
tinued to them by after-writers.

That which we had an opportunity Of exa-
mining was small ; but they are said to grow to
the weight of fifteen pounds, and, according to
Duhamel, even thirty pounds. The irides are
silvery ; the mouth large ; ; the teeth are situated
in the jaws, and are very ‘small; in the roof of
the mouth is a triangular rough space, and just

. a ce
(Pm
S =

* Bloch, and Dr. Shaw i in his General Zoology, have classed
the Basse in the genus Pa Gmelin appears to have omit-

ted it in his edition bei Ep.

“HOUTdI ASSVEA

PLL.

Crass IV. ' SEA PERCH.

at the gullet are two others of a roundish form ;
the scales are of a middling size, very thick set,
and adhere closely. The first dorsal fin has
nine strong spiny rays, of which the first is the
shortest, the middlemost the highest ; the second
dorsal fin consists of thirteen rays, the first
spiny, the others soft; the pectoral fins have
fifteen soft rays; the ventral six rays, the first
spiny ; the anal fourteen rays, the three first
spiny, the others soft; the tail is a little forked.
The body is formed somewhat like that of a
salmon. ‘The color of the back is dusky, tinged
with blue. The belly white. “In young fish
the space above the side-line is marked with
smalt black spots.
It is esteemed a very delicate fish.

Une Perche de mer. Belon Perca marina. P. pinnis dor-

163. salibus unitis xv spinosis,
Perca marina.- Salvian, 225. xiv muticis, corpore lituris
Rondel. 182: _ variegato. Lin. Syst. 483.
Wil. Ichth. 327. Gm. Lin. 1313.
- Rai Syn. pisc. 140. -Faun. Suec, 233.

Tuts species is about-a foot long; the head
large and deformed; eyes great; teeth small
and numerous. On the head and covers of the

349

3. Sea.

DEsScRIp-
TION,

350

4. RUFFE.

RUFFE PERCH. Crass IV.

The dorsal fin is fur-
nished with fifteen strong spiny rays, and four-
teen soft; the pectoral with eighteen; the ven-
tral with one spiny, and five soft ; the anal with
three spiny, and eight soft ; the tail, even at the
end; the lateral line parallelto the back. The
color red, with a black spot on the covers of
the gills, and some transverse dusky lines on

gills are strong spines.

the sides.

Tt is a fish held in some esteem at the table.

e

Cernua. Belon 186.

Perce fluviatilis genus minus.
Gesner pisc. ‘701.

Aspredo. Cazi opusc. 107.

Ein stuer, stuerbarss. Schone-
velde, 506.

Cernua fluviatilis. #721. Ichth.
334.

Ruffe. Razz syn. pisc. 143.

Perca dorso monopterygio, ca-
pite cavernoso. Arted. syn.
68.

Perca cernua. P. pinnis dorsa-
libus unitis radiis 27, spinis

15, cauda bifida. Lin. syst.
487. Gm. Lin. 1320. Gro-
nov. Zooph. No.

Giers, Snorgers. Faun. Suec.
No. 119.

Schroll, Pfafienlaus. Schaef.
pisc. 37. tab. i. Wulff Bo-
russ. No. 35.

La Petite Perche. Bloch Ichth.
ii. 68. tab. 53. Ff. 2.

L’Holocentre Post. De la Ce-
pede Hist. des Poissons. iv.
362.

THIS fish is found in several of the English
streams: it is gregarious, assembling in large
shoals, and keeping in the deepest part of the
water.

Ciass IV. BLACK PERCH.

It is of a much more slender form than the
perch, and seldom exceeds six inches in length ;
the teeth are very small, and disposed im rows.
It has only one dorsal fin extending along the
greatest part of the back; the first rays, like
those of the common perch, are strong, sharp,
and spiny; the others soft; the pectoral fins
consist of fifteen rays; the ventral of six; the
anal of eight; the two first strong and spiny;
the tail a little bifurcated. The body is cover-
ed with rough compact scales; the back and
sides are of a dirty green, the last inclining to
yellow, but both spotted with black ; the dorsal
fin is spotted with black; the tail marked with
transverse bars.

Perca nigra. Gm. Lin. 1321. Holocentrus niger. Shaw Gen.

The Black Fish. Mr. Jago. Zool. iv. part ii. 558.
Borlase Cornwall, 271.tab. De la Cepede Hist. des Pois-
xxv. fig. 8. ; sons. iy. 366.

Mr. Jago has left so brief a description of
this fish, that we find difficulty in giving it a
proper class: it agrees with the Ruffe in the
form of the body, and the smallness of the teeth,
in having a single extensive fin on the back, a
forked tail, and being of that section of bony
fish, termed Thoracic: these appear by the

351

Descrip-
TION

5. Buack.

O39

Descrir-
TION.

BLACK PERCH. Crass IV.

figure, the teeth excepted. The other characters
must be borrowed from the-description.

6é
a4
cé
(74
66
(14

c¢

te

“‘ It is smooth, with very small thin scales,
fifteen inches long, three quarters of an inch
broad; head and nose like a peal or trout;
little mouth ; very small teeth, beginning from
the nose four inches and three quarters, near
six inches long; a forked tail; a large double
nostril. Two taken at Loo, May 26, 1721,
in the Sean, near the shore, in sandy ground
with small ore weed.”*

* De la Cepede has divided this genus into three, distinguish-

ing the Perseque or Perch, from the Cenéropome, by its having
one or more spines on the gill-covers, and the Holocentre from
the others by its possessing only one dorsal fin, En.

PLIX1.

VOL :3.F. 353.

( oo a) Kova's

(o¢e-a) -WOVERTMOILS GUNTAS NGALATA

Crass IV. THREE SPINED 8. BACK. 353

GENUS XXXVI. STICKLEBACK.

Rays branchiostegous three or six.

BELty covered with bony plates.

Fin one dorsal, with several sharp spines be-
tween it and the head.

1. THREE

La. Grande Espinoche, un
Epinard, une Artiere. Be-
lon 328.

Pisciculi aculeati prius genus.
Rondel. fluviat. 206. Gesner
pisc. 8.

Stickleback, Banstickle, or
Sharpling. Wil. Ichth. 341.
Raii syn. pisc. 145.

Gasterosteus aculeis in dorso
tribus. Arted. synon. 80.

Gasterosteus aculeatus. . Lin.

syst. 489. Gm. Lin. 1328.
Gronov. Zooph. No. 406.
Spigg, Horn-fisk. Fawn. Suec.

No. 336.

Stichling, Stachel-fisch: Wulff -

Boruss. No. 37.

L’Echarde. Duhamel Tr. des
Pesches. ii. 516. sect. 3.
tab. 26. fig. 6.

L’Epinoche. Bloch ichth. it.
73. tab. 53. f. 3.

De la Cepede Hist. des Pois-
sons. ili. 206.

THESE are common in many of our rivers,
‘but no where in greater quantities than in the

fens of Lincolnshire, and some of the rivers that.

creep out of them. At Spalding there are, once

in seven or eight years, amazing shoals that ap-

pear in the Welland, and «come up the river in

form of a vast column. They are supposed to
VOL. III. 2A

SPINED.

354

Descrip-
TION.

THREE SPINED S.'‘BACK. Ctass IV.

be the multitudes that have been washed out of
the fens by the floods of several years, and col- |
lected in some deep hole, till overcharged with
numbers, they are periodically obliged to at-
tempt a change of place. The quantity is so
great, that they are used to manure the land,
and trials have been made to get oil from them.

- A notion may be had of this vast shoal, by saying

that a man employed by the farmer to take them,
has got for a considerable time four shillings a
day by selling them at a halfpenny per bushel.
This species seldom reaches the length of two
inches ; the eyes are large; the belly promi-

nent; ‘the body near the tail square; the sides

are covered with large bony plates, placed trans-
versely. On the back are three sharp spines,
that can be raised or depressed at pleasure; the
dorsal fin is placed near the tail; the pectoral
fins are broad; the ventral fins consist each of
one spine, or rather plate, of unequal lengths,
one being large, the other small; between both
is a flat bony plate, reaching almost to the vent ;
beneath the vent’ is a short-spine, and then suc-
ceeds the anal fin; the: tail consists.of twelve
rays, and is even at the end. ~The color.of-the
back rand ‘sides is an olive, green; the» belly
white; but’ in some-the lower jaws: and ‘belly
are of a bright crimson.

Crass IV. ‘TEN SPINED S. BACK.

‘La petite Espinoche. Belon Gasterosteus pungitius. ‘Lin.

328. syst. 491. Gm. Lin. 1326.
Pisciculi aculeati alterum ge- Gronov. Zooph. No. 405.
nus. Rondel. fluviat. 206. Benunge, Gaddsur, Gorquad. ©
~Gesner pisc. 8. Faun. Suec. No. 337.
LesserStickleback. Wil. Ichth. La petite *Epinoche de Mer.
342. Rati syn. pisc. 145. Bloch ichth. it.-76. tab. 53.
Gasterosteus aculeis in dorso Sf. 4. ‘

decem. Arted. synon. 80.

Turs species is much smaller than the;former,
and.of a more slender make. The back is
armed with,ten short sharp spines, which do not
incline:the same way, but cross each other ; the
sides are smooth, not plated like those of the
preceding ; in other particulars it resembles the
former. The color of the back is. olive; the
belly silvery:*

* The editor has been assured by an intelligent observer, that

this is merely the young of the preceding species, arid that the
spines diminish in, number as the fish. grows older. Ep.

3A 2

2. Ten
SPINED,

Descrip-
TION.

356

3. FrrTeen
SPINED.

DESCRIP<
TION.

FIFTEEN SPINED S. BACK. Crass IV.

Aculeatus, sive Pungitius ma- Gasterosteus aculeis in dorso
rinus longus, Stein-bicker, quindecim. Aréed. synon. 81.
Ersskruper. Schonevelde, 10. Gasterosteus Spinachia. Lin.
tal. iv. Sab. Scot. iii. 24. Syst. 492. Gm. Lin. 1327.

tab. 19. Gronov. Zooph. No. 407.
Aculeatus marinus major. Wil. Faun. Suec. No. 338.

Ichth. 340. App. 23. Rai La grande Epinoche. Bloch

syn. pisc. 145. ichth. ii. 78. tab. 53. f. 1.

Tuts species inhabits the sea, and is never
found in fresh water.

Its length is above six inches; the nose is
long and slender; the mouth tubular ; the teeth
small. The fore part of the body is covered on
each side with a row of bony plates, forming a
ridge; the body afterwards grows very slender,
and is quadrangular. Between the head and
the dorsal fin are fifteen small spines; the dor-
sal fin is placed opposite the anal fin; the ven-
tral fins are wanting; the tail is even at the
end. The color of the upper part is a deep
brown; the belly white.

ION

(199° a)

TAZYUOVN NOWWOD)

ae See oan a

ee ee ns arn, ©

Cuass IV.

\

COMMON MACKREL.

GENUS XXXVII. MACKREL.

Rays branchiostegous seven.
F INS several small between the dorsal fin and

the tail.

Susuboos. Arist. Hist. an.

lib. vi. c. 17. ix. c. 2. Athe-
neus, lib. ili. 121. vil. 321.

‘ Oppian Halieut. i. 142.
Scomber. Ovid Halieut. 94.
~ Plinit lib. ix. c. 15. xxxi.
~ ce. 8.
Macarello, Scombro. Salvian.
241.*
Le Macreau. Belon 107.
Scomber. Rondel. 233. Ges-
~ ner pisc. 841. (pro 861.)
Makerel. Schonevelde, 66.
Mackrell, or Macarel. Wil.
Ichth. 181. Raw Syn. pise.
58. AF oes
Scomber pinnulis quinque in

extremo dorso, polyptery-
gio, aculeo brevi ad anum.
Arted. Synon. 48.

Scomber Scomber. Lin. Syst.

492. Gm. Lin. 1328. Gro-
nov. Zooph. No. 304.

“Mackrill. Faun. Suec. No.
339.

Le Maquereau. Duhamel Tr.
des Pesches. iii. 169. sect. 7.
tab. 1. fig. 1.

Le Maquereau.
li. 82. ¢ab. 54.

Bloch ichth.

307

1. Common.

Le Scombre Maquereau. De —

la Cepede Hist. des Poise

SONS. lil. 24.

THE mackrel is a summer fish of passage that

-visits our shores in vast shoals. It is less use-

* This is the first opportunity we have had of looking into
Sulvianus, whose Italian synonyms we make use of.

-‘GARUM.

SIZE,

COMMON MACKREL. Crass IV.

ful than other species of gregarious fish, being
very tender, and unfit for carriage; not but
that it may be preserved by pickling and salt-
ing, a method, we believe, practised only in
Cornwaill,* where it proves a great relief to the
poor during winter. )

It was greatly esteemed by the Remans, be-
cause it furnished the pretious Garwzm, a sort of
pickle that gave a high relish to their sauces, and
was besides used medicinally. It was drawn
from different kinds of fishes, but that made
from the mackrel had the preference: the best
was made at Carthagena, vast quantities of
mackrel being taken near an adjacent isle, called
from that circumstance, Scombraria ;+ and the
Garum, prepared by a certain company in that
city, bore a high price, and was distinguished. by
the title of Garum Sociorum. f

This fish is easily taken by a bait, but the best
time is during a iresh gale of wind, which is
thence called a mackrel gale. In the sprmg
the eyes of mackrel are almost covered with a
white film; during which period they are half
blind. This film grows in winter, and is cast
the beginning of summer. It is not often that
it exceeds two pounds in weight, yet we heard -

* Borlase Cornwall, 269. + Strabo Lib. iii. 109.
t Plinit Lib. xxxi. c. 8.

—Cuass IV; COMMON’ MACKREL.

that there has been one sold in London that
_ weighed five and a quarter.

- The, nose. is. taper and sharp- pointed ; the
mee large; the jaws of an equal length; the
teeth small, but numerous; the form very ele-
gant; the body is a little compressed on the
sides; towards the tail it grows very slender,

and rather angular. The first dorsal fin is

placed a little behind the pectoral fins; it is
triangular, and consists of nine or ten stiff rays;
the second lies at a distance from the other,
and, has twelve soft rays ; the pectoral twenty ;
the ventral six ; ; at the base. of the anal fin is-a

strong spine; between the last dorsal fin and
the tail, are five small fins, and the same num-
ber between the anal fin and the tail. The tail

is: broad and, semilunar. The color of the back

and sides above the lateral line, is a fine green,

varied with blue, marked with black lines, point-.

ing downwards ; beneath the line the sides and.

belly are of a silvery color. It is a most beau-

tiful fish when alive; for nothing can, equal its.

brilliancy, which death impairs, but does not.

wholly obliterate.

359,

DeEscrtir-
TION.

360

TUNNY MACKREL.

2. Tunny. Ovyvvos. Arist. Hist. an. Lib.

ii. c. 13. &c.. Atheneeus,

Lib. yii. 301. Oppian Ha-

lieut. 111. 620.
Thunnus. Ovid Halieut. 95.
Plinii, Lab. ix. c. 15.
Tonno. Salvian. 123.
Le Thon. Belon 99.
Thunnus. Rondel. 241. Ges-

Scomber pinnulis octo vel no-

vem in extremo dorso, ex
suleo ad pinnas ventrales.
Aried. Synon. 49.
Scomber Thunnus. Se. pin-
nulis utrinque octo. Lin.
‘Syst. 493. Gm. Lin. 1330.
Gronov. Zooph. No. 305.
Duhamel Fr. des Pesches, iii.

Crass IV.

ner pisc. 957. sect. 7. 190. tab. 5.
Thunnus vel orcynus. Schone- Le Thon. Bloch ichth. il. 87.
velde, 75. tab. 55. y

De la Cepede Hist, des Pois-
sons, il. ee

Tunny fish, or Spanisa Mack-
rell. Wil. Ichth. 176. Raitt
Syn. pisc. 57. Sibbald Scot.

Tue tunny was a fish well known to the an-
tients ;
merce ; the time of its arrival into the MJediter-
ranean from the ocean was observed, and sta-
tions for taking it established in places it most
frequented; the eminences above the fishery
were styled @uyvocxonsia,* and the watchmen that
gave notice to those below of the motions of the
fish, @vvyocxdro.t From one of the former the

* Strabo Lib. vy. 156.

+ Oppian Halieut. iii. 638. This person answers to what
the Cornish call a Huer, who watches the arrival of the pil-
chards.

it made a considerable branch of com- -

TUNNY MACKREL.

VOL.3.P. 360.

Crass IV. TUNNY MACKREL.

lover in Theocritus threatened to take a despe-
rate leap, on account of his mistress’s cruelty.
OUx EmanovEls ?
Tey Sairay dmodds sis numara ryva dAEuLaL
OQreg rods OTNNOYE cuomidterar*OAamis o yoimeds.

Do you not hear? then, rue your Geat-herd’s fate,
For, from the rock where Olpis doth descry
The numerous Thunny, I will plunge and die.

The very same station, in all probability, is at

this time made use of, as there are very consi-

derable tunny fisheries on the coast of Sicily, as
well as several other parts of the Mediterra-
nean,* where they are cured, and make a great
article of provision in the adjacent kingdoms.
They are caught in nets, and amazing quantities
are taken, for they come in vast shoals, keeping
along the shores.

They frequent our coasts, but not in shoals
like the Tunnies of the Mediterranean. ‘They
are not uncommon in the Lochs on the western
coast of Scotland, where they come in pursuit of
herrings ; and, often during night, strike into
_ the nets, and do considerable damage. When
the fishermen draw them up in the morning,
‘the Tunny rises at the same time towards the

surface, ready to catch the fish that drop out.

* Many of them are the same that were used by the antients,
as we learn from Oppian and others.

361

362

DESCRIP-

TION.

TUNNY MACKREL, — Ctiass:IV2

On perceiving it, a strong hook: baited: with a
herring, and: fastened to a. rope, is instantly
flung out, which the Tunny seldom fails to take.
As soon as hooked, it loses all-spirit, and: after a
very little resistance, submits to its fate. Tt is
dragged to the shore and cut up, either to be
sold fresh to people who carry it to the country
markets, or is preserved salted in large casks.

The pieces, when fresh, look exactly like raw
beef ; but when boiled turn pale, and have some-
thing of the flavor of salmon. .

One, which was taken when I was at Jnvera-
ray in 1769, weighed 460 pounds. It was seven
feet ten inches long ; the greatest circumference
five feet seven; the lest near the tail one foot six
inches. The body was round and thick, and grew
suddenly very slender towards the tail, and near
that part was angular; the irides were of a pale
ereen; the teeth very minute; the first dorsal
fin consisted of thirteen strong spines, which,
when depressed, were so concealed in a deep
sulcus in the back, as to be quite invisible till
very closely inspected ; immediately behind this
fin was another, high and falciform ; almost op-
posite to it, was the anal fin, of the same form ;
the spurious fins were of a rich yellow color ;
of these there were eleven above, and ten be-

Crass IV. SCAD MACKREL.

low; the tail. was in form of a crescent; and
measured two feet seven inches between tip and
tip. The skin on the back was smooth, very
thick, and: black; on the belly the scales: were
visible ;. the color of the sides and belly silvery,
tinged with cwruleam and pale purple, near the
tail marbled with grey.

They are known. om the coast of Scotland by

the name of MJackrelsture: Adackrel, from be-
ing of that genus; and’ stwre; from the Danish,
stor, great.

ta, pinna ani assiculorum
30. Arted. synon. 50.
Scomber Trachurus. Sc. pin-

Sauro. Salvian. 79.

Un Sou, Macreau bastard.
Belon 186.

Trachurus. Rondel. 233.

Lacertus Bellonit. Gesner pisc-

nis unitis, spina dorsali re-
eumbente, linea- laterali le-

467. ricata. Lin. syst, 494. Gm.
* Museken, Stocker. Schone- Lin. 1335. Gronov. Zooph.
velde, 75. No. 308.

Scad, Horse-mackrell. Vl. Le Maquereau batard. Bloch

Ichth. 290. Rai syn. pise.
92.

Scomber linea laterali aculea-

ichth. 11. 97. tub. 56.
Le Caranx Trachure. De la
Cepede Hist. des Poissons.

ii. 60.

"THAT which we examined was sixteen inches
long; the nose sharp; the eyes very large; the
irides silvery; the lower jaw a little longer than
the upper; the edges of the jaws were rough,

363 |

3. Scap.

Dzscrip-
TION.

864

SCAD MACKREL. _ Crass IV.

but without teeth. On the upper part of the
covers of the gills was a large black spot; the
scales were large and very thin; the lower half
of the body quadrangular, and marked on each
side with a row of thick strong scales, prominent
in the middle, extending to the tail. The first
dorsal fin consisted of eight strong spines; the
second lay just behind it, and consisted of thirty-
four soft rays, and reached almost to the tail ;
the pectoral fins were narrow and long, and
composed of twenty rays; the ventral of six
branched rays ; the vent was in the middle of
the belly ; the anal fin extended from it to the
tail, which was greatly forked. The head and
upper part of the body varied with green and
blue; the belly silvery. This fish was taken
in the month of October ; was very firm and —
well tasted, having the flavor of mackrel.

Cuass IV.

RED SURMULLET.

GENUS XXXVIII SURMULLET.

Heap compressed, steep, and covered with

scales.

Rays branchiostegous three.
Bopy covered with large scales, easily drop-

ping off.

Tolyay? Arist. Hist. an. Lib.
ii. Oppian Halieut. 1. 590.
Tolyay Zeoewy. Atheneus,
Lib. vii. 325.

Mullus. Ovid Halieut. 123,
Plinit Lib. ix. c. 17.

Triglia. Salvian. 235.

Le Rouget barbé, Surmurlet.
Belon 170.

Mullus barbatus. Rondel. 290.
Gesner pisc. 565.

Petermanneken,

Schonevelde, 47.

Goldeken.

Maullus Bellonit. Wil. Ichth.

285. Rai Syn. pise. 90.

Trigla capite glabro, cirris ge-
minis in maxilla inferiore.
Arted. synon. 71.

Mullus cirris geminis corpore
rubro. Lin. Syst. 495. Gm.
Lin. 1338. Gronov. Zooph.
No. 286. )

Le Rouget. Bloch ichth. x. 81.
tab. 348. f. 2.

Le Mulle rouget. De la Ce-
pede Hist. des Poissons, iii.
385.

THIS fish was highly esteemed by the Ro-

mans, and bore an exceedingly high price.

The

capricious epicures of Horace’s* days, valued it
in proportion to its-size; not that the larger

® Sat. lb. ii. s. ii. 33.

865

1. Rep.

866

RED SURMULLET. Ctass IV.

were more delicious, but that they were more
difficult to be got. The price that was given
for one in the time of Juwvenal, and Pliny, is
a striking evidence of the luxury and extrava-
gance of the age:

Mullum sex millibus emit
ZEquantem sane paribus sestertia libris.*

The lavish slave
Six thousand pieces for a Mullet gave,
A sesterce for each pound. ‘DRYDEN. -

But Asinius Celer,f a man of consular dig-
nity, gave a still more unconscionable sum, for
he did not scruple bestowing eight thousand
nummt, or sixty-four pounds eleven shillings
and eight-pence, for a fish of so small a size as
the mullet; for according to Horace,.a Mullus
trilibris, or one of three pounds, was a great
rarity; so that Juvenal’s spark must have had
a great bargain in comparison of what Celer
had. .
But Seneca says that it was not worth a
farthing, except it died in the very -hand of
your guest; that such was the luxury of the
times, that there were stews even in the eating
rooms, so that the fish could at once be brought
from under the table; and placed on it; that

* Juvenal Sat. iv. 481. 8s. gd. 4 Plin. Lib, ix. ¢. 17.

Crass IV. RED SURMULLET.

‘they:put the mullets in transparent vases, that
they might be: entertained with ‘the various
changes of its rich color while :‘tt:lay expiring.*
Apicius,} a wonderful genius for luxurious in-
ventions, first hit upon the method of suffocating
‘them in the exquisite Carthaginian{ pickle,
and afterwards procured a rich sauce from their
livers. ‘Thisis the same gentleman whom Pliny,
in another place, honors with the title of Nepo-

zum omnium altissimus gurges,\ an expression

too forcible to be rendered in our language.

We have heard of this species being taken on
the coast of Scotland, but had no opportunity of
examining it ; and whether it is found in the west
of England with the other species, or variety, we
are not at thistime informed. Salvianus makes
it a distinct species, and says, that it is of a
purple color, striped with golden lines, and that
it did not commonly exceed a palm in length:
no wonder then that such a prodigy asone of

six pounds should so captivate the fancy of the

Roman epicure. Mr. Ray establishes some

* In culbili natant pisces: et sub ipsa mensa capitur, qui stalim
sransferatur in mensam: parum videtur recens muallus nisi qua in
convive manu moritur. Vitrers ollis inclusi offeruntur, et abser-
vatur morientium color, quem in multas mutationes mors luctante
spiritu vertit. Seneca Nat. Quest. Lzb. iii. c. 17. -

t Ad omne luxus ingenium mirus.

~} Garum Sociorum, vide p. 358. § Lib. x. ¢. 48.

67

368

2. STRIPED.

Descrir-
TION.

STRIPED SURMULLET. Crass IV.

other” ection sith as the first dorsal fin
having nine rays, and the color of that fin, the
tail, and the pectoral fins, being of a very pale

purple.

On these authorities we form different
species of these fishes, having only examined
what Salvianus and Mr. Ray call the AZullus
major, which we describe under the title of

Mullus major. Salvian. 236. luteis longitudinalibus. Lin.

Mullus major noster et Salvi- syst. 496. Gm. Lin. 1339.
ani. 95. Cornubiensibus. Le Surmulet. DuhamelTr. des

A Surmullet. Wil. Ichth. 285. Pesches. iii. 148. sect. 6.
Raii syn. pise. 91. SS aeeal. 3. fig. 1.

Trigla eapite glabro, lineis us Le Surmulet. Bloch ichth. ii.
trinque quatuor :luteis, lon- 103. tal. 57. 7
gitudinalibus, parallelis. dr- Le Mulle surmulet. De la Ce-
ted. synon. 72. pede Hist. des Poissons. iii.

Mullus cirris geminis lineis 304.

Tuts species was communicated to us by

Pitfield of Eveter: its weight was two
pounds and an half; its length was fourteen
inches; the thickest circumference eleven. It
appears on the coast of Devonshire in May, and
retires about November.

The head is steep; the nose blunt; the body
thick; the mouth small; the lower jaw fur-
nished with very small teeth ; in the roof of the
mouth is a rough hard space; at the entrance

VOL.3.P.366.

P1.LATV.

NO

Srereronts

inane

\

SLO TTOWYAS GHaRiLes

Be
mre

CuassIV. STRIPED SURMULLET.

of the gullet above is a single bone, and beneath
are a pair, each with echinated surfaces, that
help to comminute the food before it passes
down; from the chin hung two beards, two
inches and a half long. The eyes are large;
the irides purple; the head and covers of the
gills very scaly. ‘The first dorsal fin is lodged
in a deep furrow, and consists of six strong, but
flexible rays; the second of eight; the pectoral
fins of sixteen ; the ventral of six branched rays ;
the anal of seven; the tail is much forked.
The body is very thick, -and covered with large
scales; beneath them the color is of a most
beautiful rosy red;* the changes of which,
under the thin scales, gave that entertainment
to the Roman epicures as above mentioned ;
the scales on the back and sides are of a dirty
orange; those on the nose a bright yellow; the
tail a reddish yellow. The sides are marked
lengthways with two lines of a light yellow
color; these, with the red color of the dorsal
fins, and the number of their rays, *Mr. Ray
makes the character of the Cornish Surmullet :
these are notes so liable to vary by accident,
that till we receive further information from the

* This color is most vivid during summer.

VOL. IIT. 9B

369

370

STRIPED SURMULLET. Cuass IV.

inhabitants of our western coasts, where these
fishes are found, we shall remain doubtful whe-
ther we have done right in separating this from
the former, especially as Doctor Gronovius has
pronounced them to be only varieties.

Grey GURNARD.

VOL.3.P.371.

Crass IV. GREY GURNARD:

GENUS XXXIX. GURNARD.

Noss sloping.

Heap covered with strong bony plates.

Rays branchiostegous seven.

APPENDAGES three slender at the base of the
pectoral fins.

Gurnatus seu Gurnardus gri- ternis dorso maculis nigris
seus, the Grey Gurnard. rubrisque. Lin. Syst. 497.
Wil. Ichth. 279. Raii syn. Gm. Lin. 1342. Gronov.

Pisce. B80 F Zooph. No. 283.

Trigla varia rostro diacantho, Le Gurneau. Bloch ichth. ii.
aculeis geminis ad utrum- 111. fab. 58.
que oculum. Arted. synon. La Trigle Gurneau. De la
74. Cepede Hist. des Poissons.

Trigla Gurnardus. Tr. digitis i.

371

1. Grey.

THE nose is pretty long, and sloping ; the end Descrir-

bifurcated, and each side armed with three short
spines; the eyes very large ; above each are
two short spines; the forehead and covers of
the gills silvery tinged with green; the last
finely radiated ; the teeth small, placed in the
lower and upper jaws, in the roof of the mouth,
and base of the tongue; the nostrils minute,
and placed on the sides of the nose. On the

9 BQ

a vA

' TION.

372

GREY GURNARD. Crass IV:

extremity of the gill covers is a strong, sharp,
and long spine; beneath that, just above the
pectoral fins, another. The first dorsal fin con-
sists of eight spiny rays; the sides of the three
first tuberculated; the second dorsal fin of
nineteen soft rays; both fins lodged in a groove,
rough on each side, and very slightly serrated ;
the pectoral fins do not extend as far as the anal
fins, are cinereous, transparent, and supported
by ten rays, bifurcated from their middle; the
three beards at their base as usual; the ventral
fins have six rays, the first spiny, and the shortest
of all; the anal fin nineteen, each soft; the tail
is bifurcated. The lateral line very prominent,
strongly serrated, and of a silvery color. The
back, tail, and a small space beneath the side
line, are of a deep grey, covered with small
scales, and are spotted with white and reddish
yellow ; the belly silvery.

These fishes are usually taken with the hook
in deep water, bite eagerly even at a red rag;
and sometimes are fond of sporting near the
surface. They are often found of the length of
two feet and a half.

Golemd

Y-
‘quvNuUuoo CaAVAULS

VOL.3.P.373.

Crass IV.

Koxxv&? Arist. Hist. an. lib.
iv. c.Q. Oppian Halieué. i.
97-

Koxxug egv9e0s. Atheneus,
vii. 309.

Pesce capone, Cocco, Organo.
Salvian. 191.

Le Rouget. Belon, 199.

Cuculus. Rondel. 287. Gesner
pisc. 305. :

Smiedecknecht, Kurre-fische.
Schonevelde, 32.

Red Gurnard, or Rotchet.
Wil. Ichth. 281. Raii syn.
pisc. 89.

Trigla tota rubens, rostro pas

-RED GURNARD.

rum bicorni, operculis bran-
chiarum striatis. Arted. sy-
non. 74.

Trigla Cuculus. Tr. digitis
ternis, linea laterali mutica.
Lin. syst. 497. Gm. Lin.
1343. Y

Le Rouget grondin. Duhamel
Tr. des Pesches. itis 104.
sect. 5. tab. 7. fig. 1.

Le Rouget ou Rouget gron-
din. Bloch ichth. ii. 113.
tab. 59.

La Trigle grondin. De la Ce-
pede Hist. des Poissons, iil.
359.

Tuts species agrees in its general appearance
with the tub fish,* but differs in these parti-

culars.

The covers of the gills are radiated; the spines
are longer and slenderer; the nose armed on each
side with two sharp spines ; the fins and body are
of a fuller red; the scales are larger; the head
less and narrower; the pectoral fins are edged
with purple, not with blue, and are much shorter,
for when extended they do not reach to the anal
fin. ‘The side line is nearly smooth; the top of
the back less serrated than that of the tub fish;
the tail red and almost even at the end.

* The sapphirine gurnard. Ep.

DEscripP-
TION.

374

ELS: i

PIPER GURNARD. Crass IV.

3. .Preer. <Avea? Arist. Hist. an. lib. Trigla Lyra. Tr. digitis ter-

DEscrIPp-
TION.

iv. c. Q. nis, naribus tubulosis. Lén.
Lyra. Rondel. 298. Gesner Syst. 496. Gm. Lin. 1342.

pise. 516. Le Gronau. Bloch ichth. x.
The Piper. Wil. Ichth. 282. 90. gab. 350. '

Raii Syn. pisce. 89. La Trigle Lyre. De la Cepede
Trigla rostro longo. diacantho, Hist. des Poissons. iii. 845.

naribus tubulosis. <Arted.

Syn. 74.

THis species is frequently taken on the
western coasts of this kingdom, and esteemed
an excellent fish. It is also found off Anglesey.

The weight of one which was communicated
to us by Mr. Prtfield,* was three pounds and an
half; the thickest circumference thirteen inches,
the lest, which was next the tail, only three ; the
length near two feet. The head was very large,
and that part of the body next to it very thick;

the nose divided into two broad plates, each

terminated with three spines; on the inner
corner of each eye was a strong spine; the
bony plates of the head terminated on each side
with another; the covers of the gills were
armed with one very sharp and strong spine,

and were prettily striated; immediately over

* We have been informed, that this fish is found at all times
of the year on the western coasts, and is taken in-nets.

|

—

VOL.3.P.474.

PI.LXvn.

“CuvVNai) waidid

Xune|

we) met

,

}

Crass IV. PIPER GURNARD.

the pectoral fin was another spine very large
and sharp pointed. ‘The nostrils very minute ;
the eyes large; the lower jaw much shorter
than the upper; the teeth in both very minute.
The first dorsal fin consisted of nine very strong
sharp spines, the second of which was the
longest ; the second fin begins just behind the
first, and consisted of eighteen soft rays; the
pectoral fins were long, and had twelve branch-

ed rays; the ventral fins six, very strong and

thick; the anal eighteen, the first spiny; the

- tail small, in proportion to the size of the fish,

and forked. The back on each side the dorsal
fins was armed with a set of strong and very

large spines, pointing towards the tail like the

teeth of a saw; the scales were small, but
very hard and rough; the lateral line bent a

little at its beginning, then went strait to the

tail, and was almost smooth.

co

Gr

376

eS

SAPPHIRINE GURNARD. Crass IV.

4. Sappui- Hirundo Aldrov. The Tub- Lin. Syst. 497. Gm. Lin,

RINE.

DESCRIP-
TIONe

fish, Cornub. Wil. Ichth. 1344,

280. Ratt Syn. pisc. 88. Knorrhane, Knoding, Knot,
Trigla capite aculeato, appen- Smed. Faun. Suec. No.340.
dicibus utrinque tribus ad La Galline ou le Perlon. Bloch
pinnas pectorales. Arted. ichth. ii. 115. éab. 60.
synon. 73. Le Trigle hirondelle. De la
Trigla hirundo. Tr. digitis ter- Cepede Hist. des Poissons,

nis, linea laterali aculeata. ill. 353.

Tus species is of a more slender form than
the preceding. ‘The pupil of the eye is green;
on the inner corner of each eye are two small
spines, but it is at once distinguished from the
other species by the size and colors of the pec-
toral fins, which are very broad and long, of a
pale green, most beautifully edged, and spotty
with rich deep blue. .
The dorsal fins are lodged between two rows
of spines, of a serrated form; the back is of a
greenish cast; the side line is rough; the sides
are tinged with red; the belly white. |
These fish are found on the coast of Corn-
wall. We have also taken them off Anglesey.

&

—
;
;
4
id
tS

GURNARD.

SAPPHIRIN &

VOL. 3.2.376.

CuassIV. STREAKED GURNARD. 377

Cuculus lineatus, the Streaked Gesner pisc. 567. 5. STREAK-
Gurnard. Rati syn. pisc. Trigla lineata. Gm. Lin. 1345. ED.
165. fig. 11. LiImbriago. Bloch ichth. x.

Mullus imberbis. Rondel. 295. 102. tal. 354.

Wil. ichth. 278.

THIS is one of the Cornish fish communi-
cated to Mr. Petiver by Mr. Jago.

The head is large, and, with the covers of the Descrrr-
gills, marked with elegant radiations; theeyes ""°"
large, the irides of a bright yellow; the mouth
small, and without teeth; the jaws appear a
little rough; above the corner of each eye near-
est the nose, are two short spines; the armature
beyond the head is finely serrated ; on the gill-
covers is one short spine; on the plate beyond
them another, very strong; the first dorsal
fin has nine strong spiny rays, the first finely
serrated ; the side line is prominent, and with
the back, very scabrous to the touch ; from the
back and a little below the lateral line, are
certain faint streaks pointing downwards; the
top of the back is serrated; beneath the pec-
toral fins are the three appendages usual to
the genus. ‘The general color of this species is
a bright red, more intense on the tail. The

S78 STREAKED GURNARD. CrassIV.

nose square and blunt. The pectoral fins large,
and spotted with red and yellow.

I met with some of these fishes at Bright-
helmstone. The general length was ten inches
and a half.

Mr. Jago imagines it to be the Mullus im-
berbis of Rondeletius.

VOL. 3.P. 379.

mtb

RL)
\ é

yuan lie OREUT yp

\

ANY

Nah

(-6z¢-4) ‘aH DO'T aaauvad

Wy pumy
YY ty}
YK,
Uy

Hy,

‘Ss

(zse'a) NOW'TVS NOWNOO

el.

ay IV.

BEARDED LOCHE.

Secr. IV.

ABDOMINAL.

a

_GENUS XL. LOCHE.

Eves on the upper part of the head.
-APERTURE to the gills closed below.

Bearps several on the end of the upper jaw.
Bopy of almost an equal thickness. |

Fin one dorsal.

La Loche franche. Belon, 321.

Cobitis barbatula. Rondel.
Sluviat. 204.

Cobitis fluviatilis barbatula.
Gesner pisc. 404.

Smerling, Smerle. Schone-
velde, 31.

Loche, or Groundling. Wil.
Ichth. 265. Rati Syn. pisc.
124.

Cobitis tota glabra maculosa,
corpore subtereti. Aréed.
Synon. 2.

379

Cobitis Barbatula. C. cirris |. BEARDED: |

sex capite Inermi compresso.
Lin. Syst. 499. Gm. Lin.
1348. Gronov. Zooph. No.
202.
Gronling. Faun. Suec. No.
341.
Grundel. Kram. 396. Wulff.
Boruss. No. 40.

La Loche franche. Bloch ichth.
i; 179. fabs 31-07 9eee

Le Cobite Loche. De la Cepede
Hist. des Poissons, y. 8.

THE loche is found in several of our small
rivers, keeping at the bottom of the gravel, and

380

DeEscrip-
TION:

BEARDED LOCHE. Crass IV.

is on that account, in some places, called the
Groundling : it is frequent in the stream near
Amesbury, in Wiltshire, where the sportsmen,
through frolick, swallow it down alive ina glass
of white wine.

The largest we ever heard of was four inches
and three quarters in length, but they seldom
arrive to that size. The mouth is smail, placed
beneath, and has no teeth; on the upper man-
dible are six small beards, one at each corner
of the mouth, and four at the end of the nose 4
the dorsal fin consists of eight rays; the pecto-
ral of eleven; the ventral of seven; the anal of
six; the tail is broad, and has sixteen or seven-
teen rays; the body is smooth and slippery,
and almost of the same thickness: the color of
the head, back, and sides, is in some white, in
others of a dirty yellow, very elegantly marked
with large spots, consisting of numberless mi-
nute black specks: the pectoral, dorsal, and
caudal fins, are also spotted ; the belly and ven-
tral fins of a pure white ; the tail broad, and a
little rounded.

CrassIV. SPINOUS LOCHE. 381

Tonglake. Fuun. Suec. 342. Gronov. Zooph. 200. 2. Spinous.
Raii syn. pisc. 124. La Loche de riviere. Bloch
Rondel. fluviat. 204. ichth. i. 177. tab. 31. f. 2.
Cobitis aculeata. Gesner pisc. Le Cobite Tenia. De la Ce-
404. pede Hist. des Poissons. v.
Cobitis Tenia. C. cirris sex 14.

spina suboculari. Gm. Lin.
1349.

THE head of this species is broad and flat, Descrip-

the body compressed ; by the mouth are six om

beards, and beneath the eye a bifurcated hooked

spine, white and very sharp; the back and

sides marked with whitish lines, dotted with

black; the belly white; the tail rounded.

Length three inches three lines. :
Discovered in the Trent near Nottingham in

1782; it is also found in Maeler lake in

Sweden.

1. Common.

COMMON SALMON. Crass IV.

GENUS XLI. SALMON.

Rays branchiostegous unequal in number.
Fins two dorsal; the second thick, and without

rays.

* With teeth.

Salmo -Plinti Lib. ix. ec. 18.
Ausonius Mosel. 97.

Salmone. Salvian. 100.

Le Saulmon. Belon, 271.

Rondel. fluviat. 167.
Gesner pisc. 824.
velde, O4.

Salmon. Wil. Ichth. 189. Rai
Syn. pisc. 63.

Salmo rostro ultra inferiorem

Salmo.
Schone-

maxillam szepe prominente.
Arted. Synon. 22.
Salmo Salar. Lin. Syst. 509.

Gm. Lin. 1348. Gronov.
Zooph. No. 369.

Lax. Faun. Suec. No. 122.

Lachss. Wulff. Boruss. No. 42.

Le Saumon. Duhamel Tr. des
Pesches, ii. 184. tab. 1.

Le Becard. Bloch iehth. ii.
123. tal. 98. (male).

Le Saumon. 2b. i. 106. #. 20.
(female).

LeSalmoneSaumon. Dela Ce-
pede Hist. des Poissons, v.
159.

THE salmon is a northern fish, bemg un-
known in the JV/editerranean sea, and other
warm climates; it is found in France in some
of the rivers that empty themselves into the
ocean,* and north as far as Greenland ; it is also
very common in Newfoundland, and the north-
ern and western parts of North America. Sal-
mon are taken in the rivers of Kamtschatka,ft
of the same species with the European kind.

* Rondel. fluviat. 167. + Hist. Kamtseh. 143.

Crass IV. COMMON SALMON.

They are in several countries a great article
of commerce, being cured different ways, by
salting, pickling, and drying: there are station-
ary fisheries in Iceland, Norway,* and the Bal-
tzc, but we believe no where greater than those
at Coleraine in Ireland; and in Great Britain
at Berwick, and in some of the rivers of Scot-
land.

The salmon was known to the Romans, but
not to the Greeks: Pliny speaks of it as a fish
found in the rivers of Aquitaine: Ausonius enu-
merates it among those of the A/oselle.

\

Nee te puniceo rutilantem viscere Salmo
Transierem, late cujus vaga verbera caude
Gurgite de medio summas referuntur an undas,
Occultus placido cum proditur equore pulsus.
Tw loricato squamosus peciore, fronéem
Lubricus, et dubice facturus fercula cene,
Tempora longarum fers incorrupta morarum.,
Presignis maculis capitis, cui prodiga nutaé
Alvus, opimatoque fluens abdomine venter.

Nor I thy scarlet belly will omit,

O Salmon, whose broad tail with whisking strokes
Bears thee up from the bottom of tlie stream
Quick to the surface ; and the secret lash

Below, betrays thee in the placid deep.

* There was, about the year 1578, a pretty considerable sal-
mon fishery at Cola, in Russian Lapland. Hackluyt. voy.
1. 416.

+ They are never known to frequent those parts of the
English coast which are composed of chalk.

383

384

ASCENDS
RIvers.

+

COMMON SALMON. Cuass IV.

Armd in thy flaky mail, thy glossy snout
Slippery escapes the fisher’s fingers; else

Thou makest a feast for nicest-judging palates :
And yet long uncorrupted thou remainest :
With spotted head remarked, and wavy spread,
Of paunch immense o’erflowing wide with fat.

ANONYMOUS.

The salmon is a fish that lives both in the
salt and fresh waters, quitting the sea at certain
seasons for the sake of depositing its spawn in
security, in the gravelly beds of rivers remote
from their mouths. There are scarcely any dif-
ficulties but what they will overcome, in order
to arrive at places fit for their purpose: they
will ascend rivers for hundreds of miles, force
themselves against the most rapid streams, and
spring with amazing agility over cataracts of
several feet in height. Salmon are frequently
taken in the RAme as high up as Basil ; they

74rMON gain the sources of the Lapland rivers * in spite
EA

of their torrent-like currents, and surpass the
perpendicular falls of Lezrshp,{ Kennerth,t
and Pont aberglaslyn ;\ these last feats we
have been witness to, and seen the efforts of

* Scheff. Lap. 139. + Near Dublin.
t On the Tivy in South Wales, which Michael Drayton ce-
Iebrates i in his Polyollion on this account.

§ Amidst Snowdon hills, a wild scene in the style af Satvesin
Rosa.

CiassIV. COMMON SALMON.

scores of fish, some of which succeeded, others
miscarried, during the time of our stay.

It may here be proper to contradict the vul-
gar error of their taking their tail in their mouth
when they attempt to leap; though without
doubt it brings the tail very near the head to
make the effort in the water, afterwards it be-
comes straight with a strong tremulous motion.

Other particulars relating to the natural his-

tory of this fish, we shall relate in our accounts
of the fisheries, either from our own observations,
or from such as have been communicated to us
‘from different places: the fullest we have been
favored with, is from the late Mr. Potts, of
Berwick, to whom the public is indebted for the
following very curious history of the salmon
fishery on the Tweed.

' At the latter end of the year, or in the month
of November, the salmon begin to press up the
rivers as far as they can reach, in order to
spawn; when that time approaches they search
for a place fit for the purpose; the male and
female unite in forming a proper receptacle for
it in the sand or gravel, about the depth of
eighteen inches ; in this the female deposits her
spawn, the male his milt, which they cover care-
fully, as it is said, with their tails, for after
spawning they are observed to have no skin on

VOL, III, 2¢

385

SPAWNING.

386

COMMON SALMON. Cuass IV.

that part. The spawn lies buried till spring, if
not disturbed by violent floods; but the salmon
hasten to sea as soon as they are able, to
purify and cleanse themselves, and to recover
their strength ; for after spawning they become
very poor and lean, and then are called Kupper.
When the salmon first enter the fresh water,
they are observed to have abundance of insects
adhering to them, especially above the gills;
these are the Lernee salnonee of Linneus,
and are signs that the fish are in high season.
These animals die and drop off, soon after the
salmon have left the sea.

About the latter end of Jdarch the spawn
begins to exclude the young, which gradually
increase to the length of four or five inches, and
are then termed Smelts or Smouts: about the |
beginning of May the river is full of them; it
seems to be all alive; there can be formed no
idea of the numbers without seeing them ; but a
seasonable flood then hurries them all to the
sea, scarcely any or very few being left in the
river.

About the middle of June the earliest of the

-fry begin to drop, as it were, into the river

again from the sea, at that time about twelve,
fourteen, or sixteen inches, and by a gradual
progress. increase in number and size till about

Crass IV. COMMON SALMON.
the end of July, which is at Berwick termed
the height of Gzlse time, the name given to the
fish at that age; the end of Judy, or beginning
of August they lessen in number, but increase
in size, some being six, seven, eight, or nine
pounds in weight ; this appears to be a surpris-
ing quick growth, yet we have received from a
gentleman at /Varrington, an instance still more
so; a kipper salmon weighing seven pounds
three quarters, taken on the 7th of February,
being marked with a scissars, on the back-fin;
and tail, and turned into the river, was again
taken on the 17th of Adarch following, and then
was found to weigh seventeen pounds and a half.
All fishermen agree, that they never find any
food in the stomach of this fish. It is likely
. they may neglect their food entirely during the
time of spawning, as sea lions and sea bears are
known to do for months together during their
breeding season; and it may be observed, that
like those animals, the salmon return to the
sea lank and lean, and come from the salt wa-
ter in good condition. It is evident that at
times their food is both fish and worms, for the
angler uses both with good success ; as well as
a large, gaudy, artificial fly, which probably the
fish mistakes for a gay /bellula or dragon fly. |
2 1Ore

387

Quick
GROWTH.

Foop |
UNCERTAIN:

388

CAPTURE.

COMMON SALMON. Crass IV.

The capture in the Tweed, about the month
of July, is prodigious ; in a good fishery, often
a boat load, and sometimes nearly two, are
taken in a tide; some few years ago there were
above seven hundred fishes taken at one hawl,
but from fifty to a hundred is very frequent:
the coopers in Berwick then begin to salt both
Salmon and Gilses in pipes, and other large ves-
sels, and afterwards barrel * them to send abroad,
having then far more than the London markets
can take off their hands. |

Most of the salmon taken before April, or to
the setting in of the warm weather, is sent fresh
to London in baskets, unless now and then the
vessel is disappointed by contrary winds, of
sailing immediately; in that case the fish is
brought ashore again to the coopers’ offices, boil- .
ed, pickled, and kitted, and sent to the London
markets by the same ship, and fresh salmon put
in the baskets in lieu of the stale ones. At the
beginning of the season, when a ship is on the
point of sailing, a fresh clean-salmon will sell
from a shilling to eighteen pence a pound, and
most of the time that this part of the trade is
carried on, the prices are from five to nine shil- »

* The salmon barrel holds above forty-two gallons wine.
measure.

Cuass IV. COMMON SALMON.

lings per stone,* the value rising and falling
- according to the plenty of fish, or the prospect
of a fair or foul wind. Some fishes are sent in
this manner to London the latter end of Septem-
ber, when the weather grows cool, but then they
are full of large roes, grow very thin bellied,
and are not esteemed either palatable or whole-
some. ‘The price of fresh fishes in the month
of July, when they are most plentiful, has been

known to be as low as 8d. per stone, but last.

year never less than 16d. and from that to
Qs. 6d.

The season for fishing in the Tweed begins
November 30th, but the fishermen work very
little till after Christmas ; it ends on Michael-
mas- Day ; yet the corporation of Berwick (who
are conservators of the river) indulge the fisher-
men with a fortnight past that time, on account
of the change of the style.

There are on the river forty-one considerable
fisheries extending upwards, about fourteen
miles from the mouth (the others above being
of no great value) which are rented for nearly
- 5400/. per annum. ‘The expence attending the
servants wages, nets, boats, &c. amount to 50007.

* A stone of salmon weighs 18l]b. 10 oz. and half, or in other

terms, four stones, or fifty-six pounds avoirdupoise, is only three
stones, or forty-two pounds, fish weight at Berwick.

SEASON.

389

390

COMMON SALMON. Curass IV.

more, which together makes up the sum
104007. Now in consequence the produce
must defray all, and no less than twenty times
that sum of fishes will effect it, so that 208000
salmon must be caught there one year with
another.

There is a misfortune attending the river
Tweed, which is worthy a parlementary remedy;
for there is no law for preserving the fish in it
during the fence months, as there is in the case
of many other British rivers. This being the

boundary between the two kingdoms, part of it

belongs to the city of Berwzck, and the whole
north side (beginning about two miles from the
town) is entirely Scotch property. From some
disagreement between the parties they will not
unite for the preservation of the fish, so that in
some fisheries on the north side they continue
killing salmon the whole winter, when the death
of one fish is the destruction of thousands.*
The legislature began very early to pay at-
tention to this important article: by the 13th
Edward I. there is an act which prohibits the
capture of the salmon from the Nativity of our
Lady to St. Martin’s Day, in the waters of the
Humber, Owse, Trent, Done, Arre, Derwent,

* I think that this grievance is now removed.

ee

Ciass IV. COMMON SALMON.
Wharfe, Nid, Yore, Swale, and Tees ; and other

monarchs in aftertimes, provided in like manner
for the security of the fish in other rivers.
Scotland possesses great numbers of fine fish-
eries on both sides of that kingdom. The Scotch
in early times had most severe laws against kill-
ing this fish ; for the third offence was by a law

of James IV. made capital. Before that, the.

offender had power to redeem his life.* They
were thought in the time of Henry VI. a pre-
sent worthy of a crowned head, for in that reign
the Queen of Scotland sent to the Dutchess of
Clarence, ten casks of salted salmon, which
Henry directed to pass duty-free. The salmon
are cured in the same manner as at Berwick,
and a great quantity is sent to London in the
spring ; after that time the adventurers begin to
barrel and export them to foreign countries ;
but we believe that commerce is far less lucra-
tive than it was in former times, partly owing
to the great increase of the Newfoundland fish-
ery, and partly to the general relaxation of the
discipline of abstinence in the Romish church.
Ireland (particularly the north) abounds with
this fish: the most considerable fishery is at
Cranna, on the river Ban, about a mile and an

* Regiam Majestatem. Stat. Rob. II. c. 7. Skene’s Acts.
Jumes 1V. Parl. VI.

391

SCOTLAND.

TRELAND.

co

i>

COMMON SALMON. Cuass IV.

half from Coleraine. When I made the tour of
that hospitable kingdom in 1754, it was rented
by a neighboring gentleman for 620/. a year, ©
who assured me that the tenant, his predeces-
sor, gave 1600. per ann. and was a much great-
er gainer by the bargain for the reasons before-
mentioned, and on account of the number of
poachers who destroy the fish in the fence
months. The mouth of the Ban faces the north,
and is finely situated to receive the fishes that
roam along the coast, in search of an inlet into
some fresh water, as they do all along that end
of the kingdom which opposes itself to the north-
ern ocean. We have seen near Ballycastle, nets
placed in the sea at the foot of the promontories
that jut into it, which the salmon strike into as
they are wandering close to shore, and numbers
are taken by that method.

In the Ban they fish with nets eighteen score
yards long, and are continually drawing night
and day during the whole season, which we think
jasts about four months, two sets, of sixteen men
each, alternately relieving one another. The
best draught is when the tide is coming in: we
were told that at a single one there were once
eight hundred and forty fishes taken. A few
miles higher up the river is a wear, where a con-
siderable number of fishes that escape the nets

CiassIV. COMMON SALMON.

are taken. We were lately informed, that in
the year 1760 about three hundred and twenty
tons were taken in the Cranna fishery.

The salmon are cured in this manner: they
are first split, and rubbed with fine salt; and
after lying in pickle in great tubs, or reservoirs,
for six weeks, are packed up with layers of
coarse brown Spanish salt in casks, six of which
_ make a ton. ‘These are exported to Leghorn
and Venice at the price of twelve or thirteen
pounds per ton, but formerly of from sixteen to
twenty-four pounds each.

_ The salmon is a fish so generally known, that
a very brief description will serve. ‘The largest

we ever heard of weighed seventy-four pounds.

The color of the back and sides are grey, some-
times spotted with black, sometimes plain: the
covers of the gills are subject to the same vari-
ety; the belly silvery; the nose sharp pointed ;
the end of the under jaw in the males often
turns up in form of a hook; sometimes this
curvature is very considerable; it is said that
they lose this hook when they return to the sea ;
the teeth are lodged in the jaws and on the
tongue, and are slender, but very sharp; the
tail is a little forked.

393

Descrir=
TION.

304

2, GREY,

DeEscrip-
TION.

GREY SALMON.

The Grey, i. e. cinereus seu
Griseus. Wil. Ichth. 193.
Rau Syn. pisc. 63.

Salmo maculis cinereis, caudze
extremo equali. Arted. Sy-
non. 23.

Salmo Eriox. Lin. Syst. 509.

Crass IV.

Lachss-forellen mit Schwartz-
grauen fiecken oder punkt-
chens. Wulff. Boruss. No. 43.

Shaw Gen. Zool. v. 4:7.

Salmo Schiefermuleri. Bloci
achth. 11. 133. tab. 103?

Le Salmone Schieffermuller,

Gm. Lin. 1366. ?
Gralax. Faun. Suec. No. 346.

De la Cepede Hist. des Pois-

sons. Vv. 1872

[IN compliance with the irresistible impulse of
nature, this fish ascends many British rivers,
both in England and Wales, particularly the lat-
ter, but some of them earlier than others, from
the beginning of June to late in July.

In make, it nearly resembles the salmon, but
the head is rather larger in proportion; and the
body rounder, or not so much compressed ; the
tail is not so much indented, and it is altogether
of a lighter color. It is greatly inferior in size,
seldom exceeding eighteen inches in length,
or two pounds in weight. When it has been
supposed considerably to exceed that size, the
observer was, it is more than probable, deceived
by some singular appearance of the common
salmon, or perhaps a hybrid fish; for, that such
exist, those persons, who have paid most atten-
tion to this subject of ichthyology, have not a

Crass IV. .GREY SALMON.

doubt.* It has teeth in the upper and lower
_ jaws, and two rows on the tongue. ‘The back,
and sides above the lateral line, are of a deep
grey color, marked with numerous roundish,
cruciform, or crescent shaped, purplish, or
dusky spots. The lateral line is strait; below
that prevails a lucid silvery color. Rays of the
first dorsal fin are eleven, of the pectoral eee
yentral nine, anal nine.

We do not know that this fish enters the
Conwy, or any other river between that and the
Dee; but from the Conwy towards the south-
Heat} and south, along the coast of Caernarvon-
shire, and Meirioneth, to South Wales, it is
by no means uncommon; in the latter it is
called the Sewin.—Our observant ancestors in
North Vales distmguished it, by the name of
Gwyniad (gwyn idd) white-pate, from the sal-
mon, which they called Gleisiad, (glas tdd); a
term exactly corresponding with Cyanocepha-
lus or blue-cap, a name given to the salmon (for
it can be no other species) under some particu-
lar circumstances, as Villughby tells us.

H. D.t

* Wil. Ichthyol. p. 193. _
+ The editor is indebted to the reverend Hugh Davies for the
revision and additions to this article. Ep.

395

396

3. WHITE.

DEscrIPp-
TION.

WHITE SALMON. Crass IV.

Le Salmone blanc. De la Cepede Hist. des Poissons, v. 223-

Tuts species migrates out of the sea into the
river Esk in Cumberland from July to Septem-
ber, and is called from its color the Whiting.
When dressed, their flesh is red, and most deli-
cious eating. They have, on their first appear-
ance from the salt water, the lern@a salmonea,
or salmon louse, adhering to them. They have
both melt and spawn; but no fry has as yet
been observed. This is the fish called by the
Scots, Phinocs.

They never exceed a foot in length. The up-
per jaw is a little longer than the lower: im the
first are two rows of teeth; in the last, one; on
the tongue are six teeth.

The back is strait ; the whole body of an ele-
gant form ; the lateral line is strait; color, be-
tween that and the top of the back, dusky and
silvery intermixed ; beneath it, of an exquisite
silvery whiteness; first dorsal fin spotted with
black ; tail black, and much forked. The first
dorsal fin has eleven rays; pectoral, thirteen ;
ventral, nine; anal, nine.

Cuass1V. SEA TROUT SALMON.

Trutia taurina, apud nos in gris, iridibus brunneis, pin-
Northumbria a Bull-trout. na pectorali punctis sex. Lin.
Charlton ex. pisc. 36. Syst. 509. Gm. Lin. 1366.

Trutta Salmonata, the Sal- Gronov. Zooph. No. 367.
mon-trout, Bull-trout, or Orlax, Borting. Faun. Suec.
Scurf. Rait Syn. pisc. 63. No. 347.

Wil. Ichth. 193. La truite saumonte. Block
Salmo latus, maculis rubris ichth. i. 117. tab. 21. ~

nigrisque, cauda zquali. Le Salmone truite saumonée.

Arted. Synon. 24. De la Cepede Hist. des Pois=
Salmo Trutta. S. ocellis ni- sons, v. 204.

Tuts species migrates like the salmon up
several of our rivers; spawns, and returns to
the sea. That, which I describe, was taken in
the Tweed below Berwick in June 1769.

397

4. SEA
Trout.

The shape was more thick than that of the Drscrrr-

common trout; the weight was three pounds
two ounces. ‘The irides were silvery ; the head
thick, smooth, and dusky, with a gloss of blue
and green; the back of the same color, which
grows fainter towards the side line; the back
plain, but the sides as far as the lateral line
marked with large distinct, irregularly shaped
spots of black; the lateral line strait ; the sides
beneath the line, and the belly white; the tail
broad, and even at the end. The dorsal fin had
twelve rays; the pectoral fourteen ; the ventral
nine; the anal ten.

TION.

398

SEA TROUT SALMON. Cuass IV.

The flesh when boiled is of a pale red, but
well flavored.*

[We add the description of a female of this
species taken by the reverend Hugh Davies in
1795. .

“ Length two feet. The pupil of the eye
black, the irides silvery; sharp teeth in both
jaws and on the tongue; the lateral line strait ;
the first dorsal fin nearer the head than the tail;
the second dorsal and anal fins opposite and
within two inches of the tail, which was nearly
even at the end. The whole fish of a dusky.
purplish color; the sides and ‘back dotted with
dusky spots. Ep.

Mr. Willughby’s account of the Salmon, Bull,
or Scurf Trout is obscure; whether the same
with this ?

* The reverend George Barry in his History of the Orkney
isles, (p. 289-) says that the Bull Trout is found in great num-
bers in the Loch of Stennis; but as the flesh is white and dry,
it is seldom sought after. Doctor Edmonstont on the contrary,
says that the Sea Trout which are numerous in Zetland, are
very delicate. Eb.

+ View of the Zetland islands. li. 315.

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Cuass IV.

Salar. Ausonius Mosel. 38.
Salar et varius, Trotta. Sai-
vian. 96.
La Truitte. Belon, 274.
Trutta fluviatilis. Rondel. flu-
viat. 169. Gesner pisc. 1002.
Foren, Forellen. .Schonevelde,
- 77-
A Trout. Vil. Ichth.199. Rait
Syn. pisc. 65.

RIVER TROUT SALMON.

inferiore longiore. Arted.
Synon. 23.

Salmo Fario. Lin. Sysé. 509.
Gm. Lin. 1367.

Laxoring, Forell, Stenbit.
Faun. Suec. No. 348.

La Truite. Bloch ichth. i.121.
tab. 22.
Le Salmone truite. De la Ce-

pede Hist. des Potssons, ve

S. maculis rubris, maxilla 189. ia)
~ IT is matter of surprize that this common fish
has escaped the notice of all the antients, except
- Ausonius : it is also singular, that so delicate a
- species should be neglected at a time when the
- folly of the table was at its height, and that the
. epicures should overlook a fish which is found
~ in such quantities in the lakes of their neighbor-
hood, when they ransacked the universe. for
dainties. The milts of Murene were brought
from one place; the livers of Scar from ano-
ther ;* and Oysters even from so remote a spot
as our Sandwich:}+ but there was, and is, a fa-
shion in the article of good living. The Romans
seem to have despised the trout, the piper, and
the doree; and we believe Mr. Quin himself

* Suetonius, vita Vitellii. + Juvenal Sat. TV. 141.

‘399

5. River
Trout.

400

RIVER TROUT SALMON. Cuass IV,

would have resigned the rich paps of a pregnant
sow,” the heels of camels,f and the tongues of
Flamingos,f though dressed by Heliogabalus’s
cooks, for a good jowl of salmon with lobster
sauce.

When Ausonius speaks of this fish, he makes
no eulogy on its goodness, but celebrates it only
for its beauty.

Purpureisque SALAR stellatus tergore gutiis.

With purple spots the Salar’s back is stained.

These marks point out the species he intend-
ed: what he meant by his Fario is not so easy
to determine: whether any species of trout, of
a size between the salar and the salmon; or
whether the salmon itself, at a certain age, is
not very evident.

Teque inter geminos species, neutrumque et utrumque,

Qui nec dum SALMOynec SALAR ambiguusque.
Amlorum medio Fartio intercepte sub eve.

Salmon or salar, I'll pronounce thee neither ;
A doubtful kind, that may be none, or either,
Fario, when stopt in middle growth.

In fact the colors of the trout, and its spots,
vary greatly in different waters, and in different

* Martial, Lil. XII. Epig. 44.
+ Lamprid. vit. Heliogab.
} Martial, Lib. X11. Epig. 71.

er

Crass IV. RIVER TROUT SALMON.

seasons ; yet each may be reduced to one spe-
cies. In Llyntezvi, a lake in South Wales, are
trouts called Coch y dail, marked with red and
black spots as big as sixpences ; others unspot-
ted, and of a reddish hue, that sometimes weigh
nearly ten pounds, but are bad tasted.

In Lough Neagh in Ireland, are trouts called
there Buddaghs, which I was told sometimes
weighed thirty pounds, but it was not my for-
tune to see any during my stay in the neighbor-
hood of that vast water.

Trouts (probably of the same species) are

also taken in Uls-water, a lake in Cumberland,

of a much superior size to those of Lough
Neagh. These are supposed -to be the same
with the trout of the lake of Geneva; a fish I
have eaten more than once, and think but a very
indifferent one. ,

In the river Eznion, not far from Machyn-
lleth, i Montgomeryshire, and in one of the
Snowdon lakes, is found a variety of trout, which
is naturally deformed, having a strange crook-
edness near the tail, resembling that of the perch
before described. We dwell the less on these
monstrous productions, as our friend the Hon.
Daines Barrington, has already given an ac-
count of them in an ingenious dissertation on

VOL. III. 2D

401

402

GILLAROO
Trout.*

RIVER TROUT SALMON. Crass IV.

some of the Cambrian fishes, published in the
Philosophical Transactions of the year 1767.
The stomachs of the common trouts are un-
commonly thick, and muscular. They feed on
the shell-fish of lakes and rivers, as well as on
small fish. They likewise take into their sto-
machs gravel, or small stones, to assist in com-
minuting the testaceous parts of their food.
The trouts of certain lakes in Ireland, such as
those of the province of Galway, and some
others, are remarkable for the great thickness of
their stomachs, which, from some slight resem-
blance to the organs of digestion in birds, have
been called gizzards : the rish name the species
that has them, Gi//aroo trouts. These stomachs
are sometimes served up to table, under the
former appellation. It does not appear to me,
that the extraordinary strength of stomach in
the Irish fish, should give any suspicion, that
it is a distinct species: the nature of the waters
might increase the thickness; or the superior
quantity of shell-fish, which may more frequent-
ly call for the use of its comminuting powers
than those of our trouts, might occasion this
difference. I had the opportunity of comparing
the stomach of a great Gillaroo trout, with a

* Philosoph. Transac. Vol. LXIV. p..116, 310. Sow. Br.
Misc. tab. 61.

o. |

€iass IV. RIVER TROUT SALMON.

large one from the Uxbridge river. The last, if I
recollect, was smaller, and out of season; and its
stomach (notwithstanding it was very thick) was
much inferior in strength to that of the former ;
but on the whole, there was not the lest specific
difference between the two subjects.

Trouts are most voracious fish, and afford
excellent diversion to the angler; the passion
for the sport of angling is so great in the neigh-
borhood of London, that the liberty of fishing in
some of the streams in the adjacent counties, is
purchased at the rate of ten pounds per annum.

These fishes shift their quarters to spawn,
and, like the common salmon, make up towards
the heads of rivers to deposit their roes. The
under jaw of the trout is subject, at certain times,
to the same curvature as that of the salmon. -

A trout taken in Llynaled, in Denbighshire,
which is famous for an excellent kind, measured
seventeen inches, its depth three and three quar-
ters ; its weight was one pound ten ounces ; the

head was thick; the nose rather sharp; the up-

per jaw a little longer than the lower; both

jaws, as well as the head, were of a pale brown,

blotched with black ; the teeth sharp and strong,

disposed in the jaws, roof of the mouth and

tongue, as is the case with the whole genus, ex-

cept the Gwyniad, which is toothless, and the
2-D 2

403

Descriv-
TION.

404

6. SAMLET.

SAMLET SALMON. Crass IV.

Grayling, which has none on its tongue. The
back was dusky; the sides tinged with a pur-.
plish bloom, marked with deep purple spots,
mixed with black, above and below the side line
which was strait; the belly white. The first.
dorsal fin was spotted ; the spurious fin brown,
tipped with red; the pectoral, ventral, and
anal fins, of a pale brown; the edges of the.
anal fin white; the tail very little forked when
extended.

Le Tacon? Belon. 275. Salmoneta, a Branlin. Ray’s
Salmulus, Herefordie Samlet Letters, 199.

dictus. Wil. Ichth. 192. Le Salmone rille. De la Ce-
Salmulus, the Samlet Here- pede Hist. des Poissons, v-

JSordiensibus, Branlin et Fin- 226.?

gerin Eboracensibus. Rati

Syn. pisc. 63.

THE samlet is the lest of the salmon kind, is
frequent in the Wye, in the upper part of the
Severn, and the rivers that run into it, in the
north of England, and in Wales. It is by se-
veral imagined to be the fry of the salmon; but
our reasons for dissenting from that opinion are
these:

First, It is well known that the salmon fry
never continue in fresh water the whole year ;
but as numerous as they appear on their first

CuassIV. |SAMLET SALMON.

escape from the spawn, all vanish on the first
vernal flood that happens, which sweeps them
into the sea, and leaves scarcely one behind.

Secondly, The growth of the salmon fry is so
quick and so considerable, as suddenly to exceed
the bulk of the largest samlet; for example, the
fry that have quitted the fresh water in the
spring, not larger than gudgeons, return into it
again a foot or more in length.

Thirdly, Salmon attain a considerable bulk
before they begin to breed; the samlets, on the
contrary, are found male and female, * (distin-

guished by the milt and roe) of their common size. ©

Fourthly, They are found in the fresh waters
in all times of the year, and even at seasons
- when the salmon fry have gained a considerable
size. It is well known, that near Shrewsbury

(where they are called Samsons) they are found

in such quantities in the month of September,
that a skilful angler, in a coracle, will take with
a fly from twelve to sixteen dozen in a day.

Samlets spawn in November and December,
at which time those of the Severn push up to-
wards the head of that fair river, quitting the
lesser brooks, and return into them again when
they have done.

* It has been vulgarly imagined, that there were no other
than males of this species.

405

406

SAMLET SALMON. Cuass IV.

They have a general resemblance to the trout,
therefore must be described comparatively.
First, the head is proportionably narrower,
and the mouth less than that of the trout.
Secondly, They seldom exceed six or seven
inches in length; at most, eight and a half.
Thirdly, The pectoral fins have generally but
one large black spot, though sometimes a single

_ small one attends it; whereas the pectoral fins

of the trout are more numerously marked.
Fourthly, The spurious or fat fin on the back
is never tipped with red; nor is the edge of the
anal fin white.
Fifthly, The spots on the cay are fewer, and

not so bright. It is also marked from the back

to the sides with six or seven large bluish bars;

fis 44

but this is not a certain character, as the same

is sometimes found in young trouts.
Sixthly, The tail of the samlet is much more
forked than that of the trout.

These fish are very frequent in the rivers of
Scotland, where they are called Parrs.* They

* This species is twice figured, once under the name of
Samlet, and again under that of Parr, in the present as it was
in the former edition of the British Zoology; in the latter the
engraving of the Parr was inadvertently referred to No. 78, in-
stead of No. 148, an error which has not escaped the severe
observation of a recent writer. It may here be remarked that
the spots on the sides of the Parr of Sco¢/and are much larger

|

VOL.3.P.407.

“MUV ALO

ize Vor yh

CuAss IV.

CHARR SALMON.

are also common in the /Vye, where they are
known by the name of Skirlings, or Lasprings.

L’Omble, ou Humble. Belon,
281.

Umbla seu Humble Belonz
Gesner pisc. 1005.

Umbla minor. Gesner pisc.
1013.

Torgoch Wallis. Westmor-
landis. Red Charre Lacus
Wrinander mere. Wil. Ichth.
196. Fai syn. pisc. 65.

Salmo vix pedalis, pinnis ven-
tralibus rubris, maxilla in-
feriore longiore. Arted. Syn.
25.

Salmo alpinus. Lin. Syst. 510.
Gm. Lin. 1370.
Zooph. No. 372.

Roding, Lapponibus
Faun. Suec. No. 124.

Charr-fish. Phil. Trans. 1755.
210.

L’Omble. Bloch ichth. iii. 125.
tab. gg.

La Truite des Alpes, 2b. iii.
135. tab. 104.

Le Salmone bergforelli. De la
Cepede Hist. des Poissons,
vy. 203.2

Gronov.

Raud.

THE charr is an inhabitant of the lakes of the
north, and of those of the mountanous parts of
Europe. It affects clear and pure waters, and
is very rarely known to wander into running
streams, except into such whose bottom is simi-
lar to the neighboring lake.

It is found in vast abundance in the cold lakes
on the summits of the Lupland Alps, and is al-
‘most the only fish that is met with in any plenty
in those regions, where it would be wonderful

and more distinct than those on the common Samlet, and give
it a striking resemblance to the Salmone Rille of De la Cepede ;
but the latter is said to grow to the size ofa Herring. Eb.

407

7. CHARR.

408.

CHARR SALMON. —_Cuass IV.

how they subsisted, had not Providence sup-
plied them with innumerable Jarve of the Gnat
kind : * these are food to the fishes, who in their
turn are a support to the migratory Laplanders
in their summer voyages to the distant lakes.
In such excursions those vacant people find a
luxurious and ready repast in these fishes, which
they dress. and eat without the addition} of
sauces ; for exercise and temperance render use-
less the inventions of epicurism.

There are but few lakes in our island that
produce this fish, and even those not in any
abundance. It is found in /Vinander Mere in
1Vestmoreland ; in Llyn Cawellyn, near the foot
of Snowdon; and before the discovery of the

* A pupil of Linnaeus remarks in the fourth volume of the
Amen. Acad. p. 156, that the same insects which are such a
pest to the rein deer, afford sustenance to the fishes of the vast
lakes and rivers of Lapland. But at the same time that we
wonder at Linnceus’s inattention to the food of the birds and
fishes of that country, which abound even to a noxious degree, .
we must, in justice to that Gentleman, acknowledge an over-
sight of our own in the second volume of the British Zoology,
p. 522, edition the second, where we give the Lapland waters
only one species of water plant; for on a more careful review
of that elaborate performance, the Flora Lapponica, we discover
three other species, viz. Scirpus, No. 18, Alopecurus, No. 38,
Ranunculus, No. 234; but those so thinly scattered over the
Lapland lakes, as still to vindicate our assertion, as to the scarce-
ness of plants in the waters of alpine countries.

+ Arted. Sp. pisc. 52. P

Crass IV. CHARR SALMON.

copper-mines, in those of Ldynberis, but the
mineral streains have entirely destroyed the fish
in the last lakes.* Mr. /Valker to whom I have
been so often indebted, tells me, that he is in-
formed by Doctor Vyse, an eminent physician
and botanist at Limerick, that the Charr is found

in the lake of Inchigeelah in the county of Cork,.

and in one or two other small lakes in the neigh-
borhood. In Scotland itis found in Loch Inch,
and other neighboring lakes, and is said to go
into the Spey to spawn. |

_ The largest and most beautiful we ever re-
ceived were taken in /Vinander Mere, and were
communicated to us by the Rev. Mr. Parrish
of Carlisle, with an account of their natural his-
tory. He favored me with five specimens, two
under the name of the Case Charr, male and
female; another he called the Gelt Charr, i. e.
a charr which had not spawned the preceding
season, and on that account is reckoned to be
_ in the greatest perfection. The two others were

inscribed, the Red Charr, the Silver or Gelt —

Charr, the Carpio Lacus Bunact, Rait syn.
pisc. 66, which last are in /Vestmoreland distin-
guished by the epithet red, by reason of the

* They are found in certain lakes in Meirionethshire.

409

410 CHARR SALMON. Cuass IV.

flesh assuming a higher color than the other
when dressed.

Varietizs. On the closest examinaticn, we could not dis-
cover any specific differences in these speci-
mens, therefore must describe them as the same
fish, subject only to a slight variation in their
form, hereafter to be noted. But there is in
another respect an essential difference, we mean
in their ceconomy, which is in all beings invari-
able; the particulars we shall deliver in the very
words of our obliging informant. |

Spawninc The Umbla minor, or case charr, spawns

eine ** about Michaelmas, and chiefly in the river Bra-
thy, which uniting with another called the Row-
thay, about a quarter of a mile above the lake,
they both fall into it together. The Brathy
has a black rocky bottom; the bottom of the
Rowthay is a bright sand, and into this the
charr are never observed to enter. Some of
them however spawn in the lake, but always in
such parts of it which are stony, and resemble
the channel of the Brathy. ‘They are supposed
to be in the highest perfection about May, and
continue so all the summer, yet are rarely
caught after dpril. When they are spawning
in the river they will take a bait, but at no other
time, being commonly taken, as well as the

Crass IV. CHARR SALMON.

other species, in what they call breast nets,
which are in length about twenty-four fathoms,
and about five, where broadest.

The season which the other species spawns in
is from the beginning of January to the end
of March. They are never known to ascend
the rivers, but remain in those parts of the lake
which are springy, where the bottom is smooth
and sandy, and the water warmest. The fisher-
men judge of this warmth, by observing that the
water seldom freezes in the places where they
spawn, except in intense frosts, and then the
ice is thinner than in other parts of the lake.
They are taken in greatest plenty from the
end of September to the end of November: at
other times they are hardly to be met with.
This species is much more esteemed for the
table than the other, and is very delicate when
potted. |

We must observe, that this account of the

“spawning season of the /Vestmoreland charrs,

agrees very nearly with that of those of Vales,
the last appearing about a month later, keep
moving from side to side of the pool, and then
retire into the deep water, where they are some-
times but rarely taken. This remarkable cir-
cumstance of the different season of spawning

411

OF THE
GELT
CuHarRR.

Rep CHARR.

Descrip-
TION.

CHARR SALMON. Cuass IV.

in fish, apparently the same (for the red charr
of Vinander, is certainly not the Carpio Lacus
Benact) puzzles us greatly, and makes us wish
that the curious, who border on that lake, would

pay farther attention to the natural history of |

these fishes, and favor us with some further
lights on the subject.

We shall now describe the varieties by the
names ascribed to them in the north.

The length of the red charr to the division in
its tail, was twelve inches; its biggest circum-
ference almost seven. The first dorsal fin placed
five inches and three quarters from the tip of
its nose, consisted of twelve branched rays, the
first of which was short, the fifth the longest ;
the adipose fin was very small.

Each of the five fish had double nostrils, and
small teeth in the jaws, roof of the mouth, and
on the tongue. The head, back, dorsal fin, and
tail of each, were of a dusky blue; the sides
rather paler, marked with numbers of bright
red spots; the bellies of the Red Charr were
of a full and rich red; those of the Case Charr
rather paier; from this particular the /Velsh
call these fish Torgoch, or red belly. ‘The first
rays of the anal and ventral fins of each, were
of a pure white; the rest of each fin on the

rs

Crass IV. CHARR SALMON.

lower part of the body, tinged with red. The
lateral line strait, dividing the fish into two equal
parts, or nearly so.

The jaws of the Case Charr were perfectly
even; on the contrary, those of the Red Charr

were unequal, the upper jaw being the broad-

413

est, and the teeth hung over the lower, as might

be perceived on passing the finger over them.

The branchiostegous rays were, on different
sides of the same fish, unequal in number, viz.
12,-11, 11,-10, 10,-9, except in one, where
they were 11,-11.

The Gelt, or Barren Charr, was rather more
slender than the others, as being without spawn.
The back of a glossy dusky blue; the sides sil-
very, mixed with blue, spotted with pale red ;
the sides of the belly were of a pale red, the
bottom white. _

The tails of each bifurcated.

The charrs we have seen, brought from Snow-
don lakes, were rather smaller than those of
IVestmoreland, their colors paler. The sup-
posed males very much resemble the Gelt
Charr ; but that is not a certain distinction of
sex, for the Rev. Mr. Furrington* has told me
that the fishermen do not make that distinction.

* Who favored the Royal Society with a paper on the Welsh
ehar. Vide Phil. Trans. 1755.

GELT
CHARR.

414

GRAYLING SALMON,

8. Gray- Ovuwarros. Blian. de an. lib.

LING.

xiv. c. 22.

Umbra Ausonit Mosella. 90.

Thymalus, Thymus. Salvian.
81. Belon, 276.

Thymus, Umbra fluviatilis.
Rondel. fluv. 187,172. Ges-
ner pisc. 132.

A Grayling, or Umber. Wii.

Cuass IV.

«&

Salmo Thymallus. Zin. sysé.
512. Gm. Lin. 1379. Gro-
nov: Zooph. No. 375.

Asch. Kram. 390.

L’Ombre D’Auvergne. Du-
hamel Tr. des Pesches, ii.
248. tab. 3. fig. 2.

L’Ombre d'Auvergne. Bloch
_ ichth. i. 128. tab. 24.

Ichth. 187. Rai syn. pisc.
62. Coregonus maxilla su-

Le Coregone Thymalle. De la
Cepede Hist. des Poissons, v.

periore longiore, pinna dor- 256.

si ossiculorum viginti trium.
Arted. synon. 20.

THE grayling haunts clear and rapid streams,
and particularly such as flow through moun-
tanous countries. It is found in the rivers of
Derbyshire ; in some of those of the north ; in
the Jame near Ludlow ; in the Lug, and other
streams near Leominster ; and in the river near
Christchurch, Hampshire. It is also very
common in Lapland ; the inhabitants make use
of the guts of this fish instead of rennet, to
make the cheese which they get from the milk
of the rein deer.* |

It is a voracious fish, rises freely to the fly,
and will very eagerly take a bait; is a very

* Flora Lap. 109. Amen. Acad. iv. 159.

a
a
3
.
s

yin) —— wy Uf

He na TK (a A , f

} < VOY | =

\\\\ A y),
77,

(wt a): ONITAV UO.

CuassIV. GRAYLING SALMON.

swift swimmer, and disappears like the tran-
sient passage of a shadow, from whence we
believe is derived the name of Umbra.

Effugiensque oculos celert levis UMBRaA natatu.*
The Umbra swift escapes the quickest eye.

Thymalus and Thymus, are names bestowed
on it on account of the imaginary scent, com-
pared by some to that of thyme; but we never
could perceive any particular smell.

It is a fish of an elegant form; less deep than
the trout; the largest we ever heard of was
taken near Ludlow, which was above half a yard
long, and weighed four pounds six ounces, but
this was a very rare instance. ‘The irides are
silvery, tinged with yellow; the teeth very mi-
nute, seated in the jaws and the roof of the
mouth, but none on the tongue; the head is
dusky ; the covers of the gills of a glossy green ;
the back and sides of a fine silvery grey, but
when the fish is just taken, varied slightly with
blue and gold ; the side-line is strait ; the scales
large, and the lower edges dusky, forming strait
rows from head to tail. The first dorsal fin
has twenty-one rays; the three or four first are
the shortest, the others almost of equal lengths;
this fin is spotted, all the others are plain; the
tail is much forked. :

* Ausonii Mosel. 90.

Descrire
TION.

416

SMELT SALMON.

-

g. SMELT. FEpelan de mer. Belon, 282.

Eperlanus. Rondel. fluviat.
196. Gesner pisc. 362.

Spirincus et Stincus. Gesner.
Puralip. 29.

A Spyrling a Sprote. Turner
epist. ad Gesn.

Stindt, et Stinckfisch. Scho-
nevelde, 70.

A Smelt. Wil. Ichth. 202.
Rau Syn. pisc. 66.

Osmerus radiis pinnz ani sep-
tendecim. Arted. Synon. 21.

Cuass LY.

)

diaphane, radiis pinne ani
septendecim. Lin. Syst.
511. Gm. Lin. 1375. Gro-
nov. Zooph. No. 4Q.

Nors, Slom. Faun. Suec.- No.
350.

L’Eperlan. Duhamel Tr. des
Pesches, ii. 229. tab. 4.
ig. We

L’Eperlan de Mer. Bloch
ichth. 1. 145. éab. 28. f. 1.

L’Osmere eperlan. De la Ce-
pede Hist. des Poissons, v-

Salmo Eperlanus. 5. capite 231.

THE smelt* inhabits the seas of the northern
parts of Europe, and we believe never is found
as far south as the Mediterranean: the Seine is
one of the J’rench rivers which receives it, but
whether it is found south of that, we have not at
present authority to say. If we can depend
on the observations of navigators, who generally
have too much to think of to attend to the mi-
nutié of natural history, these fish are taken in
the straits of JZagellan,t and of a most surpris-
ing size, some measuring twenty inches in
length, and eight in circumference.

* Bloch considers this as a variety of the Salmo eperlanus, or

? Eperlan, which is an inhabitant of Jakes. Eb.
+ Narlorough’s Voy. 123.

Crass IV. SMELT SALMON.

They inhabit the seas that wash these islands
the whole year, and never go very remote from
shore, except when they ascend the rivers. It

_ is remarked in certain rivers that they appear a

long time before they spawn, being taken in
great abundance in November, December, and
January, in the Thames and Dee, but in others
not till February, and in March and April they
spawn; after which* they all return to the salt
water, and are not seen in the rivers till the next
season. It has been observed, that they never
come into the Mersey as long as there is any
snow water in the river.

These fish vary greatly in size; the largest
we ever saw was thirteen inches long, and
weighed half a pound ; but I have been inform-
ed by a gentleman resident near Llanrwst, that
he had seen several taken in the adjacent river
Conwy which weighed twelve ounces.

They have a very particular scent, from
whence is derived one of their Exglsh names»
Smelt, i. e. smell it. That of Sparling, which
is used in Vales and the north of England, is
taken from the French, Eperlan. ‘There is a
wonderful disagreement in the opinion of people
in respect to the scent of this fish; some assert

* In the river Conwy, near Llanrwst, and in the Mersey
they never continue above three or four weeks.

VOL. IIT. oR

417

418

Descrip-
TION.

SMELT SALMON. Crass IV:

it flavors of the violet; the Germans, for a very
different reason, distinguish it by the elegant
title of Stinchfisch.*

Smelits are often sold in the streets of London
split and dried. ‘They are called dried Spar-
lings, and are recommended as a relish to a
glass of wine in the morning.

It is a fish of a very beautiful form aiid color ;
the head is transparent, and the skin in general so
thin, that with a good microscope the blood may
be observed to circulate. The irides are silvery ;
the pupil of a full black ; the under jaw is the
longer; in the front of- the upper jaw are four
large teeth ; those im the sides of both are small;
in the roof of the mouth are two rows of teeth;
on the tongue two others of large teeth. The
first dorsal fin has eleven rays; the pectoral
fins the same number; the ventral eight; the
anal fourteen. The scales are small, and rea-
dily drop off; the tail consists of nineteen rays,
and is forked. The color of the back 4s whitish,
with a cast of green, beneath which it is varied

* And not without reason, if we may depend on Linneus,
who says there are in the Baltic two varieties, the one, which is
called Nors,.fetidissimus, stercoris instar, which in the early
spring, when ihe peasants come to buy it, fills all the streets of
Upsal with the smell. He adds, that-at this season agues wig
there. Faun. Suec. p. 125.

z i = — aeietias Pe wor ON faa
a t fy S | )
.
o =
; o-
>
i

a | | CVINIMD

Crass IV.

GWYNIAD SALMON.

with blue, and then succeeds a beautiful gloss of

a silvery hue.

** ‘Without Teeth.

Le Lavaret. Belon, 278.

Lavaretus; Piscis Lemani la-
cus Bezola yulgo nuncupa- —

tus. Alius Piscis proprius
Lemani lacus. Rondel. flu-
viat. 162, 163, 164. Gesner
pisc. 29, 30, 31.

Albula nobilis, Snepel, Helte?
Schonevelde, 12.

Vandesius et Gevandesius. Sib.
Scot. 26.

Guiniad Vallis: piscis lacus
Balensis, Ferre, (ut puto)
idem. Wil. Ichth. 183. Raii
syn. pisc. 61.

Lavaretus Allolrogum, Schel-
ley Cumberlandis. Wil.
Ichth. 183. Raw Syn. pisc.
61.

Albula cerulea. Scheuchzer it.
Alp. ii. 481.

Coregonus maxilla superiore
longiore plana, pinna dorsi
ossiculorum 14. Arted. sy-
non. 1Q.

Salmo Lavaretus. Lin. syst.
512. Gm. Lin. 1376.

Sijk, Stor-sijk. Faun. Suec.
No. 352.

Gwiniad. Phil. Trans. 1767.
211. sa

Adelfisch, Gangfisch, Weiss-
fisch, Weisser Blauling,
Schnapel. Wulff Boruss. 37.

Reinankl. Kram. 389.

Le Layaret. Duhamel Tr. des
Pesches. ii. 233.

Le Lavaret. Bloch Ichth. %.
132. tab. 25.

Le Coregone Lavaret. De la
Cepede Hist. des Poissons.
vy. 245,

OE iSvtishuis anvinhaleemtwomeeveral of the

lakes of the Alpine parts of Europe.

Tt is

found in those of Switzerland, Savoy, and Italy;

QE2

419

10. Gwx-
NIAD.

420

-GWYNIAD SALMON. = _ Crass IV.

of Norway, Sweden, Lapland,* and Scotland;
in those of Ireland, and of Cumberland ; and
in Wales, in that of Llyntegid, near Bala, in
Meirionethshire.

It is the same with the Ferra of the lake of
Geneva, the Schelly} of Uls-water, the Pollen
of Lough Neagh, and the Vangis and Jucangis
of Loch Mabon. The Scotch have a tradition
that it was first introduced there by their beau-
teous queen, the unhappy JJary Stuart ; and
as, in her time, the Scotch court was much
frenchified, it seems likely that the name was
derived from the French, vendoise, a dace; to

which a slight observer might be tempted to |

compare it from the whiteness of its scales.

* Scheffer, in his history of Lapland, p. 140, says, that these
fishes are caught there of the weight of ten or twelve pounds.
We wish Linneus had executed his intention of favoring the
world with his Zachesis Lapponica, in which he promised a
complete history of that country. I once reminded him of it,
and it is with true regret, that I give his answer: Nune nimis
seré tnciperem,

Me quoque debilitat series immensa laborum,
Ante meum tempus cogor et esse senem:
Firma sit illa licet solvetur in equore navis,

Que nunguam liquidis sicca carebit aquis.

--f The inhabitants of Cumberland give this name also to the
chub, from its being a scaly fish.

A
i i a

\

CuassIV. GWYNIAD SALMON.

The British name Gwiniad, or whiting, was
_ bestowed on it for the same reason.

It is a gregarious fish, and approaches the
shores in vast shoals in spring and in summer,
which prove in many places a blessed relief to
the poor of inland countries, in the same degree
as the annual return of the herring is to those
who inhabit the coasts. The Rev. Mr. Farrish
of Carisle, wrote me word, that he was assured
by an U/s-water fisherman, that last summer he
took between seven and eight thousand at one
draught. I must not pass by that gentleman
without acknowledging my obligations to him
for an account of the Charrs and the Schelly ;
he being one of the valuable embellishers of this
work, for whom I am indebted to the friendship
of his late worthy prelate.*

The Gwyniad is a fish of an insipid taste, and
must be eaten soon, for it will not keep long;
those who choose to preserve them do it with
salt. They die very soon after they are taken.
Their spawning season in Liyntegid is in De-
cember.

It has long ago been observed in Camden,t
that these fish never wander into the Dee, or
the salmon ever ventures into the lake: this
must be allowed to be generally the case; but

* Lyttelton, bishop of Carlisle. Ep. t Vol. ii. 790.

Q1

Aga

Derscrip-
TION.

GWYNIAD SALMON. Crass IV,

by accident the first have been known to stray

as far as Llandrillo, six miles down the river,
and a salmon has now and then been found
trespassing in the lake.*

The largest Gwyniad we ever heard of weigh-
ed between three and four pounds: we have a
Ferra we brought with us out of Sweserland,

that is fifteen inches long; but these are un- —

common sizes: the fish which we describe was
eleven inches long, its greatest depth three.
The head is small, smooth, and of a dusky
hue; the eyes very large; the pupil of a deep
blue; the nose blunt at the end; the jaws of
equal length; the mouth small and toothless ;
the branchiostegous rays nine; the covers of
the gills silvery, powdered with black; the
back is a little arched, and slightly carimated ;
the color, as far as the lateral line, glossed with
deep blue and purple, but towards the lines
assumes a silvery cast, tinged with gold, be-
neath which those colors entirely prevale; the
side line is quite strait, and consists of a series
of distinct spots of a dusky hue; the belly isa
little prominent, and quite flat on the bottom.
The first dorsal fin is placed almost in the
middle, and consists of fourteen branched rays;

* Hon. D. Barrington’s Letter to Dr. Watson. Phil. Trans.
4767.

Cuass IV. GWYNIAD SALMON.

the second is thin, transparent, and not distant
from the tail; the pectoral fins have eighteen
rays, the first the longest, the others gradually
shortening ; the ventral fins are composed of
twelve, and the anal of fifteen, all branched at
their ends; the ventral fins in some are of a fine
sky blue, in others as if powdered with blue
specks; the ends of the other lower fins are
tinged with the same color; the tail is very
much forked; the scales large, and adhere close
to the body.*

* De la Cepede in the Supplement to his Histoire des Pois-
sons, v. 696, gives a slight description of two supposed species of
Salmon discovered by le citoyen Noel, and which he asserts are
unknown to British ichthyologists.

One found in Loch Lomond, he has, from its resemblance to
an herring, for which it has been taken, denominated /e Core-
gone clupeoide. Its head is small, convex above, devoid of
smaller scales, but distinguished by a few larger, or plates:
it grows to the length of sixteen inches.

The other, le Salmone Cumberland, inhabits the lakes of
Cumberland and Scotland. 'The head is described as small, the
eyes large, and placed near the nose; the mouth large and fur-
nished with two rows of teeth on the tongue; the scales small;
the lateral line straight; the adipose fin long; the general color
white, the back grey; the flesh pale and tasteless. Ep.

423,

AQ4

1. CoMMON.

COMMON PIKE.

Cuass IV.

GENUS XLII. PIKE.

Jaw upper shorter than the lower.
Bopy long, slender, compressed sideways.
Frw one dorsal placed near the tail.

Lucius. Ausonzt Mosella, 122.

Luccio. Salvian. 94.

Le Brochet. Belon, 292. IJtin.
104.

Lucius. Rondel. fluviat. 188.
Gesner pisc. 500.

Hekei, Hecht. Schonevelde,
44.

Pike, or Pickerel. Wil. Ichth.
236. Rati syn. pisc. 112.

Esox rostro plagioplateo. Aré.
synon. 26.

Esox Lucius.

Lin, syst. 516.

Gm. Lin. 1390.
Zooph. No. 361.
Gjadda. Faun. Suec. No. 355.

Hecht. Aram. 388.

Le Brochet. Duhamei Tr. des
Pesches, ti. 522.
tab. 27. fig. 6.

Le Brochet. Bloch Ichth, i.
183. tab. 32.

L’Esoce Brochet. De la Ce-
pede Hist. des Poissons, v.
207.

a

_ Gronov.

sect. 3.

THe pike is common in most of the lakes of
Europe, but the largest are those taken in Lap-
land, which, according to Scheffer, are some-

times eight feet long ;

they are taken there in

great abundance, dr ceil and exported for sale.
The largest fish of this kind which we ever
heard of in England, weighed thirty-five pounds.

According to the common saying, these fish

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Cuass IV. COMMON PIKE.

were introduced into England in the reign of
Henry Vill. in 1537. They were so rare,

that a pike was sold for double the price of a

house-lamb in February, and a pickerel for
more than a fat capon. How far this may be
depended on, I cannot say, for this fish is men-
tioned in the Boke of St. Albons, printed in the
year 1496, and is not there spoken of as a
scarce fish, as was then the case with respect to
the carp. Great numbers of pike were dressed
in the year 1466, at the great feast given by
George Nevil, Archbishop of York.*
All writers who treat of this species bring
instances of its vast voraciousness. We have
known one that was choaked by attempting to
_swallow another of its own species that proved
too large a morsel ; yet its jaws are very loosely
connected, and have on each side an additional
bone like the jaw of a viper, which renders
them capable of greater distension when it
swallows its prey. It does not confine itself to
feed on fish and frogs; it will devour the water
rat, and draw down the young ducks as they are
swimming about. In a manuscript note, p.
244, of a copy of Plot’s History of Stafford-

* «© Pikes” are mentioned in an act of the sixth year of the
reign of Richard II. cap. xi. which relates to the forestalling of
fish. Eb.

425

426:

COMMON PIKE. Crass IV.

shire, in my possession, is the following extra-,
ordinary fact: “ At Lord Gower’s canal. at
“* Trentham, a pike seized the head of a swan
“* as she was feeding under water, and gorged)
“so much of it. as killed them both. The
** servants perceiving the swan with its head
under water for a longer time than usual,
took the boat, and found both swan and pike
“¢ dead.’”*

But there are instances of its fierceness still
more surprizing, and which, indeed, border a
little on the marvellous. Gesnerf relates, that
a famished pike in the Rhone seized on the lips
of a mule that was brought to water, and that
the beast drew the fish out before it could dis-
engage itself. People have been bit by these
voracious creatures while they were washing
their legs; and they will even contend with the
otter for its prey, and endeavour to force it out

ێ

€¢

of its mouth. +

Small fishes shew the same uneasiness and
detestation at the presence of this tyrant, as the

- little birds do at the sight of the hawk or owl.

When the pike lies dormant near the surface (as

* This note, I afterwards discovered, was written by Mr.
Plot, of Oxford, who assured me he inserted it on good au-
thority.

+ Gesner pisc. 503. t Walton. 157.

CuassIV. | COMMON PIKE.

is frequently the case) the lesser fishes are often
observed to'swim around it in vast numbers, and
in great anxiety. Pike are often haltered: in a
noose, and taken while they lie thus asleep in
the ditches near the Lhames in the month of
May.
In the shallow water of the Lancolnshire fens
they are frequently taken in a manner peculiar,
we believe, to that county, and the isle of Cey-
lon.* ‘The fisherman makes use of what is
called a crown-net, which is no more than a
hemispherical basket, open at the top and bot-
tom. He stands at the end of one of the little
fen-boats, and frequently puts his basket down
to the bottom of the water, then poking a stick
into it, discovers whether he has any booty by
the striking of the fish; and vast numbers of
pike are taken in this manner.
The longevity of this fish is very remarkable,
if we may credit the accounts given of it.
Rzaczynskift tells us of one that was ninety
years old; but Gesnert relates, that in the year
1497, a pike was taken near Hazlbrun, in Sua-
bia, with a brazen ring affixed to it, on which
were these words in Greek characters: J am
the fish which was first of all put into this lake

* Knox's Hist. Ceylon, 28. + Hist. Nat. Polonie. 152.
t Icones piscium, 316, where a print of the ring is given.

427

LONGEVITY. |

425

DEscrRIP-
TION.

COMMON PIKE. Cuass IV.

by the hands of the governor of the universe,
FrepericK the Second, the 5th of October
1230: so that the former must have been an
infant to this A/ethusalem of a fish.

Pikes spawn in March or April, according to
the coldness or warmth of the weather. When

‘they are in high season their colors are very

fine, being green, spotted with bright yellow;
and the gills are of a most vivid and full red.
When out of season, the green changes to grey,
and the yellow spots turn pale.

- The head is very flat; the upper jaw broad,
and shorter than the lower ; the under jaw turns”
up alittle at the end, and is marked with minute
punctures; the teeth are very sharp, disposed
not only in the front of the upper jaw, but in
both sides of the lower, in the roof of the
mouth, and often on the tongue; the slit of
the mouth, or the gape, is very wide; the eyes
small. The dorsal fin is placed very low on the
back, and consists of twenty-one rays; the pec-
toral of fifteen; the ventral of eleven; the anal
of eighteen ; the tail is bifurcated.

Crass IV.

~

Beaovy. Arist. Hist. an. ii. c.
15. &c.

Bedrovy, Pagis? Athencus lit.
vii. 319.

Acus, sive Belone. Plin. lit.
roe oueente

Acuchia. Salvian, 68.

L’Aguille, ou Orphie. Belon,
161.

Acus prima species. Rondel.
227. Gesner pisc. Q.

Horn-fisck. Schonevelde, 11.

Horn-fish, or Gar-fish. Vil.

GAR PIKE.

Esox rostro cuspidato gracili
subtereti, et spithamali. Are
eted. synon. 27.

Esox Belone. E. rostro uttra-
que maxilla dentata. Lin.
syst. 517. Gm. Lin. 1391.
Gronov. Zooph. No. 362.

Nabbgjadda, Horngiall.. Faun.
Suec. No. 156.

L’Orphie. Bloch ichth. i. 189.
tab. 33.

L’Esoce Belone. De la Ce-
pede Hist. des Poissons. v.

Ichth. 231. Raii Syn. pisc. 308.

109.

'PHts fish which is found in many places, is
known by the name of the Sea Needle. It
comes in shoals on our coasts in the beginning
of summer, and precedes the mackrel: it has a

resemblance to it in taste, but the light green,

which stains the back-bone of this fish when
boiled, gives many people a disgust to it.

The common gar pike, or sea needle, some-
times grows to the length of three feet, or more,
The jaws are very long, slender, and sharp
pointed; the under extends much farther than
the upper, and the edges of both are armed with
numerous short slender teeth; the inside of the
mouth is purple; the tongue small; the eyes

2. Gar.

DeEscrres
TION,

3. SAURY.

DEscrip-
TION,

SAURY PIKE. Cuass IV.

large; the irides silvery ; the nostrils wide and
round ; the body is slender ; the belly quite flat,
bounded on both sides by a rough line; the
pectoral fins consist of fourteen rays; the ven-
tral fin, small and placed very remote from the
head, consists of seven rays, the first spiny ; the
dorsal fin lies on the very lowest part of the back,
and consists of sixteen rays; the first are high,
the others lower as they approach the tail; the
anal fin is of the same form, and placed oppo-
site to the other, and has twenty-one rays; the
tail is much forked. The colors are extremely
beautiful when the fish is in the water; the
back of a fine green; beneath that appears a
rich changeable blue and purple; the sides and
belly are of a fine:silvery hue.

Saurus. Rondel. pisc. 232. Syn. pise. 169.
Gesner pisc. iv. 468. The Saury. Your Scotland
Racket in Lin. Tr, vii. 60. 1769.

tal. 5. Neill in Mem. Wern. Soc.

Skipper, Cornubiensium. Rati 541.

THE length is from eleven to eighteen inches ;
the nose slender ; the jaws produced like those
of the gar pike, but of equal length; the
mandibles a little incurvated upwards, like the
bill of the Avoset. The eyes are large; the

ba ae, A, aA) ¢
pomenf wyeiff 4s

Hor peyton on sada bare CS

OEP -I-e' TOA AXNXNT Td

Crass IV. SAURY PIKE.

body anguilliform; but towards the tail grows
suddenly smaller, and tapers to a very inconsi-
derable girth. On the lower part of the back
is a small fin, and between it and the tail five or
- six spurious, like those of the mackrel; corre-
spondent to these, below, are the anal fin and
six spurious;* the pectoral and ventral fins
very small; the tail much forked. The back
azure blue varying to green; the belly bright
and silvery.

_ Great numbers of these fish were thrown
ashore on the sands of Leith, near Edinburgh,
after a great storm in November 1768. Ron-
deletius describes this species among the fish of
the Mediterranean ; but speaks of it as a rare
kind.

* The number of these spurious or lesser fins are said to vary.
Ep.

t+ The Saury Pike enters the Frith of Forth almost every
autumn in considerable shoals, and being stupid inactive fishes,
are found by hundreds on the shallows, when the tide retires,
with their long noses embedded in the mud. The specimen
figured by Mr. Racket was taken near the isle of Portland.
Another, with the lower jaw longer than the upper, was caught
near Blakeney in Norfolk in 1803. Ep,

a.

PVE
492 SHEPPY ARGENTINE. Cuass IV.

GENUS XLII. ARGENTINE.

TEETH in the jaws and tongue.
Rays branchiostegous eight.

VENT near the tail.

Frys ventral composed of many rays.

1. SHerpy. Sphyrena parva, sive sphyre- Argentina Sphyrena. Lin.
nee secunda species. Rondel. Syst. 518. Gm. Lin. 1394.
227. Gesner pisc. 883? Gronov. Zooph. No. 349?

Pisciculus Rome, Argentina L’Argentine Sphyrene. De Ja-
dictus. Wil. Ichth. 229. Cepede Hist. des Poissons,
Raitt Syn. pisc. 108? v. 366.

Argentina. Arted. Synon. 17.

-

A LITTLE fish, which I believe to be of this
species, was brought to me in 1769, taken in
_ the sea near Downing.

Descrie- | The length was two inches one-fourth; the
me*" eyes large; the irides silvery; the lower jaw
sloped much; the teeth small; the body com-
pressed, and of an equal depth almost to the

anal fin; the tail forked; the back was of a

dusky green; the sides and covers of the gills

as if plated with silver; the lateral line was in

the middle and quite strait; on each side of the

PLEXEVE , VOL .3.P. 432. °

ARGEN TINE

TALES Ss | aN
wivonrwaunuield
pe psec ON

ATHERINE (p.434.)

Uy, Lp

UME
LM Ue tll
eK)

Crass 1V. SHEPPY ARGENTINE.

belly was a row of circular punctures; above
them another, which ceased near the vent.

Mr. Villughby says, that the outside of the
air bladder of this fish consists of a foliaceous
silvery skin, which was made use of in the ma-
nufacture of artificial pearl. —

VG. Ti. 2F

433

454 EUROPHAN‘ATHERINE, Cuass IV.

GENUS XLIV. ATHERINE.

Jaw upper a little flat.
Rays branchiostegous four.
STRIPE a silvery along the side. |

Beta Epseius? Belon, 209. Atherina Hepsetus. A. pinna
‘ _Ewyros, Atherina. Rondel. ani radiis fere duodecim.
215, 216. Bossuet Epig. Lin. Syst. 519. Gm. Lin.
66, 67. Gesner pisc, 71, 72. 1396. Gronov. Zooph. No.
Pisciculus Anguella Venetiis 390. ;
dictus; forte Hepsetus Ron- Le Joel. Bloch ichth. xi. 124.

deletii, vel Atherina ejus- tab. 393. f. 3.

dem. Wil. Ichth. 209. Rait WL Atherine Joel. De la Cepede

syn. pisc. 79. Hist. des Poissons, v. 372.
Atherina. Arted. Synon. App.

116.

Tuts species is very common in the sea near
Southampton, where it is called a Smelt. The
highest season for it is from AJarch to the latter
end of May, or beginning of June; in which
month it spawns. It never deserts the place,
and is constantly taken, except in hard frost. It
is also found on the other coasts of our island.
Descrip- The length is above four inches one-fourth ;
ms the back strait; the belly a little protuberant;

CrassIV. EUROPAAN ATHERINE.

on the back are two fins; I neglected to count
the rays.* The tail is much forked.

The fish is semipellucid, covered with scales;
the color silvery, tinged with yellow; the side
line strait; beneath it is a row of small black
spots.

* According to the reverend Hugh Davies, the number of
rays in the first dorsal fin, are seven, in the second, eleven ; in

the pectoral fin, twelve; in the ventral, six; and in the anal,
twelve. Ep.

OFQ

435

1. Grey. Keganos, ee 8 Arist. i

‘Trern on the tongue and i in n the

| Mugil Ovid. Halieut. 37. Pli-

GREY MULLET. — Crass IV:

GENUS XLV. MULLET.

Bi an and covers of the gills
scales.
Rays branchiostegous six ine

eg a

Hist. an. lib. vy. c. 11, &e.

Keorgéus. Oppian. Halieut.
iil. 98. Atheneus, lib. vii.
306... ae

«ii Ui. ix. ¢. 8517.
Cephalo. Salvian, 75.
Le Mulet. Belon, 205.
Cephalus. Rondel. 260. Ges-

ys ner pisc. 549. Le Muge = e-
+ Mullet. W2ll. Ichth. 274. Raii pede ital Sy Ul.
‘syn. pisc. 84. — 386. c a

Musil. Aréed. Synon. 52.

"THE mullet is justly ran
among the Pisces Littoral
prefer the shores to the full s |
in great plenty on several of the sandy coasts of
our island, and haunt in particular those small J
bays that have influxes of fresh water. They —

- PL-LXxvn. VOL.3 P.436.

PARR SAMLET (P.406)

GREG MULLET

Crass IV. GREY MULLET.

come in great shoals, and keep rooting like hogs
in the sand or mud, leaving their traces in form
of large round holes. ‘They are very cufning,
and when surrounded with a net, the whole
shoal frequently escapes by leaping over it, for
when one takes the lead, the others are sure to
follow : this circumstance is taken notice of by
Cppian; whether the latter part of his observa-

Af
a

tion is true, is what we are uncertain.

Keorpeus puev BAculyosy 2y aryxoivyos Alvolo,
Eduowevos dodoy ours wegrdoomoy Hyvolycey.
Wid avabewonet Askinuevos voaros axgou,
Ochos dyw omevdwy oaooy oHEv0s GAMaTE KOU GW
Oguycas Bovrys dz caddeovos ovx Euaryoe.
ThoAAdur yoo pinot nad vorara welowara, CeAAWY
Pyidiws vmEegaaro, uah e&yAuke w.ocoro.

Elo oy avoounlers wewroy ordrov, adris orroby
Es Booroy, ov a greta Bicleras, odd avoootel,
t i; \ 3 , e ~

Anvupevos Tenn de waluy dmomaveras Oouns.

The Mullet, * when encircling seines inclose,
The fatal threads and treach’rous bosom knows.
Instant he rallies all his vig’rous powers,

And faithful aid of every nerve implores ;

O’er battlements of cork up-darted flies,

And finds from air th’ escape that sea denies.
But should the first attempt his hopes deceive,
And fatal space th’ imprison’d fall receive,
Exhausted strength no second leap supplies ;
Self-doom’d to death the prostrate victim lies,
Resign’d with painful expectation waits,

*Till thinner elements compleat his fates. JONES.

* Mr. Jones, by mistake, translates it the Barlel.

437

8

GREY MULLET. Crass IV.

Oppian had a good opportunity of examining
these fishes, for they swarm during some sea-
sons on the coasts of the Mediterranean. Near
Martigues, in the south of France, abundance
of mullets are taken in wears made of reeds
placed in the shallows. Of the milts of the
males, which are there called Alletants, and of
the roes of the females, which are called Botar,
is made Botargo. The materials are taken out
entire, covered with salt for four or five hours, —
then pressed a little between two boards or
stones, washed, and at last dried in the sun for
thirteen or fourteen days.* — |

This fish was sometimes made the instrument
of a horrible punishment for unfortunate. gal-
lants. It was in use both at Athens} and at
Rome; but we doubt much whether it was a
legal one: for we rather suspect it was inflicted
instantaneously by the injured and enraged
husband, at a season when

Furor arma ministrat.

Juvenal seems to speak of it in that light as
well as Horace : the former, relating the revenge

* Mr. Willughby’s notes during his travels. Wide Harris's
Col. Voy. ii. 721. t |

+ Legilus Atheniensium adulteri ev eyw deprehenst pena
Fuit paguvedwers. Raphani loco utebantur nonnunquam mu-
gile pisce, interdum scorpione. Causauboni animadvers. i
Atheneum, il, i.

Crass IV. GREY MULLET.

taken by the exasperated spouse, describes it’as
very various :
Necat hic ferro, secat alle cruentis
Verberibus, quosdam mechos et MUGILIS intrat.*

The passage in Horace seems not to have
been attended to by the critics; but when he
mentions the distresses that the invader of an-
other’s bed underwent, he most certainly alludes
to this penalty :

Discincid tunicé fugiendum est, ac pede nudo; .
Ne nummi pereant, aut Prea, aut denique fama. T

The mullet is an excellent fish for the table,
but at present not a fashionable one.

The head is almost square, and is flat on the
top ; the nose blunt; lips thick; it has no teeth,
only in the upper lip is a small roughness; be-
tween the eyes and the mouth is a hard callus,
The pupil of the eye is black, encircled with a
small silvery line; the upper part of the iris is
hazel, the lower silvery; the form of the body
is pretty thick, but the back not greatly elevat-
ed; the scales are large and deciduous. The
first dorsal fin is placed near the middle of the
back, and consists of four strong spines; the
second of nine soft branching rays ; the pectoral
has sixteen, the ventral six; the first a strong

® Satyr. x. 316. $ Satyr. ii, Gb, i. 132.

Descrip-
TION.

440 GREY MULLET. Crass IV.

spine, the others soft; the tail is much forked.
The color of the back is dusky, varied with
blue and green; the sides silvery, marked with
broad dusky parallel lines, reaching from head
to tail; the belly is silvery.

—o

hy iy ‘Freud \
CoN

VOLLor 144s

eee

Cuass IV. WINGED FLYING FISH. 441

Sioa?

GENUS XLVL TLYING FISH.

Heap covered with scales.
Fins pectoral almost as long as the body.

Hirundo. Plini lib. ix. c.26. Exocetus. Arted. Synon. 18. 1. WinGeED.
® ESoxoires nar”Adwyig? A- Exocetus volitans. E. abdo-

theneus lib. viii. 332. mine utringque — carinato.

Oppian. Halieut. i, 157. Lin. Syst. 520. Gm. Lin.

yeaidwy? Oppianii. 459. _ 1399. Amen. Acad. i. 603.
Rondine. Salvian, 186. Gronov. Zooph. No. 359.

Hirondelle de mer. Belon, ‘Le Poisson volant. Bloch ichth.
189. eae xii. 9. Zab. 348.

Mugil _alatus. Rondel. 267. L'Exocet yolant. De la Ce- .

_ Gesner pisc. 553. Wil. — pede Hist. des Poissons, v.

(Mi jich: 233 402 ge

WE can produce but a single instance of this
species + being taken on the Briéish coasts. In
June 1765, one was caught at a small distance
below Caermarthen, in the river Towy, being
brought up by the tide which flows as far as the
town. It is a fish frequent enough in the
Mediterranean, and also in the ocean, where

amy . i eis
* Pliny mentions it under the same name, /2b. ix. c. 19.-
t This fish was seen by John Strange Esq. at Caermarthen,
who was so obliging as to communicate to me the account of it.

442

WINGED FLYING FISH. Cuass IV.

it leads a most miserable life. In its own
element it is perpetually harassed by the Do-
rados, and other fishes of prey. If it endea-
vours to avoid them by having recourse to the
air, it either meets its fate from the Gulls, or
the Albatross, or is forced down again into the
mouth of the inhabitants of water, who below
keep pace with its aerial excursion. Neither is
it unfrequent that whole shoals of them fall on
board of ships that navigate the seas of warm
climates : it is therefore apparent, that nature in
this creature hath supplied it with mstruments
that frequently bring it into that destruction it
strives to avoid, by having recourse to an ele-
ment unnatural to it.

The antients were acquainted with this spe-
cies: Pliny mentions it under the name of [Z-
rundo, and speaks of its flying faculty. ‘It is
probable that Oppian intended the same by his
Oxeras yerdoves, or the swift swallow fish. What
Atheneus and the last cited author mean by:the
Efoxoros and Aduws, is not so evident: they assert
it quitted the. water and slept on the rocks, from
whence it tumbled with precipitation when dis-
turbed by the unfriendly birds: on these ac-
counts Ichthyologists seem to have made it sy-
nonhymous with the flying fish.

Cuass IV. WINGED FLYING FISH. 445,

It resembles the herring in form of the body, pees
but the back is flat; the scales are large and a
silvery; the dorsal fin small, and placed near
the tail; the pectoral fins, the instruments of
flight, are almost as long as the body; the tail
is bifurcated.

& &é a
444

we .

_ COMMON HERRING.

ing was unknown t the a ntients,
andi ing the words ncacnots is and paivis are
ors rendered Halec: ft he characters

a

ms The herring of the Baltic, in all respects i ours, but -

in spite of all lenicogray pers, never signified
garum or pickle.

TOL .3.P ,. 444,

PLUXXIX.

(29h a)‘ GuVHOTIa

mae! ge

Crass IV. COMMON HERRING.

given of those fishes are common to such num-
bers of different species, as render it impossible
to say which they intended. :

Herrings are found from the highest northern
latitudes yet known, as low as the northern
coasts of France; and, excepting one instance
brought by Dod,* of a few being once taken in
the Bay of Tangier, are never found more
southerly. They are met with in vast shoals
on the coast of America, as low as Carolina.
In Chesapeak Bay is an annual inundation of
those fishes, which cover the shores in such
quantities as to become a nuisance.t We find
them again in the seas of Kamtschatka, and pos-
sibly they reach Japan ; for Kempfer mentions,
in his account of the fishes of that country,
some that are congenerous. ‘The great winter
rendezvous of the herring is within the Arctic
circle: there they continue for many months, in
order to recruit themselves after the fatigue of
spawning; the seas within that space swarming
with insect food, in a degree far greater than in
our warmer latitudes. :

This mighty army begins to put itself in mo-
tion in the spring; we distinguish this vast body
by that name, for the word herring is derived

4 Natural Hist. of the Herring, p. 27.
+ Catesby Carol. it. xxxiii.

Micra-
TIONS.

446

COMMON HERRING. Crass IV,

from the German, Heer, an army, to express
their numbers. ‘They begin to appear off the
Shetland isles in April and May; these are
only forerunners of the grand shoal which
comes in June, and their appearance is marked
by certain signs, by the numbers of birds, such
as gannets, and others, which follow to prey on
them: but when the main body approaches, its
breadth and its depth is such as to alter the
appearance of the very ocean. It is divided
into distinct columns of five or six miles in
length, and three or four in breadth, and they
drive the water before them with a kind of rip-
pling: sometimes they sink for ten or fifteen
minutes, then rise again to the surface, and in
bright weather reflect a variety of splendid co-
lors, like a field of the most precious gems, in
which, or rather in a much more valuable light,
should: this stupendous gift of Providence be
considered’ by: the inhabitants of the British
isles.

The first check this army meets with, in its
march southward, is fromthe Shetland isles;
which divide it into two parts; one wing takes
to the east, the other to the western shores of
Great Britain, and fill every bay and creek
with their numbers; others proceed towards
Yarmouth, the great and antient mart of her-

Cuass IV. COMMON HERRING.

rings ; they then pass through the British chan-
nel, and after that in a manner disappear.
Those which take to the west, after offering
themselves to the Hebrides, where the great
stationary fishery is, proceed towards the north
of Lreland, where they meet with a second in-
terruption, and are obliged to make a second
division ; the one takes to the western side, and
is scarcely perceived, being soon lost in the im-
mensity of the Atlantic ; but the other, which
passes into the Jvish sea, rejoices and feeds the
inhabitants of most of the coasts that border on
it.. These brigades, as we may call them, which
are thus separated from the greater columns,
are often capricious in their motions, and do
not shew an invariable attachment to their
haunts. We have had, in our time, instances
of their entirely quitting the coasts of Cardigan-
shire, and visiting those of Caernarvonshire and
Flintshire, where they continued fora few years,
but they have since quite deserted our sea, and
returned to their old seats.’ The season of their
appearance among us was very late, never be-
fore the latter end of November; their contmu-
ance till February.

Were we inclined to consider this partial mi-
eration of the herring ina moral light, we might
reflect with veneration and awe on the mighty

447

PROVIDEN-
TIAL LN-
STINCT.

448

SPAWNING.

Foop.

COMMON HERRING. Cuass IV,

Power which originally impressed on this most
useful ‘body of his creatures, the instinct that
directs and points out the course, that blesses
and enriches these islands, which causes them
at certain and invariable times to quit the vast
polar deeps, and offer themselves to our expect-

‘ing fleets. That benevolent Being has never,
from the earliest records, been once known to

withdraw this blessing from the whole, though
he often thinks proper to deny it to particulars ;
yet this partial failure (for which we see no na-
tural reason) should fill us with the most ex-
alted and grateful. sense of his Providence, for
impressing so invariable and general an instinct
on these fishes towards a southward migration,
when the whole is to be benefited, and to with-
draw it only when a minute part is to suffer.
This instinct was given them, that they might
remove for the sake of depositing their spawn in
warmer seas, that would mature and vivify it
more assuredly than those of the frigid zone.
It is not from defect of food that they set them-
selves in motion, for they come to us full of fat,
and on their return are almost universally ob-
served to be lean and miserable. What their
food is near the pole, we are not yet informed ;
but in our seas they feed much on the Oniscus
marinus, a crustaceous insect, and sometimes

Crass IV. COMMON HERRING.

on their own fry. The herring will rise to a
fly. Mr. Low, of Birsa in the Orknies, assures
me, that he has caught many thousands with a
common trout fly, in a deep hole in a rivulet,
into which the tide flows. He commonly went
at the fall of the tide. They were young fish,
from six to eight inches in length.

_ They are in full roe the end of June, and con-
tinue in perfection till the beginning of winter,
when they begin to deposit their spawn. The
young herrings begin to approach the shores in
July and August, and are then from half an
inch to two inches long: those in Yorkshire are
called Herring Sile.* Though we have no
particular authority for it, yet as very few
young herrings are found in our seas during
winter, it seems most: certain that they must
return to their parental haunts beneath the ice,
to repair the vast destruction of their race dur-
ing summer, by men, fowl, and fish. Some of
the old herrings continue on our coasts the
whole year: the Scarborough fishermen never
put down their nets but they catch a few; still
the numbers that remain are not worthy of

* The Suedes and Danes call the old herring Sil/; but the
people of Sleswick, from whence the Anglo-Saxons came, call

the fry Sy/len.

WOL. Lit: 9G

449

ReTuRN.

450

Descrip-
TION.

COMMON HERRING. Crass IV.

mention in comparison to the numbers that
return. -

Herrings vary greatly in size. Mr. Travis
communicated to me the information of an ex-
perienced fisherman, who informed him that
there is sometimes taken near Yarmouth, a her-
ring distinguished by a black spot above the
nose; and that he once saw one that was
twenty-one inches and an half long. He in-
sisted that it was a different species, and varied
as much from the common herring as that does
from the pilchard. This we mention in order
to incite some curious person on that coast to a
farther enquiry. |

The eye is very large; the edges of the up-
per jaw and the tongue very rough, but the
whole mouth is void of teeth; the gill covers
are very loose, and open very wide, which
occasions the almost instant death of the her-
ring when taken out of the water; a fact well
known, even toa proverb. The dorsal fin con-
sists of about seventeen rays, and is placed be-
yond the centre of gravity, so that when the fish
is suspended by it, the head immediately dips
down ; the two ventral fins have nine rays; the
pectoral seventeen ; the anal fourteen; the tail
is much forked; the lateral line is not apparent,
unless the scales are taken off; the sides are

Cuass IV. COMMON HERRING.

compressed; the belly sharply carinated, but
the ridge quite smooth, and not in the least ser-
rated ; the scales are large, thin, and fall off
with a slight touch. The color of the back and
sides green, varied with blue; the belly sil-
very. ;

The herring fishery is of great antiquity: the
industrious Dutch first engaged in it about the
year 1164: they were in possession of it for
several centuries, but at length its value became
so justly known, that it gave rise to most obsti-
nate and well-disputed wars between the Eng-
lish and them ; but still their diligence and skill
gives them a superiority over us in that branch
of trade.

Our great stations are off the Shetland and

Western Isles, and off the coast of Norfolk, in
which the Dutch also share. Yarmouth has long
been famous for its herring fair;* that town
is obliged, by its charter, to send to the sheriffs
of Norwich, one hundred herrings, to be made
into twenty-four pies, by them to be delivered
to the lord of the manor of Kast Carleton, who
is to convey them to the king.| The facetious
Doctor Fullert takes notice of the great repute

* This fair was regulated by an act, commonly called the
Statute of Herrings, in the 31st year of Edward III.
+ Camden Britan. i. 458. § British Worthies, 238.

962

4

451

FISHERY.

45%.

COMMON HERRING. Crass IV.

the county of Norfolk was in for this fish, and,
with his usual archness, calls a red herring,’ a
Norfolk Capon.

In 1195, Dunwich in Suffolk accounted to the
king for their yearly fee farm rent, 120/. 1 mark
and 24000 herrings, 12000 for the monks of Eye,
and 12000 for those of Ely. 3

The Dutch are most extravagantly fond of
this fish when it is pickled. A premium is
given to the first buss that arrives in Holland
with a lading of this their ambrosia, and a vast
price given for each keg. We have been in the
country at that happy minute, and observed as
much joy among the inhabitants on its arrival,
as the Egyptians shew on the first overflowing
of the Nile. Flanders had the honor of invent-
ing the art of pickling herrings. One /Villiam
Beukelen, of Biervlet, near Sluys, hit on this
useful expedient; from him was derived the
name pickle, which we borrow from the Dutch
and German. Beukelen died in 1397. The
emperor Charles V. held his memory in such
veneration for the service he did mankind, as to
do his tomb the honor of a visit. It is very sin-
gular that most nations give the name of their
favourite dish to the facetious attendant on every
mountebank. Thus the Dutch call him PrcKLE
Herrine; the Italians, Macaroni; the

Crass1IV. PILCHARD HERRING. 453

French, Jeaw Potace; the Germans, Hans

* Worst; and we dignify him with the title of
Jack Puppine.

Pilchard. Fuller's Brit. Wor- Clupea 6. Arted. synon. 16. 2. PIL-

thies, 194. Pilchard. Borlase Cornwall, CHAR.
Peltzer. Schonevelde, 40. 272.
The Pilchard. Wil. Ichth. le Pilchard. Bloch Ichth. xii.

223. Raiz Syn. pisc. 104. 32. tab. 406.

THe pilchard appears in vast shoals off the
Cornish coasts about the middle of July, disap-

‘pearing the beginning of winter, yet sometimes

a few return again after Christmas. Their
winter retreat is the same with that of the her-
ring, and their motives for migrating the same.
They affect, during summer, a warmer latitude,
for they are not found in any quantities on any
of our coasts except those of Cornwall, that is

‘to say, from Fowey harbor to the Scilly isles,

between which places the shoals keep shifting
for some weeks.

The approach of the pilchard is known by
much the same signs as those that indicate the

arrival of the herring. Persons, called in Corn-

wall Huers, are placed on the cliffs, to point to

* That is, Jack Sausage.

454

PILCHARD HERRING. Crass IV.

the boats stationed off the land the course of the
fish. By the 1st of James I. c. 23, fishermen _
are empowered to go on the grounds of others
to hue, without being hable to actions of tres-
pass, which before occasioned frequent law-
suits.

The emoluments that accrue to the inhabi-
tants of that country are great, and are best ex-
pressed in the words of Doctor /V. Borlase, in
his account of the Pilchard fishery.

‘“‘ It employs a great number of men on the
“ sea, training them thereby to naval affairs;
*“* employs men, women, and children, at land,
“‘ in salting, pressing, washing, and cleaning,
“ in making boats, nets, ropes, casks, and all
“ the trades depending on their construction
“ and sale. ‘The poor is fed with the offals of
“‘ the captures, the land with the refuse of the
“* fish and salt, the merchant finds the gains of
‘¢ commission and honest commerce, the fisher-
““ man the gains of the fish. Ships are often
“ freighted hither with salt, and into foreign
‘‘ countries with the fish, carrying off at the
“‘ same time part of our tin. The usual pro-
“‘ duce of the number of hogsheads exported
each year, for ten years, from 1747 to 1756
inclusive, from the four ports of Fowy, Fal-
“* mouth, Penzance, and S¢, Ives, it appears

n~
n

CuassIV. PILCHARD HERRING.

“ that fowy has exported yearly 1732 hogs-
““ heads ; Malmouth, 14631 hogsheads and two-
“ thirds; Penzance and Mount’s-Bay, 12149
“‘ hogsheads and one-third; S¢. Ives, 1289
hogsheads : in all amounting to 29795 hogs-
“heads. Every hogshead for ten years last
** past, together with the bounty allowed for
*‘ each hogshead exported, and the oil made
* out of each hogshead, has amounted, one year
“‘ with another at an average, to the price of
* one pound thirteen shillings and three-pence;
“so that the cash paid for pilchards exported
“* has, at a medium, annually amounted to the
“ sum of forty-nine thousand five hundred and
*¢ thirty-two pounds ten shillings.”

The number taken at one shooting out of the
nets, is amazingly great. Dr. Borlase assured
me, that on the 5th of October, 1767, there
were at one time inclosed in S¢. [ves’s Bay 7000
hogsheads, each hogshead containing 35000 fish,
in all 245,000,000.

This fish has a general likeness to the her-
ring, but differs in some particulars very essen-
tially; we therefore describe it comparatively
with the other, having one of each species before
us, both of them of the same length, viz. nine
inches and an half.

Descrir-
TION.

5

PILCHARD HERRING. = Crass IV.

The body of the pilchard is less compressed
than that of the herring, being thicker and
rounder ; the nose is shorter in proportion, and
turns up; the under jaw is shorter; the back is
more elevated ; the belly less sharp; the dorsal
fin of the pilchard is placed exactly in the centre
of gravity, so that when taken up by it, the
body preserves an equilibrium, whereas that of
the herring dips at the head; the dorsal fin of ©
the pilchard we examined, being placed only
three inches eight tenths from the tip of the
nose; that of the herring four inches one tenth;
the scales of the pilchard adhere very closely,
whereas those of the herring very easily drop
off. |

The pilchard is in general less than the her-

ring; the specimen we describe being a very

large one ; it is also fatter, or more full of oil.

Crass IV.

Spratti. Wil. Ichth. 221. Rai
Syn. pisc. 105.

_Clupea quadriuncialis, maxilla
inferiore longiore, ventre

acutissimo. Arted. synon.
a7
Clupea Sprattus. Cl. pinna

dorsali radiis tredecim. Lin.

SPRAT HERRING.

Hwussbuk. Fuun. Suec. No.
358.

Le Sprat. Duhamel Tr. des
Pesches, ii. 471. sect. 3.
tab. 16. fig. 2.

Le Sprat. Bloch Ichth. i. 165.

tab. 20. f. 2.
La Clupee sardine. De lu Ce-

pede Hist. des Poissons, v.

~ Syst. 523. Gm. Lin. 1403.
$ 444,

Miz. Willughby and Mr. Ray were of
opinion, that these fishes are the fry of the
herring: we are induced to dissent from them,
not only because on comparing a sprat and
young herring of equal size, we discovered some
specific differences, but likewise for another
reason: the former visit our coasts, and con-
tinue with us in shoals innumerable, when the
others in general have retired to the great
northern deeps.

They come into the river Thames, below.
bridge, the beginning of November, and leave
it in March, and are, during their season, a
great relief to the poor of the capital. At
Gravesend and at Yarmouth, they are cured like
red herrings ; they are sometimes pickled, and
are little inferior in flavor to the Anchovy, but

457

3. SPRAT,

458

DEscrRIiP-
TION.

SPRAT HERRING. i. Cuass IV.

the bones will not dissolve like those of the
latter. Mr. Forster tells me, that in the Bal-
tic they preserve them in the same manner,

and call them Breitling, i. e. the little deep |

fish, as being deeper than the Stromling, or
Baltic herring. |
The sprat grows to about the length of five

inches; the body is much deeper than that of ©

a young herring ef equal length; the back fin
is placed more remote from the nose than that
of the herring,* and we think had sixteen f rays.
But one great distinction between this fish, the

herring, and pilchard, is the belly; that of the ~

two first being quite smooth, that of the last
most strongly serrated. Another is, that the
herring has fifty-six vertebra; this only forty-
eight.

* Asa farther distinction, it may be observed, that ifa straight
line be dropped from the forepart of the dorsal fin, it will, in the
herring, fall a little in front of the ventral fins, but in the sprat it
will fall behind them. Neill in Mem. Wern. Soc. 545. Ep.

+ Bloch says seventeen. Ep. i

CuassiV. ANCHOVY HERRING. 459

Eyngavaos? Arist. Hist. an. Clupea maxilla superiore lon- 4. ANcHovyY.

eb Ws Co 15. giore. Arted. synon. 17.
Eyxgaclyoros > Atheneus, ClupeaEncrasicolus. Lin. syst.

Lib. vii. c. 285. 523. Gm. Lin. 1405.
L’Anchoy? Belon, 165. L’Anchois. Bloch Ichth. i.
Encrasicholus? Rondel. 211. 170. tab. 30. f. 2.

Gesner pisc. 68. La Clupee anchois. Dela Ce-
Lycostomus, sehe mareneken ? pede Hist. des Poissons. v.

Schonevelde, 46. tab. 5. 455.

Anchovy. Wil. Ichth. 225.
Rau syn. pisc. 107.

THE true anchovies are taken in vast quanti-
ties in the Mediterranean, and are brought over
here pickled. The great fishery is at Gorgona,
a small isle west of Leghorn.

Mr. Ray discovered this species in the estu-
ary of the Dee above a century ago.* Since
that time no notice has been taken of it, till a
few were taken near my house in 1769.

The length of the largest of these was six Descrte-
inches and an half: the body slender, but “
thicker in proportion than the herring; the
eyes were large; the irides white, with a cast
of yellow; the under jaw much shorter than
the upper; the teeth small, a row in each jaw,
and another on the middle of the tongue; the

* Ray’s Letters, 47.

460

5. SHAD.

SHAD HERRING.

tongue doubly ciliated on both sides; the dor-
sal fin consisted of twelve rays, was transparent,
and placed nearer the nose than the tail. The
scales were large and deciduous; the back green
and semipellucid; the sides and belly silvery and

| opake; the edge of the belly smooth; the tail

Cuass IV,

forked.

Ogicou? Arist. Hist. an. lib.
ix. c. 37. Strabo hl. xv.
486. xvii. 566. Atheneus,
hb. iv. 131. vii. 328. Op-
pian Halieut. i. 244.

Alausa? Ausoniz Mosella, 128.

Laccia, chiepa. Salvian, 104.

L’Alose. Belon, 307.

Thrissa. Rondel. 220. Gesner
pisc. 20. — iss

Bayeke, Meyfisch. Schone-
velde, 13.

Shad, or Mother of Herrings.
Wil. Ichth. 227. Rai syn.
pisc. 105.

Clupea apice maxilla supe-

riore bifido, maculis nigris
utringque. Arted. synon. 15.

Clupea Alosa. Cl. lateribus
nigro maculatis, rostro bifi-
do. Lin. syst. 523. Gm.
Lin. 1404. Gronov. Zooph.
No. 347.

L’Alose. Duhamel Tr. des
Pesches, ii. 315. sect. S.
tab. 1. fig. 1.

L’ Alose. Bloch Ichth.4. 167.
tab. 30. f 1.

La Clupee alose. De la Ce-
pede Hist. des Poissons. v-
447.

"

NEITHER Aristotle, Atheneus, or Oppian,

have described their @g:ccz with such precision,

_as to induce us to translate it the Shad, without

affixing to it our sceptic mark. Ausonius has
been equally negligent in respect to his A/ausa:

VOL. 3.P. 460.

TE |

— ae

TY Uff f/f Yop,

TMM MM

OO he ae
te 2

MM

| om

>)

we

(eora)mive a

Crass IV. SHAD HERRING,

all he tells us is, that it was a very bad
fish :

Stridentesque focis obsonta plebis ALAUSAS.

Alause crackling on the embers are
Of wretched poverty th’ insipid fare.

But commentators have agreed to render the

@gicca Of the first, and the Alausa of the last, by
the wordShad. Perhaps they were directed by
the authority of Strabo, who mentions the goon
the supposed Shad, and the Keorgevs, or Mullet,

as fishes that ascend the N7/e at certain seasons,

which, with the Dolphin* of that river, he says,
are the only kinds that venture up from the sea
for fear of the crocodile. ‘That the two first
are fishes of passage in the Nile, is confirmed
to us by Belonius, | and by Hasselgust.[ The
last says that the Shad is found in the Medi-
terranean near Smyrna, and on the coast of
Egypt, near Rosetto ; and that in the months
December and January it ascends the Nile, as
high as Cairo: that it is stuffed with pot mar-

* This is the Dolphin of the Nile, a fish now unknown to us.
Pliny lib. viii. c. 25. says, it had a sharp fin on its back, with
which it destroyed the crocodile, by thrusting it into the belly of
that animal, the only penetrable place.

+ Belon. Itin. 98.

1 P. 385.388. Suedish edition. p. 226. English edition.

461

46H2

SHAD HERRING. Cuass IV.

joram, and when dressed in that manner will
very nearly intoxicate the eater.

In Great Britain the Severn affords this fish
in higher perfection than any other river. It
makes its first appearance there in May, but
in very warm seasons in April ; for its arrival,
sooner or later, depends much on the temper of
the air. It continues in the river about two
months, and then is succeeded by a variety
which we shall have occasion to mention here-
after. The Severn shad is esteemed a very de-
licate fish about the time of its first appearance,
especially in that part of the river that flows by
Gloucester, where they are taken in nets, and
usually sell dearer than salmon: some are sent |
to London, where the fishmongers distinguish
them from those of the Thames, by the French
name of Alose. 3

Whether they spawn in this river and the Wye
is not determined, for their fry has not yet been
ascertained.. The old fish come from the sea
into the river in full roe. In the months of
July and August, multitudes of the bleak fre-
quent the river near Gloucester ; some of them
are as big as a small herring, and these the
fishermen erroneously suspect to be the fry of
the shad. Numbers of these are taken near

CrassiV.. SHAD HERRING.

Gloucester in those months only, but none of
the emaciated shad are ever caught in their
return. *

The Thames shad does not frequent that river
till the latter end of JZay or beginning of June,
and is esteemed a very insipid coarse fish. The
Severn shad is sometimes caught in the Thames,
though rarely, and called Allis (no doubt Alose,
the French name) by the fishermen, in that river.
About the same time, and rather earlier, the
variety called near Gloucester the Twaite, makes
its appearance, and is taken in great numbers
in the Severn, and is held in as great disrepute
as the shad of the Thames. ‘The differences be-
tween each variety are as follow :f

The true Shad weighs sometimes eight
pounds, but its general size is from four to
five.

The Twaite, on the contrary, weighs from
half a pound to two pounds, which it never
exceeds.

The Twaite differs from a small shad only in
having one or more round black spots on the
sides; if only one, it is always near the gill,

® Belon also observes, that none are taken in their return, on
les prend en montant contre les rivieres, ef jamais en descendant.

+ I suspect that the Shad and Twaite are distinct species, and
correspond with the Alose and Feinte of Duhamel. Ep.

463

464

Descripe
TION.

SHAD HERRING. Crass IV.

but commonly there are three or four, placed
one under the other.*

The other particulars agree in each so exactly,
that the same description will serve for both.

The head slopes down considerably from the
back, which, at the beginning, is very convex,
and rather sharp; the body from thence grows.
gradually less to the tail; the under jaw is
rather longer than the upper; the teeth very
minute; the dorsal fin is placed very near the
centre, is small, and the middle rays are the
longest; the pectoral and ventral fins are small ;
the tail vastly forked; the belly extremely sharp,
and most strongly serrated; the back is of a
dusky blue; above the gills begins a line of
dark spots, which mark the upper part of the
back on each side; the number of these spots
is uncertain in different fish, from four to ten.

* I must here acknowledge my obligations to Doctor Lysons,
of Gloucester, for his communications relating to this fish, as well
as to several other articles relating to those of the Severn.

CiassIV. WHITE BAIT HERRING.

~~

Le Pretre ou spret de Calais. Blanche. 2b. vol. ii. sect. 3.
Duhamel Tr. des Pesches, p.478. tab. 17. fig. 6.?
vol. iii. sect. 4. p. 49. tab. Pennant’s Journey to Dover,
8. fig. 7.2 123s win. -Zools ite Syl.

Le Franc-Blaquet ou Franche | (Article Bleak.)

{[MR. PENNANT was either deceived in the
specimens sent him as the White Bait, or the
branchiostegous rays were injured, since he
counted only three instead of eight of these rays
which number they certainly possess. He thus
speaks of them. Ep.

During the month of July there appear in
the Thames, near Blackwall and Greenwich,
innumerable multitudes of small fish, which are
known to the Londoners by the name of White
Bait. They are esteemed very delicious when
fried with fine flour, and occasion, during the
season, a vast resort of the lower order of epi-
cures to the taverns contiguous to the places
they are taken at.

Its usual length is two inches; the under
jaw is the longest; the irides are silvery, the
pupil black; the dorsal fin is placed nearer to
the head than to the tail, and consists of about
fourteen rays; the side line is straight; the tail
forked, the tips black; the head, sides, and
belly, are silvery; the back tinged with green.

VOL. III. 2H

6. Waite.
Bait.

Descrip-
TION.

fo]

466

WHITE BAIT HERRING. Cutass IV.

[In the Journey from London to Dover, Mr.
Pennant says, ‘‘ This seems a distinct fish,

perhaps the same with the pretre or spret de

Calais of M. Duhamel, and the blanquet, so
named from its whiteness, which are found off
the coast of Normandy.”

Whether the White Bait is ever found in roe
we have been unable to ascertain, but the accu-
rate Duhamel asserts that the Franc Blanquet
(of the identity of which we entertain little
doubt) is full of eggs and milt in November
and December. Ep.

il

VOL. 3.P.467..

COMMON CARP.

Pa

Cuass IV.

' ‘ With bearded mouths.

Korgivos? Arist. Hist. an.
ib. iv. 8. vi. 40. vill. 20. ii.
30. Oppian Halreut. i. 101.
592.

Raina Burbara. Salvian. 92.

La Carpe. Belon, 267.

Cyprinus. Rondel. fluviat.
150. Gesner pisc. 309.

Cyprinus nobilis, edle Karpe,
Karpfie. Schonevelde, 32.

Carp. Wil. Ichth. 245. Rait :

syn. pisc. 115.

7 are cirris quatuor, Ossi- -
culo tertio pinnarum dorsi,
ac ani anc li Pads

2 | Arte synon. 3.

GENUS XLVIIL CYPRINE.

CARP CYPRINE.

~ Mours without teeth.
__ Rays branchiostegous three.
__. Frw one dorsal.

Cyprinus Carpio. C. pinnaani
radiis 9. cirris 4. pinnee dor-
salis radio secundo postice
serrato. Lin. syst. 525. Gm.
Lin. 1411. Gronov. Zooph.
No. 330.

Karp. Faun. Suec. No. 359.

La Carpe. Duhamel Tr. des

Pesches, ii. 509.
tab. 20. fig. 1.
La Carpe. Bloch ichth. i. 77.

tab. 16.

SECIs vole

» Le Cyprin Carpe. Dela Ce-

pede Hist. des Poissons. v.
504.

Tins is one of the naturalized fish of our

“country, and is said to have been introduced

by Leonard Maschal, about the ee 1514, * to

® Fuller’s British Worthies, Susser: 113.

QHe

467

1. CARP
CYPRINE«

468,

CARP CYPRINE. Cuass IV.

whom we were also indebted for that excellent
apple the pepim. ‘The many good things that
our island wanted before that period, are enu-
merated in this old distich:

Turkies, carps, hops, pickerel, and beer,
Came into England all in one year.

That the carp, however, was known here
long before, is proved by the following extract*
made from the Boke of St. Alban’s printed at
Westminster, by Vynkyn de Worde, in the year
1496.

‘ The carpe is a dayntous fisshe, but there
‘ ben but fewe in Englonde, and therfore I
wryte the casse of him. - For he is too stronge

n

“~

enarmyd in the mouthe that there may noo
weke harnays hold hym, And as touchyne
‘ his baytes, I have but lytyll knoolege of it,
‘ and we were loth to wryte more than I know
and have provyd. But well I wote that the
‘ redde worm and the menow ben good baytyn

tay

nw

for him at all tymes, as I have herd saye’of
persones credyble, and also founde wryten in
‘ bokes of credence.’

Russia wants these fishes at this day ; Sweden
has them only in the ponds of the people of

~

* I think myself much obliged to Mr. Haworth in Chancerys

lane, not only for this, but for several other curious remarks,

Cuass IV. CARP CYPRINE.

fashion; Polish Prussia is the chief seat of this
species ; they abound in the rivers and lakes of
that country, particularly in the Frisch and Cu-
risch-haff, where they are taken of a vast size.
They are there a great article of commerce,
and sent in. well-boats to Sweden and Russia.
The merchants purchase them out of the waters
of the noblesse of the country, who draw a good
revenue from this article. Neither are there
wanting among our gentry, instances of some
who make good profit of their ponds.

The antients do not separate the carp from
the sea fish. We are credibly informed that
they are sometimes found in the harbour of
Dantzick, between the town and a small place
called Hela.

They are very long-lived. Gesner* brings
an instance of one that was an hundred years
old. They also grow to a very great size. On
our own knowledge we can speak of none that
exceeded twenty pounds in weight: but Joviust
says, that they were sometimes taken in the
Lacus Larius (the Lago di Como) of two hun-
dred pounds weight: and Azacsynskit men-
tions others taken in the Dniester that were five
feet in length.

* Gesner pisc. 312. + De piscibus Romanis, 131.
$ Hist. Nat. Polone, 142.

469

Facun-
DITY.

CARP CYPRINE. CuAss IV,

They are also extremely tenacious of life, and
will live for a most remarkable time out of
water. An experiment has been made by
placing a carp in a net, well wrapped up in
wet moss, the mouth only remaining out, and
then hung up in a cellar, or some cool place,
where it is frequently fed with white bread and
milk, and is besides often plunged into water.
Carp thus managed have been known, not only-
to have lived above a fortnight, but to grow
exceedingly fat, and far superior in taste to
those that are immediately killed from the
pond.*

The carp is a prodigious breeder: its quan-
tity of roe has been sometimes found so great,
that when taken out and weighed against the
fish itself, the former has been found to pre-
ponderate. From the spawn of this fish Caviare
is made for the Jews, who hold the sturgeon in
abhorrence. We have forborn, in this work, to
enter into minute calculations of the numbers
each fish may produce. It has already been
most skilfully performed by Mr. Harmer, and
printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the

* This was told me by a gentleman of the utmost veracity,
who had twice made the experiment. The same fact is related
by that pious Philosopher Doctor Derham, in his Physico-Theo«
logy, edit. gth. 1737. ch. 1. p. 7. Mu €.

CuassIV. | CARP CYPRINE.

year 1767. We shall, in our Appendix, take
the liberty of borrowing such part of his tables
of the foecundity of fishes, as will demonstrate
the kind attention of Providence, towards the
preserving so useful a class of animals for the
service of its other creatures. |

These fish are extremely cunning, and on that
account are by some styled the river for.. They
will sometimes leap over the nets, and escape
that way; at others, will immerse themselves
so deep in the mud, as to let the net pass over
them. ‘They are also very shy of taking a bait;
yet at the spawning time they are so simple, as to
suffer themselves to be tickled, handled, and
caught by any body that will attempt it.

The carp is apt to mix its milt with the roe of
other fishes, from which is produced a spurious
breed: we have seen the offspring between it and
the tench, which bore the greatest resemblance
to the first; and have also heard of the same
mixture between it and bream.

The carp is of a thick shape; the scales
very large, and when in best season of a fine
gilded hue. The jaws are of equal length; there
are no teeth in the jaws, or on the tongue; but
at the entrance of the gullet, above and below,
are certain bones that act on each other, and
comminute the food before it passes down; on

471

DESCRIP-
TION.

2. BARBEL.

eT. At

BARBEL CYPRINE. Cuass IV.

each side of the mouth is a single beard; above
that. on each side another, but shorter; the
dorsal fin extends far towards the tail, which is
a little bifurcated ; the third ray of the dorsal
fin is very strong, and armed with sharp teeth,
pointing downwards; the third ray of the anal
fin is constructed in the same manner.

Barbus. Ausonius Mosella, 94.

Barbeau. Belon, 299.

Barbus, Barbo. Salvian, 86.

Barbus. Rondel. fluviat. 194,
Gesner pisc. 123.

Barbe, Barble. Schonevelde,

ani radiis 7. cirris 4. pinnz
dorsi radio secundo utrinque
serrato. Lin. Syst.525. Gm.
Lin. 1409. Gronov. Zooph.
No. 331.

Barbe, Barble. Wulff Boruss.

29.

Barbel. Wil. Ichth. 259. ee

Syn. pisc. 121.
Cyprinus oblongus,

superiore longiore, cirris
quatuor, pinna ani ossicu-
lorum septem. <Arted. Sy-
non. 8.

Cyprinus Barbus. C, pinna

maxilla ~

No. 52. ©

Le Barbeau. Duhamel Tr. des
Pesches, ii. 519. sect. 3.
tab. 27. fig. 1.

Le Barbeau. Bloch Ichth. i.
gl. tab. 18.

Le Cyprin barbeau. De Ja
Cepede Hist. des Poissons.
v. 524.

Tuts fish was so extremely coarse, as to be
overlooked by the antients till the time of 4u-
sonius, and what he says is no panegyric on it;
for he lets us know it loves deep waters, and

that when it grows old it was not absolutely
bad,

22,.5.22x10.

BARBELL.

VOL. 3.P.a72

Crass LV, BARBEL CYPRINE.

Laxos exerces BARBE natatus,
Tu melior pejore evo, tibi contigit unt
Spirantum ex numero non inlaudata senectus.

They frequent the still and deep parts of
rivers, and live in society, rooting like swine
with their noses in the soft banks. They are
so tame as to suffer themselves to be caught
with the hand ; and people have been known to
take numbers by diving for them. In summer
they move about during night in search of food,
but towards autumn, and during winter, confine
themselves to the deepest holes. They are the
worst and coarsest of fresh water fish, and sel-
dom eaten but by the poorer sort of people,
who sometime boil them with a bit of bacon to
give them a relish. The roe is very noxious,
affecting those who unwarily eat of it with a
nausea, vomiting, purging, and a slight swelling.

The Barbel is sometimes found of the length
of three feet, and eighteen pounds in weight ;
it is of a long and rounded form; the scales not
large. Its head is smooth; the nostrils placed
near the eyes; the mouth is placed below; on
each corner is a single beard, and:another on
each side the nose; the dorsal fin is armed with
a remarkable strong spine, sharply serrated,
with which it can inflict a very severe wound

473

DeEscrir=
TION.

474

$3, TENCH.

TENCH CYPRINE. Crass IV.

on the incautious handler, and even do much
damage to the nets; the pectoral fins are of
a pale brown color; the ventral and anal tipped
with yellow; the tail a little bifurcated, and of

a deep purple; the side line is strait.

The

scales are of a pale gold color, edged with
black ; the belly is white.

Tinca. Ausonius Mosella, 123.

Tinca. Jovius, 124.

Tinea, Tenca. Salvian, 90.

La Tanche. Belon, 325.

Tinca. Rondel. fluviat.- 157.
Gesner pisc. 984.

Schley, Slye. Schonevelde, 76.

Tench. Wil. Ichth. 251. Raii
syn. pisc. 117.

Cyprinus mucosus totus ni-
grescens, extremitate caudz
zquali. Arted. synon. 5.

Cyprinus Tinca. C. pinna ani
radiis 25, cauda integra, cor-
pore mucoso, cirris 2. Lin.

Syst. 526.. Gm. Lin. 1418.
Gronov. Zooph. No. 328.
Suture, Linnare, Skomakare.

Faun. Suec. No. 363.

Schleihe, Schlegen. Wulff Bo-
russ. No. 55.

La Tanche. Duhamel Tr. des
Pesches, ii. 506. sect. 3. tab.
CH LEAS

La Tanche. Bloch ichth. i. 70.
tab. 14.

Le Cyprin tanche. De la Ce.
pede Hist. des Poissons. v.
537.

‘THE tench underwent the same fate with the
barbel, in respect to the notice taken of it by
the early writers; and even Ausonius, who first
mentions it, treats it with such disrespect, as
evinces the great capriciousness of taste; for
that fish, which at present is held in such good

Cuass IV. TENCH CYPRINE.

repute, was in his days the repast only of the
Canaille.

Quis non et virides vulgi solatia Tincas

Norit ? 3

It has been by some called the Physician of

the fish, and the slime said to be so healing, that
the wounded apply it as a styptic or balsam.
The ingenious Moses Brown, in his piscatory

eclogues, says, that even the voracious pike

will spare the tench on account of its healing
powers «

The Tench he spares a medicinal kind :

For when by wounds distrest, or sore disease,

He courts the salutary fish for ease ;

Close to his scales the kind physician glides,
And sweats a healing balsam from his sides.*

What virtue its slime may have to the inha-
bitants of the water, we will not vouch for, but
its flesh is a wholesome and delicious food to
those of the earth. The Germans are of a dif-
ferent opinion. By way of contempt, they call
it Shoemaker. Gesner even says, that it is in-
sipid and unwholesome.

It loves still waters, and is rarely found in
rivers: is very foolish, and easily caught.

It does not commonly exceed four or five

* Fel. Il.

475

476 GUDGEON CYPRINE. = Crass.IV.
pounds in weight, but we have heard of one
that weighed ten pounds ; Salvianus speaks of
some that arrived at twenty pounds.

Descrtre ‘The tench is thick and short in proportion to

TION.

its length ; the scales are very small, and covered
with slime ; the irides are red; there is some-
times, but not always, a small beard at each
corner of the mouth. The color of the back
is dusky; the dorsal and ventral fins are of the
same color; the head, sides, and belly, of a
greenish cast, most beautifully mixed with gold,
which is in its greatest splendor when the fish is
in the highest season; the tail is quite even at
the end, and very broad.

4. GupGeEon. Gobio. Ausonius Mosella, 132. Cyprinus Gobio. C. pinna ani

Gobio fluviatilis. Salvian, radiis il. cirris 2. Lin. syst.
214. Nat. 526. Gm. Lin. 1412.

Goujon de riviere. Belon, Gronov. Zooph. No. 329.
322. Le Goujon. Duhamel Tr. des

Gobio fluviatilis. Rondel. flu-
viat. 206. Gesner pisc. 399.

Gudgeon. Wil. Ichth. 264.
Raii syn. pisc. 123.

Cyprinus quincuncialis macu-
losus, maxilla superiore lon-
giore cirris duobus ad os.
Arted. synon. 2.

Pesches. ii. 497. sect. 3.
tab. 23. fig. 5.

Le Goujon. Bloch ichth. i. 49.
tab. 8. f. 2.

Le Cyprin goujon. De la Ce-
pede Hist. des Poissons, v.
533.

ARISTOTLE mentions the gudgeon in two
places; once as a river fish, and again as a

Cuass IV. GUDGEON CYPRINE.

species that is gregarious: in a third place he
describes it as a sea fish; we must therefore
consider the Kwtis he mentions, lb. ix. c. 2.
and 2b. viti. c. 19. as the same with our
species.”

This fish is generally found in gentle streams,
and is of a small size: those few, however, that
are caught in the Kennet, and Cole, are three
times the weight of those taken elsewhere. The
largest we ever heard of was taken near Ur-
bridge, and weighed half a pound. They bite
eagerly, and are assembled by raking the bed of
the river; to this spot they immediately crowd
in shoals, expecting food from this disturbance.

The shape of the body is thick and round ;
the irides tinged with red; the gill covers with
green and silver; the lower jaw is shorter than
the upper; at each corner of the mouth is a
single beard; the back olive, spotted with black;
the side-line strait; the sides beneath that sil-
very; the belly white. The tail is forked ; that,
as well as the dorsal fin, is spotted with black.

* The gudgeon is enumerated among the Syrian fish, by Dr.
Russel, p. 75.

477

Descrip«
TION.

473

BREAM CYPRINE.

Cuass IV.

** Without Beards.

5. Bream. La Bremme. Belon, 318.

DEScRIP-
TION.

Cyprinus latus sive Brama.
Rondel. fluviaé. 154. Gesner
pisc. 316, 317. ;

Brassem, Brachsem. Schone-
velde, 33. —

Bream. Wil. Ichth. 248. Ra
Syn. pise. 116.

Cyprinus pinnis omnibus ni-
grescentibus, pinna ani ossi-
culorum viginti septem. Ar-
ted. Synon. 4.

Cyprinus Brama. Lin. Syst.
531. Gm. Lin. 1436. Gro-
nov. Zooph. No. 345.

Braxen. Faun.
360.

Gareikl. Kram. 391. Brek-
men.

Wulff. Boruss. No. 66.

La Breme. Duhamel Tr. des
Pesches. ii. 504. sect. 3. tab.
25. fig. 1.

La Breme. Bloch ichth. i. 64.
tab. 13. :

Le Cyprin Breme. De la Ce-
pede Hist. des Poissons, v-

599.

Suec. No.

THe bream is an inhabitant of lakes, or the
deep parts of still rivers. It is a fish that is very
little esteemed, being insipid.

It is extremely deep, and thin in proportion to
its length; the back rises very much, and is
very sharp at the top; the head and mouth are
small; on some we examined in the spring,
were abundance of minute whitish tubercles ;
an accident which Pliny seems to have ob-
served befals the fishes of the Lago Maggiore,

and Lago di Como.* The scales are very

* Duo Lacus ITau1z in radicibus Alpium, Larivus et VER-
BANUS appellantur, in quibus pisces omnilus annis VERGILIA~

N

ati
'¢ es

ae

RUD CYPRINE E.

large ; the sides. flat ena thin; the. dorsal fin
has eleven rays, the second t which is the
longest ; ‘that fin, as well as all the rest, are

Cuass IV.

of. a dusky color; the back of the same hue; Ma .
‘the sides yellowish ; the tail is very fovea and

“of the form of a crescent.

Kaeat? Atheneus, lib. viii. Cyprinus Erythropthalmus.

355. Oppian Halieut. i. 174.
La Plestia? Belon, 309. la
Rosse, 319.
Finscale. Plofs Oxf. 184.
Rutilus latior, seu Rubellio
fluviatilis a Rud, Roud,
or Finscale. Wil. Ichth.
252. Rati syn. pisc. 118.
Cyprinus. <Aried. synon. 6.
No. 8.

C. pimna ani radiis 15. pin-
nis rubris. Lin. Syst. 530,
Gm. Lin. 1420.

Sarf. Isarf. Faun. Suec. No.
366.

Le Rotengle.
25. tab. 1.

Le Cyprin rotengle. De la Ce-
pede Est. des Poissons. v.
583. j

Bloch ichth. i.

THIS fish is found in the Cherwell, near Ov-
é fora, in the Witham in Lincolnshire, and in the

fens in Holderness.

Its body is extremely deep, like that of the
bream, but much thicker.

The head is small; the irides yellow, vary-
ing in some almost to redness; the nostrils
large; the back vastly arched, and sloping off

RUM ortu existunt, squamis conspicut crebris atque preeacutis, clas
vorum caligarium effigie: nec amplius quam circa eum mensem,
wisuntur, Lib. ix. cvl8.

6. Rup,

DEscRIPs
TION:

480

“, GIBELE.

DEScRIP-
TION:

GIBELE CYPRINE. Ciass IV,

suddenly to the head and tail; the scales very
large; the side line very slightly incurvated.

The dorsal fin consists of eleven rays; the first

very short, the second very strong, and serrated
on each side. The pectoral fins consist of seven-
teen; the ventral of nine; the anal of thirteen
rays. ‘The back is of an olive color; the sides
and belly of a gold color, with certain marks of
red; the ventral and anal fins, and the tail,
generally of a deep red; the tail forked.

We believe this to be the same with the
Shallow of the Cam ; which grows to the length
of thirteen inches. It spawns in April.

Cyprinus Gibelio. ©. pinna Klein oder Giblichen. Gesner

dorsali radiis xix. cauda lu- icon. anim. 298.

nulata. La Gibele. Bloch ichth. i. 61.
Cyprinus brevis. variet. KJein. tab. 12.

Miss. pisc, v. 60. tab. ii. Le Cyprin Gibele. De la Ce-

Fe Be pede Hist. des Poissons, v.
Carassi primum genus. Wil. 567.

Ichth. 250. Crucian. Br. Zool. iv. 364.

Tuts species is common in many of the fish
ponds about London, and other parts of the
south of England ; but I believe is not a native
fish.

It is very deep and thick; the back is much
arched ; the dorsal fin consists of nineteen rays;
the two first strong and serrated. The pectoral

‘ —
Si ian ee 9

Cuiass IV. GIBELE CYPRINE.

fins have (each) thirteen rays ; the ventral nine ;
the anal seven or eight; the lateral line parallel
with the belly.

The color of the fish in general is a deep yel-
low ; the meat is coarse, and little esteemed.

[The editor has the authority of the late Mr.
Dryander to say, that the above is the fish
described in the former edition as the Crucian,
and of which indeed it seems to have been con-
sidered _as a variety by Linnaeus and other au-
thors. It, however, differs in many respects,
being a longer fish, not so deep as the crucian,
having a double row of sharp, instead of a
single row of blunt teeth; the lateral line curved
instead of strait; the tail in form of a cres-
cent, instead of strait; the back more rounded,
the head and the scales much larger. ‘The anal
fin of the Gibele has eight rays, the dorsal nine-
teen, the Crucian ten in the first, and twenty-
one in the last.

Mr. Dryander said that the flesh of the Cru-
cian is excellent, that of the Gibele extremely
coarse. Ep.

iS)
=

VOL. ThE

8. Roacn.

ROACH CYPRINE.

La Gardon, Roschie 2. en An-
gleterre. Belon, 316.

Leuciscus. Rondel. fluviat.
191.

Rutilus sive Rubellus fluvia-
tilis. Gesner pise. 820.

Rottauge. Schonevelde, 63.

Roche. Wil. Ichth. 262.
Leuciscus . prior. Rondel.
260. Ratt syn. pisc. 122,
121.

Cyprinus sargus dictus. Cyp.
iride pinnis ventralibus ac
ani plerumque rubentibus.
Arted. synon. 9, 10.

Cuass IV.

Cyprinus Rutilus. Cyp. pinna
ani radiis 12.
Lin. syst. 529.
1426.

Mort. Faun. Suec. No. 3'72.

Zert. Wulff Boruss. No. 59.

Altl. Kram. 395.

La Rosse. Duhamel Tr. des
Pesches. ii. 499. sect. 3.
tab. 24. fig. 2.

La Rosse. Bloch ichth. i. 28.
tab. 2.

Le Cyprin rougeatre. De la
Cepede. Hist. des Poissons.
v. 581.

rubicunda.

Gm. Lin.

SOUND as a Roach, is a proverb that appears
to be but indifferently founded, that fish bemg
not more distinguished for its vivacity than
many others; yet it is used by the French as
well as us, who compare people of strong health
to their Gardon, our roach.

It is a common fish, found in many of our
deep still rivers, affecting, like the others of
this genus, quiet waters. It is gregarious,
keeping in large shoals. We have never seen
them very large. Old /Valton speaks of some
that weighed two pounds. In a list of fish sold
in the London markets, with the greatest weight

of each, communicated to us by an intelligent

Crass IV.

DACE CYPRINE.

fishmonger,. mention is made of one whose

weight was five pounds.

The roach is deep, but thin, and the back is
much elevated, and sharply ridged: the scales

large, and fall off very easily.

Side line bends

much in the middle towards the belly.

Une vandoise, ou Dard. Be-
lon, 313.

Leucisci secunda species.
Rondel. 192. Gesner pisc. 26.

Dace, or Dare. Will. Ichth.
260. Rati syn. pise. 121.

Cyprinus decem digitorum,

- rutilo lengior, et angustior,
pinna ani radiorum decem.
Arted. synon. Q-

Cyprinus leuciscus. Cyp. pin-
wa ani radiis 10. dorsali 9.

Lin. syst. 528. Gm. Lin.
1424.

Laugele. Meyer's An. II. tab.
97.

La Vandoise ou Dard. Duha-
mel Tr. des Pesches. ti. 501.
sect. 3. tab. 24. fig. 3.

La Vandoise. Bloch ichth. iii.
119. tab. Q7.f. 1.

Le Cyprin Vandoisc. De la
Cepede Hist. des Poissons.
v. 580.

Tus, like the roach, is gregarious, haunts
the same places, is a great breeder, very lively,
and, during summer, is very fond of frolicking
near the surface of the water. This fish and
the roach are coarse and insipid meat.

Its head is small; the irides of a pale yel-
low; the body long and slender; its length
seldom above ten inches, though in the above-
mentioned list is an account of one that weighed

212

Descrip-
TION.

9g. Dace.

DeEscriP-
TION:

484

10. GRAIN=
ING.

GRAINING CYPRINE. Crass IV. .

a pound and a half; the scales smaller than
those of the roach.

~The back is varied with dusky, with a cast
of yellowish green; the sides and belly silvery ;
the dorsal fin dusky; the ventral, anal, and
caudal fins red, but less so than those of the
former; the tail is very much forked.

The Graining. Voy. to the Hebrides. p. 12.

THE Graining is found in the Mersey, near
Warrington: has much the resemblance of a
dace, but is more slender, and the back straiter.
The usual length about seven inches and a half.
The depth in proportion to the length of this is as
one to five, of the dace as one tofour. Thecolor
of the back is silvery, with a bluish cast. The
eyes, ventral and anal fins are red, but paler than
those of the dace; the pectoral fin redder.

VOL.3 P.485.-

(2 8h dd

MV WI

Cuass IV.

Capito. Auson. Mosella, 85.

Squalus, Squaglio. Salvian,
84.

Le chevesne, Testard, Vilain.
Belon, 315.

Cephalus fluviatilis. Rondel.
Jluviat. 190.

Capito sive Cephalus fluviatilis.
Gesner pisc. 182.

Chub, or Chevin. Wii. Ichth.
255. Hai syn. pisc. 119.

C. Jeses. C. pinna ani radiis

CHUB CYPRINE.

48

quatuordecim, rostro rotun- 11. CHuB.

dato. Gm. Lin. 1430.

Cyprinus cubitalis pinna ani
ossiculorum. 14. <Arted.
synon. 7.

Gose. Wulff. Boruss. 47.

Chevanne, &c. Duhamel, Tr.
des Pesches, ii. 502. tab. 24.
Sf. 4

Le Vilain ou Meunier. Bloch
ichth. i. 39. tab. 6.

Le Cyprin Jesse. De la Cepede

Hist. des Poissons, v- 585.

SALVIANUS) imagines this fish to have been
the Squalus* of the antients, and grounds his
opinion*on a supposed error in a certain pas-
sage in Columella and Varro, where he would
substitute the word Squalus instead of Scarus:
Columella says no more, than that the old Ro-
mans gave much attention to their stews, and
kept even the sea fish in fresh water, paying as

much respect to the Mullet and Scarus as those.

of his days did to the MWurena and Basse.
That the Scarus was not our Chub, is very
evident ; not only because the Chub is entirely

* A cartilaginous fish, a shark. Vide Plin. lib. IX. c. 24.
Ovid also ranks his Squalus with the sea fish :

Et Squauys, et tenui suffusus sanguine Muitius. Halieut.

i147.

DEscrip-
TION.

CHUB CYPRINE. Clase.

an inhabitant of fresh waters, but likewise it
seems improbable that the Romans would give
themselves any trouble about the worst. of river
fish, when they neglected the most. delicious
kinds; all their attention was directed towards
‘those of the sea: the difficulty of procuring
them seems to have been the criterion of their
value, as is ever the case with effete luxury.

The chub is a very coarse fish, and full of
bones: it frequents the deep holes of rivers,
and, during summer, commonly lies on the sur-
face, beneath the shade of some tree or bush.
It is a very timid fish, sinking to the bottom
on the least alarm, even at the passing of a
shadow, but will soon resume its situation.
It feeds on worms, caterpillars, grasshoppers,
beetles, and other coleopterous insects that
happen to fall into the water; and it will even
feed on cray-fish. It will rise to a fly.

This fish takes its name from its head, not

only in our own, but in other languages: we.

call it Chub, according to Skinner, from the
English, Cop, a head; the French, Testard ;
the Italians, Capitone.

It does not grow to a large size; we have
known some that weighed above five pounds,
but Sa/vianus speaks of others that were eight
or nine pounds in weight.

———-

Cuass LV.

BLEAK CYPRINE,

The body is oblong, rather round, and of a
pretty equal thickness the greatest part of its
length; the scales are large. The irides silvery ;
the cheeks of the same color; the head and
back of a deep dusky green; the sides silvery,
but in the summer yellow; the belly white; the
pectoral fins of a pale yellow; the ventral and
anal fins red ; the tail a little forked, of a brown-
ish hue, but tinged with blue at the end.

Alburnus. <Auson. Mosella,
126. .

Able ou Ablette. Belon, 319.

Alburnus. Rondel. fluviat.
208. Gesner pisc. 23.

Albula minor. Witinck,
Witek, and Blike. Schone-
welde. II. Tab. 1.

Bleak. Wil. Ichth. 263. Ruii
syn. pisc. 123.

Cyprinus quincuncialis, pinna
ani ossiculorum viginti. Ar-
fed. synon. 10.

Cyprinus Alburnus. Lin. syst.

531. Gm. Lin. 1434. Gro-
nov. Zooph. No. 336.

Faun. Suec. No. 373.
schneiderfischl.

Loja.

Spitslauben,
Kram. 395

Ukeleyen. Wulff Boruss. No.
64.

L’Able. Duhamel Tr. des
Pesches. ii. 493. sect. 3. tab.
23. fig. 12.

L’Able. Bloch ichth. i. 47.
fab. 8. f. 4.

Le Cyprin able. De la Cepede
Hist. des Poissons. v. i97-

THE taking of these, Ausonius let us know,
was the sport of children :

ALBURNOS predam puerilibus hamis.

437

12. BLEAK.

438

BLEAK CYPRINE. Crass IV.

They are very common in many of our rivers,
and keep together in large shoals. ‘These fish

seem at certain seasons to be in great agonies ;

ARTIFICIAL
PEARLS.

DeEscrIP-
TION.

they tumble about near the surface of the wa-
ter, and are incapable of swimming far from
the place, but in about two hours recover, and
disappear. Fish thus affected the Thames fish-
ermen.call mad bleaks. 'They seem to be trou-
bled with a species of Gordius or hair-worm,
of the same kind with those which Aristotle*
says that the Ballerus and Tillo are infested with,
which torment them so, that they rise to the
surface of the water and then die.

Artificial pearls are made with the scales of
this fish, and we think of the dace. They are
beat into a fine powder, then diluted with water,
and introduced into a thin glass bubble, which is
afterwards filled with wax. The French were
the inventors of this art. Dr. Laster yt tells us,
that when he was at Paris, a certain artist
used in one winter thirty hampers full of fish
in this manufacture.

The bleak seldom exceeds five or six inches
in length: their body is slender, greatly com-
pressed sideways, not unlike that of the sprat.

* Hist, an. ub. VIII. c. 20. + Journey to Paris, 142.

Cuass IV. MINOW CYPRINE.

The eyes are large; the irides of a pale yel-
low ; the under jaw the longest; the lateral line
crooked ; the gills silvery; the back green; the
sides and belly silvery; the fins pellucid; the
scales fall off very easily; the tail much
forked.

Potivos? Arist. Hist. an. VI.
c. 13.

Le Veron. Belon, 324.

Pisciculus varius. Rondel. flu-

via. 205.

Phoscium qui vulgo veronus
(quasi varius) dicitur, Bel-
lonius, Gesner pisc. 715.

Elritze, Elderitze. Schone-
velde, 57.

Pink, Minim, or Minow.
Wil. ichth. 268. Rati syn.
pisc. 125.

Cyprinus tridactylus varius

oblongus teretiusculus, pin-

na ani ossiculorum octo.
Arted. synon. 12.

Cyprinus Phoxinus. Cyp. pin-
na ani radiis 8. macula fusca
ad caudam, corpore pelluci-
do. Lin. syst. 528. Gm.
Lin. 14.22.

Le Veron. Duhamel Tr. des
Pesches. it. 515. sect. 3. tab.
26. fig. 7. :

Le Veron. Bloch ichth. i. 51
CaS falas

Le Cyprin Veron. De la Ce-
pede Hist. des Poissons. v.
573.

THIS beautiful fish is frequent in many of our
small gravelly streams, where it keeps in shoals.

The body is slender and smooth, the scales
being extremely small. It seldom exceeds three

inches in length.

489

13. Minow.

Descrirs
TION.

490

14. GoLp.

GOLD CYPRINE. Crass IV.

The lateral line is of a golden color: the
back flat, and of a deep olive: the sides and
belly vary greatly in different fish; in a few
they are of a rich crimson, in others bluish, in
others white. The tail is forked, and marked
near the base with a dusky spot.

Kingo, the Gold Fish. Kem- Gold Fish. Edw. 209.

pyer Hist. Japan, i. 137. Kin-yu, sive carpio auratus.
Kin-yu. Du Halde Hist. Baster subsec. ii. 78,
China. i. 19. 315. La Dorade Chinoise. Block

Cyprinus auratus. Cyp. pinna ichth. iii. 102. tab. 93, 94.
ani gemina, cauda transversa “ f. 1—3.
bifurca. Lin. syst. 527 Le Cyprindoré, De la Cepede

Gm. Lin. 1418. Faun. Suec. Hist. des Poissons. v. 553.-
tab. 2. Gronov. Zooph. No.
342.

‘THESE fish are now quite naturalized in this
country, and breed as freely in the open waters
as the common carp.

They were first introduced into England about
the year 1691, but were not generally known till
1728, when a great number were brought over,
and presented first to Sir Mathew Dekker, and
by him circulated round the neighborhood of
London, from whence they have been distribut-
ed to most parts of the country.

Cuass IV. GOLD CYPRINE.

In China the most beautiful kinds are taken
ina small lake in the province of Che-Kyang.
Every person of fashion keeps them for amuse-
ment, either in porcellane vessels, or in the
small basons that decorate the courts of the
Chinese houses. The beauty of their colors,
and their lively motions, give great entertain-
ment, especially to the ladies, whose pleasures,
by reason of the cruel policy of that country,
are extremely limited.

In form of the body they bear a great re-
semblance to a carp. They have been known
in this island to arrive at the length of eight
inches; in their native place they are said* to
grow to the size of our largest herring.

The nostrils are tubular, and form a sort of
appendages above the nose; the dorsal fin and
the tail vary greatly in shape; the tail is natur-
ally bifid, but in many is trifid, and in some
even quadrifid ; the anal fins are the strongest
characters of this species, being placed not be-
hind one another. like those of other fish, but
opposite each other like the ventral fins.

The colors vary greatly; some are marked
with a fine blue, with brown, with bright silver,
the most predominant is gold of most amazing

* Du Halde, 316.

491

Descrip-
TION.

49

GOLD CYPRINE. Cuass IV.

splendor; but their colors and form need not
be dwelt on, since those who want the oppor-
tunity of seeing the living fish, may survey them
expressed in the most animated manner, in the
works of our ingenious and honest friend Mr.

George Edwards.

APPENDIX,

APPENDIX.

AN os Ls: |,

ON THE TOAD. P. 22.

SINCE the printing of that article I have
been favored with some very curious accounts
of this reptile, which will give greater light into
its natural history than I am capable of, from
a most unphilosophical but invincible aversion
to the whole genus. ‘The facts that will appear
in the following lines, will serve to confirm my
opinion of its being an innoxious animal, and,
I hope, will serve to free numbers from a panic
that is carried to a degree of infelicity, and also
to redeem it from a persecution which the un-
merited ill-opinion the world has conceived,
perpetually exposes it to.

The gentlemen I am principally indebted to
for my informations are J. Arscott, esq; of
Tehott, in Devonshire, and Mr. Pitfield, of
Exeter. Some of these accounts were address-
-ed to Doctor Milles, Dean of Exeter ; others
' to the worthy Prelate, the bishop of Carlisle, to

406

APPENDIX. L

whom I owe these and many other agreeable
correspondencies ; others again to myself.

Mr. Arseoét’s letters give a very ample his-
tory of the nature of the toad: they were both
addressed te Doctor Afilles, and both were the
result of certain queries I proposed, which the
former was so obliging as to give himself the
trouble of answering in a most satisfactory
manner.

I shall first take the liberty of citing Mr. Ars-

cott’s letter of September the 23d, 1768, which ~~

mentions some very curious particulars of this
innocent reptile, which, for such a number of
years, found an asylum from the good sense of
a family which soared above all vulgar pre-
judices. |

“‘ It would give me the greatest pleasure to
*“ be able to inform you of any particulars wor-
“ thy Mr. Pennant’s notice, concerning the toad
‘«¢ who lived so many years with us, and was so
“ oreat a favorite. The greatest curiosity in it
“was its becoming so remarkably tame. It
‘had frequented some steps before the hall-
“door some years before my acquaintance com-
““menced with it, and had been admired by
“‘my father for its size (which was of the
“ largest [ ever met with) who constantly payed
“it a visit every evening. I knew it myself
“above thirty years, and by constantly feed-

ON THE TOAD.

“ing it, brought it to be so tame that it al-
“‘ ways came to the candle, and looked up as
** if expecting to be taken up and brought upon
“the table, where I always fed it with insects
“‘ of all sorts: it was fondest of flesh maggots,
“‘ which I kept in bran; it would follow them,
‘and when within a proper distance, would fix
‘fits eye, and remain motionless for near a
** quarter of a minute, as if preparing for the
“ stroke, which was an instantaneous throwing
“its tongue at a great distance upon the in-
* sect, which stuck to the tip by a glutinous
*‘ matter: the motion is quicker than the eye
““ can follow. *

“I always imagined that the root of its
*“ tongue was placed in the fore part of its
“under jaw, and the tip towards its throat, by
*‘ which the motion must be a half circle; by
“which, when its tongue recovered its situa-
‘tion, the insect at the tip would be brought
** to the place of deglutition. I was confirmed

“in this, by never observing any internal mo-_

** tion in its mouth, excepting one swallow the
“* instant its tongue returned. Possibly I might

* This rapid capture of its prey might give occasion to the
report of its fascinating powers. Linnceus says, Insecta in fauces
fascino revocat.

VOL. III, 9K

497

498

APPENDIX. I.

‘be mistaken, for I never dissected one, but
*“ contented myself with opening its mouth, and
“ slichtly inspecting it.

“You may imagine that a toad generally
“‘ detested (although one of the most inoffen-
“ sive of all animals) so much taken notice of
“and befriended, excited the curiosity of all
““ comers to the house, who all desired to see it
** fed, so that even ladies so far conquered the
‘horrors instilled into them by nurses, as to
“ desire to see it. This produced innumerable
“and improbable reports, making it as large
*‘ as the crown of a hat, &c. &c. This I hope
“ will account for my not giving you particu-
‘lars more worth your notice. When I first
‘‘ read the account in the papers of toads suck-
‘ing cancerous breasts, I did not believe a
“‘ word of it, not thinking it possible for them
‘to suck, having no lips to embrace the part,
“and a tongue so oddly formed; but as the
“fact is thoroughly verified, I most impatiently
“long to be fully informed of all particulars
** relating to it.”

Notwithstanding these accounts will serve to
point out some errors I had adopted, in respect
to this reptile in my first sheet, yet it is with
much pleasure I lay before the public a more

ON THE TOAD.

authentic history, collected from Mr. Arscoti’s
second favor : the answer points out my queries,
which it is needless to repeat.

Tehott, Now. 1, 1768.

“ In respect to the queries, I shall here give
* the most satisfactory answers I am capable
cé of.

“ First, I cannot say how long my father
‘had been acquainted with the toad before I
“knew it; but when I first was acquainted
“‘ with it, he used to mention it as the old toad
*“ ve known so many years; I can answer for
“ thirty-six years.

“Secondly, No toads that I ever saw ap-
*“ peared in the winter season. ‘The old toad
“made its appearance as soon as the warm
“weather came, and I always concluded it
“ retired to some dry bank to repose till the
“spring. When we new-layd the steps, I had
“two holes made in the third step on each,
*‘ with a hollow of more than a yard long for
“it, in which I imagine it slept, as it came
“ from thence at its first appearance.

“Thirdly, It was seldom provoked: neither
“ that toad (nor the multitudes I have seen tor-
“mented with great cruelty) ever shewed the
“lest desire of revenge, by spitting or emitting

2K 2

499

APPENDIX. I.

“any juice from their pimples. Sometimes
“upon taking it up it would let out a great
‘‘ quantity of clear water, which, as I have
“‘ often seen it do the same upon the steps
“when quite quiet, was certainly its urine,
‘and no more than a natural evacuation.

‘‘ Fourthly, A toad has no particular enmity
‘ for the spider; he used to eat five or six with
“‘ his millepedes (which I take to be its chief
*¢ food) that I generally provided for it, before
“‘ I found out that flesh maggots, by their con-
“‘ tinual motion, was the most. tempting bait’
“but when offered, it eat blowing flies and
“humble bees that come from the rat-tailed
‘‘ maggot in gutters, or in short any insect that
‘“‘moved. I imagine if a bee was to be put
‘“‘ before a toad, it would certainly eat it to its
“cost ; but as bees are seldom stirring at the
“same time that toads are, they can seldom
“come in their way, as they seldom appear
‘“‘ after sun-rising, or before sun-set. In the
“ heat of the day they will come to the mouth
“ of their hole, I believe, for air. I once from
“‘ my parlour window. observed a large toad I
“had in the bank of a bowling-green, about
“‘ twelve at noon, a very hot day, very busy and
“‘ active upon the grass ; so uncommon an ap-
‘‘ pearance made me go out to see what it was,

ON THE TOAD.

“when I found an innumerable swarm of
“winged ants had dropped round his hole,
“which temptation was as irresistible as a
* turtle would be to a luxurious alderman.

“¢ Fifthly, Whether our toad ever propagated
“its species I know not, rather think not, as
“it always appeared well, and not lessened in
*“ bulk, which it must have done, I should
“think, if it had discharged so large a quan-
“tity of spawn as toads generally do. The
** females that are to propagate in the spring,
* T imagine, instead of retiring to dry holes,
“ go into the bottom of ponds, and lay torpid
“among the weeds; for to my great surprize
** in the middle of the winter, having for amuse-
““ ment puta long pole into my pond, and twisted
“it till it had gathered a large volume of weed,
“on taking it off I found many toads, and
“ having cut some asunder with my knife, by
“accident, to get off the weed, found them full
“ of spawn not thoroughly formed. I am not
‘* positive, but think there were a few males
‘in March: 1 know there are thirty males * to
** one female, twelve or fourteen of whom [ have
“often seen clinging round a female: I have

® Mr. John Hunéer has assured me, that during his residence
at Belleisle, he dissected some hundreds of toads, yet never met
with a single female among them.

501

502

APPENDIX. I.

“often disengaged her, and put her to a soli-

“ tary male, to see with what eagerness he would

“ seize her. They impregnate the spawn as it is
“‘ drawn ™* out in long strings, like a necklace,

* I was incredulous as to the obstetrical offices of the male
toad, but since the end is so well accounted for, and the fact
established by such good authority, belief must take place.

Mr. Demours, in the Memoirs of the French Academy, as
translated by Dr. Templeman, vol. I. 371. has been very parti-
cular in respect to the male toad, as acting the part of an Accou-
cheur ; his account is curious, and claims a place here:

<‘ In the evening of one of the long days in summer, Mr.
«© Demours being in the king’s garden, perceived two toads
“< coupled together at the edge of an hole, which was formed in
“* part by a great stone at the top.

“« Curlosity drew him to see what was the occasion of the mo-,
** tions he observed, when two facts equally surprized him; the
<* first was the extreme difficulty the female had in laying her
“* egos, insomuch that she did not seem capable of being deli-
** vered of them without some assistance. The second was, that,
<* the male was mounted on the back of the female, and exerted
“< all his strength with his hinder feet in pulling out the eggs,
*« whilst his fore-feet embraced her breast.

«« In order to apprehend the manner of his working in the de-.
“< livery of the female, the reader must observe, that the paws
*< of these animals, as well those of the fore-feet as of the hin-
“‘ der, are divided into several toes, which can perform the
*< office of fingers.

<< Tt must be remarked likewise, that the eggs of this species
“© of toads are included each in a membranous coat that is very
** firm, in which is contained the embryo; and that these eggs,
** which are oblong and about two lines in length, being fasten-
“* ed one to another by ashort but very strong cord, form a kind
*< of echaplet, the beads of which are distant from each other
“* about the half of their length. It is by drawing this cord with,

ON THE TOAD.

“ many yards long, not in a large quantity of
< jelly, like frogs’ spawn. N. B. After having
“ held a female some time in my hand, I have,
“to try if there was any smell, put my finger
“a foot under water to a male, who has im-
“ mediately seized it, and stuck to it as firmly
“as if it was a female. Quere, Would they
“‘ seize a finger or rag that had touched a can-
“ cerous ulcer?

“« Sixthly, Insects being their food, I never
“saw any toad shew any liking or dislike to
“ any plant. *

«« his paw that the male performs the function of a midwife, and
““ acquits himself in it with a dexterity that one would not ex-
“© pect from so lumpish an animal.

“© The presence of the observer did not a little discompose the
«‘ male; for some time he stopped short, and threw on the curi-
“© ous impertinent a fixed look that marked his disquietness and
** fear; but he soon returned to his work with more precipita-
“< tion than before, and a moment after he appeared undeter-
<‘ mined whether he should continue it or not. The female
*¢ likewise discovered her uneasiness at the sight of the stranger,
“© by motions that interrupted sometimes the male in his opera-
*‘tion. At length, whether the silence and steady posture of
“‘ the spectator had dissipated their fear, or that the case was
** urgent, the male resumed his work with the same vigour, and
** successfully performed his function.”

-* This question arose from an assertion of Linnaeus, that the
toad. delighted in filthy herbs. Delectatur Cotula, Acta, Sta-
chyde feetida. ‘The unhappy deformity of the animal seems to
be the only ground of this as well as another misrepresentation,
of its conveying a poison with its pimples, its touch, and even its
breath. Verrucee lactescentes venenate infuse tactu, anhelitu.

503

304

APPENDIX. I.

““ Seventhly, I hardly remember any persons
“‘ taking it up except my father and myself: I
“do not know whether it had any particular
‘* attachment to us.

“ Fighthly, In respect to its end, I answer
“ this last quere. Had it not been for a tame
“raven, 1 make no doubt but it would have
“been now living; who one day seeing it at
“‘ the mouth of its hole, pulled it out, and al-
“ though I rescued it, pulled out one eye, and
“hurt it so, that notwithstanding its living a
“‘twelvemonth, it never enjoyed itself, and had
“a difficulty of taking its food, missing the
“mark for want of its eye: before that acci-
“dent, had all the appearance of perfect
“ health.”

What Mr. Pitfield communicated to me
serves farther to evince the patient and pa-
cific disposition of this poor animal. If I am
thought to dwell too long on the subject, let it
be considered, that those who have most un-
provoked enemies, and fewest friends, claim
the greatest pity, and warmest vindication. This
reptile has undergone all sorts of scandal; one
author makes it the companion of an atheist; *
and Milton + makes the devil itself its inmate ;

* A great toad was said to have been found in the lodgings of

Vanini, at Toulouse. Vide Johnson’s Shakespear.
+ Paradise Lost.

ON THE TOAD.

in a word, all kind of evil passions have been
bestowed upon it: it is but justice, therefore,
to say something in behalf of an animal that has
of late had so many trials of its temper, from
experiments occasioned by the new discovery
of its cancer-sucking qualities. It has borne
all the handling, teizing, bagging, &c. &c. with-
out the least sign of a vindictive disposition ;
and has even made itself a sacrifice to the dis-
charge of its office: this I know from the result
of much inquiry. Would I could contradict
what is asserted, of the inefficacy of the trials
made of them in the most horrible of diseases!
but at this time, I myself cannot bring one
proof of the success. Still I would not have
any one discouraged from the pursuit of the
remedy. Heaven opens to us gradually its
favors : the loadstone was for ages a mere matter
of ignorant amaze at its attractive qualities:
mercury was a supposed poison, and the terror
of physicians: we now wonder at the powers
of electricity, and are still but partially ac-
quainted with its uses: the toad, the object of
horror even in the most enlightened times, is
found to be perfectly innocent; it has certainly
contributed to the ease (and as has been said
to the cure) of the unhappy cancered; let the
following facts speak for themselves ; they come

506

APPENDIX. L.

from persons of undoubted veracity, and will
sufficiently establish the truth of the beneficent
qualities of this animal.

The first paper relating to it is very inge-

niously drawn up by Mr. Putfield, for the in-
formation of Doctor Littleton, Bishop of Car-
lisle (now happy) who immediately honored me-
with the copy.

Exon, August 29, 1768.
** Your lordship must have taken notice of a
paragraph in the papers, with regard to the
application of toads to a cancered breast. A
patient of mine has sent to the neighborhood
of Hungerford, and brought down the very
woman on whom the cure was done. I
have, with all the attention I am capable of,
attended the operation for eighteen or twenty
days, and am surprized at the phenomenon.
I am in no expectation of any great service
from the application: the age, constitution,
and thoroughly cancerous condition of the
person, being unconquerable barriers to it.
How an ail of that kind, absolutely local, in

* an otherwise sound habit, and of a likely age,

might be relieved, I cannot say. But as to

‘ the operation, thus much I can assert, that

there is neither pain nor nauseousness in it.

——

(<4

ON THE TOAD.

The animal is put into a linen bag, all but its
head, and that is held to the part. It has,
generally, instantly laid hold of the foulest
part of the sore, and sucked with greediness
until it dropped off dead. It has frequently
happened that the creature has swollen im-
mensely, and from its agonies appeared to
be in great pain. I have weighed them for
several days together, before and after the
application, and found their increase of
weight, in the different degrees, from a
drachm to near an ounce. ‘They frequently
sweat exceedingly, and turn quite pale:
sometimes they disgorge, recover, and be-
come lively again. I think the whole scene
is surprising, and a very remarkable piece of
natural history. From the constant inof-
fensiveness which I have observed in them, I
almost question the truth of their poisonous
spitting. Many people here expect no great
good from the application of toads to can-
cers; and where the disorder is not abso-
lutely local, none is to. be expected ; where
it is, and seated in any part, not to be well
come at for extirpation, I think it is hardly
to be imagined, but that the having it sucked
clean as often as you please, must give great
relief. Every body knows, that dogs licking

507

50S

“
~

~
nn

n~
an

ON
“~

APPENDIX. I.

of sores cures them, which is, I suppose,
chiefly by keeping them clean. If there is
any credit to be given to history, poisons
have been sucked out,

Pallentia Vulnera lambit
Ore Venena trahens.

are the words of Zucan on the occasion: if
the people to whom these words are applied,
did their cure by immediately following the
injection of the poison, the local confinement
of another poison brings the case to a great
degree of similarity.

“ T hope I have not tired your lordship with
my long tale; as it is a true one, and in my
apprehension a curious piece of natural his-
tory, I could not forbear communicating ‘it
to you. I own I thought the story in the
papers to be an invention, and when I consi-
dered the instinctive principle in all animals
of seli-preservation, I was confirmed in my
disbelief; but what I have related I saw,
and all theory must yield to fact. It is only
the Rubeta, the land toad, which has the
property of sucking; I cannot find any the
lest mention of the property in any one of the
old naturalists. My patient can bear to have
but one applied in twenty-four hours: the

ON THE TOAD.

© woman who was cured had them on day and
“ night, without intermission, for five weeks.
“ Their time of hanging at the breast has been
** from one to six hours.”

The other is of a woman who made the expe-
riment, which I give, as delivered to me from
undoubted authority.

About six years™ ago a poor woman received
a crush on her breast by the fall of a pail; a
complaint in that part was the result.

Last year her disorder increased to an alarm-
ing degree; she had five wounds on her breasts,
one exceedingly large, from which fragments of
bone worked out, giving her vast pain; and at
the same time there was a great discharge of
thin yellow matter: she was likewise reduced to
a mere skeleton.

Allher left side and stomach was much swell-
ed; her fingers doughy and discolored.

On the 25th of September, 1768, the first toad
was applied; between that and the 29th she
used seven, and had that night better rest.

She swallowed with greater ease, for before

that time there was some appearance of tumor
in her neck, and a difficulty of getting any thing
down.

* 3. e. from 1769.

509

516

APPENDIX. I.

October 16th, the patient better. It was
thought proper as winter was coming on, and
of course it would be very difficult to procure a

‘number of toads, to apply more at a time, so

three were put on at once. The swelling in the
arm abated, and the woman’s rest was good.
During these trials she took an infusion of
Water Parsnep with Pulvis Cornacchini.
December 18th, continued to look ill, but
finds herself better: two of the wounds were
now healed. 3
She was always most easy when the toads
were sucking, of which she killed vast numbers
in the operation.
January 1769. 'The last account that was
received, informing that the patient was better.
The remarks made on the animals are these: -
Some toads died very soon after they had
sucked; others lived about a quarter of an
hour, but some lived much longer: for exam-
ple, one that was applied about seven o'clock
sucked till ten, and died as soon as it was taken
from the breast; another that immediately suc-
ceeded continued till three o’clock, but dropped
dead from the wound, each swelled exceedingly,
and turned of a pale color.
These toads did not seem to suck greedily,
and would often turn their heads away; but

ON THE TOAD.

during the time of sucking were heard to smack
their lips like a young child.

As those reptiles are apt by their struggles to
get out of the bag, the open end ought to be
made with an open hem, that the string may
run the more readily, and fasten tightly about
the neck. )

It would be improper to quit the subject
without mentioning the origin of this strange
discovery, which was owing to a woman near
Hungerford, who labored under a cancerous
complaint in her breast, which had long baffled
all applications. The account she gives of the
manner in which she came by her knowledge is
singular, and I may say apocryphal. She says
of herself, that in the height of her disorder she
went to some church where there was a vast
crowd: on going into a pew, she was accosted
by a strange clergyman, who, after express-
ing compassion for her situation, told her that
if she would make such an application of living
toads* as above mentioned, she would be well.

* J have been told that she not only made use of living toads,
but permitted the dead ones to remain at her breast, by way of
cataplasms, for some weeks. I have been informed that the rela-
tion of this strange method of cure was brought over a few years
ago by one of our foreign ministers ; and that there is also notice
taken of it in Wheeler’s Travels.

311

512

APPENDIX. 1.

This dark story is all we can collect relating to.
the affair. It is our opinion that she stumbled.
upon the discovery by accident, and that having
set up for a cancer doctress, she thought it
necessary to amuse the world with this myste-
rious relation.* For it seems very unaccount-
able, that this unknown gentleman should ex-_
press so much tenderness for this single sufferer,
and not feel any for the many thousands that
daily languish under this terrible disorder: would °
he not have made use of this invaluable nostrum
for his own emolument, or at lest, by some
other means, have found a method of making it
public for the good of mankind ?

Here I take leave of the subject, which I
could not do without expressing my doubts, as
to the method of the woman’s obtaining her in-
formation ; but in respect to the authenticity of
this new-discovered property of the toad, facts
establish it beyond dispute. Let the humane
wish for speedy proofs of the efficacy; and for
the satisfaction of the world, let those who are

* Mr. Valentine Greatraks, who, about the year 1664, per-
suaded himself that he could cure diseases, by stroking them out
of the parts affected with his hand; and the famous Bridget
Bostock, of Cheshire, who worked cures by virtue of her fasting
spittle, both came by their art in a manner supernatural, but by
JSaith many were made whole.

ON THE TOAD.
eapable of giving indisputable proofs of the
success, take the earliest opportunity of mak-
ing the public acquainted with so interesting an
affair.
I have now given, without alteration, the
whole of the facts as stated in my former

edition. They are too curious to be lost;.

as they may serve to give to after-times a
proof of the belief of the age, and the fair
tryal made of a most distasteful remedy in the
most dreadful of complaints.

VOL. III. QL

513

Fa

APPENDX, IL

ote

OF THE PROLIFICNESS OF FISH.

Fish. Weight. Weight of Spawn. Fecundity.

OZ.
Carp 25.
Cod-fish
Flounder 24.
Herring 5.
Mackarel 18.
Perch 8.
Pike 56.
Roach. 10.
Smelt ia
Sole 14,
Tench 40.

dr. grains.
$e 25. bs

12540.
4. 2200.
10. 480.
0. 12232
9 765.
Ba 51002
6 361
0. 1492
8. 5422
0.

203109.
3686760.
1357400.
36960.
546681.
28323.
49304.
81586.
38278.

100362.

B.6 shdy

Time. >

April 4,

Dec, 23. é

~~ March 14.

Oct Ia
June 18.
April 5.
April 25.
May 2.
March 21.
June 13.

383252.* May 28.

* Some part of the spawn of this fish was by accident lost, so
that the account here is below the reality. Vide Phil. Trans.

1767.

ON MAKING ISINGLASS.

No. IIL.

OF THE METHOD OF MAKING ISINGLASS IN
ICELAND, FROM THE SOUNDS OF ae AND
~ LING. P. 237.

THE sounds of cod and ling bear general like-
ness to those of the Sturgeon kind of Linneus
and Artedi, and are in general so well known,
as to require no particular description. The
Newfoundland and Iceland fishermen split open
the fish as soon as taken, and throw the back-
bones, with the sounds annexed, in a heap; but
previous to putrefaction, the sounds are cut ‘out,
washed from their slimes, and salted for use.
In cutting out the sounds, the parts between
the ribs are left behind, which are much the
best; the Jceland fishermen are so sensible of
this, that they beat the bones upon a block with
a thick stick, till the Pockets, as they term
them, come out easily, and thus preserve the
sound entire. If the sounds have been cured
with salt, that must be dissolved by steeping
them in water, before they are prepared for
Isinglass. The fresh sound must then be laid
upon a block of wood, whose surface is a little
elliptical, to the end of which a small hair
QL

516

APPENDIX. III.

brush is nailed, and with a saw-knife, the mem-
branes on each side of the sound must be
scraped off. The knife is rubbed upon the
brush occasionally, to clear its teeth, the pock-
ets are cut open with scissars, and perfectly
cleansed of the mucous matter with a coarse
cloth: the sounds are afterwards washed a few
minutes in lime-water, in order to absorb their
oily principle ; and lastly, in clear water. They
are then laid upon nets, to dry in the air; but,
if intended to resemble foreign IJsinglass, the
sounds of cod will only admit of that called
book, but those of ling both shapes. © The
thicker the sounds are, the better the Lsinglass,
color excepted; but that is immaterial to the
brewer, who is its chief consumer.

ON THE GENUS FLOUNDER. 517

No. V.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE GENUS PLEURONECTES,
BY EDWARD HANMER, ESQ. P. 326.

GENUS. PLEURONECTES. FLOUNDER.

Bopy compressed and expanded.
__ Eves, both on the upper side of the head.

Synopsis of English species.

* ‘With the eyes towards the right.

243 Proportional
Page Breadth.*

Plaise 304 - - 48 Head tuberculated.

Dab 308 - - 46 Scales rough.

Smear dab 309 - - 46 Scales smooth.

Common 305 +2 ~- 42 = Spines on the margin of the
body.

Holibut 302 - - 39 Without spines, tail lunated.

Sole 311 -*¢ = 87 _ Side line near the head much
bent.

Red back 313 + - 36° Side line straight.

* PROPORTIONAL BREADTH is the proportion the breadth
bears to the length; the latter always supposed to consist of one
hundred parts. LeneTH means the distance, as traced by a
string, on the lower side the fish from the point of the head to
the setting on of the tail. BREADTH is the greatest distance
between the dorsal and anal fins, ascertained in the same man-
ner, and on the same side of the fish.

oie APPENDIX. IV. (Pe

** With the eyes towards the left.

Proportional
Page © Breadth.
Turbot 315 - - 70 Upper side spiny.
Top knot 322 -* - 57 Scales rough.
Brill S21. - += 56 Scales smooth.
Whiff 324 + - 40 Lower jaw projecting.
Seald fish 325 - + 39 Jaws even, tail rounded.

A residence upon the coasts of Cornwall
and Devonshire, during the winter of the years
1806 and 7, afforded opportunities for pro-
curing drawings, and making descriptions, of
the above-mentioned species of flat-fish, the
Pleuronectes of Linneus. 3

Whether we consider singularity of struc-
‘ture on the one hand, or the large and valuable
supply our tables derive from it on the other,
the genus we are treating of seems well entitled
to attention; and yet our knowledge, even of
the British part of it, has not been so perfect
and free from difficulty as might be expected.

Of the twelve species here enumerated,
seven of them, viz.

The Plaise,

Dab,

Flounder, 3

ON THE GENUS FLOUNDER.

Holibut,

Sole, :

Turbot, and Brill,
‘Are said to be found in Ray’s Synopsis Pis-
cium, and two more, viz.

The Smear Dab,* and Whitie,
Are figured in the Appendix to that work
from the drawings of Mr. Jago.t. These are
both of them described by Mr. Pennant, in
the British Zoology (in 1776), the former from
a specimen met with in London, and the latter
from one taken in the estuary of the Dee near
Downing: as an unknown visitor upon that
coast, it was thought worthy of the plate given
of it in the Velsh tour. [

No less than four of our species are not to

* The different vernacular names, by which the same fish is
known in different districts, sometimes in near vicinity to each
other, may lead to error, unless the enquirer be aware of this
circumstance ; the Smear dab of London is the Lemon sole at
Bath, the Merry sole at Plymouth, the Kit at Looe, and the
Queen at Penzance. ‘The Brill (formerly the Pearl) of London
and the eastern coast, is the Kite of Cornwall and Devonshire ; at
Torbay the two names meet, and there it is well known by
either. The Lantern of Mount’s boy is a Whiffe or French sole
at the eastern parts of Cornwall and of Plymouth.

+ In the plate there is the common error of engraved plates of
this genus ; if the eyes, &c. are placed on their natural side upon
the engraved copper, they are of course represented in a reversed
position upon the impression of it.

t Vol. i. page 29, tab.

519

520

APPENDIX. IV.

be found among those enumerated by Dr.
Gmelin in the last edition of the Syst. Nat. ;
and the two last mentioned species are not
referrable with certainty to on description
known to me.

The Pleuronectes punctatus (Targeur of
Bloch) is now for the first time introduced as
a British species; the specimen from which
the drawing was taken, was caught near Ply-
mouth, where, and on the coast of Cornwall
also, they sometimes, though rarely, make their
appearance. ‘The error committed by Bloch,
and not detected by Dr. Gmelin, in considering
this species as synonymous with the Whiffe
of Jago and Pennant, is now rendered still
more evident.

The genus Pleuronectes ranks with those
which present the most natural assemblage of
species, its boundaries are as distinctly marked
as those of any natural order. Its singular
structure accords with its habits and economy,
as contrivance does with use in the other parts
of the works of nature; the flat form, the situ-
ation of the eyes, and the absence of the air
bladder, sufficiently point out the part of the
ocean it is destined to inhabit: all the species
reside at the sandy bottoms either of the sea or
of the estuaries of the larger rivers, embedded

ae -IvOd TMVEL ¥ ‘LAN TMVUL HSINWOO

RE 0a SOS
aN BEeag z . POOLS DS
2a ; IIE
Tae

WDA IACI IS

“Tge'a'e' TOA *“AXXX'T Id

ON THE GENUS FLOUNDER.

in their sandy pastures; they find food in the
various species of worms and shell fish, with
which the sands abound; and there also, by
their superior activity, they are able to evade
the pursuit of many voracious enemies.

Most of the species take the bait freely ; the
hook * is therefore a common mode of capture,
especially for the larger Turbots, Brills, and
Plaise ; but generally for every species of flat
fish the great supply is derived from the Trawl
net. The annexed engraving will give to those,
who are unacquainted with it, some idea of this
very productive engine. :

A. the beam is of elm, 25 feet long fa four
inches square ; to this the upper part of the net
is attached, the lower part to the ground line
B. The beam is supported by two brackets or
sledges two and half feet high. ‘The distance
from the beam to the end of the cod is about
seventy-five feet. The bottom part of the net
is made with what is called mackarel twine, the

* The line in use upon the Cornish west is called a bolter, it
is from sixty to eighty fathoms long, the hooks are fixed on short
lateral lines, which are attached to the main line at the intervals
of a fathom between each; the line in use upon the Dutch
coast, called the long line, extends to the great length of seven or
eight miles, and is furnished, as the bolter is, with lateral lines and
hooks. The usual baits for flat fish are pieces of herrings, pil-
shards, smelts (fresh and salt), sand worms, mussels, &c.

521

i) TAs ee’

. APPENDIX. IV.

upper part ofa finer sort. The common trawl-
boat of Cornwall and the western part of
Devonshire, is a lug-sail two-masted vessel of
about_ twenty-five feet keel, and sixteen tons —
measurement, such as the engraving represents.
The boats of Brivham, which take a much
wider range, and work in deeper water, are.
cutter rigged ; the former with weaker powers,
seldom work in water deeper than about
twenty-five fathom. A rope of about one
hundred and forty fathoms in length, which
divides near the net, and attaches to each
sledge, connects the net with the boat, and
thus equipped the wind performs the labor.
The most favorable time for work is night,
winter the best season, making progress of
about a mile or a mile and half per hour.
Besides all the different species of flat fish,
the other sorts most commonly taken on the
Cornish coast are rays, hakes, ling, cod, and
gurnards.

ADDITIONS. 523

No. V.

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.
GREAT HEADED CACHALOT.. P. 80.

WE omitted to remark in its proper place,
that Mr. Pennant, in the edition of the British
Zoology, published in 1769, described the
Great Headed Cachalot as distinct from the
Round Headed, and applied to it the synonyms
since given to the latter. |

His description was taken from that by Sir
Robert Sibbald. A figure of the tooth is given
1 0. 1X flO

524

3, MEDITER-
RANEAN.

Descrip-
TION.

APPENDIX. V.

GENUS *XXVIII. REMORA. (P. 287.)

Heap furnished above with a flat, ovate, trans-
versely sulcated shield.

Bopy without scales.

Rays branchiostegous, six.

Echineis, Plinii lib. ix. c.15. Le Remore. Bloch Ichth. v.

Belon, 440. 109. tab. 172.

Remora. Rondel. 436. Echineis Remora. Gm. Lin.

Remora Imperati Zuyger. Wil. 1187. :
Tchth. 119. Art. gen. 15. Syn. 28.

Raii Syn. Pisc. 71. De la Cepede Hist. des Pois-

sons, lil. 147.

[THE Remora or Sucking fish grows to the
length of about eighteen inches. The mouth
large, furnished with numerous small teeth;
the lower jaw longer than the upper; the
eyes small, the irides yellow; the color of the
body an uniform brown; the skin smooth, but
marked with numerous pores. On the head is
a singular oval shield, by which the fish ad-
heres with great tenacity to any flat surface,
and sometimes in considerable numbers to the
sides of ships, which gave rise to the fabulous

a

ADDITIONS.

report that the motion of vessels was impeded
by them.

The only instance known of this singular
species having been drawn to our coasts was
in the summer of 1806, when one was taken by
Dr. Turton in Swansea from the back of a
cod-fish. Ep.

VARIABLE COD-FISH. P. 239.

Doctor Turton, in the British Fauna, p. 89,
gives this, without hesitation, as a fish of Great
Britain ; he also adds another species of Gadus
which is frequently taken at Swansea, and which
he describes under the name of

SPECKLED COD.

He says it is of a pale brown color with
golden spots of white beneath, and thickly
covered with minute dusky specks; the upper
jaw longer; length eighteen inches ;_ back arch-
ed; belly slightly prominent ; head large, gra-
dually sloping ; iris reddish, pupil black; chin
with a single beard; lateral line nearer the
back, curved as far as the middle of the second

APPENDIX. V.

dorsal fin, growing broader and whiter towards
the end; lower jaw with five punctures on
each side.

This description corresponds so much with
the Torsk, Ascan. icon. tab. iv. p. 4. the Gadus
callarias of other ichthyologists, that we can
entertain little doubt of its identity. Should
this be the case, we must require the reader to.
consider the fish described at p. 259, as the
Tithing of Ascanius, tab. v. p. 5

SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENT. 527

No. VI.

CATALOGUE OF THE ANIMALS DESCRIBED

i

a

12.

NAMES.*

IN THIS VOLUME, WITH THEIR BRITISH

fer y lL ES:

. Coriaceous Tor-

TOISE,

. Common Froc,
. Edible,

. Great,
. Toad,

. Natter Jack.
. Sealy Lizarp,
. Anguine,

Little,
Brown, |

. Warty,

Lesser - Water. |

Newt.

Melwioges.
Llyffant melyn.
Llyffant melyn cefn
erwm.
Llyffant mawr..
Llyffant. du, Llyffant
dafadenog. )
Llyffant gwyllt.
Genau goeg gennog.
nadredig.
leiaf.
_ frech.
ddafade- '
‘nog. |

* It is to Richard Morris, Esq. that the public is indebted for
the British names.

528

APPENDIX. VI.

13. Viper Serpent, Neidr, Neidr ddu,

14.

15.

16.

12.

is.

OD MB oO 19

Gwiber.
Ringed, Neidr fraith, Neidr y_
tomenydd.
Fragile, Pwl dall. Neidr y de-
Blind or Slow- faid.
worm,
Aberdeen, Neidr Aberdeen.
Pores. HL hyo:

. Common Wuatez, Morfil Cyffredin.

Fin, Morfil Barfog.

. Round-lipped, Morfil Twyngrwn.
. Pike-headed, Morfil Penhwyad.
. Sharp-nosed,

. Unicorn Nar-

WHAL.

. Blunt-headed Ca-

CHALOT.

. Round-headed, Morfil Pengrwn.

. High-finned, Morfil Uchel adain.
. Two-toothed.

. Bottle-head Hy-

PEROODON, Morfil durynawg.
Common Dot-
PHIN, Dolffyn.

Porpesse, Llamhidydd.

SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENT. 529

. Grampus,
. Gladiator.
». Sea LAMPREY, -

. Lesser,

. Pride,

. Glutinous Hac.
. Skate, Ray,

. Sharp-nosed,
. Rough,

. Fuller,

. Shagreen,

. Electric,

. Whip, |

. Thornback,

. Cuvier.

. Sting,

. Angel Suark,
. Picked,

. Basking,

. White,

. Blue,

. Long-tailed,

. Tope,

. Spotted,

. Lesser spotted,
VOL. III,

Morfochyn.

Llysowen _bendeoll,
Llamprai.

Lleprog.

Llamprair laid.

Cath for, morcath,
Rhaien.

Moreath drwynfain.

Morcath arw.

Ceffyl Gwyn.

Morcath ffreinig.

Swrthbysg. |

Morcath gynffon gwia-
len. .

Morcath bigog.

Morcath lefn.
Maelgi.
Ci Pigog, Picewd.
Heulgi.
Morgi gwyn.
Morgi glas, y Siere.
Liwynog mdr.
Ci glas.
Ci ysgarmes.
Morgi lleiaf.

2M

39.
40.
Al,
42.

43.
4d,
45.

46.

47.
48,
49.
50.
31.
52.
oo:
54.
35.
56.
57.
58.

59.
60.

APPENDIX. VI.
Smooth, Ci Llyfn.
Porbeagle, Corgi mor.
Beaumaris, Morgi mawr.
Northern Cuimz-

RA.
CommonANGLER,
Long,

Common Stur-

GEON,

Oblong TretTRo-

DON,

Short,

Globe,

Lump Sucker,
Unctuous,

Jura,
Bimaculated.
Montagu. ©
Longer Pipe F isn,
Shorter,
Little,
/Equoreal.
Snipe - nosed

' TRUMPET FISH.
Common EE 1,
Conger,

Morlyffant. a
Morlyffant hir.

Ystwrsion.

Heulbysg.
byrr.
crothog.
Jar-fér.
Mor falwen.
leiaf.

Pibellbysg hir.
byrr.
Mor Neidr.

Lysowen.
Mor Llysowen, Cyn-

gyren.

61.
62.
63.
64,
65.
66.

67.

68.
69.

70.
fic

72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
79.
80.

SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENT.

Common Wo.r
FISH,
Sand Launce,

Beardless Orut-
DIUM.
Four - toothed

ScABBARDFIsu.

Anglesey Morris,

Sicilian Sworp
Fisu,

Gemmeous Dra-
GONET,

Sordid,

Common WeEEv-
ERS

Great,

Common Cop
Fisu,

Variable.

Hadock,

Whiting Pout,

Bib, |

Power,

Coal,

Green.

Pollack,

Whiting,

531

Morflaidd.
Llamrhiaid, Pysgod
bychain.

Morys.
Cleddyfbyse.

Morddraig emmog.
salw.
Mor wiber, Pigyn as-
trus.
fawr.

Codsyn.

Hadoc.

Cod lwyd.
Deillion.
Cwdyn ebrill.
Chwitlyn glas.

Morlas.
Chwitlyn gwyn.
amu Q

81.
82.
83.
84.
85.
86.
87.
88.
89.

90.
91.
92.
93.
94.
95.
96.
97.
98.

99.
100.
101.
102.
103.

104

- APPENDIX. VI. -

Hake, '

Forked Hake.

Lest Hake,

Ling,

Burbot,

Three bearded,

Five bearded,

Torsk.

Trifurcated Tap-
POLE FIsu.

Crested BLENNY.,

Gattorugine.

Smooth.

Spotted.

Viviparous.

Red Banp Fisu.

Black Gosy.

Spotted.

River Buu
Heap,

Armed,

Father Lasher.

Common DoreEsg,

Opah.

Holibut, Froun-
DER,

. Plaise,
105.

Common,

Cegddu.
Cegddu fforchogfarf.

. Teiaf

Honos.
Llofen, Llofencn.
Codsyn farf teirfforch.

pumfforch.

Llysnafeddbysg cribog.

Cleirach gwymmon.
Gwrachen fair.

Craigbysg du.
brych.

Pentarw, Bawd y me-

linydd.
Penbwil.
Sarph y mor.
Sion dori.
Brenhinbysg.

Lleden ffreinig.
Lleden frech?-
Lleden ddu.

—_—

106.

107.

108.

109.
110.
VL.
112.
113.
114.
115.

EG;
LiA
118,
119.
120.
121.
122.
123.
(194.
125.
126.
127.
128.
129.
130.

SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENT. 538

Dab, .

. Smear Dab.
Sole,

Red back.

Turbot,

Pearl,

Topknot.

Whifl.

Scald-fish.

Lunulated GILT
Heap,

Red,

Rayan.

Toothed.

Antient WRASSE,

Ballan.

Bimaculated.

Trimaculated.

Striped.

Gibbous.

Goldsinny.

Cook.

Rainbow.

Comber.

Common PERCH.

Basse,

Lleden gennog, Lle-
den dwfr croyw.

Lleden iraidd.

Tafod yr hydd, Tafod
yr ych.

Lleden chwith,Torbwt.
Perl.

Lleden arw fafnrwth.
Peneuryn, Eurben.
Brém y mor.
Eurben danheddog.

Gwrach.

Gwrach rengog,
gefngrwm.

| Céogwrach.

Perc.
Draenog, Gannog.

534

lot
132.
Poo.
134.

135.
136.
137:

138.

139.

140.

141.

142,

145.

144.
145.

146.

147.
148.
149.

150.
151.
152.

153.

APPENDIX. VI. °”

Sea Perch,

Ruftfe.

Black.

Three
STICKLEBACK,

Ten spined,

Fifteen spined,

Common Mack-
REL,

Tunny,

Scad.

Red SurMur-
LET,

Striped.

Grey GURNARD,

spined

Red,

Piper,

Sapphirine,

Streaked.

Bearded Locue,

Spinous.

Common SAL-
MON,

Grey,

White.

Sea Trout.

River Trout,

Perc y mor.
Y Garwhbere. |
| du. t
Sil y dom, Pysgod: y
gath. é
Pigowgbysg.
Silod y mor.

Macrell.
Macrell Yspaen.
y meirch.

Hyrddyn coch.
Macrell rhengog.
Penhaiarn llwyd, Pen-
haiernyn.:
Penhaiarn coch.
Pibydd.
Ysgyfarnog y mor.
Penhaiarn rhestrog:
Crothell yr afon.

Gleisiedyn, Eog, Ma-
ran.

Penllwyd, Adfwlch.

Brithyll y mor,
Brithyll,

154.
155.
156.

137.
158.
159.
160.

161.
162.

163.

164.
165.

166.

167.
168.
169.
170.
171.
172.
173.
174.

SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENT.

Samlet, —
Charr,
Grayling,

Smelt,
Gwyniad,
Common Pike,
Gar,

Saury.

Sheppy ARGEN-
TINE.

European ATHE-
RINE.

Grey MULLET,

Winged Fiy1ne
Fisu.

Common HEr-
RING,

Pilchard,

Sprat,

Anchovy.

Shad,

White bait.

Carp CyprInE,

Barbel,

Tench,

Brith y gro.
Torgoch.

Brithyll rhestrog, Glas- |

gangen.
Brwyniaid.
Gwiniedyn.
Penhwyad.
Mor nodwydd, Corn
big.

Arianbysg.

Hyrddyn, Mingrwn.
Ehedbysg.

Pennog, ysgaden.
Pennog mair.

Coeg Bennog.
Herlyn, Herling.
Carp, Cerpyn.

Barfbysg, y Barfog.
Gwrachen, Ysgretten.

535

556

175.
176.
177.
178.
179.
180.
181.
182.
183.
184.

185.

186.

APPENDIX. VI.

Gudgeon, _ Crothell.

Bream, Brém.

Rud, Rhuddgoch.

Gibele,

Roach, Rhyfell.

Dace, Darsen, Goleubysg.

Graining. .

Chub, Penci, Cochgangen.

Bleak, Gorwynbysg.

Minow, Crothell y dom, By-
chan bysg. .

Gold Fish. Eurbysg.

APPENDIX.

Mediterranean REMoRA.

INDEX

TO THE THIRD VOLUME.

A

ABDOMINAL ‘fishes, page
57- 379

Adder, sea, 187

Adder, vide Viper

Adder-gems, their supposed
yirtues, 42

Adwresé of Aristotle, a species
of Snark, 145

Anchevy, 459

Angel-fish, 130

its flerceness, 131

ANGLER, common, 159 -
dong, 162

Apicius, the chief of epicures,
367

ApoDAL fishes, 56. 191

Ape, sea, 145

ARGENTINE, 432

Aristophanes, his chorus of
frogs, 14

Asinius Celer, the vast price
he gave for a Surmullet,
636

ATHERINE, 434

B

' Ballan Wrasse, page 334

Banp FIsu, red, 285
Barbel, 472
its roe noxious, 473

_ Basking shark, the largest spe-

cies, 134
migratory, 135
yields great plen-
ty of oil, 137
Basse, 348

Batrachoides trifurcatus, 272
Bib, or Blinds, a kind of Cod
fish, 247
Billets, young Coal fish, 251
Birdbolt, 265
Biscayners, early engaged in
the whale fishery, 65
Bleak, 487
Buewnny, the crested, 276
- diminutive, 277
smooth, 280
spotted, 282
viviparous, 283
Blind-worm, or Slow-worm,
46

537

588

INDEX.

Blind-worm, a harmless ser-
pent, page 47
Boat, the five-men, what, 317
Bony fishes, 54. 191
Botargo, what, 438
Bottle-head, a sort of Whale,
85
Branlines, vide Samlet.
Bream, 478
sea, 329
Bret, 321
British names, 527
Bufonites, what, 20
Bulcard, 280
BuLL-HEAD, river, 291
; armed, 293
Bull-trout, 398
Burbot, 265
Butterfish, 282
But, a name for the Flounder,
305

Cc

CacHALor, genus of Whales
producing sperma-ceti, 79
the blunt-headed,
ib.
round-headed, 82
two-toothed, 84
high-finned, 83
Cancers, attempts to cure by
the application of toads,
22. 505
Carp, 467
its longevity, 469
very tenacious of life,
470

Carp, golden, page 490
CaRTILAGINOUDS. fishes, their
characters, 53. 100
Cegracrous fishes, their cha-
racters, 53. 58
Char, 407
gilt and red, probably
the same fish, 409
CuHIM2RA, northern, *157
Chub, 485
Coal-fish, 250
Coble, a sort of boat, 317
Cop-FIsH, the common, 231
fish affecting cold
climates, 232 ;
-very prolific, 237
green, 253
vast fishery off
Newfoundland,-
ab.
’ three bearded, 267:
five-bearded, 268
variable, 239
Conger, how differing from
the eel, 196
an article of com-
merce in Cornwall,
198
Comber, wrasse, 342
Cook, wrasse, 340
CyprRINE, 467

D

Dab, 308
smear, 309
Dace, or Dare, 483

INDEX.

Digly, Sir-Kenelm, singular
-- experiment of, page 40)
Dog-fish, the picked, 133
greater, 148
lesser, 150
Do.LPHIN, common, 88
venerated by the
antients, 20.
falsely represented
by painters, 90
a dish at great ta-
bles, 92
gladiator, 99
Doreez, 206
DraGonetT, gemmeous, 221
| the sordid, 224
Drizzles, what, 263

E

EzL, common, will quit its
element, 102
impatient of cold, 2b.
-generation of, 193- ~~
most uuviversal: of fish,
195
despised by the Ro-
mans, 2b.
Eel-pout, 265
viviparous, 283,
Eft, vide Lizard,
Elvers, 197

F

Father-lasher, 294
Fin-fish, a species of whale, 68

Finseale, vide Rud. - y
Fire-flaire, vide Sting-ray.
Fisues, the fourth class of ani-
mals, page 53 x
Fishing-frog, vide Angler.»
FLOUNDER, 302 4
or fluke, 305
red back, 313. °
scald-fish, 325
topknot, 322
FLYING-FISH, 441
Forked beard, greater, 259
lesser, 261
Fox, sea, 145
Froc, common, 12
generation of the, 13
periodical silence, 15
edible, 17
great, 7b.

G

Garum, a sort of pickle much
esteemed by the antients,
358

Gattorugin, 278

Gibele, 480

GILT-HEAD, lunulated, or
gilt-poll, 327

rayan, 330
red, 329
toothed, 331

Glain Neidr, in high esteem
with the old Britons, 42

Gloucester city, presents the
King annually with a lam-

prey pye, 103.

540

INDEX:

Gosy, the black, page 288
> “spotted, 290 — ,

-Goldfish, 490

Goldsinny, wrasse, 339
Graining, 484
Grampus, 96
Grayling, 414
Grigs, 194
Groundling, vide Loche.
Gudgeon, 476
sea, 288
Guffer, 283
GuRNARD, grey, 371
red, 373
sapphirine, 376
streaked, 377
yellow, vide Dra-
gonet.
Gwyniad, 419

H

Hadock, 241
vast shoals of, 243
Hadock, said to be the fish out
of whose mouth St. Peter
took the tribute-money, 245
Hag, glutinous, 109
Hake, 257
forked, 259
lest, or lesser forked-
beard, 261
trifurcated, 272
Henry I. killed by a surfeit of
lampreys, 103
HERRING, 444

HERRING, its migrations, page
445 ‘9

fishery, 451

Hierobotane, account of that
plant, 43

Hippo, the dolphin of, 89 _

Holibut, its vast size, 302

voraciousness, 303
Hull, the town of, early in the
whale fishery, 66
Hyreroopon, © bottle-head,
85 :

I as
Ichthyocolla, or Isinglass, 237
method of mak-

ing, 515
JuGuuar fishes, 56. 221

K

King-fish, 299
Kit, or smear dab, 309

L

Lampern, vide Pride.
LAMPREY, sea, 102
not the murena of
the antients, 104
its vast tenacious-
ness, 2b.
» the lesser, 106
Launce, 206

INDEX.

Ling, page 262. DOP
a great article of com-
merce, 263
L1zarD, scaly, 25
‘warty, 30
brown, 29
little, 2h
anguine, 27
green, 20
a large kind, proba-
bly exotic, 2b.
larves of ~ lizards,
mostly inhabitants
of water, 31
Locue, bearded, 379
sea, 267 -
spinous, 381
Lump-fish, or sucker, 176
much. admired by
the Greenland-
ers, 178

M

Mackret, 357
horse, 363
Mason, Mr. his spirited trans-
lation of Pliny’s account
of the ovum anguinum, 41
Miller’s thumb, 29i
Minow, 480)
Morais, 212
Mulgranock, 280
MULLET, grey, 436
the punishment of
* adulterers, 438

Murena, not our lamprey,

page 104

Muorinyros of Aristotle, our
whale, 63

Musculus of Pliny, the same,
ib.

Myxine, 109

N
NARWHAL unicorn, 75

Natter-jack, a species of toad,
24

_ Newt, great water, 30

lesser water, 32
Newfoundland, its bank, 232
North-capers,

pus.

vide Gram-

O

Octher, an able navigator in
K. Alfred's days, 65

Opah, 299

OpuipiuM, beardless, 208

Ovum anguinum, a druidical
bead, 41

Pp

Paddoch-moon, what, 15
Parrs, or young coal-fish, 251
or samlets, 406

Pearl flounder, 321

Pearls, artificial, what made
“of, 488

INDEX.

PrrcH, much admired: by the
antients, page 345
acrooked variety found
in Wales, 347
sea, 349
Physeter, or blowing whale,
69
PIKE, common, 424
its longevity, 427
gar, or sea-needle, 429
saury, 430
Pilchard, 453
its important fishery,
A54.

Pipre-FIsH, longer, 184
shorter, 186 |
little, or sea-ad-

der, 187
zquoreal, 188

Piper, 374

Plaise, 304

Pliny, his account of the

Ovum anguinum, 41

Pogge, 293

Pollack, the whiting, 254

Poor, or Power, akind of cod-

fish, 249
Porbeagle, a species of shark,
152
Porpesse, 93
a royal dish, 95
Pout, a species of cod-fish, 246
Pride, 107

Q

ic)
Quin, Mr. the actor, first re- -

commended the eating of
- the Doree in England, page
297 ya

R

Raw ii
sharp nosed, 113
rough, 115
fuller, 116
-shagreen, 117
electric, its numbing qua-
lity, 118 |
whip, 128
Ray, sting, 125
the Trygon of the an-
tients, 126
fables relating to it, 20.
Cuvier, 124
Reprizes, the third class of
animals, 1.9
Roach, 482
Rockling, 267
Rud, 479
Ruffe, 350
the black, or black fish
of Mr. Jago, 351

S

SALMON, grey, 394
white, 396
common, 382
leaps, 384 ~
fishery, 388
trout, 397

INDEX.

Samlet, page 404.
Sand-eel, vide Launce,
ScaABBARD-FISH, four-toothed,
210
Scad, 363
Schelly, 419
Scombraria, an isle, why so
called, 358
Scorpion, sea, 204
Seneca, .his account of the
luxury of the Romans in
respect to fish, 366
SERPENT, 35
SERPENT, Aberdeen, 48
ringed, or snake, 44
fragile, 46
Shad, 460
Shakespeare, his fine compa-
rison of adversity toa toad-
stone, 21
SHark, 130
picked, 133
basking, 134
its vast size,
137
white, its voracious-
ness, 139
blue, 143
long-tailed, 145
spotted, 148
lesser-spotted, 150
smooth, 151
Beaumaris, 154
Porbeagle, 152
Skate, 111
its method of engen-
dering, 112

543

Slow-worm, a harmless’ ser- ©
pent, page 47

Smelt, 416

Smear-dab, 309

Smooth-shan, 280

Snail, sea, 179

Snake, inoffensive, 45

Sole, 311

‘Sparling, vide Smelt.

Sprat, 457
Sperma ceti, what, 81
whale, vide Ca-
chalot.
STICKLE-BACK, three-spined,
353 i
vast shoals in
the Wel-
land, ib.
ten - spined,
355
fifteen - spin-
ed, 356

‘Sting-ray, its dangerous spine,

125
STURGEON, 164.
Sucker, lump, 176
unctuous, 179
Jura, 181
bimaculated, 182
Montagu, 183
Sun-fish, 170
SURMULLET, the red, 365
extravagantly priz-
ed by the Ro-
mans, ib.
the striped, 368
Sworp-Fisu, 216

INDEX.

SworpD-FISH, manner of tak-
ing, page 217
fishermen’s song
previous to the
capture, 218
Xiphias of Ovid,
ab.

T

TADPOLE-FISH, trifurcated,
272
Tench, 474
"the physician of the
‘fish, 475
TetTRopoN globe, 174
oblong, 170
short, 172
Tuoracic fishes, 57. 285
Thornback, 122
Thresher, its combat with the
Grampus, 146
Toad, its deformity, 18
used in incantations, 19
its poison a vulgar error,
21
attempts to cure cancers
by means of it, 22.
505
said' to be found in the
midst of trees and
rocks, 23
a farther account of this
animal, 495
Toad-stone, what, 20
Tomus Thurianus, what, 218
Tope, 146

Torgoch, vide Chart.
Torsk, or Tusk, page 269
ToRTOISE, coriaceous, 9
Trout, river, 399
sea, 307
crooked. 401
gillaroo, 402
TRUMPET-FISH, snipé-nosed,
190
Tub-fish, 376
Tunny, 360
the : fishery very an-
tient, 7b.
taken notice of by.
Theocritus, 361
Turbot, 315 —
fishery, zl.
Twaite, a variety of shad, 463

U

Ulysses, said to have béen kill-
ed with the spine of the
Trygon, or Sting-ray, 126

V

Viper, not prolific, 36
its teeth, 37
effécts of the bite, and
its cure, 39
uses, 40
the black, 36

WwW

WEEVER, common, 226

INDEX.

WEEVER, its stroke supposed
to be poisonous, page 226
the greater, 229
Waa tz, the common, 61
vast size, 62
place, 64
fishery, 65
the English engaged
late in it, 66
pike-headed, 71
round-lipped, 70
sharp nosed, 73
fin, 68
Whalebone, what, 63
Whiff, a sort of founder, 324

White-bait, page 465
Whiting, 255
Whiting-pout, 246
Whiting-pollack, 254
Whistle-fish, 267
White-horse, a ray, 116
W oLF-FISH, 201
curious structure
of its teeth, 203
Wrassg, or old wife, 332
bimaculated, 335
trimaculated, 334
striped, 337
gibbous, 338
rainbow, 343

END OF THE THIRD VOLUME,

Printed by S. Hamilton, Weybridge.

545

TABLE OF ERRATA.—VOL. III.

Page 5. 1. 20, for *‘ venemous,” read “ venomous.”
31. To first note add Ep.
64. 1. 2, for “ their,” r. “ its.”
67. 1. 8, for “* theses hores,” r, “ those shores.”
71. First note dele, ‘* It has, &c.”
305). 8 tor Sauer. <Cix.?
81. Note, for ‘ ii.” r. “ viii.”
82, 63, 91. Note, for “ iii.” r. “ ix.”
128. Note, bottom line, for “‘ on,” r. “ in.”
$54. 17 aele*.,”
223. 1.10, for “ sappharine,” r. “‘ sapphirine.”
272. Note, 1. 4, for “‘ Lophicus,” r. “ Lophius.”
431. Note, 1. 4, for “‘ embedded,” r. “‘ imbedded.”
461. 1. 19, for “* Rosetto,” r. *“* Rosetta.”
514. Appendix II. refer to (“ page 471.”)
517. Appendix, for “ No. V.” r. “ No. IV.”

[The editor takes some blame to himself for permitting two errone-
ous passages at p. 152 and 136 toremain. It is well ascertained that
the appendages near the root of the tail in the Ray and Shark tribe,
are not organs of generation, but serve as arms or folders. En.

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