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LONDON IIENR
THE
NATUBALIST'S LIBRARY.
EDITED BY
SIR WILLIAM JARDINE, BART.,
F.R.S.E., F.L.S., ETC., ETC.
VOL. XXXVIII.
ICHTHYOLOGY.
FISHES OF THE PERCH FAMILY.
BY THE EDITOR.
EDINBURGH :
W, H. LIZARS, 3, ST. JAMES' SQUARE.
LONDON :
HENRY G. BOHN, YORK ST., COVENT GARDEN,
• v- •
BIOLOGY
LIBRARY
G
CONTENTS.
PAGE
MEMOIR OF SIR JOSEPH BANKS . . .17
ICHTHYOLOGY— Introduction 4(J
Genus PERC A— Perch . . . . .91
The Granulated Perch.
Perca granulata. Plate I. . . 92
Ciliata . . . . .93
Italica ..... 95
labrax . . . . .96
The Basse or Sea Perch.
Labrax lupus. Plate II. ... 98
lineatus . . . . .99
The Lates of the Nile.
Lates Niloticus. Plate 111. , . 101
nobilts . . ,102
viil CONTENTS.
1JM0
Eleven-Spined Centropome.
Centropomus undecimaiis. Plate IV. . 103
The Common Pike-Perch.
Lucioperca sandra. Plate V . . . . 105
marina .... 107
Americana . . . . ib.
The Black Bass of the Huron.
Huro nigricans. Plate VI, . . . 103
The Ruby-Coloured Etelis.
Etelis carbunculus. Plate VII. . .110
The Spined Niphon.
Niphon spinosus. Plate VIII. . . Ill
The Armed Enoplossus.
Enoplossus armatus. Plate IX. . .112
r\vo Banded Diploprion.
Diploprion bifasciatum. Plate X. . . 115
The iMediterranean Apogon.
Apogon rex Mullorum. Plate XI. . .117
CONTENTS. \X
PAGE
Apogon trimaculatus . 119
quadrifaciatus . . . . ib.
novemfaciatus . . ib.
Arabian Cheilodipterus.
Cheilodipterus Arabicus. Plate XII. . . 120
— quinquelineatus . 121
The Large-Eyed Pomatome.
Pomatomus telescopium. Plate XIII. . . 12:
Commerson's Ambassis.
Ambassis Commersoni. Plate XIV. . 124
- nama ..... 120
— baculis . . . . jb,
• ranga . . . . . ib,
The Zingel.
Aspro vulgaris. Plate XV. . . 127
The Oriental Gramistes.
Gramistes orientalis. Plate XVI. . .129
Perches with a Single Dorsal Fin . .131
Lettered Serranus.
Serranus scriba. Plate XVII. , 132
C CONTENTS.
FAGB
The Spined Serranus.
Serranus anthias. Plate XV HI. . . 135
tonsor . . . .136
oculatus ib.
ceneus ..... 137
The Long Tailed Serranns.
Serranus phceton. Plate XIX. . . 138
Large Finned Serranus.
Serranus altivelis. Plate XX.
cyanostigma
myriaster ....
Leopard-Spotted Plectropoma.
Plectropoma leopardinus. Plate XXI.
Beautiful Plectropoma.
Plectropoma puella. Plate XXII.
Banded Diacope.
Diacope rivulata. Plate XXIII. .
octolineata
macolor
sanguinea
CONTENTS. XI
PAQB
One Spotted Mesoprion.
Mesoprion uninotatus. Plate & XIV. . 148
vivanus . . . .149
Golden-Tailed Mesoprion.
Mesoprion chrysurus. Plate XXV. . 150
The Ruffe.
Acerina cernua. Plate XXVI. . . 151
Many-Spined Polyprion.
Polyprion cernium. Plate XXVII. . 153
American Black Bass.
Centropristes nigricans. Plate XXVIII. . 156
scorpenoides . . . 157
truttaceus . . . ib,
The Salmon-Formed Growler.
Grystes salmoides. Plate XXIX. • 15*
The Brazilian Rypticus.
Rypticus arenatus. Plate XXX. . . 160
Genus Cirrhites , « 161
Chironemus Oeorgianus 3 * 162
CONTENTS.
Pomotis
PA OS
162
Ldbrus auritus
. ib.
Aphredoderus .
163
Centrarchus
ib
Priacanthus ....
ib.
Dules . . . ' „
. 164
Dulesauriqa ....
ib.
Dules marginatus
. ib.
Therapon ....
ib.
Datnia
. 165
Caius Datnia ....
ib.
Pelates
ib
Helotes .....
ib.
Trichodon ....
. 166
T. Stelkrii ,. . ...
ib.
Sillago .....
. ib.
Myripristis ....
167
Helocentrum ....
. ib.
Beryx .
168
Trachichtys ....
. ib.
Trachinus
169
Percis ....
ib
Percopis .....
. 169
Uranoscopus ....
170
Sphyroena .
. ib.
CONTENTS. Xlli
PAGE
Paralepis . . . . .170
Poll, nemos . . . . .171
ihe Mullets ..... ib.
MuUus, Linn. — Mugil of the Ancients . . ib.
<Jpenus « 172
Muscles of the Common Perch. Plate XXXI. 61
Skeleton of the Common Perch. Plate XXXII. 62
/OSSILS.
Lates graciles. Plate XXXIII. . . 174
Lates Macrourus ib.
Oyciopoma spinosum. Plate XXXIV. . 175
APPENDIX.
Extracts from the Complete Angler of Izaac Walton,
containing Observations on the Perch and Directions
how to fish for him. With his Short Discourse, by
way of Postscript, touching the laws of Angling . 181
Continuation of the Discourse. By Sir John
Hawkins ...... 197
Common Perch. Plate XXXV. . . .180
Portrait of Sir Joseph Banks
Vignette, Title Page. — Pentaceros capcnsis . 154
In all, Thirty-Seven Plates in this Volume.
MEMOIR
SIR JOSEPH BANKS.
MEMOIR
OF
claim for the subject of our
present memoir that exalted rank as a practical
naturalist, by which Linnaeus and Cuvier have been
distinguished, though as an author he may be said
to be almost unknown ; yet there have been few
men in this country to whom physical science is
more beholden, as his whole life was devoted to the
encouragement, and his ample fortune to the illus-
tration of it in all its branches. He lived before
the taste for natural history had become generally
diffused, and it was his pride and his delight to
give it that fostering protection it required in his
day, from the wealthy and the noble. At the pre-
sent time, when a society exists for the promotion
of each department of natural history, when Lon-
don, Dublin, and Edinburgh, &c., boast of zoologi-
cal collections, and a botanic garden, a museum,
VOL. XXXVTII. B
18 MEMOIR OP
and a lecture room, are attached to most of our
provincial towns, we can scarcely appreciate the
merits of an individual who set the bright example
before us, and contributed in so great a degree to
produce this gratifying result. Let the present
generation, who reap the benefit of his exertions,
not ungratefully forget the memory of Sir Joseph
Banks.
His father was William Banks Hodgkinson,*
Esq. the proprietor of Revesby Abbey, in Lin-
colnshire, where his only son Joseph was born,
February 13, 1743. He received the rudiments
of education at home, under a private tutor, and
afterwards went to Harrow, from thence to Eton,
and finally completed his studies at Christchurch,
Oxford. He had the misfortune to lose his father
at the early age of eighteen. It is greatly to his
honour, that, thus left
Lord of himself, that heritage of wo,
there was no alteration in his habits of study, and
that he resisted the allurements of youth, wealth,
and freedom from parental control, for the quiet
enjoyments of science. Natural history appears
* He assumed the surname and arms of Hodgkinson in
compliment to his maternal grandfather. He married
Sarah, daughter of William Bete, Esq. who died August
27, 1804. Besides the subject of this memoir, they had
one daughter, who died unmarried, September 27, 1818.
SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 19
to have occupied his ardent mind, and botany, in
particular, to which public attention had been
excited through the recent publication of the
Linnaean system in England, was his favourite
pursuit. The gardens of Lee and Kennedy, at
Hammersmith, supplied him with foreign plants,
and his own industry and research for British
specimens completed his practical instruction in
this fascinating and exhilarating department of
study.
Soon after he left the university, his friend Lieu-
tenant Phipps, afterwards Earl of Mulgrave, being
ordered with a ship of war to protect the New-
foundland fisheries, Mr Banks gave the earliest
proof of his eager desire for knowledge, by sacri-
ficing the advantages and comforts of his station
as a wealthy landed proprietor just coming of
age, and accompanying his friend on his voyage
to this inhospitable climate. The stern realities
of privation and danger with which he thus
became acquainted, however interesting in the
narrative, were calculated to check the ardour of
a young man of independent fortune, and it
might reasonably have been expected that he
would have rested satisfied with this first attempt,
and have henceforth been content with the reports
of others ; but this was far from the case. They
daunted not the inquiring mind of Mr Banks,
for he no sooner heard of the expedition that
government were about to fit out for the South
20 MEMOIR OF
Seas, under the command of Lieutenant Cook,
than he intimated to his neighbour, Lord Sand-
wich, then first Lord of the Admiralty, with
whom he was in the habit of enjoying aquatic
sports on Whittlesea Mere, his desire to be per-
mitted to join the expedition. This was readily
acceded to, and Mr Banks determined to spare no
expense in availing himself of the advantages that
were thus opened before him. He, therefore, en-
gaged the celebrated Dr Solander,* the friend and
pupil of Linnaeus, at a salary of £400 per annum,
during the voyage ; together with Mr Sydney
* Of the wisdom of this choice, Dr Pulteney's character
of Solander is a proof. He says, '* At this juncture, it is
material, among those circumstances which accelerated the
progress of the new system, (the Linnsean,) to mention
the arrival of the late much lamented Dr Solander, who
came into England on the first of July, 1760. His name,
and the connection he was known to bear as the favourite
pupil of his great master, had of themselves some share in
exciting a curiosity, which led to information ; whilst
his perfect acquaintance with the whole scheme enabled
him to explain its minutest parts, and elucidate all those
obscurities with which, on a superficial view, it was
thought to be enveloped. I add to this, that the urbanity
of his manners, and his readiness to afford every assistance
in his power, joined to that clearness and energy with
which he effected it, not only brought conviction of its
excellence in those who were inclined to receive it, but
conciliated the mind, and dispelled the prejudices of many
who had been averse to it." — Sketches of the Progress of
Botany, vol. ii. p. 350.
SIR JOSEPH BANKS- 21
Parkinson and Mr Buchan as draughtsmen ; a
private secretary, and four servants, two of
whom were negroes. Thus prepared, the party
went on board his Majesty's ship Endeavour,
which left Deptford, July 30, 1768 ; and, having
been detained at Plymouth for some time, finally
put to sea on Friday, August 26.
This is not the place to enter into minute
particulars of the voyage ; but it will be necessary
to notice some of the personal adventures of Mr
Banks. On Saturday, January 14, 1769, they
entered the Straits of Le Maire, and landed at
Terra del Fuego, where they collected numerous
specimens of plants unknown to Europeans ; and
on Monday, the 16th, Mr Banks, accompanied by
Dr Solander, made a botanical excursion to the
more elevated regions, in the expectation of a rich
harvest of Alpine plants, intending to return to
the vessel at night ; but, from intense cold, and
frequent snow storms, they were too much
fatigued to attempt it, and were compelled to
remain all night exposed to the rigour of the
climate. Dr Solander, who, from having crossed
the mountains which divide Sweden from Norway,
was aware of the dangers arising from that torpor
and inclination to sleep, produced by extreme cold
and fatigue, warned the party to keep moving,
for whoever sat down would sleep, and who-
ever slept would wake no more. It was easier,
22 MEMOIR OP
however, to give the advice than to resist the
inclination, for the Doctor himself was the first to
violate the injunction, and had it not been for the
energy, intrepidity, and resolution of Mr Banks,
he would have fallen a victim to his indiscretion.
By his exertions he was at length removed to a
place where they had succeeded in kindling a fire*
" Here they passed the night in a situation, which,
however dreadful in itself, was rendered more
afflicting by the remembrance of what was past,
and the uncertainty of what was to come. Of
twelve, the number that set out together in health
and spirits, two were supposed to be already dead;
a third was so ill that it was very doubtful
whether he would be able to go forward in the
morning ; and a fourth, Mr Buchan, was in danger
of a return of his fits* by fresh fatigue, after so
uncomfortable a night. They were distant from
the ship a long day's journey through pathless
woods, in which it was too probable they might
be bewildered, till they were overtaken by the
next night ; and, not having prepared for a jour-
ney of more than eight or ten hours, they were
wholly destitute of provisions, except a vulture,
which they happened to shoot while they were out,
and which, if equally divided, would not afford
* Mr Buchan was one of Mr Banks's draughtsmen. He
was subject to epileptic fits, and died at Otaheite, on the
17th of April.
SIR JOSEPH BANKS.
each of them half a meal ; and tney knew not how
much more they might suffer from the cold, as the
snow still continued to fall." * At daybreak, how
ever, after having cut up their vulture into ten
portions, and given every man his share to cook
in his own way, they prepared to set out, and
providentially found themselves nearer to the beach
than they expected, for they had made a circuit
of the hill. They thus succeeded in reaching the
vessel by mid-day, with the exception of two of
the party, a seaman and a negro, who died.
We have selected this adventure as a proof of
the ardour with which Mr Banks entered on the
duties he had volunteered, and the courage and
perseverance with which he at all times pursued
the objects of the expedition. Indeed, he must have
been a most valuable assistant to Lieutenant Cook
during the whole of his arduous and responsible
undertaking, for he appears never to have shrunk
from services of danger ; but, on the contrary, to
have taken the lead on all emergencies. We will
give another instance of great fortitude, by which
a principal object of the voyage was secured from
defeat.
It is well known, that to observe the transit
of Venus over the sun's disk, from some of the
islands of the South Seas, was the purpose for
which the Endeavour was primarily fitted out, in
* Hawkesworth.
24 MEMOIR OF
consequence of a memorial being presented to his
Majesty from the Royal Society ; and, for this
purpose, an observatory had been erected at
Otaheite, where the ship had arrived on the 13th
of March. But, on the morning of the 2d of
May, on going to fix the quadrant for use, it was
found to have been stolen. In this dilemma, Mr
Banks volunteered to go in search of it ; and, in
company with Mr Green, the astronomer, and
unarmed, except with a pair of pocket pistols,
they proceeded to the interior of the country, to
demand its restitution. In this delicate mission
they were happily successful. When they arrived
at the place to which they had been directed, they
met one of the natives "with part of the quadrant
in his hand. At this most welcome sight they
stopped ; and a great number of Indians imme-
diately came up, some of whom, pressing rather
rudely upon them, Mr Banks thought it necessary
to shew one of his pistols, the sight of which
reduced them instantly to order. As the crowd
that gathered round them was every moment
increasing, he marked out a circle in the grass,
and they ranged themselves on the outside of it,
to the number of several hundreds, with great
quietness and decorum."* Here, after some little
difficulties, the stolen property was restored, and
* Hawkesworth.
SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 25
thus, by the presence of mind and prudence of
Mr Banks, the instrument was recovered without
disturbing that harmony with the natives, so
essential to the objects of the navigators.
Another anecdote of Mr Banks displays his
enthusiasm in obtaining the most correct infor-
mation as to the manners of the people amongst
whom he had become a resident. He had a great
desire to see a funeral procession, but was told his
only mode of doing so with propriety, was to take
a part in it, which he determined to do ; and, for
this purpose, he was stripped of his clothes, and
a piece of cloth being tied round his middle, his
body was smeared with charcoal and water ; and
in this guise he joined the procession. It is need-
less to give other instances of Mr Banks's zeal :
they might be multiplied to an indefinite extent.
Cook paid him the well merited compliment of
naming after him one of the newly discovered
Islands of New Zealand, lying in latitude 43° 32'
south, and in longitude 186° 30' west.
At New Holland, while the ship was undergoing
repairs, the world had nearly been deprived of the
labours of this enterprising naturalist. In order
to secure his collections, and preserve them with
more than ordinary care, he had removed them
to the bread room ; but the workmen, in their
necessary repairs of the vessel, threw her so much
ajbaft, that her stern was filled with water, by
26 MEMOIR OP
which many of his specimens were entirely
destroyed. The greater part, however, by great
care and attention, were restored. There was
now every appearance of a successful termination
to their voyage, when the discovery of the very
defective state of the ship obliged them to stay at
Batavia. Here a scene of horror occurred, from
which the heart recoils. The whole crew were
in a few days seized with illness, arising from the
pestilential air of the country, neither Mr Banks
nor Dr Solander excepted. They were both pro-
nounced so ill, that there was no chance for
recovery, except by a removal to a country house,
which was procured for them about two miles
from town. Here, after much suffering, they
slowly recovered. They set sail from this den of
pestilence December 26, 1770, having buried
there the surgeon, and six others. Forty of the
crew were in a state of extreme disease.
Despair
Tended the sick, busiest from couch to couch ;
And over them, triumphant, Death his dart
Shook.
Twenty-three of these miserable beings died on
their passage to the Cape, among whom were two
of Mr Banks's retinue, namely, Mr Parkinson, the
natural history painter, and Mr Sporing. The
remainder reached the Cape, March 15, 1771 ;
SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 27
and, after a safe voyage from thence, they landed
at Deal, Wednesday, June 12, having been absent
three years.
One very important consequence of this voy-
age, and which was brought about chiefly by the
influence of Mr Banks, was the introduction, in
1793, of the Bread Fruit Tree (Artocarpus incisa,
and Artocarpus integrifolia) into the West Indies.
It is a native of the South Sea Islands. In refe-
rence to this event, Bryan Edwards observes :
" Among all the labours of life, if there is one
pursuit more replete than any other with benevo-
lence, more likely to add comforts to existing
people, and even to augment their numbers by
augmenting their means of subsistence, it is cer-
tainly that of spreading abroad the bounties of
creation, by transplanting from one part of the
globe to another such natural productions as are
likely to prove beneficial to the interests of
humanity. In this generous effort Sir Joseph
Banks has employed a considerable part of his
time, attention, and fortune ; and the success
which, in many cases, has crowned his endeavours
will be felt in the enjoyments, and rewarded by
the blessings of posterity."*
At his return, Mr Banks was received with
enthusiasm by all ranks. He had been some time
* History of the West Indies.
28 MEMOIR OF
a member of the Royal Society ; and, during the
short time he remained at home, he took an active
part in their proceedings. Government were so well
satisfied with the results of Lieutenant Cook's first
voyage that he received a captain's commission,
with instructions to take the command of an
expedition on a larger scale, which was to sail the
following year. Mr Banks fully intended to have
again accompanied him, and expended several
thousand pounds for instruments and other pre-
parations for the voyage, when an unfortunate
dispute with the Navy Board disgusted him, and
he abandoned the idea ; but having again engaged
the services of Dr Solander and other scientific
gentlemen, he determined to explore Iceland, at
that time very little known. For this purpose he
chartered a vessel, at an expense of £100 per
month, and left London the 12th July, 1772.
The party consisted of Dr Solander, Dr Von
Troil, another Swedish naturalist, Dr Lind of
Edinburgh, as astronomer, Lieutenant Gore, who
had sailed with him round the world, three draughts-
men, two amanuenses, with servants and seamen
to the number of forty people. Having visited
the Western Islands of Scotland, they were forced,
on the night of the 12th of August, to cast anchor
in the sound between Mull and Morvern, opposite
to Drumnen, the seat of Mr M'Lean. They were
immediately invited to land. During breakfast,
SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 29
next morning, the conversation turned upon the
island of Staffa, which another guest of M'Lean,
an Englishman of the name of Leach, had been
visiting a few days before. His account stimu-
lated the curiosity of the new visiters, whom he
politely offered to accompany to the spot. This
was eagerly accepted. Previous to this visit, this
magnificent specimen of "nature's architecture"
had never been examined by scientific observers,
and was scarcely known beyond its immediate
neighbourhood. Mr Banks took a minute survey
of the whole, with measurements and drawings of
-he basaltic columns, and transmitted his account
to Pennant, who printed it in his Tour to Scotland,
which had been made the same year. Dr
M'Culloch has more recently described this
celebrated wonder, which is now familiar to every
one. His measurements differ from those of his
predecessor, and are probably more accurate.
On the 28th of August they arrived at Iceland,
and cast anchor at Bessestedr, on the western
part of the island, where the dismal appearance
of the country alarmed them. " Imagine to
yourself," says Von Troil, " a country which,
from one end to the other, presents to your view
only barren mountains, whose summits are
covered with eternal snow, and between them
fields, divided by vitrified cliffs, whose high and
sharp points seem to vie with each other to
30 MEMOIR OF
deprive you of the sight of a little grass
scantily springs up among them. These same
dreary rocks likewise conceal the few scattered
habitations of the natives, and no where a single
tree appears which might afford shelter to friend-
ship and innocence. The prospect before us,
though not pleasing, was uncommon and surprising.
Whatever presented itself to our view bore the
marks of devastation, and our eyes, accustomed
to behold the pleasing coasts of England, now
saw nothing but the vestiges of the operation of a
fire, Heaven knows how ancient." This exclama-
tion was merely the effect of the contrast alluded
to. It was precisely the situation adapted to
their inquiries ; and, to a mind like Mr Banks's,
intent on exploring the wonders of Nature on a
most magnificent scale, such a scene must have
been fraught with peculiar attractions. The
following account of their visit to the great
Geyser will be read with interest. " Among the
many hot springs to be met with in Iceland,
several bear the name of Geyser.* The following
is a description of the most remarkable of that
name, and in the whole island. It is about two
days' journey from Hecla, near a farm called Hau-
kadul. Here a poet would have an opportunity
* From the Icelandic geysa, to rage, burst forth with
vehemence and impetuosity.
SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 31
of painting whatever Nature has of beautiful and
terrible united in one picture, by delineating this
surprising phenomenon. Represent to yourself a
large field, where you see on one side, at a great
distance, high mountains covered with ice* whose
summits are generally wrapped in clouds, so that
their sharp and unequal points become invisible.
This loss, however, is compensated by a certain
wind, which causes the clouds to sink, and cover
the mountain itself, when its summit appears as
it were to rest on the clouds. On the other side
Hecla is seen, with its three points covered with
ice, rising above the clouds, arid with the smoke
which ascends from it, forming other clouds, at
some distance from the real ones ; and, on another
side is a ridge of high rocks, at the foot of which
boiling water, from time to time, issues forth ;
and farther on extends a marsh of about three
English miles in circumference, where are forty
or fifty boiling springs, from which a vapour
ascends to a prodigious height. In the midst of
these is the greatest spring, Geyser, which
deserves a more exact and particular account. In
travelling to the place, about an English mile
and a-half from the hver, from which the ridge
of rock still divided us, we heard a loud roaring
ngise, like the rushing of a torrent precipitating
itself from stupendous rocks. We asked our
guide what it meant ; he answered it was Geyser
32 MEMOIR OF
roaring ; and we soon saw with our naked eyes
what before seemed almost incredible. The
depth of the spring, or pipe from which the water
gushes, cannot well be determined ; for sometimes
the water sank down several fathoms, and some
seconds passed before a stone, which was thrown
into the aperture, reached the surface of the water.
The opening itself was perfectly round, and nine-
teen feet in diameter, and terminated in a basin
fifty-nine feet in diameter. Both the pipe and
the basin were covered with a rough stalactitic
rind, which had been formed by the force of the
water ; the outermost border of the basin is nine
feet and an inch higher than the pipe itself. The
water here spouted several times a-day, but
always by starts, and after certain intervals. The
people who lived in the neighbourhood told us that
they rose higher in cold and bad weather than at
other times, and Egbert Olafsen, and others, affirm
that it has spouted to the height of sixty fathoms.
Most probably, they guessed only by the eye, and
on that account their calculation may be a little
extravagant; and, indeed, it is to be doubted
whether the water was ever thrown up so high,
though, probably, it sometimes mounts higher
than when we observed it. The method we took
to observe the height was as follows. Every one
in company wrote down, at each time that the
water spouted, how high it appeared to him to be
SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 33
thrown, and we afterwards chose the medium.
The first column marks the spoutings of the water,
in the order in which they followed one another ;
the second, the time when these effusions
happened ; the third, the height to which the
water rose ; and the last, how long each spouting
of water continued.
Time. Height Duration.
No. 1 at 6 42 A.M. 30 feet. 0 20 seconds.
2 6 51 6 0 20
3 7 16 6 0 10
4 7 31 12 0 15
5 7 51 60 06
6 8 17 24 0 30
7 8 29 18 0 40
8 8 36 12 0 40
The pipe was now, for the first time, full of water,
which ran slowly into the basin.
9 9 25 48 1 10
10 10 16 24 10
At thirty-five minutes after twelve, we heard as
it were three discharges of a gun under ground,
which made it shake ; the water flowed over
immediately, but instantly sank again. At eight
minutes after two, the waters flowed over the
border of the basin ; at fifteen minutes after three,
we again heard several subterranean noises, though
not so strong as before ; at forty-three minutes
34 MEMOIR OF
after four, the water flowed over very strongly
during the space of a minute ; in six minutes
after, we heard many loud subterraneous dis-
charges, not only near the spring, but also from
the neighbouring ridge of rocks, where the water
spouted ; at fifty-one minutes after six, the fountain
spouted up to the height of ninety-two feet, and
continued to do so for four minutes. After this
great effort it sank down very low into the pipe,
and was entirely quiet during several minutes,
but soon began to bubble again ; it was not, how-
ever, thrown up into the air, but only to the top
of the pipe.* The force of the vapours which
throw up these waters is excessive : it not only
prevents the stones which are thrown into the
opening from sinking, but even throws them up
to a very great height, together with the water.
When the basin was full, we placed ourselves
* From observations that have been made at different
periods, it appears that the height of the jets is very
irregular. In Olafsen's time it is stated to have been
three hundred and sixty feet. The highest above stated,
in 1772, was ninety-two feet. Sir John Stanley, in 1789,
gives ninety-six feet ; Lieutenant Ohlson, a Danish officer,
found, by a quadrant, that the highest jet ran, in 1804, to
two hundred and twelve feet ; Mr Hooker, in 1809, men-
tions one hundred feet; and Sir George M'Kenzie, in 1810,
states it to have been ninety feet. Henderson, in July,
1814, saw it vary from sixty to a hundred feet, and again,
in August, 1816, it was one hundred and fifty feet.
SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 35
before the sun in such a manner that we could see
our shadows in the water ; when every one
observed, round the shadow of his own head,
(though not round that of the heads of others,) a
circle of almost the same colours which compose
the rainbow, and round this another bright circle.
This most probably proceeded from the vapours
exhaling from the water. Not far from this place,
another spring, at the foot of the neighbouring
ridge of rocks, spouted water to the height of one
or two yards each time. The opening through
which this water issued was not so wide as the
other. We imagined it possible to stop up the
hole entirely by throwing large stones into it, and
even flattered ourselves that our attempts had
succeeded ; but, to our astonishment, the water
gushed forth in a very violent manner. We
hastened to the pipe, and found all the stones
thrown aside, and the water playing freely through
its former channel. In these large springs the
water was hot in the highest degree, and tasted
a little of sulphur ; but, in other respects, it was
pure and clear. In the smaller springs of the
neighbourhood the water was tainted ; in some, it
was as muddy as that of a clay pit ; in others, as
white as milk ; and in some few, as red as
blood."*
* Von Troil, page 256.
06 MTMOIR OF
The hot springs were thus examined ; the
volejuioes, disuses, government and laws, the
lit.iTat.urv, and manners and customs of the
inhabitants, were all eagerly inquired into.
Numerous eurio.sit.ieH of all kinds were purchased
;ind brought to this country, which they reached
in safety in November; and Mr Hanks presented
to the British Museum no less than one hundred
and sixty-two Icelandic manuscripts, which he
had procured at his own expense. Many years
afterwards, the inhabitants of Iceland received
a grateful testimonial of the; interest they had
excited in the bosom of the travellers ; for, on the
breaking out of the; war between (ireat Britain
and Denmark in 1807, the Icelanders wen; appre-
hensive of starvation, from the customary supplies
from the mother country being intercepted by our
ships of war. Sir Joseph Banks, however, not
forgetful of his old friends, humanely exerted
himself, arid, by his interest with his Majesty's
(lovernment, procured licences for Danish vessels
to proceed to Iceland on condition of their touch-
ing at the port of Leith, and subsequently pro-
cured an Order in Council, dated February 7,
1810, prohibiting all acts of hostility against Ice-
land, and the rest of the Danish colonies in the
Arctic Seas, and taking the inhabitants, and their
property, under the special protection of Great
Britain*
SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 37
This voyage terminated his foreign travels,
and for some years Mr Banks passed his time
between his Lincolnshire property and his house in
London, where he formed a splendid library, with
a valuable and extensive collection of natural
curiosities. He corresponded with the celebrated
men of all countries, and was looked up to as a
proper person to preside over the Royal Society.
They had for some time been embroiled in party
disputes, which led to very acrimonious feelings
on both sides, and finally to the resignation of Sir
John Pringle, on St Andrew's day, 1778, when
Mr Banks was elected president in his room.
There was at the time much difference of opinion
as to the propriety of this selection. It was
objected that he had not sufficiently distinguished
himself as an original discoverer, or even im-
prover, in any branch of science. For the first
few years he had many opponents, but the suavity
of his manners, and the zeal with which he pro
secuted the objects and interests of the Society,
finally triumphed over his adversaries.
On the 29th March, 1779, he married Doro-
thea, daughter and co-heiress of William Weston
Huguesson, Esq. of Provender, in the parish of
Norton, in Kent, with whom he lived happily
many years. They had no children, but this lady
survived him, dying on the 28th of June, 1828.
In 1781, the King, with whom he had become a
38 MEMOIR OP
favourite, conferred the dignity of a baronet upon
him, and many years after distinguished him by
the Order of the Bath, at that time a very rare
honour to a civilian, and he was subsequently
sworn a member of his Majesty's Privy Council.
In the meanwhile, his situation at the Royal
Society was by no means an easy or an enviable
one. The celebrated Dr Horsley (afterwards
Bishop of St Asaph) headed a party who were
attached to the study of the abstract sciences, and
partly from jealousy of the attention that was paid
to natural history, and probably equally jealous of
the aristocratic members, whom it was insinuated
that the president had introduced to the Society
from no other qualification than their rank, he
threatened secession in the following energetic
speech : — " If other remedies fail, we can at least
secede. When the hour of secession comes, the
president will be left, with his train of feeble
amateurs, and that toy upon the table, the ghost
of that society in which philosophy once reigned,
and Newton presided as her minister." Finding
himself not supported in his views, he did actually
withdraw, with some others, and left Sir Joseph to
the peaceable and undisturbed possession of the
chair for nearly forty years.
He now assumed that rank in the literary and
scientific world becoming his station, as the head
of so illustrious a body. His house in Soho Square
SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 39
was open to all who were distinguished by talents,
of every country. His library was accessible to
every one engaged in kindred pursuits ; and, to
render it more generally useful, an arranged cata-
logue of it was published, and most generously
distributed in all quarters where it was likely to
be of service. It was commenced in 1796, and
completed in 1800. Its title and arrangement are
as follows: — " Catalogus Bibliothecae Historico
Naturalis Joseph i Banks, Regi a Consiliis Intimis,
Baronetti, Balnei Equitis, Regise Societatis Pre-
sidio, &c. Auctore Jona Dryander, A.M. Regio
Societatis Bibliothecario."
Tornus 1. Scriptores Generates, Londini 1798
Tomus 2. Zoologici, ... 1796
Tomus 3. Botanici, . . . .1797
Tomus 4. Mineralogi, * 1799
Tomus 5. Supplementum et Index Auctorum, 1800
The books are methodically classed, and nume-
rous references are made to the authors of memoirs
and papers, in all the Transactions of the learned
societies throughout Europe, America, and the
East* The number of pages and plates in the
respective volumes being indicated in the cata-
logue, renders it particularly valuable. The library
is rich in German, Swedish, and other northern
writers, which are extremely rare in this country
Among the scarce English books, there are the
first edition of Izaak Walton's " Complete Angler,
40 MEMOIR OF
or the Contemplative Man's Recreation." London,
1653, small octavo ; and a work published by John
Earl of Bute, of which his Lordship printed only
sixteen copies for private distribution. It is entitled
" Botanical Tables, containing the different Fami-
lies of British Plants, distinguished by a few
obvious parts of fructification, ranged in a synop-
tical method ; some observations on the terms
employed in Botany, and particularly on those
borrowed from the anatomical descriptions of
animals; and a glossary explaining botanical
terms, with numerous figures." 9 vols. 4to.
While thus in the enjoyment of wealth, rank,
fame, literary society, and the personal esteem
of his sovereign, a circumstance occurred that
had nearly occasioned him to forfeit the latter,
and which also deeply offended many of his
friends in the Royal Society. In January,
1802, the National Institute of France having
been new modelled, elected and placed him at
the head of their Foreign Associates, a compli-
ment the greater, that their number was limited
to eight. Sir Joseph naturally felt proud of the
honour, and expressed his gratitude in the follow-
ing letter :
'* LONDON, January 21, 1802.
" CITIZENS, — Be pleased to offer to the National
Institute my warmest thanks for the honour they
SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 41
have done me in conferring upon me the title of
Associate of this learned and distinguished body.
Assure, at the same time, my respectable brothers,
that I consider this mark of their esteem as the
highest and most enviable literary distinction
which I could possibly attain. To be the first elected
to be an associate of the first Literary Society in
the world, surpasses my most ambitious hopes ; and
I cannot be too grateful towards a society which
has conferred upon me this honour, and towards a
nation of which it is the literary representative —
a nation which, during the most frightful convul-
sions of the late most terrible revolution, never
ceased to possess my esteem ; being always per*
suaded, even during the most disastrous periods,
that it contained many good citizens, who would
infallibly get the upper hand, and who would
re-establish in the hearts of their countrymen the
empire of virtue, of justice, and of honour.
" Receive more especially, citizens, my warmest
acknowledgments for the truly polite manner in
which you communicated this agreeable intelli-
gence. I am, with sincere esteem for your dis-
tinguished talents, &c. JOSEPH BANKS."
That this letter was hyperbolically worded,
there can be but one opinion. But a candid allow-
ance might be made for the enthusiasm of the
moment ; and it would probably have excited little
42 MEMOIR OF
observation, had not his old antagonist, Bishop
Horsley, seized on it with avidity, and commented
on it with much bitterness in a letter addressed to
its author, which he printed, and privately circu-
lated, under the signature of MisogaUus*' The
King, (George III.) who sometimes suffered
his political feelings to govern his conduct, even
in the decision of a scientific question, and who
had taken offence at Sir John Pringle (Sir Joseph's
predecessor in the chair of the Royal Society) for
countenancing Franklin's lightning conductors,
was deeply offended at these expressions of
" esteem '* for a republican institution. His
Majesty's anger had, no doubt, been excited by
the remark of Horsley, that the letter " was
replete with sentiments which were a compound
of servility, disloyalty, and falsehood ; sentiments
which ought never to be conceived by an English
heart, never written by an English hand, and
least of all, by yours, distinguished as you are by
repeated (out of respect to hrj Majesty I will not
say unmerited) marks of royal favour." The ire
of the Royal Society was provoked by the follow-
ing passage of Horsley's letter : — "It was
reserved for the head of the Royal Society of
London to assure an exotic embryo academy,
that he is more proud of being a mere associate
of the latter than president of the former ; that
he considers their election of him as ' the
SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 43
highest and most enviable literary distinction
which he could possibly attain,' and that he deems
them the 'first literary society in the world/
Sir, I have read with pleasure and with profit
many volumes published by the Royal Society,
and with due submission to you, I assert that the
cultivation of science is more indebted to their
exertions, than to those of any other institution
whatsoever; but I am yet to learn the merits of this
novel association of revolutionary philosophers
into which you have been enlisted. What acts,
but acts of robbery, have we seen of them ? Where
are the proofs of their pre-eminence ? It is
incumbent on you to produce those proofs, and
to convince the British literati that your con-
tempt of them is just."
Whatever difference of opinion there may exist
as to the terms in which the honour was acknow-
ledged, Sir Joseph had deserved the compliment,
by the liberality of his exertions in procuring the
restitution of scientific collections addressed to the
Jardin du Roi at Paris, which had been captured
by our ships during the war with France. It is
said that his intercession was no less than ten times
successfully exerted in this manner. " He thought
that national hostility should find no entrance
among followers of science.* These are traits in
his character highly deserving of remembrance,
and an eminent member of the Institute, in his
44 MEMOIR OF
eloge, has gratefully recorded it : — " Lorsque la
discorde," says M. Cuvier, "eut mis fin a T expedi-
tion d'Entrecastiaux, et que les collections de M. de
la Billardiere furent transporters en Angleterre,
il reussit a se les faire remettre ; et non seulement
il s' empressa de les renvoyer ici, il ajouta a tant
de soins la delicatesse de les renvoyer sans meme
les avoir regardees. II auroit craint d'enlevir
ecrivoit il a M. de Jussieu, une seule idee
botanique a un homme qui etoit alle les con-
querir au peril de sa vie. Dix fois des collec-
tions adressees au Jardin du Roi, et prises, par
des vaisseaux Anglais, furent recouvrees par lui et
rendues de la meme inaniere ; il envoya jusqu' au
Cap de Bonne Esperance pour faire relacher
des caisses appartenant a M. de Humbolt, qui
avoient ete prises par des corsaires, et n* a
jamais voulu en recevoir le remboursment." His
Majesty's anger was, however, speedily dis-
sipated, for he had ever a particular regard for
Sir Joseph, who for many years superintended
the royal stock of Merino sheep, and presided at
their sale by auction, which annually took place
at Windsor.
Sir Joseph Banks had always been partial to
agricultural pursuits, and had turned his practical
knowledge to great advantage, by the draining of
the Lincolnshire fens, a measure which very mate-
rially improved the value of his estates. He was
SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 45
ever a zealous promoter of the interests of the
Board of Agriculture and the Horticultural
Society, — not making his favourite studies a mere
barren and speculative amusement, but ever ready
to render them subservient to purposes of general
utility. Indeed, there was no institution for the
encouragement of science, or that proposed to
enlarge and multiply the comforts of mankind by
the diffusion of knowledge, by useful experiments,
or by diligent investigation, that he did not libe-
rally and cordially patronize. He took an active
and a leading part in the formation of the African
Institution ; he prevailed on the Government to
explore the extensive shores of New Holland ; and
was a strenuous supporter of the Royal Institu-
tion.
In these pursuits, and in the exercise of a gene-
rous hospitality, passed the latter days of Sir
Joseph Banks. His house in Soho Square was
open every Sunday evening during the winter
season. The kind and attentive manner in which
he discharged the duties of host, the brilliancy
of his conversation, the galaxy of talented indi-
viduals he collected around him, the display
of curiosities in nature and art with which the
rooms were crowded, rendered these meetings an
intellectual treat of no ordinary kind, the recol-
lection of which will long survive in the memory
of his friends. He latterly became a martyr to the
46 MEMOIR OF
gout, so much so, that he required to be lifted in
and out of his carriage by two footmen. He at
first tried ginger in very large quantities, until
he acknowledged " he had fairly exhausted all
its virtues." He then had recourse to a more
questionable remedy, — the much vaunted quack
medicine, the eau medicinale, but with little ulti-
mate benefit, though he at first flattered himself
it had afforded him relief. Being at length
exhausted, he expired on the 9th of May, 1820, in
the 78th year of his age.
His zeal for the interests of science extended
beyond his life, for in his will he devised his very
valuable and extensive library and foreign cor-
respondence to the British Museum; * his drawings
of plants from the Royal Garden at Kew to that
establishment ; his papers respecting the Royal
Society, to the Royal Society ; and those respect-
ing coinage to the Mint; and to Mr Frederic
Bauer, who had for thirty years been in his employ
as a botanical draughtsman, an annuity of L.300,
upon condition of his continuing the series of
drawings of the plants from Kew Gardens, upon
* The Banksian Library is placed in the 5th, 6th, and
7th rooms of the upper floor of the Museum ; and in the
entrance hall is a statue of Sir Joseph, by Chantrey,
representing him in the vigour of youth, seated in an arm-
chair, holding a scroll in his right hand. It was presented
by his personal friends.
SIR JOSEPH BANKS.
which he was engaged at the time of his death*
His only separate publication was a pamphlet on
the blight in wheat, but there are several of his
papers in the Philosophical and Horticultural
Transactions. We have before alluded to his
description of Staffa in Pennant's Second Tour
in Scotland.
In early life Sir Joseph was tall and well
proportioned, with a countenance expressive
of dignity and intelligence. His manners were
polite, his conversation rich in instructive informa-
tion, frank, engaging, unaffected, without levity,
yet endowed with sufficient vivacity. He was an
accomplished gentleman, a judicious inquirer, a
diligent votary, and a liberal patron of science
and learning. The period of his life was one pecu-
liarly fitted to render his talents and patronage
of great importance to the advancement of natural
history. The encouragement given by the Govern-
ment to voyages of discovery, afforded a striking
opportunity foragentleman of wealth and influence
to ensure a proper attention being paid to these
important subjects by taking on himself the
expense of all the arrangements connected with
their illustration. In addition to this no trifling
advantage, Mr Banks added his own personal
services. On his return, those benefits naturally
placed him in a prominent point of view ; and by
forming at his house a repository of all that was
48 MEMOIR.
curious, and collecting together persons of kindred
minds, he was the means of giving an immense
impetus to the progress of botany, zoology, and
mineralogy, which led in a great measure to the
institution of societies for the advancement of each.
And it is matter of congratulation that our know-
ledge of Natural History has materially increased
through the formation of these societies, and the
improved mode of investigation by the aid of ana-
tomy and physiology, which they have encouraged
ICHTHYOLOGY.
" The carp, with golden scales, in wanton play ;
The trout in crimson-speckled glory gay ;
The red-finn'd roach, the silver-coated eel ;
The pike, whose haunt the twisted roots conceal ;
The healing tench, the gudgeon, perch, and bream
And all the sportive natives of the stream.*'
THE study of fishes, technically termed Ichthy-
ology, was, perhaps, longer in being brought to
what might be called a science, than the histories
and descriptions of animals and birds. The
difficulty of procuring a numerous series of in-
. dividuals, and the impossibility of penetrating
50 INTRODUCTION.
and pursuing them in the deep recesses of the
ocean, withdrew the constant charm, which no-
velty of form threw over the branches constituted
by those animals which inhabited the same ele-
ment with ourselves ; and unless almost as a
necessary article of sustenance, few fishes were
taken from their proper habitations. In the
earlier ages, fish were most extensively used as
an article of food, and, at the present time,
among several northern tribes, they form a great
part of the support, not only of the natives them-
selves, but also of their beasts and cattle. Ac-
cording to Frecynet, the inhabitants of the Sand-
wich Isles devour fish when newly caught, and
when they are scarcely dead. — (Voyage autour
du Monde.) In other parts, they were the only
money of the country, and dried fish were paid
as a current coin. These circumstances natu-
rally led to the distinction of the more excellent
kinds — of those which were noxious when eaten,
and of those which were difficult or dangerous to
capture. Again, in other regions, the minds of
the inhabitants assume a more serious or rather
superstitious turn — they fear them as river deities,
or worship them as ocean gods, carrying their
enthusiasm so far as to embalm their bodies, and
like the inhabitants of Java and Sumatra, in
the propitiatory offerings to the tiger ; those of
INTRODUCTION. 51
the Polynesian Isles deify the large blue sharks
(Sq. glaucus\ and rather than attempt to destroy
them, endeavour to propitiate their favour by
prayers and offerings, in temples where their
priests officiate.
Necessity, most probably, first induced man-
kind to employ fishes as an article of food, and
the same grand incentive to discovery, gradually
taught the most successful means and fittest
weapons for securing a supply. Among the
various contrivances which have been employed
for taking a prey of great strength and extraor-
dinary activity, perhaps some method of spear-
ing or darting a sharp instrument at the fish,
was the most early practised, and was exercised
previous to the invention of hooks or nets.
Among tribes in a state of nature, who have
only the resources of their own invention, and
materials of inferior quality, we still find, almost
invariably, this method practised, often with
very great dexterity, or with a bait sometimes
affixed to the point of the weapon, as a lure to
entice the fish within reach. The clear view
given in the water by fire or torch light, was
also early discovered, and formed a powerful and
destructive accessary. Hooks became a later
invention, naturally succeeding the greater ex-
perience which an intercourse with the manners of
52 INTRODUCTION.
the animals themselves would suggest ; at first,
made of the rudest form and coarse materials —
as shell, or bone, or hardened wood — they did
their office ill, were only fitted for the larger
kinds, and exhibit a striking contrast with the
finely polished and tempered wire, and the beau-
tiful material gut, now in use.
Fishing, from a pursuit of necessity, became
one of emolument, and during the Greek and
Eoman ages, the profession of a fisherman was
one of the most common and respectable; and
farther intercourse and experience produced
improved hooks, nets, and lines of finer quality,
but equal strength, better fitted to retain and to
deceive, though the older practices of spearing
were still retained, accompanied with a greater
a:Tay of followers, and weapons of more ap-
proved form and delicate temper. Approaching
still nearer to our own times, we see hardy races
of men almost solely employed in providing for
the luxurious taste of the great European mar-
kets, and supplied with vessels, beautifully built,
materials and weapons of the best description —
the fisheries, supported by governments, becom-
ing the nurseries of seamen, and of great import-
ance in the revenues of kingdoms.
From attention being thus necessarily and
unavoidably directed towards fish, and the means
INTRODUCTION. 53
of taking them, rude drawings were preserved of
the more important kinds. They were perpe-
tuated on the coinage of the countries, and bold
but characteristic sculptures have been preserved,
from which many of the species in ancient use
can be traced. Such may be said to be the
commencement of Ichthyology, and so also it
may be said to have progressed until the works
of the illustrious Aristotle threw a light over
every branch of Natural History, and advanced
this one to a state of comparative arrangement.
From this man of universal observation was
derived almost all the information — the ground-
work, at least, of all the works on Ichthyology
till the seventeenth century ; and even since this
period he has been much relied on. Eondoletius
and Salvianus gave figures of many species,
those of the latter often very correct, and, at
the same time, exhibiting curious specimens of
engraving. But Willoughby and Eay were per-
haps the first to attempt a methodical arrange-
ment, founded upon structure ; and it was onlj>
after their time that the science and its promoters
became more generally known. Artedi, a name
dear to every ichthyologist, with Linnaeus, and
his numerous pupils, pursued it in its systems;
Pennant and Pallas studied it with enthusiasm,
and were assisted in their knowledge of species
54 INTRODUCTION.
by the results of the scientific voyages of Com-
merson, Sonnerat, &c., and in their physiological
researches, by the works of Haller, Camper.
Monro, and John Hunter.
Following these great names, we had, for the
arrangement and descriptive parts, the Ichthy-
ologies of Lacepede, Russell, Shaw, Dumeril,
Risso, Rafinesque, Donovan, Jurine, Hamilton
Buchanan, and the outline of Cuvier in the
Regne Animal : these men availed themselves of
the numerous scientific voyages which Europe,
at the termination of the last and commencement
of the present century, has been so liberally
supporting, and which have collected so much
information in every branch of Natural History ;
while in the physiological details may be men-
tioned the names of Geoffroy St. Hilaire, Cams,
Humboldt, and Sir Everard Home.
In this immense array of science, in which
have been noted, as it were, only the very
heads, a stupendous collection of facts have been
recorded, which, however important, curious, or
amusing, remained alone on the authority of
their discoverers, memorials of their persevering
research ; but they were neither arranged nor
collected, and the want of some general system
for this science, by which a definitive state of
our knowledge could be gained, was indispen-
INTRODUCTION. 55
sable for its progress, and eagerly called for by
every naturalist in Europe. The long experi-
ence of the Baron Cuvier was destined to com-
mence the filling up of this gap ; and the
foundation of the structure has been laid, and so
far raised, in a manner worthy of its builder, in
the work we have selected as our " Text Book"
for the present volumes. In 1828, Cuvier com-
menced the arrangement of the materials which
he had been collecting during his whole life,
for a " Histoire Naturelle des Poissons," and
with the assistance of a younger, but able na-
turalist, has published nine volumes, illustrating
the greater part of the first section of tht
divisions into which these creatures have been
separated by him. We now propose, after
giving a short sketch of the nature and uses
of Fishes, to proceed to the detail of those
contained in the first section of Cuvier's arrange-
ment [See Table of Cuvier's arrangement, p. 86],
so far as the limits of this volume will allow,
and at the same time making use of the infor-
mation which several interesting voyages have
given, since the publication of the first parts of
the Baron's work.
But before proceeding with this part of the
subject, we must very shortly notice another
branch, which, till lately, has been comparatively
56 INTRODUCTION.
neglected — that of Fossil Ichthyology. Pre-
vious to 1600, there are perhaps few records of
fossil fishes. Fabius Colunma and Worm wrote
De Glossopetris ; in the following century, we
had Scheuchzer and Fischer ; and, towards its
conclusion, the Ittiolitologia Veronese of Yolta, a
large folio containing seventy-six plates, which,
if not very faithful in execution, showed the
interest which was at this time excited; but it
was not until so late as 1818, that an enu-
meration of the fossil species, previously known,
was first attempted by De Blainville in Le
Xouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle. Since
then, the science has gradually advanced, from
its intense interest, and its connection with the
studies of the geologist ; and at the commence-
ment of the last year, it assumed a most import-
ant station from the researches of a naturalist
of Switzerland, and the appearance of the first
numbers of a work devoted to this department.
The Eecherches sur les Poissons Fossiles of Louis
Agassiz will undoubtedly mark the commence-
ment of a new era in this science ; for, inde-
pendent of the perspicuity and clearness with
which the department itself is illustrated, the
study of existing species being necessary for a
knowledge of those which are extinct, has in-
duced the author to give his views of the science
INTRODUCTION. 57
generally, and to propose an arrangement en-
tirely different from those of his predecessors,
the characters of which are principally taken
'^om the form and structure of the scales. His
orders are as follows : —
I. Placoidians — So named from the irregu-
larity presented by the solid parts of their cover-
ing, composed of masses of enamel. It includes
many fossil forms, the Sharks, and Hays.
II. Ganoidians — Containing varied forms, the
Sauroid fishes, Siluri, Sturgeons, &c., charac-
terized by scales of an angular form, composed
of two substances, plates of horn or bone, placed
one upon another, and covered by a thick layer
of enamel.
III. Ctenoidians — The common character is in
the thin plates forming the scales, being pecti
nated or toothed on their posterior edge, which
makes them feel rough to the touch. It con-
tains the Chetodons, Pleuronectes, the Percoid
fishes, &c.
YI. Cydoidians — They have the scales formed
of simple plates, those of the lateral line with
a tube for the transmission of the lubricating
mucus. It includes the Mullets, Salmon, Cy-
prini, &c.*
* If we estimate the number of fish now known, to
amount to about 8000, we may state that more than three-
58 INTRODUCTION.
The situation in our systems which has been
allotted to fishes, has generally been the fourth
place, or the lowest rank, in the scale of the ver-
tebrata. They seeni to have been more particu-
larly connected with the class which immediately
precedes them, by those most extraordinary crea-
tures, long since extinct, but which now occupy
so much of the attention of the geologist, the
Ichthyosauri or Fish-Lizards, and which the dis-
covery of new forms lead us to believe were a
numerous race, perhaps possessing intermediate
ability to exist either in air or water. Fishes are
entirely inhabitants of the waters, peopling this
immense portion of our globe with their shoals, and
serving to keep in check the varied creatures of
still lower structure, while they themselves are
held in check, and afford sustenance to millions
fourths of this number belong to two only of the above men-
tioned orders, the Cycloidians and Ctenoidians, whose pre-
sence has not been discovered in formations below the chalk,
The other fourth part of living species is referable to the
orders Placoidians and Ganoidians, which are now far from
numerous, but which existed during the whole period
which elapsed since the earth began to be inhabited, to the
time when the animals of the Greensand lived.
M. Agassiz does not know a single species of fossil fish
which is found successively in two formations, while he is
acquainted with a good numbe? which have a very consider-
able horizontal extent — Ed. Phil. Jour. xxxv. 175.
INTRODUCTION. 59
which have been placed in our systems above them.
In form they are perhaps the most varied beings in
creation, and the most fertile fancy could scarcely
depict a shape or appearance to which a resem-
blance would not be found. They are of " hideous
and loathsome bulk," or of the most graceful forms,
and gorgeous and resplendent colours ; but still
among all these we may trace the characteristic
shape of a fish, in the head being placed at once
upon the shoulders without any length of neck,
followed by the body, and finished by the tail ;
and the parts will be all adapted to the different
modes of gaining sustenance, whether it is to be
procured by stealth arid deceit, or by strength
and swiftness.
Living in a different element from that which
maintains most of the mammalia and birds, we find
the external covering of fishes to consist of plates,
or scales, supplying the place of hair or feathers.
The skin of fishes completely surrounds the body,
clasping close to the muscles, and serving as an
outward skeleton, as the bones do for a protection
to the inward parts. The scales are composed of
two substances, the one allied to that of horn, the
other to that which forms the enamel of teeth.
They are placed in little mucous cavities of the
corion, or true skin ; they are generally formed
of delicate plates or leaves, secreted by the skin,
60 INTRODUCTION.
and placed above each other in successive layers,
each of which can be separated by maceration in
water. When the enamel is present, it generally
forms a thick layer above these. They are often
transparent, and transmit the bright colours and
metallic tints which are secreted beneath them,
while the different manner in which the layers
are deposited, give rise to many of the figures we
see, as it were imprinted, on their surface. A few
species have the skin nearly smooth, and appa-
rently defenceless, and without scales or plates.
The scales are held in position by a fold of the
epidermis, often so delicate as scarcely to be
visible, but which covers almost the whole part of
the fish exposed to our view. They fold over
each other in different modes of imbrication,
sometimes regularly like the tiling of a house,
sometimes in a lateral form, or with the lower
longitudinal edge folding over the upper edge of
the scale below ; sometimes alternately, so that
the joining of the preceding scale is opposite the
centre of that which follows, while in others
OF 7Hf
UNIVERSITY
INTRODUCTION.
61
there is no imbrication at all, and the edges meet
like plates or the flags of a pavement. But one
of the more remarkable contrivances for hold-
ing them in connection, is seen in some fossil
species, where the incumbent scale is furnished
with a hook, or tooth, which fits into a corres-
ponding hollow in the lower edge of the upper
scale, better understood by inspecting the accom-
panying cuts of those of (1) Paleoniscus* Freies-
fabeni, and (2) Pliolidophorus\ macrocephaluSy
Agass.
1. 2.
The skin is immediately attached to the muscles,
the outer lateral layer of which will be seen in
the accompanying plate, (PL XXXI.) One
great muscle (a) occupies nearly the whole side,
and is almost the only one which is externally
, ancient ; 0*0*01, onisctcs.
r, scale-bearing, like a snake.
INTRODUCTION.
visible. It arises from the upper part of the
head, at b c, and the bones of the shoulders, and
is inserted into the sides of the bone of the tail.
Tt is separated above from its corresponding
muscle on the opposite side, by the spine and its
epiphysis, by the deep muscles of the inter spinal
bones, and by the ribs which surround the ab-
dominal cavity; beneath it widens to admit the
lower fins and the muscles which belong to them.
The structure of this great muscle is complicated.
It is transversely composed of slips held together
by a tendinous expanse, and which generally
equal the vertebrae in number. The layers or
plates are best seen when the fish is boiled, and
the cartilaginous substance has been dissolved.
Longitudinally it is divided into three bands.
In the centre band a slight furrow may be
observed, d e, in which are placed the mucous
glands.
The late Baron Cuvier assumes the common
perch, among fishes, as the form in which the
greatest general perfection is exhibited (see
Common Perch, Plate XXXV.); and being a
species familiarly known to almost every one, will
serve better than any other to convey an idea
of this class of beings ; and the accompanying
Plate (XXXII. of the Skeleton of the Common
Perch), exhibits the bony structure in osseous
INTRODUCTION. 63
fishes. No. 1 is the principal frontal bone; 2.
Anterior frontal bone ; 3. Posterior frontal bone ;
4. Temporal bone ; 5. Parietal bone ; 6. Maxillary
bone ; 7» Intermaxillary bone ; 8. Suborbitary
bone; 9- Supra scapular bone; 10. Preopercle ;
11. Opercle; 12. Subopercle ; 13. Interopercle.
The above references will enable the observer to
understand the characters of the genera, which
are, in a great measure, taken from the form of
these bones in the head.
In the perch, and indeed in all those fishes which
are endowed with extensive locomotive powers, or
require swiftness to seize their prey, the tail is
the great organ of motion, while the fins are the
balancers or directors, a contrary arrangement to
that shewn in the members of those creatures of
the land and air, where the tail is the director or
helm, the feet and wings the movers. The fins on
the upper surface serve to balance the body, those
on the lower surface to turn it, to move it slowly,
and to keep it suspended in strong currents ; but
in all these, the motion or assistance of the
tail is observable. In very swift motion the fins
are quiet ; the creature could not keep them
extended, far less use them, and they fold closely
to the body, and offer no resistance to its rapid
passage through the water. In what are called flat
fish, however, and in all those whose horizontal
64 INTRODUCTION.
surface is large, the fins assist considerably in
progressive motion, and their motion upwards
and downwards, and not in the line of progression,
offers no resistance.
Another powerful accessary in the buoyancy of
fishes, is what is called the air, or swimming,
bladder ; and whatever functions it may here-
after be found to possess, similar or resembling
those of the lungs of aerial beings, there can
be no doubt of its assistance when a fish wishes
to rise or sink. It is generally situated in the
upper part of the ventral cavity, running pa-
rallel to the spine, and it often communicates with
the intestinal canal, by an opening placed near
the boundary between the oesophagus and the
stomach, though in some fishes no communi-
cation or opening has been discovered. In
those where no communication with the oeso-
phagus has been found, it is conjectured that
the air in this organ is secreted within it ; and
this opinion has been strengthened by the
presence of a red fleshy body occurring on the
interior of the walls of the bladder, and by the
influence which a wound in the bladder produced
in the function of the gills upon the blood. It is
a very curious subject, difficult to investigate, and
several eminent ichthyologists have adopted the
opinion of this organ in part performing the office of
INTRODUCTION. 65
lungs. It is of various shapes, sometimes seeming
like a simple bag extending the whole length of
the cavity, sometimes cut as it were in two, by
a narrow stricture, and having the appearance of
two irregular sacks. The supply of air can be
compressed by muscular action, and accordingly
will serve to assist in raising or sinking the
animal ; and it is remarkable, that in those fishes
which reside much at the bottom, and seldom
or never come to the surface, this organ is almost
always wanting.
But independent of the common manner of
progressive motion among fishes, other means
have been given them, by which either a great
accession of power is added; or where the ordinary
limbs are small, or wanting, organs of an entirely
different nature have been constructed. In a genus
of fishes, mentioned by almost all travellers as
amusing the weariness of a long sea voyage, the
immense development of the pectoral fins, and
the power the animal possesses of raising and sus-
taining itself for a considerable time above the
waves, has gained for it the epithet of Flying.
The action, however, appears to have more re-
semblance to a long and vigorous leap, than to
flight as practised by the denizens of the air. A
difference of opinion exists as to the motion of
the pectoral fins, whereby they are for the time
E
66 INTRODUCTION.
supported. Cuvier says the animal beats the air
during the leap, but we question if this is said
from actual evidence. Dr Abel, however, supports
the assertion in his voyage to China ; but Mr
Bennet, a later observer, is of a contrary opinion.
" The flight of these fish," he remarks, " has been
compared to that of birds, so as to deceive the
observer ; however, I cannot perceive any compa-
rison, one being an elegant, fearless, and inde-
pendent motion, whilst that of the fish is hurried,
stiff, and awkward, more like a creature requiring
support for a short period ; and then its repeated
flights are merely another term for leaps. The
fish make a rustling noise, very audible when
they are near the ship, dart forward, or sometimes
take a curve to bring themselves before the wind,
and, when fatigued, fall suddenly into the water.
It is not uncommon to see them, when pursued,
drop exhausted, rise again almost instantly, pro-
ceed a little farther, again dipping into the ocean,
so continuing for some distance until they are
out of sight."* With this view we are rather
inclined to coincide ; but however the motion is
performed, it is certain that they can progress
out of the water, according to Captain Hall, for
a distance of at least two hundred yards, and
* Bennet's Wand. i. p. 33.
INTRODUCTION. ^7
according to Mr Bennet, to a height of from two
to twenty feet.
Another manner of transportation is by means
of an apparatus by which the animal can fix itself
to any object in motion. Many fishes are sup-
plied with an organ of this kind, which also seems
to be used as a means of keeping themselves
secure amidst the turmoil of a storm, affixing
themselves to rocks and other steady substances
Among the most remarkable of these is the Re-
mora, or Sucking Fish, far famed in ancient story
for its power over the vessels of the mariner. These
fishes are of a narrow lengthened form, the head
large in proportion to the body, and furnished
with a flat oval shield composed of transverse
plates, each furnished with a row of fine teeth :
this is termed the sucking plate, and by means of
it they attach themselves firmly to the bodies of
larger fish, or the bottoms of ships, and are thus
transported. The common White Shark seems to
be their most frequent carrier, to which four or
five have been often found attached. The tail
and fins of the Remora are all comparatively very
small, and the fish has no air bladder.
The Perca scandens transports itself, and scales
rocks, and even plants that grow from the water,
by means of the alternate use of the spines of the
pectoral fins, and M. Renau has asserted that he
68 INTRODUCTION,
knew a species of Lophius which walked about
the house like a dog ; while the Doras costatus, by
the bony arms of its fins, assisted by the plates
under the belly, which work like those of serpents,
can march over land as fast as a man can leisurely
walk.*
The body of fishes is lubricated by a slimy
fluid, prepared in a series of glands generally
placed near and about the fore parts, a beautiful
natural arrangement, to allow the fluid to be car-
ried backward ; or the same office is performed in
a more mechanical manner by what is called the
lateral line, and which is in reality a canal on the
scales, which is either continuous, and conveys
the lubricating fluid backwards from the head and
neck, or has a communication with a series of
glands laterally disposed.
In the Skate there is a large serpentine vessel
which surrounds the mouth, runs between the skin
and the muscles at the sides of the five apertures
into the gills, and likewise surrounds the nostrils ;
then it passes from the under to the upper part of
the upper jaw, where it runs backwards as far as
the eyes. From the principal part of this duct,
in the under side or belly of the fish, there are not
above six or eight outlets ; but from the upper
• Dr Hancock, ZooL Jour.
INTRODUCTION. 69
part near the eyes there are above thirty small
ducts sent off, which open on the surface of the
skin. But besides this very picturesque duct,
there is on each side of the fish, a little farther
forwards than the foremost of the five breathing
holes, a central part from which a prodigious
number of ducts issue, to terminate on almost
the whole surface of the skin, excepting only the
snout or upper jaw. At these centres the ducts
are all shut, and in their course have no commu-
nication with each other.* In the skate the whole
cellular substance of the nose or snout secretes
a mucus, which is dispersed by bundles of tubes
opening exteriorly. The Eel and Couger have large
openings at different parts of the nose, communi-
cating with numerous lengthened vessels analo-
gous to the winding canals of the Skate.f But in
almost every fish these have a distribution diffe-
rently managed according to their wants, forming
one of the most beautiful and necessary provisions
in their whole structure. That of the Cod. from
its simplicity, will best shew it, reduced from one
of the characteristic plates of Monro.
* Monro, pi. ri. viL t Cuvier, i. 252.
70
INTRODUCTION.
a The termination of a large lymphatic, which begins at
the tail and runs upwards on the side of the fish, receiving
its branches from the skin and muscles of the trunk at
nearly right angles.
b The upper end of a mucous dwct, which runs upon the
side of the fish nearly parallel with the lymphatic a, and
which has numerous short branches, with open mouths,
which pour out mucus upon the .surface of the skin.
c is the continuation of the duct b cut open.
d Another mucous duct, having no communication with
b or c, and which discharges its mucus upon the surface of
the skin of the under jaw by a number of short branches.
One of the most remarkable contrivances in
the economy of fishes, is their respiration. The
medium which contains the air, being fatal to
all terrestrial animals which would attempt to
inhale them in conjunction, a different apparatus
for their employment was necessary, which we
find in the form of branchicE or gills, as they
are termed, placed near the forward extremity
INTRODUCTION. 71
of the animal, and protected by a bony case
or covering, often defended by strong spines,
which in the horrid array which covers some
species, are almost always placed on these
parts. This sort of respiration has been termed
aquatic, and, among the vertebrata, is found
in the larva or young state of some reptiles
which spend the early portion of their existence
in the waters, and in all the fishes. The gills are
placed in immediate communication with the
heart, and are composed of an innumerable series
of delicate bloodvessels arranged in a fringe-like
form upon the lower edges of four bony arches,
which form the frame work of this structure.
Water entering at the mouth, is forced out again
at the posterior opening of the covers, and thus
maintains almost a constant stream or rush
through them, entering and again expelled, at
intervals, similar to the respiration and expiration
of animals. When withdrawn from the water, the
delicate filamentous structure of the gills imme-
diately collapses, and no muscular exertion, or
convulsive action, can restore them to their former
play ; when exposed to the action of air only, a
kind of suffocation ensues, and death is the con-
sequence. This is the general principle of
respiration in this class of beings, but the struc-
ture and its application is often modified. The
admission and exit of the water is sometimes
72 INTRODUCTION.
performed independently of the mouth ; and those
species which can exist for longer periods than
usual out of their native element, have the power
of retaining a portion of water in a membranous
sack or bag surrounding the gills, which keeps
the filamentous structure moist, and enables the
animal to continue the respiratory action. Such
is the case with a very singular fish, the Doras
costatus, a native of Demerara, which possesses
the singular property of deserting the water, and
travelling overland. In those terrestrial excur-
sions, large droves are frequently met with during
very dry seasons, for it is only at this season that
they are compelled to this dangerous march,
which exposes them as a prey to so many and
such various enemies. When the water is leaving
the pools in which they commonly reside, they
simultaneously quit the place, and march over-
land in search of water, travelling for a whole
night in search of their object. " I have observed,"
adds Dr Hancock, " that their bodies do not get
dry like those of other fishes when they are out
of the water ; and if the moisture be absorbed, or
they are wiped dry with a cloth, they have such
a power of secretion, that they become instantly
moist again. Indeed, it is scarcely possible to
dry the surface while the fish is living." *
Dr Hancock, Zool. Journ. No. XIV. p. 242
INTRODUCTION. 73
The senses among fishes may almost be said to
be confined to three, — those of seeing, hearing,
and smelling, all very acute. Those of taste and
touch are to all appearance in subordinate
development, nor with the powerful exercise of
the others are they conducive, or necessary to
the existence of the individual. There is a gene-
ral sense of feeling by contact with any body
over the surface of the animal ; but unless in
those species which are furnished with long
filamentous appendages to the head, there is no
organ by which this property is regularly exer-
cised. In those fish, when lying at the bottom in
disturbed water, the filaments are extended, and
may serve to make them aware of the approach
of an enemy ; and among others, in the Siluri,
where they are of great length, and are thrown
out and moved, to attract attention ; from their
sensibility of touch, while the fish remains in
concealment, they may warn the lurker that his
prey approaches, and enable him to prepare for
its seizure.
The sense of taste seems even developed in a
less degree, the organ in which it is generally
implanted being used as an accessary to prehen-
sion, and often armed with very strong teeth.
Swallowing also almost immediately follows the
seizure ; the prey, gorged entire, and without
mastication in the mouth, is rapidly dissolved and
digested in the stomach.
74 INTRODUCTION.
The important function of vision is imparted
to fishes to a greater extent, and if perhaps the
range of seeing be not great, when within its
bounds it is apparently acute and distinct ; and as
among the higher vertebrata we have some which
are nocturnal in their habits, as well as those
which seek their prey by day, so we find among
fishes a difference of form in the large eyes of
many species which constantly remain at a depth
of many hundred fathoms below the surface, and
where it has been proved that the influence of
light could not extend. In some, again, the eyes
are remarkable for their minuteness, and to
several species the specific name Caca, or blind,
has been applied. These, like the mole in her
dark galleries, live in the banks of muddy rivers,
and are no doubt furnished with some more
exquisite sense to supply their wants, and minister
to their sustenance. In the Gastrobranchus, a
fish remarkable in all its structure, no trace what-
ever of eyes has yet been discovered.
Water, the medium through which fishes hear,
has been proved to be a better conductor of
sound than air ; and from a variety of experi-
ments, sounds produced under water, have a loud
and clear impression on the human ear, placed in
the same situation. In fishes there is no external
ear, except in a few where a very small cavity is
discernible. They want the tympanum, the small
bones, and the eustachian tubes ; but the semi-
INTRODUCTION. 75
circular canals are often largely developed. In the
osseous fishes, to a part of which this volume is
more particularly devoted, the whole of the
labyrinth of the ear projects into the cavity of the
cranium. The labyrinth is filled with a trans-
parent liquid, distending the vestibule and sack,
which contain small and peculiar bony substances,
two or three in number, which float in the liquid,
and would apparently convey the sense of any
concussion to the nervous linings of the edges,
and upon the principal plexus of the auditory
nerve, which is ramified in the greatest proportion
on the walls of the sack, which generally contains
the largest of these hard osseous bodies. The
structure of the ears in fishes is certainly less per-
fect and less complicated than in the higher
mammalia and birds ; and Cuvier is of opinion,
that though they hear sounds distinctly, or as
concussions, yet they are unable to distinguish
any of the finer tones or variations. That they
are sensible of the impulses of sound has often
been proved, and fish are known to approach for
'bod at the whistle of their keeper.*
Smelling, again, appears to be even farther
developed than what is generally supposed. The
* The Romans were even said to have taught each
to approach upon calling by a particular name. Fre-
cynet, speaking of the Squafas melanopterus which the
expedition met with at the Waigow Islands, says they
76 INTRODUCTION.
nostrils, in general, appear externally like a
double hole or opening, and the branches of the
nerve are ramified on a sort of cushion at the
bottom, or upon the side. The cut will shew
the great proportion of nerve supplied from the
brain to the nostrils. In a few, they are like
prolonged tubes, as among the eels, where the
multiplicity of nervous filaments is very great ;
and in one fish they are remarkable as being
placed on a sort of stalk like a mushroom, in
which the openings are placed with the nervous
distribution. Seeing, then, a certain extent of
development, we cannot doubt that impressions
of smell are conveyed. In proof, various per-
fumes are successfully used by anglers to attract
the fishes. Eels are led into traps by baits placed
within, which they could only discover by smell ;
appear to have a finer sense of hearing than of sight.
When seen upon the coast, they would allow themselves to
be approached, so long as silence was preserved, but on
speaking, fled immediately.
INTRODUCTION. 77
and during floods, or in muddy waters, where we
know that vision is much impaired, scent only can
bring fish to the bait, which, if employed for a
continuance in one spot, will at length attract
numbers. But Cuvier hints at this sense being even
of service for a purpose of more delicacy — that of
distinguishing the difference between waters of
different streams or currents ; and it is probable,
that, by the use of these organs, many of our migra-
tory fresh water species are enabled again to dis-
cover and return to the rivers they had previously
frequented. Such seems the most common dis-
tribution of the three most prevalent senses,
Various, however, are the modifications of their
application, corresponding with the manners and
necessities of the individuals.
The greater proportion of fishes are carni-
vorous, and find an abundant and varied food in
the immense profusion of moluscous animals, as
well as in the smaller species of their own orders,
for among them may be said to exist a constant
system of attack and defence — a general war, the
stronger against the weaker. A few only subsist
on vegetables, " and graze the sea weed, their
pasture." The teeth, the only organs almost of
prehension, are therefore varied in innumerable
forms, but are chiefly adapted either for tearing
or bruising. In the cartilaginous fish, we find
these forms strongly developed ; those of the
78 INTRODUCTION.
sharks will exhibit an example of the first, of the
most formidable kind, of great size and strength,
smooth and piercing, or sharp, but serrated.
Those of the rays or skates of the second, fitted
for bruising, where the food is in a great part shell
fish, and where the teeth are arranged as a dense
pavement In others, again, the teeth, various in
size and strength, are placed in the jaws, vomer,
tongue, arches of the branchiae, and in the throat.
The latter arrangement is one of the most singular,
and bears the title among French ichthyologists
of " Dents en velour," from their exhibiting the
appearance, to the naked eye, of the pile of coarse
velvet. These act by the compression of the
lower pharyngeal muscles, and an example will
be found in the genus Cyprinus, to which belong
the greater part of those fishes which, by English
anglers, are denominated " Leather Mouths/' The
food being seized, is almost immediately swallow-
ed ; and, such is its voracity, that substances
entirely foreign are often taken in, as may almost
always be seen on examining the stomach of a cod,
which sometimes presents a most heterogeneous
mass, little fitted for nutrition.
Although the teeth and jaws, with pursuit, are
the principal accessaries for securing prey, various
fishes, deprived of swiftness, entice their prey by
stratagem. Such are all the Siluri, with long fila-
mentous appendages to the lips, which, in some, are
INTRODUCTION. 79
said to possess the property of stinging. Others,
again, lurk in concealment, and dart out upon the
casual passers by. The Rostrated Chaetodon em-
ploys a most singular property of propelling a drop
of water with unerring aim and considerable force
at insects which have settled on aquatic plants,
seizing them on their fall into the water. But
of all the properties with which these singular
creatures are endowed, either for attack or
defence, that of the benumbing and electric
stroke of the Torpedo and Gymnotus is the
most remarkable. Experiments have tended
to confirm its connection with the galvanic
mnuence. Many an assailant must be most un-
expectedly stopped by it ; and the fishes whicn
are endowed with it being, in general, of slow
motion, lurk until their victims approach within
the influence of their deadly and peculiar power.
The fishes which possess this power are but few
in number. Among the most noted are the
Torpedo known to the ancients, and the electric
Gymnotus. In the first, which in outward
appearance somewhat resembles a skate, and has
nearly the same habits, the electric organs are
placed on each side of the cranium and gills,
reaching from thence to the semicircular carti-
lages of each great fin, and extending longi-
tudinally from the anterior extremity of the
80 INTRODUCTION.
animal to the transverse cartilage which divides
the thorax from the abdomen, and within these
limits they occupy the whole space between the
skin of the upper and under surface. Each organ
consists wholly of perpendicular columns, reaching
from the upper to the under surface, and varying
in their lengths according to the thickness of the
parts of the body where they are placed. Their
coats are very thin and transparent, closely con-
nected with each other by a kind of loose network
of tendinous fibres. The number of columns vary
in specimens according to size. John Hunter
found about four hundred and seventy in each
organ ; but in one of large size, so many as one
thousand one hundred and eighty-two were
counted ; and the whole are supplied with a very
ample plexus of nerves.*
The Torpedo being the fish first known which
possessed this property, had the fame of the
immense benumbing power which it could exert
spread abroad. Experiments have proved, how-
ever, that the shocks could be withstood with
impunity, and that some other fishes possessed it
to a much greater extent. It can be communi-
cated through the water without contact ; and is
undoubtedly used in striking the prey which it
• J. Hunter's Phil. Tram.
INTRODUCTION. 81
is unable to overtake from its unwieldiness.
Leoman mentions, that a duck, confined to a
bucket of water containing a live torpedo, was,
after some hours, found dead. Several species are
known ; four are found in the Mediterranean.
The electric Gymnotus, recorded by Hum-
boldt, is a much more formidable creature, as we
learn from the interesting account of that tra-
veller. He found them in the Rio Colorado, and
several other streams which cross the missions
of the Chayma Indians. The natives frequently
feel the electrical shocks when bathing in the
waters, and every amphibious animal seems to
have an intuitive fear in approaching the pools
which they inhabit ; the alligator is stunned before
he can wound them ; and it was even necessary to
change the direction of a road near Urituca,
because these electrical eels were so numerous in
one river that they every year killed a great num-
ber of mules of burden as they forded the water.
The manner in which the Baron procured specimens
for examination is a curious instance of their
power. It was necessary to procure them without
injury; and, after resorting to different expedients,
" the Indians told us they would fish with horses.
We found it difficult to form an idea of this extra-
ordinary manner of fishing ; but we soon saw our
guides return from the Savannah, which they had
been scouring for wild horses and mules. They
82 INTRODUCTION.
brought about thirty with them, which they forced
to enter the pool.
" The extraordinary noise caused by the horses'
hoofs makes the fish issue from the sand, and
incites them to combat. These yellowish and
livid eels, resembling large aquatic serpents,
swim on the surface of the water, and crowd
under the bellies of the horses and mules. A con-
test between animals of so different organization
furnishes a very striking spectacle. The Indians,
provided with harpoons, and long slender reeds,
surround the pool closely, and some climb upon
the trees, the branches of which extend horizon-
tally over the surface of the water. By their
wild cries, and length of their reeds, they prevent
the horses from running away, and reaching the
bank of the pool. The eels, stunned by the noise,
defend themselves by repeated discharges of their
electric batteries. During a long time they seem
to prove victorious. Several horses sink beneath
the violence of their invisible strokes, which they
receive on all sides, in organs the most essential
to life ; and, stunned by the force and frequency
of the blows, disappear under water. Others,
panting, with mane erect, and haggard eyes, ex-
pressing anguish, rouse themselves, and endeavour
to flee from the storm by which they are over-
taken. They are driven back by the Indians into
the middle of the water ; but a small number
INTRODUCTION. 83
succeed in eluding the active vigilance of the
fishermen. These regain the shore, stumbling at
every step, and stretch themselves on the sand,
exhausted with fatigue, and their limbs benumbed
by the electric strokes of the Gymnoti.
" In less than five minutes two horses were
drowned. The eel being five feet long, and pres-
sing itself against the belly of the horses, makes
a discharge along the whole extent of its electric
organ. It attacks at once the heart, the intes-
tines, and the plexus of abdominal nerves. We had
little doubt the fishing would terminate by killing
successively all the animals engaged; but, by
degrees, the impetuosity of this unequal contest
diminished, and the wearied Gymnoti dispersed.
They require a long rest, and abundant nourish-
ment, to repair what they have lost of galvanic
force 1 and, in a few minutes, we had five large
eels, the greater part of which were only slightly
wounded."*
The reproduction and migration of fish is an-
other part of their history full of interest. They
are, with a few exceptions, oviparous, and are
fruitful to a most surprising degree — so much so,
that if the whole ova were to be matured, bounds
could not be assigned to them, and the expanse
of the waters would be crammed; but among
* Humboldt's Pers, Narr iv. 349.
84 INTRODUCTION.
the millions of ova which are deposited, those
hatched to maturity will not exceed one in the
thousand, perhaps a much less proportion, and in
their great fertility we see both a beneficent de-
sign in furnishing an ample supply of food for
many of the inhabitants of the same element, and
for the numerous tribes of waterfowl which, at
some seasons, feed entirely on the eggs and fry ;
while, on the other hand, without this abundant
power of generation, a stock could not be saved
from the numerous enemies of sea and air to which
they are nearly constantly exposed. In general,
the eggs are deposited in water comparatively
shallow, upon rocks, on gravelly or sandy banks, on
aquatic plants, or marine algae, or in holes formed
in the banks or borders of the lakes or rivers ;
and to the strong instinctive principle which
impells these creatures to seek suitable situations
for the deposition of their spawn, do we owe the
abundant supply of fish which annually resort
to our shores. The migration of the herring,
mackerel, pilchard, &c. all depend on this, and
the countless shoals which arrive, only leave the
great recesses of the deep to seek the shallower
bays and estuaries for the purpose of continuing
their species.
There is one circumstance in the breeding of
fishes which requires notice — that of no care
being bestowed on the ova, or young, after a
INTRODUCTION. 85
place has been selected and finished for the depo-
sition, or after they are hatched. There seems,
however, here also to be exceptions. " The Col-
tichthys littoralis makes a regular nest of long
leaves, or grass, in which they lay their eggs in a
flattened cluster, and cover them over most care-
fully. They remain by the side of the nest till
the spawn is hatched, with as much solicitude as
a hen guards her eggs, both male and female, for
they are monogamous, steadily watching the
spawn, and courageously attacking any assailant.
Hence the negroes frequently take them by
putting their hands into the water, close to the
nest, on agitating which, the male springs furi-
ously at them, and is thus captured." *
In their economical uses to man, fish are princi-
pally important as an article of food, and from
the employment they afford to the more depen-
dent classes ; but oil is the commodity greatest
in value and quantity produced from them. The
quantity of fish killed for these purposes is truly
immense. Fifty thousand salmon are said to
have been taken in the Tay during one year,
and five hundred thousand cod, on the New-
foundland bank, by a single vessel, in a week.
What then will be the aggregate of the creatures
in this department of zoology which are yearly
* Dr Hancock, ZooL Journ. XIV. p. 244.
86 INTRODUCTION.
consumed in our commerce ? Isinglass is made
from the swimming bladders ; glue from the coarser
refuse of fins, &c. ; artificial pearls from the scales,
— and Pennant tells us that a certain French artist
used thirty hampers full of the latter for this
manufacture in one year. Shagreen from the
skins of the carttaginous fishes, saucos from their
roe, &c. may be mentioned as some of the more
subordinate purposes to which they are applied.
In the arrangement of the present volume, we
have preferred following the system of Cuvier.
Its two leading divisions depend on the compo-
sition of the skeleton, with, however, some changes
from any former arrangement. The next subor-
dinate separation depends on the structure of the
fin's rays ; but the following shoit table will give
an idea better than any exposition of our own.
POISSONS.
Osseux.
A branchies en, peignes, on eft lames.
A. macholre svpericure libre.
ACANTHROPTE RYGIENS.
Percoides.
Polynfcraes.
W-illes.
Joues cuirassees.
Scienoides.
Sparo'ide*.
INTRODUCTION. 57
Chetodonoideg.
Scombroides.
Muges.
Branchies labyrinthiquea.
Lophioides.
Gobioides.
Labroides.
MALACOPTERYGIEN3.
Abdominaux.
Cyprinoides.
Siluroides.
Salmonoides.
Cluseoides.
Lucioides.
Subbrachiens.
Gadoides.
Pleuronectes.
Discoboles.
Apodes.
Murenoides.
A mdchoire superieure fixee.
Selerodermes.
Gymnodontes.
A branchies en forme de houppes.
I .opobranches.
CARTILAGINEUX ou CHONDEROTERVGIENS,
Sturiones.
r'iagiostomes.
Cyclostomes.
Pursuing farther the system of the Baron, wa
shall commence our descriptive part with the
characters of his first great family, the percoid
88 INTRODUCTION.
fishes. Typical of this, the common perch has
been taken, but, in considering its form, allowance
must be made for the various modifications it
will receive in the very numerous species which
occupy this section ; in the whole, however, the
resemblance is beautifully kept up. The principal
characters of the family are stated thus : — " The
body oblong, more or less compressed, covered
with scales generally hard, and of which the outer
surface is more or less rough, the edges toothed
or ciliated ; an opercle and preopercle, variously
armed or toothed ; the mouth large ; gill covers
deeply cleft, the membrane supported by rays,
whose number is never below five, and rarely
exceeds seven ; teeth not only in the jaws, but in a
transverse line before the vomer, and almost always
in a longitudinal band on each palatine bone ; fins
at least seven in number, often eight ; stomach a
sack, pylorus lateral, appendages never wanting,
but often small and limited in number. The
external colours are often beautiful ; the flesh in
general well flavoured and wholesome."
In the sectional divisions of the family, the
leading distinctions are taken from the division
of the dorsal fin, the situation of the ventral fins,
and the form of the teeth, but for the sake of
perspicuity, we add the table of the genera.
INTRODUCTION. 89
I. — Ventral fins situated under the pectorals.
Ventrals with five soft rays.
Gills with seven rays.
With two dorsal fins, or with the first hollowed at its base.
Teeth all fine. (Dents en velour. )
1. Perca.
2. Lates.
3. Enoplossus.
, 4. Diplorion.
5. Labrax.
6. Centropomus.
7. Graministes.
8. Aspro.
9. Ambassis.
10. Apogon.
The canine teeth mingled with the others
1. Cheilodipterus.
2. Lucioperca.
3. Etelis.
With a single dorsal fin.
Canine teeth mingled with the others.
1. Serranus.
2. Merous.
3.
4. Plectroooma.
5. Diacope.
6. Mesoprion.
Teeth all fine. (Dents en veiour.
1. Centropristes.
2. Grystes.
3. Polyprion.
4. Pentaceros.
5. Acerina.
6. Rypticus.
Less than seven rays to the gills.
Canine teeth mingled with others.
1. Cirrhites.
90 INTRODUCTION.
Canine teeth none.
1. Pomotes.
2. Centrarchus.
3. Trichodon.
4. Priacanthus.
5. Dules.
6. Therapon.
7. Pelatea.
8. Helotes.
Ventral fins with raore than five toft rays.
Gills with more than seven rays.
1. Myripristes.
2. Holocentrum.
3. Beryx.
[I — Ventral fins situated before thepectoiah*
Teeth all fine. (Dents en velour. )
1. Uranoscopus.
2. Trachinus.
3. Percis.
4. Pinginpes.
Canine teeth mixed with others
1. Percophis.
III. — Ventral fins situated behind the pefto^U.
With canine teeth.
I. Snhvraena.
Teeth fine. (Dents en velour. *
1. Polynemui.
91
GENUS PERCA — PERCH.
THE genus Perca, first and typical of the family,
is familiarly known in the form of the Common
Perch. The characters, after finding its place in
the table, taken from the form and situation of
the fins, may be shortly stated: — " Preopercle,
toothed ; opercle, spined ; suborbitary bones,
delicately toothed ; tongue free. The dorsal
fins are very powerful, the spines strong and
sharp. The scaling moderately large, and with
the posterior edge toothed. Swimming bladder
very large. Number of vertebrae in the common
species, forty-two/' They are all inhabitants of
the fresh waters, delighting in lakes and still
running streams. Feed on marine insects and
small fish. The colours are often brilliant, dis-
posed in bands on the body, or distributed in
vivid tints on the fins, which contrast with the
more sombre shades. They inhabit Europe, India,
North America, and a single species is mentioned,
from the drawings of Banks, to be found in New
Zealand. The sea-like lakes of America, and the
sluggish parts of her vast rivers, afford the most
numerous species; and to illustrate the genus we
nave chosen one
92
THE GRANULATED PERCH.
Perca yranulata. — Cuv. et VAL.
PLATE I.
La Perch a Tete Grenue. — Perca granulata, Cuv, et
Valen. Hist. Nat. des Poissons, ii. 48.
D. 15-2.13; A. 2.8; C. 17; P. 15; V. 1.5.*
THE Granulated Perch inhabits the rivers which
flow from the Blue Mountains towards the Atlantic
Ocean, and, with two others from the same
country, is so similar to that of Europe, as to
have been confounded with it, and to have assisted
in the idea that the latter was also found in the
New World. It indeed approaches very closely
by the bands on the sides, and the red colour of
the lower fins ; and the distinctions pointed out
by Cuvier are the stronger teeth upon the vomer,
the more delicate indentations of the preopercle,
and the more irregular form of the cranium.
The second dorsal fin has one ray more than that
of the common perch, that of the first being 2.13.
the latter, 1.13.
* The rays of the fins will be stated, as above, at the
commencement of each species, — the letters signifying
Dorsal, Anal, Caudal, Pectoral, and Ventral.
COMMON PERCH. 93
A species from Java is named P. ciliata, from
the deeper cutting in or ciliation of the scales.
Another, from Cook's Straits, differs from its
congeners in being spotted on the sides, above
and below the lateral line, with reddish golden
coloured spots. The body of a lengthened form,
silvery, the back with green and bluish bands
nearly to the lateral line. It was found to be a
fish of great delicacy of flavour; and, from its
resemblance to a trout in spotting and taste, was
named by Forster Sciena trutta.* Cuvier has now
placed it at the extremity of his genus Perca.
The Common Perch (see Plate XXXV.), how-
ever, still continues the species which is most ac-
curately known, and, among the fishes which are
used in the economy of man, was the one which
was perhaps most extensively and anciently used.
It was known to the Greeks and Komans, and
was celebrated for its beauty and delicacy, in the
latter quality being thought worthy of contesting
the palm with the far famed Mullet. In distri-
bution, it is extensively spread over the lakes and
rivers of Europe and a part of Asia; it extends to
Italy, to European and Asiatic Russia, and is found
in the rivers which flow into the Baltic and Black
Sea. To Great Britain it is thought to have been
introduced, and is now an abundant and well
* See detailed description, Schneider, 542, Addenda,
!)4 COMMON PERCH.
known fish in the southern lakes and rivers. It
reaches to the north perhaps not farther than some
lochs in Ross-shire, and to them it has most pro-
bably at some period been transported.
In the shape of the Perch, we find that combi-
nation of length, depth, and thickness, which will
give the easiest support in, and the least resistance
when passing through the water. While the fins
possess great power, the swimming or air-bladder is
of great size, and the scaling or outward covering
is compact, hard, and not awkwardly large. In
colouring it is extremely beautiful, the upper
parts of a rich olive green, shading into golden
yellow ; the body banded with distinct bars of a
deeper tint ; and the whole relieved by the deep
velvety black of the posterior part of the dorsal
fin, and the brilliant vermilion of the ventral and
anal fins. For defence, the strong spines of the
aorsal fin, which are erected and held fixed with
extraordinary muscular power upon the appear-
ance of any danger, are admirably fitted, and it
is one of the few fishes which is able to frequent
waters in common with the Pike. A variety of
the Perch is mentioned by M. Jurine, where all
the colours are of a paler tint ; the fins of a pale
yellow, without any of their usual brilliant ver-
milion. Another, which Cuvier thinks may even-
tually resolve itself into a variety, is the fish
which he has given under the title of Perca
COMMON PERCH. 95
Italica — found in certain cantons of Italy, and,
in particular seasons, seen in the Boulogne
markets. It is without the dark side bands, but
differs also slightly in some of the proportions of
the head and fins. The Wales variety, mentioned
by Pennant, consists in the hunched form of the
back, and the distorted form of the back-bone
next the tail, which appears first pinched in, and
again expands.
As an article of food or luxury, we cannot
agree with its celebrator, Ausonius, in its excel-
lency over our other fresh water fishes. When
of average size, it affords a fine variety for the
table, but will be surpassed in delicacy by either
the Trout or Salmon. The skins are used by the
Laplanders, cooked into a kind of jelly, and for
making glue ; and in the village of Lisse, on the
Haarlem-mere, celebrated dishes are prepared
from their milts ; while of their scales, whitened
and cleaned, many pretty ornaments have been
lately made.
The general habitat of the Perch in Britain is in
lakes, and streams not too rapid. They delight
in a clear bottom with grassy margin, or in rivers
overhung with brush, and widening into some
beautiful lake-like expanse. Here they roam in
shoals, descending and rising, seeking their food,
and shading themselves Irom the too great heat
among the reeds or foliage. They are rather a
96 LABRAX.
stupid fish, and are easily taken with the rod at
various baits — the most successful of which is,
however, a Minnow. In streams where they have
grown large, they afford tolerable sport ; and,
from the shoal feeding in company, many may be
taken when it is once discovered. The average
size may be stated at from one pound to a pound
and a half. Those of three and four pounds are,
however, tolerably common ; but the one men-
tioned by Pennant, to have been taken in the
Serpentine river, of nine pounds, appears to be
still the largest upon record.* In some of the
Highland lochs, particularly those of Perthshire,
they are remarkably fine and abundant.
Pallas gave the title of Labrax to a race of
fishes found in the sea of Kamtschatka, remark-
able in having several lateral lines or rows of pores
upon the sides ; but Cuvier, thinking the name
inapplicable to a fish which was not known to the
ancients, has applied it as a subgeneric title in his
own arrangement, to the Perca labrax of Linnaeus.
This explanation is necessary, lest the present sub--
genus should be confounded with that of Pallas,
* Bloch mentions one taken in Siberia, of which the
head alone measured eleven inches in length, and was
kept as a curiosity. The weight must have much exceeded
those above mentioned.
LABRAX. 97
and it will remain optional with systematists to
retain it here, or in its former place. It differs
from Perca, in having scales upon the opercles,
absence of teeth on the subopercles, inter-opercles,
and suborbitary bones, by the double spine upon
the opercles, and by the very small close set teeth
which cover the greater part of the tongue. The
most common species is
98
THE BASSE, OR SEA PERCH
Labrax lupus Cuv.
PLATE II.
Perca labrax, Linrueus. Bar commun, Labrax lupus,
Cuv. et Valen. Hist. Nat. des Poissons, i. 56. — The
Basse, Pennant. — Donovan, plate xliii.
B. 7; D. 9—1.12; A. 3.11 ; C. 17 j P. 16 j V. 1.5.
THIS fish, by most writers on the British
species, is said to be tolerably common on the
coasts of the south of England during the summer,
while, on the Dutch side, there are established
fisheries of it. It was well known to the ancients,
and is mentioned by many of their poets. It was
celebrated as well for the excellency of its flavour,
as for the stratagems it used when encircled by
nets, or fastened by the hook. Its general length
is from ten to eighteen and twenty inches, though
it is said to grow much larger. The specimen,
however, mentioned by Duhamel, as thirty pounds
in weight, Cuvier thinks he must have mistaken
for some other fish, but seems to have less doubt
of those which have been recorded of fifteen and
twenty pounds in weight, having received one
from Abbeville three feet in length. The form
THE BASSE, OR SEA PERCH. 99
of the Basse is of considerable elegance, arid the
colours are chaste and pleasing, without any of
the striking contrasts we have in the true Perches.
The upper parts are gray, with bluish reflections,
which gradually shade into a silvery white on
the lower parts ; the fins are gray, the pectoral
ones slightly tinged with reddish. At some periods
they appear to be marked with spots or clouds,
wnicn was attributed to be the colouring of the
young only ; Cuvier, however, found very small
specimens perfectly unspotted, while some o*'
the larger were the reverse, and he is more in-
clined, from his observations, to consider it a
sexual difference. The extra European species
amount to only four or five : to them belong the
Rock-fish, or Striped Basse of the Americans —
Labrax lineatus, Cuvier — abundant in the
vicinity of New York, where it is much esteemed,
and brought to the markets of a weight reaching
sixty and seventy pounds. They ascend the
rivers in the spring to spawn, and are then taken
in immense numbers with the hook.
Another species was discovered in the bay of
Offack in the island of Waigiow, by Lesson and
Garnot, the naturalists to the expedition of
Duperry. It is of small size, of a golden green,
with brownish lines. Another species inhabits
the Japanese seas.
The next sub-genus of Cuvier is very closely
100 LATES.
allied to this. The sub-orbitary bone only is
toothed ; the preopercle has a spine at the angle,
and very strong teeth upon the lower surface.
The first dorsal fin is higher and shorter than in
Perca labrax, and the tongue is free as in the
Perch. They are in general a wholesome fish,
af a large size, and inhabit the rivers of the
warmer parts of the old continent. Lates, now
adopted for the genus, was the ancient name
given to some of the species. That which we
shall notice is,
UNIVERS
101
THE LATES OF THE NILE.
Lates Nilotieas — Cuv. et VAL.
PLATE III.
Perca Niliotica, Linnaus. — Le variole du Nil, Late?
Niloticus, Cuv. et Valen. Hist Nat. des Poissons, ii. p.
; 89. Keschr, or Keschere, of the Arabs.
B.7; D.7or8-U2; A.a8or9; C. 17; P. 15j V. 1.5.
THIS fine fish appears to have been known to
many of the ancient writers, who agree, generally,
in giving it a very large size, so far as three
hundred pounds weight; this, however, is un-
known at the present time, and species of a much
less size are only seen. It is also universally
acknowledged as one of the most delicate and
best flavoured fishes of the Nile. The Lates of
the Nile approaches Labrax in the absence of
spines on the sub and inter-opercles, but it
resembles the Perch by the single spine on the
opercle, and the teeth on its sub-orbitary
bone. The form, however, approaches nearest
to the Perch. There are also four or five strong
spines upon the super scapular bone, and five
still stronger on the angle of the humerus above
the pectoral fin 5 but these teeth or spines become
10*2 THE LATES OF THE NILE.
effaced in the old and large species, and in those
of three feet long, are scarcely perceptible. The
spines of the dorsal fin are remarkably strong,
particularly the third ; those of the dorsal fin are
very rigid, and with the tail and other fins are
of considerable power. The scaling is rather
large, and rough on the edges. The lateral line
seems nearly parallel with the back, at about one
third of the depth, and on each scale there is a
narrow and slender tube. The whole fish is of a
silvery tint, tinged with olive brown on the upper
parts and fins.
Another fish which Cuvier places in this
sub-genus is, the " Cock tip" of the English at
Calcutta, the Caius vacti of Hamilton Buchanan,
and the Latex nobilis of our author. It is one of
the lightest and most esteemed foods brought to
table in Calcutta. The Vacti abounds in all the
mouths of the Ganges, which it ascends as far as
the tide, and follows this into the marshes, ditches,
and ponds ; but those found in salt water are of
by far the best quality, as are those about two
feet in length. It is often caught five feet long ;
but when it approaches this size the taste becomes
strong, and when small, it is rather insipid. The
upper parts are of a green colour, with a gloss of
gold and purple ; the lower parts are silvery.*
* Bam. Buchanan, Gaagetic Fishes, p. 87.
103
ELEVEN-SPINED CENTROPOME.
Centropomus undecimalis. — LACEP.
PLATE IV.
Centropome undecimal, Lacepede Sciena undecimalis,
Block, 305, Auct. Cuv. — Le Centropome brochet de
mer, Centropomus undecimalis, Cuv. et Valen. Hist.
Nat. des Poissons, ii. p. 102.
B. 7j D. 8-1.10 j A. 3.6; C. 17; P. 15 j V. 1.5.
LACEPEDE formed the present sub-genus for
the reception of the subject of the accompanying
plate, the principal distinctions of which are
taken from the gill covers, and is named from
having eleven spines in the last dorsal fin. It is
abundant, and forms a large article of consumption
in most parts of South America, in the French,
Spanish, and Portuguese colonies; at Rio de
Janeiro, Lima, and Cuba. It frequents the mouths
of rivers, and even runs so far up as in some
parts to be counted a fresh water species. It is
every where much esteemed, appearing at the
tables of the most opulent. It reaches a weight
of above twenty-five pounds, and in the markets
is sold in cuts or pieces, like many of the larger
fish in this country. A kind of caviar is made
from the roes.
104 ELEVEN-SPINED CENTROPOME.
From the flattened muzzle and general form of
this fish there is some resemblance to the Pike,
under which name, with the addition of " sea," it
is in some places known. The head is narrow,
and when viewed from the side, it appears still
more lengthened, from the elongation of the lower
jaw, which considerably exceeds that of the upper.
The cheeks, opercles, and sub-opercles, are
covered with scales. The dorsal fins are triangu-
lar, and separated by a larger space than we have
yet seen, being in reality distinct. The first has
eight, the second eleven rays. The scales are
nearly round, rough upon the edges. The lateral
line undulates a little near the centre of the fish,
is very conspicuous, and forms a black line
running the whole length of the body; it is formed
by a wide and short tube pierced in each scale.
The colour of the fish is silvery, tinted with
brown, or greenish on the upper parts, and re-
lieved by the deep tint of the lateral line. The
first dorsal fin is gray, the others yellowish, finely
dotted with black on their edges.
The next sub-genus has been named by Cuvier
Lucioperca, or Pike-perch, from the combination
which its type exhibits of the characters of the
two fish. It possesses the fins and banding of
the latter, with the elongated form of the head
and body, and the sharp long teeth of the Pike.
The best known species is
' TfMtf"
'
THE COMMON PIKE-PERCH.
Lucioperca sandra. — Cuv. et VAL.
PLATE V.
Perca lucioperca, Slock — Le Sandre commun Lucio-
perca sandra, Cuv. et Valen. Hist. Nat. des Poissons,
ii. p. 110.
D. 14-1.22; A. 2.11 ; C. 17; P. 15; V. 1.5.
THIS handsome fish inhabits the rivers and
lakes of the north and east of Europe, but,
according to Cuvier, is unknown in Italy, France,
or Britain. It is taken in the Danube, the Elbe,
and the Oder ; in the Baltic, Caspian, and Black
Seas, the Sea of Asoph, and is very abundant in
the Volga. In this great European range, and
notwithstanding its excellence as food, it appears
to have been unknown to the ancients ; at least
none of our most skilful ichthyologists have been
able to trace its presence as an article of luxury
or necessity at their entertainments. It is a fish
of rapid growth, and attains a length of three to
four feet, and a weight of twenty pounds. Its
flesh is of an agreeable taste, rich, and, when
cooked, remarkably white. It is often salted and
smoked, and quantities prepared in these ways
are exported from both Prussia and Silesia. It
106 COMMON PIKE-PERCH.
is extremely prolific, three hundred thousand ova,
of about a size equal to a grain of mustard, occa-
sionally forming the roe of a single fish. It is, at
the same time, a much more tender fish than the
Perch, and will not bear carriage in the same
way; and it is this which, Cuvier thinks, has
hitherto prevented its introduction into France,
where there is no remarkable difference in climate
from the countries in which it is so abundant.
Would it not be possible to introduce it to some
of the British waters?
The general colours of this fish, though less
gaudy than those of the Perch, are chaste and
simple ; the back and upper parts are of a greenish
gray, changing, on the sides and belly, to silvery
white. In the old fish, the upper parts have dark
clouded spots, but which, in the young, take the
form of vertical bands. The dorsal fins are gray,
and have black spots between the rays, which are
so distributed as to form bands across. In the
young, thes2 spots are more clouded, and are also
sparingly scattered over the head and tail. The
other fins are greenish gray, in some individuals
tinted with yellow. The teeth are in general
pmall, but thick and close set ; two on the upper
jaw, four on the lower, and two on the fore part
of each palatine bone, are of a larger and more
lormidable size. The internal structure of this
ti.ih nearly resembles that of the Perch.
AMERICAN PIKE-PERCH. 107
Cuvier enumerates two additional Russian
species, which seem first to have been noticed by
Pallas. The one, from the Volga, has received
the specific appellation of Volgensis, and rests on
the authority of Pallas alone, Cuvier not having
seen a specimen. The other, L. marina, Cuvier
and Valenciennes, found in the Black Sea, pos-
sesses a flesh firm, white, and of great delicacy.
This, as a species, seems also yet imperfectly
known. America possesses another of a greenish
yellow, or spotted over with blackish, and is
the Lucioperca Americana, Cuvier.
108
THE BLACK BASS OF THE HURON.
Huro nigricans. — Cuv. et VAL.
PLATE VI.
Le Huron, Huro nigricans, Cuv. et Valen. Hist. Nat.
des Poissons, ii. p. 124.
IN the arrangement which Cuvier has proposed,
some fishes were occasionally met with which
could not enter into the genera already formed,
while they evidently were closely allied to them ;
his plan here seems to have been to arrange them
at the termination of those of whose situation he
had no doubt; and such is the case with four
curious species which occupy as many of our fol-
lowing plates. The first is the Black Bass, or Black
Perch of the English residents on the banks of the
Huron. Its flesh is firm and white, and it is
much esteemed during summer. The upper parts
of the fish are of an olive brown, changing into
yellowish white on the belly, and along the central
ridge of each scale is a line of the same colour
with the upper parts, giving it a striped appear-
ance on the sides. The body is rather deep in
proportion, the under jaw slightly projects, and
the head, cheeks, and opercles are scaled. The
teeth are nearly similar to those of the Perch.
THE BLACK BAPS OF THE HURON. 109
The first dorsal is much less, contains only six
rays, and is placed at a considerable distance
in front of the second. The anal fin is again
considerably larger in proportion, and has three
spiny, with eleven soft rays. The others are
nearly similar to those of the Perch.
Cuvier*s specimen was sixteen inches in length ;
and although the fish is esteemed, and seems
abundant in its native country, little is yet known
regarding it. Our next fish is one of great
beauty— it is
THE RUBY-COLOURED ETELIS.
Etelis carbunculus. — Cuv. et VAL.
PLATE VII.
JL'eielis, Cuv. et Vakn. Hist. Nat. des Poissons, ii. p. 12?
B. 7; D. 9— 1.11; A. 3.8; C. 17; P. 16; V 1.8.
THIS genus is also formed from a single specimen,
taken by M. Desumier near the Sechelle Islands,
and from the beauty of its colouring, which Cuvier
compares with the tints of the ruby, has received
the specific name of Carbunculus. It differs from
the Perches in possessing strong and long teeth,
by which it approaches to the structure of Lucio-
perca, but other parts of the teething here also
differ ; the opercle is terminated by two spines.
The eye of this splendid fish is a conspicuous
object, and is of a golden orange. The scaling
is large and marked, and the whole ground colour
of the fish is bright ruby red, relieved by stripes
of golden yellow, which run along the ridges of
the scales. The length of M. Desumier's speci-
men was about eleven inches.
$&v£
UNIVERSITY
Ill
THE SPINED NIPHON,
JV./.k4» spinosus — Cuv. et VAL.
PLATE Vir.
Le Niphon, Cuv. et Valen. Hist. Nat. des Potssons.
D. 12—1.11 ; A. 3.7 j C. 17 j P. 16 j V. 1.5.
INHABITS the Japanese seas, and is remarkable
for the strong and formidable knife-like spines
with which the opercles are armed ; indeed, the
whole head is sawed and spined in a singular
manner. The sub-orbitary bone has the lower
edges like a fine saw ; the preopercle is sawed on
its posterior edge, and strongly toothed below ;
while at the angle is a large and strong dagger-
formed spine, exceeding in length the edge of
the opercle. Upon the opercle itself three
spines rise edgeways from the surface. The
super-scapulary bone has two teeth, and the
humerus above the pectoral fin is furnished with
a flat spine. The first dorsal fin, the ventral, and
anal fins, are also all strongly spined, and com-
plete the array of this well defended species.
The upper parts are of a pale brown colour, the
lower parts silvery, the dark shade of the upper
part is divided, in a line from the eye backwards,
112
THE SPINED NIPHON.
by a pale longitudinal band. The upper fins are
grayish, the last dorsal fin with a blackish spot
on the fore part. The others are of a yellowish
white, and the tail is blackisn at its two angles,
with a central paler line. In length, the single
specimen, whence the description was taken, was
about eight inches.
Enopiossus armatus — LACEP.
PLATE IX.
Long spined Chaetodon, Chsetodon armatus. White's
Voyage to New South Wales, App. p. 254 — Enopiossus,
Laeepede — L'Enoplose, Cuv. et Valen. Hist. Nat. das
Poissons, ii. p. 133.
B. 7; D. 7—1.14, or 1.15; A. 3.15; C. 17; P. 12; V. 1.15.
THIS, with the next fish, are very remarkable
in their forms as coming into the present family.
At first sight they appear to be something quite
different, but, on examination, the characters of
the percoid fishes are very evident. The fish
represented on Plate IX, so much resembles a
Chsetodon in form, (being nearly as deep as long,)
that it has been placed with them, and the dark
banded markings and lengthened rays of the
fins bring it even nearer in resemblance ; but the
teeth, the want of the scaling at the base of the
fins, and the internal structure of all parts, differ.
The colouring is chaste, but distinct and well
marked, the ground shade entirely of a silvery
gray, palest on the belly, and relieved by eight
narrow black bands, which either entirely or in,
H
114 THE ARMED ENOPLOSSUS.
part surround the body. The fins hav« a yel-
lowish appearance, except the ventrals, which are
blackish, of which colour, or rather of a deep
gray, are the membranes between the spines and
rays of all the fins.
It is abundant in the New Holland seas, but
appears to reach no great size, eight or ten inches
in length being the greatest which have yet
been seen*
TWO BANDED DIPLOPRION.
Diploprion bifasciatum. — KUHL. et VON HASSELT.
PLATE X.
Le Diploprion, Cuv. et Valen. Hist. Nat. des
Poissons, i. 137.
B7; D. 8-15; A. 2.12 ; C. 17; P. 17; V. 1.6.
THIS singular looking fish was discovered on
the coast of Java. The body is compressed,
the "head very large, and nearly the depth of
the body, from whence the shape tapers towards
the tail. The opercle is armed with three strong
spines, and the preopercle has the edges toothed
and serrated. The first dorsal fin is large and
powerful, and contains eight very strong rays.
In the other fins nothing remarkable is seen
except in the ventrals, whose first and second
rays are long, and extend beyond the commence-
ment of the anal fin. The scaling is very minute.
The colours are a fine reddish yellow, relieved
by two crossing bands of black, the one through
the eye, the other from the termination of the
first dorsal fin, obliquely, to the anal ; the first
116
TWO BANKET DIPLOPRION.
dorsal fin is brownish black. This fish is only
known of about six inches in length.
The next genus contains numerous species.
That we have to notice, is
UNIVERSITY
117
THE MEDITERRANEAN APOGON.
Apogon rex Mullorum. — Cuv. et VAL.
PLATE XI.
Apogon commun, vulgairment Roi des Rougets, Cuv. et
Valen. Hist. Nat. des Poissons, ii. p. 143.
D. 6-1.9; A. 2.8; C. 19; P. 10; V. 1.5.
APOGON is a title established by Lacepede for
this fish, from the connection which he supposed
it bore with the true Mullets, but from which
Cuvier is of opinion it is considerably removed.
The members of the subgenus are distinguished
from any we have yet seen by the largeness of
their scales, which, in reality, resemble those of
the Cyprini. They, however, come very easily
off, like those of the Mullets. The dorsal fins
are far separated. The preopercle has a double
edge, finely toothed. In the internal structure
they bear a greater resemblance to the Perches
than to the Mullets.
The Common Mediterranean Apogon has been
subject to much confusion of synonymy, which M.
Cuvier has entered into at length in his history,
but which it is unnecessary to introduce here. It
is the only species found in the Mediterranean,
and is taken at Marseilles, Nice, Ivica, Naples,
118 THE MEDITERRANEAN APOGON.
Palermo, and Malta, during the spawning season,
in June, July, and August, when it approaches
the shores. At other times, like similar migratory
fish, it most probably withdraws to the deeper
recesses of the ocean. It is much esteemed at
table.
This little fish scarcely exceeds six inches in
length. Its body is short, moderately compressed,
somewhat swollen in the centre. The preopercle
has its edge finely serrated; but the peculiar
character in these fish is the double edge, or kind
of second ridge, which rises on the preopercle,
and of which a slight trace was observable in the
Centropomus undecimalis of Plate IV. On the
opercle there is a small spine on the posterior
edge. The colours of this gaudy little fish are in
general a crimson red, paler on the lower parts,
and relieved by three deep black markings, one
at the base of each dorsal fin, and a third about
midway between the last and the insertion of the
tail. The tint of the general colour is sometimes
of a much yellower hue, according to the season,
sometimes almost yellow ; and there is little
doubt that the brilliancy is much heightened at
the time when the spawn is near its perfection.
The whole surface is scattered over with small
black spots or dots, most conspicuous on the
THE MEDITERRANEAN APOGON. 119
cheek and gill covers.* The dorsal fins are
separated, though by a less space than those of
the Mullets ; the first narrow, and with strong
spines. The others nearly resemble those of the
Perch,
The foreign species seem mostly confined to
the Indian seas, and none have yet been found in
those belonging to America or Africa. A few
have been met with in the New Holland seas,
New Guinea, &c. particularly in the late voyages
under M. Frecynet Many of these fish are of
brilliant colours, principally red and yellow ; but
even the more sombre marked have some decided
contrast in dark coloured bands or spots, or in
some markings of the fins. They all appear to be
of small size ; the largest which is known being
only about seven inches in length. The Apogon
trimaculatus of Lesson and Garnot is of a golden
red, relieved by three black marks, placed on the
dorsal fins, and on the tail. Others, again, have
the dark markings in longitudinal stripes ; such is
the Apogon quadrifaciatus of a silvery red, with
two dark brown bands on each side of the back ;
another, from the Isle of Guam, is striped with
nine black bands, whence it has the name of
Apogon novemfaciatus.
* This minute spotting is not represented in the copj
of our plate.
120
ARABIAN CHEILODIPTERUS.
Cheilodipterus Arabicus, Cuv. et VAL.
PLATE XII.
Le Cheilodiptere Arabique, Cuv. et Valen. Hist. Nat.
des Poissons, ii. p. 165.
B. 7; D. 6-1.10 or 1.9; P. 14; V. 1.6; A. 2.9 or 1.9; C. 17.
THE Arabian Cheilodipterus illustrates another
genus of Lacepede, formed from one of Com-
merson's fishes, and bearing the same relation to
Apogon, which Lucioperca does to the Perch. The
double edged preopercle, finely serrated ; the two
dorsal fins far removed, and the scaling large,
but easily rubbed off; while a portion of the
teeth are long, sharp, and rather strong. The
fish represented on Plate XII. is a native of the
Red Sea, where it is frequently taken by the
Arabs. The colour of the upper parts is a fresh
olive green, changing on the sides and belly to
silvery, deeply tinted with a reddish or rose
colour. The whole body is marked longitudi-
nally with dark lines, somewhat following the
bend of the fish, and amounting in number to
from fourteen to seventeen. At the insertion of
the tail there is a cross band of the same colour
ARABIAN CHEILODIPTERUS. 121
as the back, shading at the edges into yellowish,
and in the centre of it, as terminating the lateral
line, there is a round black spot. The fins are of
a grayish tint, nearly formed as in the preceding
fish, the first dorsal with the anterior and upper
edge black. These fish seem also to reach only
a small size, and all those which are yet known
are banded longitudinally, as that now described.
Three species only are noticed. The first has eight
bands ; the second, as we have seen, from four-
teen to seventeen ; and the last, discovered near
the Society Isles by Lesson and Garnot, has five
black bands. C. quinquelineatus is only four
inches in length, of a silvery white ; the stripes
of deep black.
Our next fish is very remarkable : it is
fi&l™^
' fxn EKSITY
THE LARGE^EYETTPOMATOME.
Potnatomus telescopium. — Risso.
PLATE XIII.
Des Pomatomes Cuv. et Valen. Hist. Nat. des Poissons,
ii. 169.
D. 7— 1.10; A. 2.9; C. 17; P. 18; V. 1.5.
THIS fish, according to M. Risso, is very rarely
taken, never almost leaving the bottom of the
deep sea. At Nice he was only aware of two
specimens being taken during thirty years. The
flesh is well-tasted, tender, and firm. It is
remarkable for the immense size of the eyes,
which occupy nearly the whole cheek, and is an
example of that form of the organ, which we
mentioned (p. 74) occurred in those species
which generally kept at a depth beyond the
penetration of the sun's rays, and which might
be called nocturnal. Whether its sight is acute,
or what peculiarities there are in the structure of
the eye and its other organs, is yet a desideratum
among ichthyologists, the rarity of the species
having hitherto prevented examination. The
cheeks and opercles are covered with scales ;
the form of the preopercle is remarkable in the
THE LARGE-EYED POMATOME. 123
projection backwards of the lower angle, and
neither it nor the opercles are armed with teeth
or spines. The colours are a brownish violet, with
blue and red reflections ; the fins of a brownish
black. These are of middling size, except the
tail, and present nothing very remarkable. The
tail is expanding and very ample, considerably
forked. The length of the specimen taken at
Nice by M. Risso was about twenty inches.
124
COMMERSON'S AMBASSIS,
Ambassis Commersoni. — Cuv. et VAL.
PLATE XIV.
Des Ambassis, Cuv. et Valen. Hist. Nat. des Poissons, ii. 1 75.
—Genus Chonda, Hamilt. Buchan. Gang. Fishes, 103.
D. 7—1.9; A. &9; C. 17; P. 12; V. 1.5.
AMBASSIS is distinguished by the protracted
mouth, the toothing of the suborbitary bone, by the
double edge extending round the preopercle, the
serrating of the lower edge, and by the small
nearly concealed spine at the insertion of the first
dorsal fin. They seem to inhabit the tanks, salt
marshes, and pools of India, and to fill the same
place in the Indian ichthyology with some of the
small Cyprini and Sticklebacks of Europe. The
concealed spine is an approach to the latter.
According to Hamilton Buchanan, they are all
very small and of little value, although in many
places abundant, and used in considerable quan-
tities; but as food they are insipid, and filled
with small bones, for which defects their size
does not compensate.
That which Cuvier has taken to illustrate the
genus is Commerson's Ambassis of the accom-
panying plate, one of the largest of the genus,
COMMERSON'S AMBASSIS. 125
plentiful in the seas around the Isle of Bourbon,
and found also at the mouths of the Pondichery
river on the coast of Malabar, and in Java. In
the island of Bourbon it is relished in soups, and
sometimes preserved in pickle; and the fishing
of them gives employment to many of the inha-
bitants.
It is a handsome and rather beautiful fish when
fresh taken from the water, a silvery tint over-
spreading the whole body. The upper part of
the back is of a brownish green, which gradually
falls into a paler shade on the lower parts ; and
along the centre of the fish there runs a pale broad
shining line, which relieves the uniformity of its
colouring. The principal parts to be examined
here are the serrating of the under edges of the
preopercles and the first dorsal fin ; the first ray
is very short, the second the longest ; but before
either there is a small lying spine, not seen in the
figure, and which can only be discovered by feeling
with the finger. This fish is about seven inches
in length. There is a peculiarity in the ribs of
this species mentioned by Cuvier ; it commences
with the third pair, and each of the eight follow-
ing have their upper half dilated into a small oval
plate, with a longitudinal groove on the outward
surface, which runs in a line with the slender
part of the bone.
There are several other species of this genus
126 COMMERSON'S AMBASSIS.
but they are all of little comparative interest. The
A. nama is common in ponds throughout Bengal,
and seldom exceeds three inches in length. A.
baculis is found in the north-eastern parts of
Bengal, and seldom exceeds an inch and a half
in length ; while the A. ranga of a similar size
is found in the fresh waters of all the Gangetic
provinces. The whole of these pretty little fish
are diaphanous in the structure of the skin and
sides, that the muscles, ribs, and even the intes-
tines, can be traced ; and the intensity of their
bright colouring is from this cause considerably
weakened.
127
THE ZINGEL.
aris.— Cuv. et VAL.
PLATE XV.
Perca asper, Linnaeus, Bloch — L'apron properment dit,
Cuv. et Valen. Hist. Nat. des Poissons, ii. p. 188.
B. 7; D. 8-1.12; A. 1.12; C. 17; P. 14; V. 1.5.
THE little fish forming this genus is at once
distinguished by the lengthened form of the body,
and by the situation of the mouth, which is almost
placed under the snout or nose, that part being
rounded and projecting over it ; it is also remark-
able for the roughness of its scales, whence by
Rondoletius it was said to receive its name of
Asperus. It is found in the Rhone and its tribu-
taries, but is not known in the rivers on the west
of France. It is also said to be found in the
Danube, while other ichthyologists assert, that it
is to be met with in some of the Russian streams.
It seldom exceeds six or seven inches in length,
but is used at table, and is esteemed good and
delicate. By the fishermen of the Rhone, it is
128 THE ZINGEL.
termed " Sorcier," and three varieties are dis-
tinguished, of a black, gray, and yellow colour.
There is another little fish inhabiting the
Danube, which Cuvier places with this, the Perca
zingel of Linnaeus^ It differs from the former in
its larger size, reaching fifteen inches in length,
and a weight of two or three pounds, and by the
greater number of rays in the dorsal fins. The
colour of the back and sides are of a grayish
yellow, that of the lower parts whitish ; four
clouded bands of a brownish black descend
obliquely from above, and mingle with dots and
spots equally clouded upon the sides ; the muzzle
and opercles are brownish, and on the cheeks
there are some brownish black bands. These are
the only known fishes which approach to this
form.
129
THE ORIENTAL GRAMISTES.
Gramistes orientalis. — BLOCH.
PLATE XVI.
Gramistes orientalis, Block — Le Gramiste oriental,
Cuv. et Valen. Hist. Nat. des Poissons.
D. 7—1.13} A. 3.8; C. 17; P. 14; V. 1.5.
GRAMISTES is the last genus of the Perches
with two dorsal fins, or where there is a visible
separation between the spined and soft parts.
That established by Bloch contained several
species ; by Cuvier, however, it is restricted to
the fish of the accompanying plate, the only one
yet discovered. It approaches nearest in structure
to the Rypticus arenatus of Plate XXX, but is at
once distinguished by the double dorsal fin. The
present fish was described long since in the
work of Seba. It is of small size, not exceeding
five or six inches, and, when newly taken from
the water, seems without scales, which are
very small, but appear on the skin being dried.
The opercle has three short spines. The
markings of this fish are very singular : the
tround colour is a brownish black, with longi-
ii'linal Jj^es of /hite on each side, generally
130 THE ORIENTAL GRAMISTES.
seven in number, with a single one along the
back, and another along the belly. On the
opercles and cheeks they form a sort of network.
The fins are yellowish. In some specimens, the
number of lines varies ; and two or tliAje species
have, on that account, been made of them. These,
however, Cuvier, is inclined to consider as all
belonging to one, and cites a specimen having
seven lines on the one side and eight on the other.
In the internal structure »it goes off from the
Perches we have yet seen, and approaches that of
some of the first divisions of the next section,
the
OF THE
i DIVERSITY))
i^
PERCHES WITH A SINGLE DORSAL FIN.
WE now come to the second great division of
the Percoid Fishes, characterized and known at
first sight by the simple character of a single
dorsal fin, no separation appearing between the
spiny and softly rayed part. The sub-divisions,
it will be seen, are taken from the opercle, pre-
opercle, teeth, and jaws. The first genus is
Serranus, containing a numerous series of species,
almost all of them remarkable for the beauty of
their tints and singularity of marking. Cuvier has
separated them into three sections : the first have
the jaws naked, and they are of a small size ; the
second are fish of greater size, and have the under
jaw scaled ; and the third, of middling size and
lively colours, have the head and jaws covered
with scales similar to those of the body. The first
we shall notice is a beautiful fish from the Medi-
terranean Seas, the
132
LETTERED SERRANUS.
Serranus scriba Cuv. et VAL.
PLATE XVII.
Perca scriba, Lin-neeus — Le Serran ecriture, (Juv. et
Valen. Hist, Nat. des Poissons, ii. p. 2i
D. 10.14; A 3.7; C. 17; P. '13; V. 1.5.
THIS beautifully marked fish is found on the
»*>ast of Provence, Malta, and Naples, besides
other parts of the Mediterranean. The gener
ground tint of the skin is a reddish orange, some
times inclining to olive, and shading to a pale
tint on the lower parts. The back is banded
in the perch, with dull brown bands which gra-
dually lose themselves after passing the middle of
the fish; but the most showy marks are the
narrow irregular lines of rich blue which run on
the nose below the eyes, and on the cheeks
which assume the form of some written charac-
ter, and which have given occasion to the name
of scriba being applied to it. The ground
colour of the fins, except the pectoral, is gray,
spotted sometimes with reddish orange, and
sometimes with purple. On the spiny part of the
dorsal fin these marks take the form of a blotch
or large spot, near the tip of each spine ; but in
the others they are disposed in transverse rows
LETTERED SERRANUS. 133
upon the membrane, and have a regular appear-
ance ; the pectoral fin has the ground colour of a
gamboge yellow.
These fish can never be seen in perfection,
except when newly taken from the water ; then
their beauty is fresh and delicate, but in a few
minutes it changes, even as soon as the fish dies,
and the keeping for a day, or preservation in
spirits, destroys all but the traces of where the
delicate markings existed. They appear very
different, also, according to their age, and the
season at which they are taken. The present
species scarcely ever exceeds half a pound in
weight, and is to be seen in the markets at almost
all seasons, being esteemed as an article of food.
It feeds on small fish, and marine animals ; but a
species of cuttle fish, (Sepia octopoda,) is said to
be among its most favourite prey, being even
watched for, and the tentacula seized so soon as
they are protruded from the hole where it is hid.
There is a circumstance in the economy of
this fish, which merits observation, and even
farther examination. It is asserted by Cuvier,
who cites, in addition to his own observations,
those of Cavolini, that the milt and roe are com
bined in one individual, and that the fish are in
fact hermaphrodites. The milt, or body supposed
to be so, is placed at the lower part of each roe or
ovarium, growing and increasing with that organ,
134 LETTERED SERRANUS.
and appearing small and imperfect at the season
when the spawn was little advanced. Fish with a
milt only, appear not to have been met with, and
even among the ancients, to whom the fish was
known, it was an accepted opinion, that females
only existed.
Another Mediterranean species is the Perca
cabrilla of Linnaeus, distinguished from the last
by the want of the inscription-like markings on
the head, but having three or four oblique bands
on the cheeks, and longitudinal stripes on the
body, of a bright vermilion. It has also the
deeper transverse bands on the body, bright spots
and bands on the fins, and is altogether a fish of
as great beauty as the preceding. It is commonly
taken in the Mediterranean. A curious species
from the north-west of New Guinea is described
in the voyage of Frecynet* nearly white, with a
black line running along the centre ; and another
species is mentioned by Cuvier, which has the
skin which covers the preopercle nearly without
scales — the Serranus gymnopareius*
Our next fish represents the form of Cuvier's
second division of this great genus, with the head
and jaws strongly scaled, and called by him
Barbier ; except in this character, they are nearly
allied to the last.
135
THE SPINED SERRANUS.
Serranus anthias. — Cuv. et VAL.
PLATE XVIII.
Anthias primus, Rondoletius — Labrus anthias, Linncem—
Le Barbier de la Mediterranee, Cuv. et Valen. Hist.
Nat. des Poissons, ii. p. 250.
D. 10 or 11—1.5; P. 17; V. 1.5; A. 3.7; C. 17.
THE colour of this beautiful fish is a brilliant
red or scarlet, which, on the sides, assumes a
golden tint, and on the belly becomes pale, or
almost silvery. Upon the sides of the head are
three bands of golden yellow, none of which pass
the gill covers except the lowest, which reaches
nearly to the insertion of the pectoral fin. On
the forehead there are transverse bands of bronzed
green, and at the base of the dorsal fin along the
back there are ten or twelve small spots of the
same colour. The fins are all tinted with red and
yellow ; the dorsal fin has a border of the latter
colour. The spiny part of this fin has sometimes
ten, sometimes eleven spines, very strong — the
third exceeding all the others in length by nearly
a half. It is from a supposed resemblance of a
portion of this spine to a razor, that the French
136 THE SPINED SERRANUS.
have applied the title of " Barbier." The ventral
fins have the rays very long, reaching nearly to the
middle of the anal. It is found every where in
the Mediterranean, and is in many places abun-
dant. In size, it never reaches a foot in length,
and is most generally from five to seven inches.
There is little doubt of this fish being known
to the ancients ; and it was rendered sacred
among the divers for marine productions, from
the supposition that no formidable fish would
approach its retreats. When caught by a hook,
they were said to be immediately relieved by the
rest of the shoal cutting the line with their sharp
spine. A much larger fish has been confused
with this, and has had attributed to it great
prowess in destroying sea monsters, and wounding
the fishermen when taken.
A Brazilian species is so similar as scarcely to
be distinguished. It differs in the rays of some
of the fins, thus, D. 10.12, and C. 3.6, and Cuvier
has applied the name of S. tonsor. Another
species placed in this division, but which does
not agree entirely in all the characters of scaling
about the jaws and head, has been named S.
oculatus from the very large size of the eyes.
The colour is a rich golden rose. It is found
in the vicinity of Martinique.
We now come to far the most numerous divi-
sion of this section, those which have the under
THE SPINED SERRANUS. 137
jaw only covered with very small scales, to which
Cuvier has given the name of Merous. One of
the largest of this division, the Perca gigas of
Brunich, by the older ichthyologists was scarcely
if at all known ; and by those of the present day
comparatively little, except that the form has been
ascertained. It is a fish which attains to a weight
of sixty pounds, and is sometimes taken when
approaching the coasts in spawning time. It
occurs in the Mediterranean, and is esteemed in
some places for the table. The general colour is
brownish, varying to a deeper shade, or tinted
with more yellow according to age, and the body
is clouded or marbled over with deep blotches of
gray. Another species, reaching nearly an equal
size with the above, was discovered by Geoffrey
St Hilaire on the coast of Egypt ; but it differs in
the beautiful colouring with which it is adorned,
being of a deep green, shading to white on the
lower parts, and upon the back, sides, and fins,
varied with markings of a clear and fresh tint of
the same colour. It has been named Serranus
cemus, Geoffroy. Some species from the Indian
Seas are very remarkable for the diversity and
beauty of their tints. But the most remarkable
fish which Cuvier has placed in this division is
the
1H8
LONG TAILED SERRANUS.
Serranus pkceton. — Cuv. et VAL.
PLATE XIX.
Le Merou paille en queue, Cuv. et Valen. Hist. Nat. des
Poissons, ii. 309.
D. 9.11 ; A. 3.9 ; C. 14 ; P. 17 ; V. 1.5.
THIS fish has been figured from a specimen
in the Jardin du Roi, where it exists without any
note of its habits or native country. It is in
length about six inches, and in its dried state is
of a uniform dull tint. The singular character of
this fish is in the tail, which has the two centre
rays lengthened, and held together by a membrane
which covers them like a sheath, and which extends
into a narrow filament equalling the body in
length.
S
. v • I
*
m. •
,,. t ^f? - ': :
ETle/
Of THE
PEBSITY
LARGE FINNED-1SERRANUS.
Serranus altivelis — Cuv. et VAL.
PLATE XX.
Le Merou a hautes voiles, Cuv. et Valen. Hist Nat. dei
Poissons, ii. p. 324.
D. 10.19; A. 3.10; C. 17; P. 16; V. 1.5.
THIS delicately coloured species is placed at
the commencement of a group characterized by
having markings on the body more or less spotted.
The general tints are unobtrusive, being of a
yellowish brown, the fins grayish, but relieved
by the distinct spotting which is distributed over
both. It is chiefly remarkable for the height and
size of the dorsal fin, particularly the posterior or
soft rayed part of it. It inhabits the Javanese
Seas, but nothing farther appears to be known
regarding it.
Cuvier still farther sub-divides the above
section, by placing together all those Serrani
which have the same distribution of spotted
markings, but they become so very small as to be
almost like points. One of the more remarkable
with this colouring is a fish, also from the Javanese
Seas, entirely of a fine red, or orange, spotted
140 S. CYANOSTIGMA.
over with minute clear blue; the spiny part of
the dorsal fin bordered with orange ; the soft
portion, and all the other fins, bordered with the
same blue as that of the spots. It. will stand as
the S. cyanostigma of Kuhl and Von Hasselt.
Another equally so is the S. myriaster of Russel,
of a brownish purple, and also covered with a
thousand stars of transparent blue. Another
curious fish is entirely of a brick red, with nume-
rous white spots, and, in addition, is marked
transversely with six bands of black, whence it
has been termed S. sexfasciatus.
Before quitting this genus, or rather great
division, it may be remarked, that in the lining,
spotting, or banding, which so curiously and
beautifully diversify the skins of these fishes,
blue is one of the most prevailing colours. A
half nearly are so marked, while it will be seen
continued in the next fishes, (Plate XXII.) which
Cuvier has placed in a small genus, and which, he
remarks, he only separates for the sake of simpli-
fying the nomenclature. This has all the charac-
ters of Serranus, but differs in having the edge of
the preopercles, around and below the angle,
divided into teeth, varying in size, directed
obliquely forward, and somewhat resembling the
teeth or points in the rowel of a spur, whence he
has named the genus Plectropoma* The scales
* wxJJxrgov, a spur ; «r»/*«, a covering.
PLECTKOPOMA. 141
are small, ciliated, and stretch upon the base of
the anal and dorsal fins. They are all natives of
the warmer seas. This genus, though small, is
again sub-divided into those which have the
rising edge of the preopercle plain, or finely
toothed. Belonging to the first is the
142
LEOPARD-SPOTTED PLECTROPOMA.
Plectropoma leopardinus — Cuv. et VAL.
PLATE XXI.
Holocentrus leopardus, Lacepede Le Plectropome leo-
pard. Cuv. et Valen. Hist. Nat. des Poissons, ii. p. 392.
D. 8.11 ; C. 2.8; C. 15; P. 14; V. 1.5.
IN this we see the continuation of the minute
spotting of the last division of the Serrani. It is
entirely of a yellowish brown, thickly covered
on the upper parts with brown or reddish spots.
It is from the Indian Seas, and reaches a consider-
able size.
In the second division, with the ascending
edges of the preopercle finely toothed, is the
143
BEAU IFUL PLECTROPOMA.
Plectropoma puella. — Cuv. et VAL.
PLATE XXII.
ue plectropome demoiselle, Cuv. et Valen. Hist Nat.
aes Poissons, ii. p. 406.
D. 10.16; A. 3.7; C. 17; P. 13; V. 1.5.
THIS is a beautifully marked little fish of about
four or five inches in length, and has been found
in the vicinity of Martinique. The ground tint
of the body is olive, crossed by six bands of
violet black — the third, in the centre of the body,
is very broad and conspicuous, and is immediately
followed by one of narrow dimensions. A line of
blue surrounds the orbit, and passes immediately
before the first black band. Three others, of the
same colour, cross the opercle, and extend upon
the breast before the pectoral fins, and there is
another line on the forehead between the eyes.
The fins are tinted with olive and yellow — the
pectorals sometimes with a delicate rose colour.
Other two species of this division only are
known, the one also from Martinique, the other
from Java ; and from these we pass to another
genus peculiar to the seas of India, named Diacope,*
* A/axa<rJj, division, slit.
144 DIACOPE.
and which refers to a nitch or cut into the edge
of the preopercle, into which is fitted a projecting
tubercle. The mouth is furnished with teeth of
considerable size, mixed with those which are
concealed. Some species are of great beauty.
The Diacope Sebce reaches a size of three feet in
length, and is entirely of a yellowish tint, with
three conspicuous bands of a deep and bright red.
145
BANDED DIACOPE.
Diacope rivulata. — Cuv. et VAL.
PLATE XXIII.
La Diacope a lines flexueuses, Cuv. et Valen. Hist, Nat.
des Poissons, ii. p. 415.
D. 10.15, or 16; A. 3.8, or 9; C. 16; P. 16; V. 1.5.
THE Banded Diacope, found on the Coromandei
coast, reaches a size of three feet and a half, is
of a rich violet colour, changing to pink on the
lower parts ; on the opercles there are oblique
lines ; and on the head, and on each scale of the
body, there are small dots of a clear blue, but
which loses its delicate tint, and changes to white,
soon after it has been removed from the water.
But one of the most gaudy is the D. octoli-
neata, found near the Isle of France, in the Red
Sea, and in the Pacific. The general tint of the
body and fins is a rich reddish yellow, upon the
belly nearly changing into white ; upon the upper
part of the body there are four longitudinal stripes
of clear blue, marked with black dots ; and some-
146 BANDED DIACOPE.
times the commencement of a fifth, where the
yellow begins to shade into the white.
The D. macolor, described in Duperry's
Voyage, is one of the most remarkable for con-
trast of colouring ; the upper part of the body is
black, but relieved with large white spots, while
the sides and belly are of a silvery white, inter-
rupted by a black band. It is an inhabitant of
the New Guinea seas.
D. sanguined, Ehrenb. is a species from the
Arabian Gulf, of a small size, and entirely of a
rich red, so that among the considerable series of
species which this genus embraces, we find a
colouring equal in brilliancy to any of the Serrani,
which are so remarkable for their fine tints.
Different shades of red, with yellow and blue, are
the prevailing colours ; many of these fish are
esteemed as an article of food, and from the large
size of some of them, they may at some period
yield a more profitable fishing, than, from their
limited consumption, they do at present.
Another series of fishes have been separated
from those under the name of Mescprionf so
named from having an arrangement of teeth in
the centre of each side of the head in the form of
a saw ; they are closely allied to the last named
* fAic-cv, middle ; <r£;«y, a saw.
MESOPRION. 147
by the notch in the preopercle, and the tubercle
or swelling in the inter-opercle. Many of them
are of brilliant colours, and a considerable number
are remarkable in having a conspicuous black
mark upon the lateral line, placed generally not
far from the taiL
148
ONE SPOTTED MESOPKiON.
Mesoprion uninotatus, Cuv. et VAL.
PLATE XXIV.
Lc Mesoprion dore, Cuv. et Valen. Hist. Nat. des
Poissons. ii. p. 449.
D. 10.12; A. 3.8; C. 17; P. 16; V. 1.5.
THE one spotted Mesoprion is a native of the
American seas, and is one of the most beautiful ;
the back, upper part of the head, and cheeks, are of
a rich steel blue ; the lower part of the cheeks and
sides of a rich rose colour, and the belly silvery ;
the whole body is striped with seven or eight
bands of a golden colour, on the dark part of the
back irregular and disconnected. The dorsal fin
has three yellow bands on a rose-coloured ground,
and the others are gamboge yellow. The colour-
ing is subject to considerable variety in tint, from
golden orange to silvery. It seldom exceeds a
length of thirteen or fourteen inches.
The members of this genus are of an elegant
form, and are as remarkable for the richness and
lustre of their colours as any of the preceding.
They live solitary in the seas around the isles of
fndia, China, and Japan, concealing themselves
ONE SPOTTED MESOPRION. 149
in the chinks and clefts of rocks, and only leave
their dull retreats, in the finest weather, to prey
on the tender molusca, with which these seas so
thickly swarm.
Many of these fish attain a very large size and
are much esteemed. Such is the M. vivanus,
reaching a weignt of forty pounds ; and such also
is the
150
GOLDEN-TAILED MESOPRION.
Mesoprion chrysurus Cuv. et VAL.
PLATE XXV.
Le Mesoprion a queue d' or, Cuv. et Valen. Hist. Nat.
des Poissons, ii. p. 459.
D. 10.13; A. 3.9; C. 17; P. 14; V. l.Jx
THIS fish reaches to a large size ; it is of beautiful
colours, but is subject to much variety in the depth
of the rose and purple colours of the sides. Like
the last, the upper parts are of a rich steel blue,
tinged with green ; the sides generally of a fine
rose colour, tinged with golden yellow ; the tail
very much forked, and of a golden yellow.
151
THE RUFFE.
Acerina cernua.
PLATE XXVI.
Perca cernua, Linnaus — The Ruffe, Pennant, Donovan.
— La Gremille commune, Acerina vulgaris, Cuv. et
Valen. Hist. Nat. des Poissons, iii. p. 4.
D. 14.12; P. 13} V. 1.5; A. 2.5 j C. 17.
WITH this beautiful little fish Cuvier com-
mences his division of the " Percoid fishes,"
having a single dorsal fin, but with seven rays to
the gill covers, and where the teeth are all equal.
His first genus is Acerina, which differs from any
of the preceding ones by the cavities in the bones
of the cheeks and jaws. They all inhabit the
fresh waters, and that now represented may be
held as typical ; and, being a native of Britain,
and abundantly dispersed over the lakes and
rivers of northern Europe, will not be difficult to
procure for examination.
The Ruffe is found in several of the English
streams, — the Gare in Norfolk, the Birny in
Merionethshire ; and though not attaining a size
above five or six inches, is much esteemed fcf
152 THE RUFFE.
the delicacy of its flesh. They are gregarious,
are generally taken with the rod, in the same
way that perch fishing is practised in the south,
and in favourable days six or eight dozen are
taken at one stand. The colours of the Ruffe
are golden green, inclining to olive brown on
the back, and silvery towards the belly, with
clouded spots over the head and back. The
spiny part of the dorsal fin is spotted with black
on the membrane between the rays, the soft
portion of it, and the tail upon the rays them-
selves. The lower fins are whitish, tinged with
red. In the internal structure, it resembles the
Perch. Two other species are found in the
European rivers, one in the Danube, and another
in the Don and Dnieper. The first, Acerina,
Schraitzer, grows to a size of eight or nine inches,
and is of nearly similar colour with that of
Britain. The other is also somewhat similar, but
is thickly spotted on the sides with black. Both
are esteemed for their delicacy.
Following the Ruffes, Cuvier has placed the
genus Polyprion, formed from a single species,
common in the Mediterranean, remarkable for the
large size it attains, and still more so for being
long undescribed by ichthyologists. It is the
153
MANY-SPINED POLYPRION.
Polyprion cernium.
PLATE XXVII.
Valenciennes, Memoirs des Mus. xi. p. 265.
B.7; D.lLllorl2; A. a8or9; P. 17; V 1.5.
THIS fish reaches a length of five or six feet,
and sometimes a weight of one hundred pounds.
The flesh is esteemed, being white, tender, and
well tasted. It seems common in the Mediter-
ranean from the accounts of MM. Risso and Va-
lenciennes ;* according to the former, it is frequent
in the Sea of Nice, where it is found at so great
a depth as three thousand feet, delighting in a
rocky bottom. The head is slightly flattened,
and strongly marked with numerous rugged pro-
tuberances on various parts. The preopercle is
strongly and irregularly toothed, and a sharp ridge
crosses the opercle from the upper articulation to
the point, which is also sharp.
The colour of the old specimens is a uniform
* Memoirs des Museum, xi. p. 265.
154 PENTACEROS CAPENSIS.
grayish brown ; the tail bordered with whitish.
The young are clouded with large irregular dark
spots, on a grayish white or reddish ground. The
flesh is white and well tasted. According to
Forster, it is also an inhabitant of the Pacific
Ocean.
Next to this is placed another singular fish,
which we have represented in the vignette of the
title page which accompanies this volume. It is
the Pentaceros Capensis, a native of the Cape
of Good Hope, and one specimen only is known
in the collection of the Netherlands. According
to Cuvier, its resemblance to the genus Ostracion
of Linnaeus is considerable, having the triangular
form, and hard closely joined scales, and also the
horns or protuberances which are seen in these
fish ; the line of the back is arched and bending,
that of the lower parts nearly straight in the
centre, but curved before and behind. The head
and cheeks are strongly striated with rough
granulated rays. In the centre of the bones of
the nose, and on each side above the eyes, there is
a compressed plate which rises in the form of a
blunt horn ; behind the cranium there is a sort of
collar of seven plates. On the centre one, nearly
in the middle of the neck, rises a third small pro-
tuberance, while on the two outside plates, which
are analogous to the supra- scapulary bones, rises
another, making in whole five horn-like eminences,
PENTACERO3 CAPENSIS. 155
whence the generic name has been derived. The
spines of the first dorsal fin are very strong. The
colours seemed a silvery yellow, or greenish,
mottled with deep brown, and which latter tint
occupied nearly the whole back. The length is
about three inches
1*6
AMERICAN BLACK BASS.
Centropristes nigricans CUY. et VAL.
PLATE XXVIII.
Centropriste noir, Centropristes nigricans, Cuv. et Valen.
Hist. Nat. des Poissons, in. p. 37.
B. 7; D. 10.11; A. a 7; C 7; P. 18; V. 1.5.
THIS fish represents the form of Centropristes9
of Cuvier, and very closely assimilates with the
Serrani, having strong curved teeth. Here, how-
ever, the teeth are all fine, the opercle is spined,
and the preopercle toothed like a saw ; and there
are no teeth to the suborbitary bones, as we saw in
a preceding form, Acerina. The general form of
the American Black Bass is rather lengthened.
The colours in a dried or preserved state are,
above, of a greenish brown, getting paler and
of a yellowish tint on the sides and belly ; but
both these tints, according to observers who
, a spine ; trusts, a saw.
AMERICAS BLACK BASS. 157
have noticed them in a fresh state, are of much
greater brilliancy, the one being of a rich olive
green, and the lower parts tinted with pink, as
represented in the plate. These colours are only
temporary, and fade with death. The dorsal fin
is grayish, tinted with blue, and has three
whitish transverse bands marked on the mem-
branes between the rays. The other fins are also
grayish black, and the tail and anal fin are irre-
gularly spotted with a deeper tint of the same
colour. The tail is remarkable in its form, pro-
jecting in the middle, where in general is seen
the deepest part of the fork. The young are
marked with clouded transverse bands.
This fish is abundant in the rivers of the
United States, and is one of those most esteemed
for the table. A few other species are natives of
the American coasts ; one is found in the neigh-
bourhood of Brazil, and two species, which differ
somewhat in their characters, were discovered by
MM. Guoy and Gaymard, in the New Holland
Seas. These have for the present received the
title of C. scorpenoides and C. truttaceus.
To the next form has been applied the name of
Growler, Grystes. That which will represent
it, is
158
THE SALMON-FORMED GROWLEB.
Grystes salmoides. — Cuv. et VAL.
PLATE XXIX.
Le Growler Salmoide, Grystes salmoides, Cuv. et Valen.
Hist. Nat. des Poissons, iii. p. 54.
D. 10.13 or 14; A. ail or 12; C. 17; P. 16; V. 1.5.
GROWLER is the provincial American name for
this fish, which Cuvier thinks has been given
from some noise or croaking sound uttered by
it. Two fish only have yet been discovered
which will rank under its character ; the present,
a native of North America, and another procured
from the New Holland Seas. In form of the
body they somewhat resemble the last, but are at
once distinguished from them and the preceding
forms we have seen, by the smoothness and the
want of any covering upon the head ; the opercle
and preopercle having neither spines nor teeth
on their margins.
The present species, a native of the North
American rivers, and abundant in the neighbour-
THE SALMON-FORMED GROWLER. 159
hood of New York, has been named Salmoides,
from its resemblance to the Salmon or Trout, being
in some parts termed " Trout." It reaches a length
of two feet, is of excellent flavour, and is much
esteemed as an article of food ; and it also affords
sport to the angler, taking the hook eagerly. The
general colours will be best seen from the plate, an
unobtrusive tint of olive lightening towards the
under parts, where it becomes grayish white. The
first dorsal fin is weaker in proportion than most of
the forms we have already seen, but the last rises
high behind, and assumes a shape somewhat like
that 01 some of the Greylings. The tail is shaped
a good deal like the Salmonidce, and in this fish
has a dark bar across the centre.
The New Holland species is found in Mac-
quary river, and in form resembles the common
Perch, but the bony opercle is furnished with a
very slight pointed spine. The colour of the
preserved specimens was a greyish violet, paler
beneath, with irregular blackish clouded spots.
The next of Cuvier's forms is
THE BRAZILIAN RYPTICUS.
JKypticvs arenatus. — Cuv, et VAL.
PLATE XXX.
Le Savonnier sable, Rypticus arenatus, Cuo. et Valen.
Hist. Nat. des Poissons, iii. p. 65.
D. 3.26; A. 14, C. 15; P. 14; V. 1.5.
THESE fish are characterized by having very
minute scales, covered with an epidermis ; by the
dorsal fin having but a very small number of
spiny rays, and in its not being notched or having
any distinction between the spined and soft rayed
portions. Both the opercle and preopercle are
spined, and are without any serrating or teeth on
the edges. They have been named " Savonnier *
by the French, from the soft soapy and unetuou*
matter with which the skin is lubricated, and
which, when rubbed on the hands, has a feel
similar to that of soap. The most common species
is found in the seas of the western parts of
America, and is of a length of eight or nine
inches, and generally of a blackish violet colour.
THE BRAZILIAN RYPTICUS. 161
The second species, closely resembling the first,
represented on the accompanying Plate XXX,
is found in the Brazilian Seas, and is of a greyish
sandy colour, spotted over with small darker
coloured specks.
This is the last form among the percoid fishes
which we shall be able to illustrate in the present
volume ; and upon inspecting the table of genera,
(page 89,) it will be perceived that nineteen
additional forms remain, to which must be added
other four, which Cuvier found it necessary to
introduce after the construction of his table,
leaving twenty-three, or nearly the half of this
great family, unnoticed. In order to follow out
our plan, and make each volume as complete as
possible by itself, independent of its predecessors
or followers, we shall shortly notice the remaining
divisions of the family, and add one or two
species which have been found in a fossil state.
We shall proceed in the order of the table : —
The genus Cirrhites of Commerson, follows our
last. The species approach nearest to Mesoprion,
have the preopercle toothed on its rising edges,
and the opercle terminated by a flat angle ; but
the character which distinguishes them is in the
structure of the pectoral fins, which have the six
or seven lower rays of each fin strong and
lengthened beyond the others, without membrane*
102 CHIRONEMUS, &C.
between the projecting parts. Most of the known
species are from the Indian Seas, though one or
two have also been found in the South Pacific by
the latest voyagers. C.fasciatus of Cuvier from
the vicinity of Pondichery, will stand as a good
example of this form, of a pale colour, but banded
transversely with dull violet. The five lower
rays of the pectorals are elongated.
The next is a genus which Cuvier formed after
the construction of the table at the commence-
ment of this volume, and which must be inserted.
It is without canine teeth, and contains only one
species Chironemus Georgianus.
The next two forms of the table are somewhat
allied, and are both natives of America. The
first, Pomotis, represented in the Pond Perch
of the American rivers, is characterized by the
prolongation of the opercle, from which Cuvier
has formed his generic name, wishing to convey
the idea of similarity to the ear. The most com-
mon species is the Labrus auritus of Linnaeus,
being abundant in dams for mills, and the still
waters of many parts of North America. It is of
unobtrusive colours, but conspicuously marked
with a large black spot, occupying the elongated
angle of the opercle, and which is bordered above
with white, below with reddish
APHREDODERUS, &C. 163
Aphredoderus, Lessueur. — Two edges of the
suborbitary bones toothed, furnished with raised
spines ; edge of the preopercle toothed, the angle
of the opercle with a spine ; the anal fin without
spiny rays. A single species only known — a
native of the fresh waters of North America.
Centrarchus — has the preopercle entire, but
the angle of the opercle is divided into two flat
points. The most characteristic distinction, and
that whence the name is taken, is in the anal fin
having numerous spiny rays, amounting to five
or six, while, in the other genera, they rarely
exceed three. They are found in the fresh waters
of North America. By Lacepede, they are placed
in the genus Labrax, while, by the American
ichthyologists, a genus has been formed entitled
Cychla.
Priacanthus* — is distinguished by the scaling
of every part of the mouth, jaws, and cheeks, in
which they resemble Anthias, but they want the
canine teeth, and have fine teeth on both jaws, a
little tuft before the vomer, and a narrow line on
each palatine bone. The posterior opening of
the nostril is a large vertical slit ; the lower angle
of the preopercle is spined. Ten or eleven species
* Trichodon will be found in another place.
164. DULES, &C.
are known, inhabitants of the ocean, and variously
distributed. Many of them possess brilliant
colouring.
Dules — resembles Centropristes, but has only
six rays in the gill membranes. The opercle is
spined. Several species are known, and there is
a slight distinction in one portion having the
dorsal fin perfectly entire, whereas the others have
a slight notch or division between the spined and
soft parts. An example of the first will be found
in D. auriga, a native of the Brazilian Seas, so
named, or by the French " cocher," from the third
spine of the dorsal fin being much elongated, and
supposed to resemble a whip. Of the other divi-
sion, a species from Java will shew the form,
D. maryinatvS) a small fish, of delicate silvery
colouring, and having the second dorsal fin tipped,
and the tail doubly banded at the end, with deep
black.
Therapon — has the anterior row of teeth upon
the jaws stronger than the others. Before the
vomer there is a single row, which fall with
facility when touched. The dorsal fin is deeply
cleft ; the preopercle and suborbitary bones are
toothed, and the opercle is terminated by a spine
stronger than almost any other of the family. The
swimming bladder is contracted in the centre, a
DATNIA, &C. 165
circumstance not common among Curler's Percoid
Fishes. The greater numbers are found in the
Indian Seas.
Datnia — differs from the true Therapon in
the form of the body being much broader, or the
outline raised ; the jaws pointed ; no teeth on the
palate, and in the spines of the first dorsal fin
being extremely strong. Two species only are
referred to this form by Cuvier — found in the
rivers of India. The Caius datnia of Hamilton
Buchanan, from the Ganges, will serve as an
example.
Pelates — has the dorsal fin of a more equal
size ; the opercle with two weak spines, scarcely
passing the membrane, and no teeth on either the
vomer or palatine bones. Three species, from
the New Holland Seas, seem all that are known,
characterized by comparatively small scaling, and
by the body being marked by longitudinal dark
bands. Their discovery is due to MM. Lesson
and Garnot.
Helotes — is distinguished principally by the
outer row of teeth in the jaws being divided into
three points. The preopercle is finely serrated, and
the opercle has a single weak spine. Contains a
species, discovered by Guoy and Gaymard in the
166 TRICHODON, &C.
New Holland Seas, H. sexlineatus, and charac-
terized, like the last, by longitudinal bands of a
deep colour.
Trichodon. — In this place Cuvier, in his
Appendix, directs that Trickodon and Sillago
should be placed. They vary from those imme-
diately preceding in the dorsal fins being separated
from each other, as in the first division of the
family, and the first has a certain resemblance to
the genus Trachinus. The preopercle has four
or five very strong teeth or spines, and the opercle
is finished by a flat plate ; the skin is without
scales. One species only is known, T. SteUerii,
found on the coast of Kamtschatka, and parti-
cularly round the island of Unalaschka. It is
well known to the inhabitants, who take them
when burrowing in the sand like the Weavers.
The females deposit their spawn in furrows of the
sand, and are remarkable in being said to attend
the young after they have been hatched.
Sillago — is of an elongated form, the mouth
small, but the upper jaw rather protracted ; the
preopercle is toothed on its rising edge, and
beneath bends under, so as almost to touch that on
the opposite side when the animal is in a state of
rest ; the opercle is terminated by a single sharp
point. The dorsal fins are separated from each
MYRIPRISTJS, &C. 167
other, and the first spine is often very much
elongated. They are used as food, and in many
places esteemed ; they are found in the Indian,
African, and New Holland Seas.
Myripristis — so named from having all the
opercular bones and those of the cheeks minutely
serrated, which distinguishes it from any we have
yet seen. The dorsal fins may be said to be
attached, though, in some instances, the first
finishes and the second commences without any
membrane appearing between them; the scales
are all minutely dentated on the edges. The
genus is most extensively distributed. In these
fish, also, the ear is of a peculiar construction,
there being a large oval opening, which is only
closed by a membrane ; into it the lateral lobe of
the swimming bladder is fixed, which, with some
similar structures, has given rise to the opinion,
that this organ and those of hearing have rela-
tions which influence the latter. Several species
are known.
Holocentrum — closely allied to the preceding,
but furnished with a very strong spine at the
angle of the opercle ; the dorsal fins united ; the
third spine of the anal fin is remarkably strong ;
the swimming bladder is simple. The species
are numerous, having a varied distribution, and
168 BERYX, &C.
they are generally of very bright and gaudy
colouring.
Beryx — has many of the bones of the head
serrated. The eye is extremely large, but the
easiest seized character, in conjunction with the
serrating on the head, is the form of the dorsal
fin, placed near the centre of the body, and
appearing single, without any interrupting notch ;
the separation is only observable in the compo-
sition of the rays from spiny to pointed. Two
species are described; one is from the New
Holland Seas.
4
TrachichtySy Shaw. — Characterized byDr Shaw
from a single specimen found in the New Holland
Seas. A single dorsal fin ; the spines of this and
the outer ones of the tail strong and rough;
opercles with a large rough spine ; the belly with
large projecting plates. The whole fish remarkable
ror the rugged nature of its covering — whence
the name.
The arrangement of the next fishes depends
upon the situation of the ventral fins, the dorsal
being either double or single. The first have the
ventrals placed on the throat or jugulum, or in
advance of the pectorals.
TRACHINUS, &C. 169
Trachinus — is of a lengthened form, having the
first dorsal fin short, and capable of deflection ;
the second lengthened, and with numerous rays.
The anal fin stretches nearly the whole length of
the body ; the opercle is spined ; the eyes placed
near the horizontal surface of the head. They
inhabit the European Seas, and are well known
to the fishermen for the wounds inflicted by the
spines of the first dorsal fin.
Percis — Closely allied to the last. The head
more depressed. The dorsal fins completely
united ; spine of the opercle small. Several
species from the Indian, African, and New Hol-
land Seas.
Pinguipes. — Head more lengthened than in
the last. The teeth strong, and slightly hooked,
covered by fleshy lips ; the dorsal fins connected,
and regularly arching ; the ventral fins very fleshy.
Inhabits Brazilian Seas.
Percopis. — The form extremely lengthened.
Dorsal fins distant ; the teeth in the jaws strong
and hooked ; under jaw exceeding the upper in
length ; opercle and preopercle without teeth or
spines. A single species discovered in the Bra-
zilian Seas in the voyage of Frecynet.
170 URANOSCOPUS, &C.
Uranoscopus The head disprop optionally
large and square ; the mouth opening vertically ;
the eyes placed on the upper part of the head ; the
scapular bone furnished with a strong and rough
spine ; the dorsal fins united ; the pectorals very
large ; — these are the principal characters of this
singular-looking fish. The swimming bladder is
wanting, and the scaling is small. They are found
in the European, Indian, and New Holland Seas,
and exhibit some of the most grotesque forms
among fishes.
The next fishes are distinguished by having
the ventral fins placed immediately behind the
pectorals.
Sphyrcena — Similar to Percophis in form.
The teeth strong ; the under jaw projecting ; the
dorsal fins widely separated, and both of five rays.
— Esox sphyrcena of Linnaeus will serve as an
example. Several species, chiefly from the Ame-
rican and Indian Seas. The Mediterranean species
reaches a length of three feet. Several of the
species are poisonous when eaten.
Paralepis. — Also of the lengthened form of
the last. The under jaw elongated ; but the form
is chiefly characterized by the very backward
POLYNEMOS, &C. 171
position of the dorsal fins, both of which are
small, the last with the rays extremely delicate.
Three species known inhabit the Mediterranean,
discovered by M. Risso.
Polynemos. — The head entirely scaled; the
preopercle toothed ; the scales easily deciduous ;
the dorsal fins far separated, and, with the anal
fin, covered with scales ; before the pectoral fins
there are long filamentous appendages, varying
in their numbers in different species. The species
are numerous, and of varied distribution. Some
are much esteemed for food.
The Mullets. — These fish, separated by Cuvier
into two divisions, have been placed at the end of
the Percoid fishes in an appendix, in a kind
of indecision as to their proper station, but as
nevertheless bearing a resemblance to them. They
are distinguished by their separated dorsal fins,
their large scales easily rubbed off, and by the
filaments attached to the lower jaw. The first
division is
Mullus, Linnaeus — Comprehending the far-
famed " Mugil" of the ancients. Characterized
by no teeth on the upper jaw, no spine on the
operculum, and no air bladder. Three species are
described by Cuvier, and in the Toura Italica of
172 UPENLUS, &C.
the prince of Musignano, other two are added*
They all inhabit the Mediterranean Sea.
Upeneus, Cuvier. — Distinguished from the last
by having teeth on both jaws, a spine on the oper-
cnlum, and furnished with an air bladder; the
second dorsal fin is more ample and spreading.
These are again divided into subordinate groups,
the one having a narrow band of fine teeth upon
each jaw, the other having a single row of separate
conical teeth on each. They are natives of the
Indian and American Seas.
Having thus exhibited, as far as we now can,
the arrangement which MM. Cuvier and Valen-
ciennes propose in the Percoid fishes, their first
family, we may remark, that it forms a portion of
the third order of the new system of Agassiz, the
Ctnenoides. Several fossil forms have been dis-
covered, some of which have been identified with
the genera now existing, while others can be
referred to no form which is at present known to
ichthyologists. Here it would be impossible to
enter into the details of this interesting part of
the science, and we simply give an example of
each, from the beautiful lithographic plates of
Agassiz Poissons Fossils, which will illus-
trate the situation in which the parts of fishes
have been preserved ; and thence the difficulty
FOSSIL FISHES. 1 73
which occurs to the student of fossils to trace,
unravel, and restore the different parts of animals
which apparently have so long since ceased to
exist. The first is a species from the genus Lates,
Cuvier, (described p. 101,) and of which a con-
siderable number of species in a fossil state are
already known ; it is the
174
Lates gracilis. — AGASSIZ.
PLATE XXXIII.
So named from the apparently more than
isualiy slender appearance of the body, notwith-
standing the flattening which it may have received.
It is from the calcareous schist of Monte Bolca,
where it is found in great abundance. The scales
are smaller than in any of the living species, but
do not otherwise differ. Other two fossil species
of this genus are also described from the same
locality, one of which has yet only been found in
this deposit, while a fourth, L. macrourus, is
noticed from the vicinity of Sevres. Our second
example is the
575
Cyclop oma spinosun. — AGASSIZ.
PLATE XXXIV.
A genus formed for the reception of two species
only yet found in a fossil state, and principally
characterized by the very strong spine at the angle
of the opercle, and the strong armatures of the
preopercle, both of which are distinctly seen in the
accompanying representation. Both species are
from the schist of Monte Bolca.
Of the discoveries of fossil fishes, in the middle
districts of Scotland, we hope to lay before our
readers some particulars in another volume of
this work. In the mean time, it may be remarked,
that for a time it was believed that among the
fossil fishes of the Edinburgh division of the
middle district of Scotland, there were teeth,
scales, and other parts of saurian animals; in
short, that formerly we had, as natives of Scotland,
creatures of the crocodile kind. It has lately,
however, been proved, that these teeth and scales
were parts of true fishes, and that hitherto no
remains of saurian animals had been discovered
176 FOSSIL FISHES.
in any of the quarries near Edinburgh, a view
of the subject which was confirmed by the
experience of Agassiz, while on his visit to Scot-
land during the meeting of the British Association,
in September last. Upon an examination of the
limestone quarries, the genus discovered to abound
in them in the greatest profusion was Palceoniscus,
Agass. ; and a new species has been named P.
Robisonii, in honour of Mr Robison, secretary to
the society which, by its endeavours, has rescued
so many of these relics from destruction. Another
fossil, entirely of a new genus, has been named
Enrynotus creantus ; and a third, the first whicfc
was discovered, has received the title of Pygopte-
rus Bucklandii. The immense bony rays found
In the same quarries are also referred to fish ;
and a new genus has been provisionally named
Gyracanthus. The teeth, scales, and large bones,
which gave rise to the idea that they belonged to
a saurian animal, have been considered by Agassiz
as sauraid, that is, resembling those of an animal
of this kind not really belonging to it ; and he
refers them to some fish allied to Lepidosteus,
which unites the characters of the crocodilean
animals with those of fishes, and in an existing
species of which that naturalist has lately been
able to demonstrate, that the swimming bladder
of fishes performed, to a certain extent, the office
FOSSIL FISHES. 1?7
of a lung : thus resolving the question, which, at
page 64, we mentioned was still considered doubt-
ful. To the animal to which these remains he-
longed, has been given the name of Megalichthys
Hibbertii, and part of a second species has been
discovered near Glasgow.
Many of our readers will, perhaps, exclaim that
these are mere distorted masses, and that the idea
of forming characters, or identifying the impres-
sions with species at present in life, is but a pre-
tence. Let them, however, examine before they
decide, and we will guarantee that the interest of
their researches will prevail. We would farther
recommend the study to the young and enthusi-
astic naturalists of the present day, as one which
will amply repay their researches, and where the
fields of observation are neither far distant nor of
difficult access.
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
Extracts from the COMPLETE ANGLER of IZAAK
WALTON, containing Observations on the Perch
and Directions how to fish for him. With his
Short Discourse, by way of Postscript, touching
the Laws of Angling.
Piscator. — The Perch is a very good and a very
bold biting fish. He is one of the fishes of prey,
that like the pike and trout, carries his teeth in his
mouth, which is very large : and he dare venture
to kill and devour several other kinds of fish.
He has a hooked or hog back, which is armed
with sharp and stiff bristles, and all his skin armed
or covered over with thick dry hard scales, and
hath, which few other fish have, two fins on his
back. He is so bold, that he will invade one of
his own kind, which the pike will not do so wil-
lingly ; and you may therefore easily believe him
to be a bold biter.
182 DIRECTIONS HOW TO FISH
" The perch is of great esteem in Italy/' saith
Aldrovandus : " and especially the least are there
esteemed a dainty dish." And Gesner prefers
the perch and pike above the trout, or any fresh
water fish : he says the Germans have this pro-
verb, " More wholesome than a perch of Rhine :"
and he says the river perch is so wholesome, that
physicians allow him to be eaten by wounded
men, or by men in fevers, or by women in child-
bed.
He spawns but once a-year ; and is, by physi-
cians, held very nutritive ; yet, by many, to be
hard of digestion. " They abound more in the
river Po and in England," says Rondeletius,
" than other parts ; and have in their brain a
stone, which is, in foreign parts, sold by apothe-
caries, being there noted to be very medicinable
against the stone in the reins. These be a part
of the commendations which some philosophical
brains have bestowed upon the fresh water perch :
yet they commend the sea perch, which is known
by having but one fin on his back (of which they
say we English see but a few), to be a much
better fish.
The perch grows slowly, yet will grow, as I
have been credibly informed, to be almost two
FOR TBE PERCH. 183
feet long ; for an honest informer told me, such
a one was not long since taken by Sir Abraham
Williams, a gentleman of worth and a brother of
the angle that yet lives, and I wish he may : this
was a deep-bodied fish, and doubtless durst have
devoured a pike of half his own length. For I
have told you, he is a bold fish ; such a one as,
but for extreme hunger, the pike will not devour.
For to affright the pike, and save himself, the
perch will set up his fins, much like as a turkey
cock will sometimes set up his tail.
But, my scholar, the perch is not only valiant
to defend himself, but he is, as I said, a bold
biting fish : yet he will not bite at all seasons of
the year; he is very abstemious in winter, yet
will bite then in the midst of the day, if it be
warm : and note, that all fish bite best about the
midst of a warm day in winter. And he hath
been observed, by some, not usually to bite till
the mulberry tree buds ; that is to say, till ex-
treme frosts be past the spring; for, when the
mulberry tree blossoms, many gardeners observe
their forward fruit to be past the danger of
frosts ; and some have made the like observations
of the perch's biting.
But bite the perch will, and that very boldly.
184 DIRECTIONS HOW TO FISH
And, as one has wittily observed, if there be
twenty or forty in a hole, they may be, at one
standing, all catched one after another; they
being, as he says, like the wicked of the world,
not afraid, though their fellows and companions
perish in their sight. And you may observe,
that they are not like the solitary pike, but love
to accompany one another, and march together
in troops.
And the baits for this bold fish are not many :
I mean, he will bite as well at some, or at any of
these three, as at any or all others whatsoever —
a worm, a minnow, or a little frog (of which you
may find many in hay time). And of worms, the
dunghill worm, called a brandling, I take to be
best, being well scoured in moss and fennel ; or
he will bite at a worm that lies under cow dung,
with a bluish head. And if you rove for a perch
with a minnow, then it is best to be alive, you
sticking your hook through his back fin ; or a
minnow with the hook in his upper lip, and let-
ting him swim up and down, about mid-water, or
a little lower, and you still keeping him to about
that depth by a cork, which ought not to be a
very little one. And the like way you are to fish
for the perch with a small frog, your hook being
Fo~ AJiiE PERCH. 18£
fastened through the skin of his leg, towards the
upper part of it ; and lastly, I will give you but
this advice, that you give the perch time enough
when he bites ; for there was scarce ever any
angler that has given him too much.
[Although perch, like trout, delight in clear
swift rivers, with pebbly, gravelly bottoms, they
are often found in sandy, clayey soils : they love
a moderately deep water, and frequent holes by
the sides of or near little streams, and the hollows
under banks.
The perch spawns about the beginning of
March : the best time of the year to angle for
him is from the beginning of May till the end of
June, yet you may continue to fish for him till
the end of September ; he is best taken in cloudy
windy weather, and, as some say, from seven to
ten in the forenoon, and from two to seven in
the afternoon.
Other baits for the perch are loaches^ miller's
thumbs, sticklebacks, small lob and marsh and
red-worms, well scoured ; horse beans boiled,
cad-bait, oak-worms, bobs, and gentles.
Many of these fish are taken in the rivers
about Oxford ; and the author of the " Angler's
Sure Guide" says, he once saw the figure of a
186 DIRECTIONS HOW TO FISH
perch, drawn with a pencil on the door of a house
near that city, which was twenty-nine inches
long ; and was informed it was the true dimen-
sions of a living perch.
The largest perch are taken with a minnow,
hooked with a good hold through the back fin,
or rather through the upper lip ; for the perch,
by reason of the figure of his mouth, cannot take
the bait crosswise, as the pike will. When you
fish thus, use a large cork float, and lead your
line about nine inches from the bottom, other-
wise the minnow will come to the top of the
water; but in the ordinary way of fishing, let
your bait hang within about six inches from the
ground.] And now I think best to rest myself,
for I have almost spent my spirits with talking
so long.
Venator. Nay, good master, one fish more!
for you see it rains still; and you know our
angles are like money put to usury — they may
thrive, though we sit still, and do nothing but
talk and enjoy one another. Come, come, the
other fish, good master !
Piscator. But, scholar, have you nothing to
mix with this discourse, which now grows most
tedious and tiresome? Shall I have nothing
FOR THE PERCH. 187
from you, that seem to have both a good memory
and a cheerful spirit ?
Venator. Yes, master ! I will speak you a
copy of verses that were made by Doctor Donne,
and made to show the world that he could make
soft and smooth verses, when he thought smooth-
ness worth his labour ; and I love them the bet-
ter, because they allude to rivers, and fish, and
fishing. They be these —
Come, live with me, and be my love,
And we will some new pleasures prove,
Of golden sands, and crystal brooks,
With silken lines, and silver hooks.
There will the river whispering run,
WarmM by thy eyes more than the sun ;
And there the enamell'd fish will stay,
Begging themselves they may betray.
When thou wilt swim in that live batk,
Each fish, which every channel hath,
Most amorously to thee will swim,
Gladder to catch thee than thou him.
If thou to be so seen beest loth,
By sun or moon, thou darkenest both;
And if mine eyes have leave to see,
I need not their light, having thee.
188 DIRECTIONS HOW TO FISH FOR PERCH.
Let others freeze with angling reeds,
And cut their legs with shells and weeds,
Or treacherously poor fish beset
With strangling snare or windowy net;
Let coarse bold hands, from slimy nest,
The bedded fish in banks outwrest;
Let curious traitors sleave silk flies,
To 'witch poor wandering fishes' eyes:
For thee, thou need'st no such deceit,
For thou thyself art thine own bait :
That fish that is not catch'd thereby
Is wiser far, alas, than I.
Piscator. Well remembered, honest scnolar.
I thank you for these choice verses, which I have
heard formerly, but had quite forgot, till they
were recovered by your happy memory. And be-
cause, as you say, our angles are as money put to
use, that thrives when we play, therefore we'll
sit still, and enjoy ourselves a little longer under
this honeysuckle hedge.
189
THE LAWS OF ANGLING.
MY GOOD FRIEND — I cannot but tender my
particular thanks to you, for that you have been
pleased, by three editions of your Complete
Angler, freely to dispense your dear-bought ex-
perience to all the lovers of that art ; and have,
thereby, so excellently vindicated the legality
thereof as to divine approbation, that if I should
go about to say more in that behalf, it indeed
were to light a candle to the sun. But since all
pleasures, though never so innocent in them-
selves, lose that stamp when they are either pur-
sued with inordinate affections, or to the pre-
judice of another, therefore, as to the former,
every man ought to endeavour, through a serious
consideration of the vanity of worldly content-
ments, to moderate his affections thereunto,
whereby they may be made of excellent use, as
some poisons allayed are in physic ; and, as to
the latter, we are to have recourse to the known
laws, ignorance whereof excuseth no man, and
therefore, by their directions, so to square our
actions, that we hurt no man, but keep close to
190 THE LAWS OF ANGLING.
that golden rule, " To do to all men as we would
ourselves be done unto."
" Now, concerning the art of angling, we may
conclude, Sir, that as you have proved it to be of
great antiquity, so I find it favoured by the laws
of this kingdom ; for where provision is made by
our statutes, primo Elizabeth, cap. 17, against
taking fish by nets that be not of such and such
a size there set down, yet those law-makers had
so much respect to anglers, as to except them,
and leave them at liberty to catch as big as they
could, and as little as they would catch. And
yet, though this apostolical recreation be simply
in itself lawful, yet no man can go upon another
man's ground to fish without his licence, but that
he is a trespasser. But if a man have a licence
to enter into a close or ground for such a space
of time, there, though he practise angling all
that time, he is not a trespasser, because his fish-
ing is no abuse of his licence : but this is to be
understood of running streams, and not of ponds,
OT standing pools ; for in case of a pond, or
standing pool, the owner thereof hath a property
fn the fish, and they are so far said to be his,
that he may have trespass for the fish against
any one that shall take them without his licence,
THE LAWS OF ANGLING. 191
though it be upon a common, or adjoining to the
king's highway, or adjoining to another man's
ground, who gives licence. But in case of a
river, where one or more have liberia piscaria
only, it is otherwise ; for there the fishes are said
to be ferce naturd ; and the taking of them with
an angle is not trespass, for that no man is said
to have a property in them till he have caught
them ; and then it is a trespass for any to take
them from him. But this is not to be under-
stood of fishes confined to a man's own ground,
by gates or otherwise, so that they cannot pass
away, but may be taken out or put in at plea-
sure ; for in that case the party hath a property
in them, as in the case of a standing pool.
But where any one hath separalis piscaria, as
in Child and GreenhuTs case in Trin. 15, Car. L,
in the King's Bench, there it seemeth that the
fish may be said to be his, because no man else
may take them whilst they are within his several
fishing. Therefore what is meant by a several
fishing is necessary to be considered. And
though the difference between a free fishing and
a several fishing be often treated of in the an-
cient books of the law; and some opinions will
have the difference to be great, and others small.
192 THE LAWS OF ANGLING.
or nothing at all, yet the certainest definition
of a several fishing is, " Where one hath the
royalty, and owneth the ground on each side of
the water ;" which agreeth with Sir William Cal-
thorp's case, where an action was brought by hiir
against another for fishing in his several fishing,
&c. ; to which the defendant pleaded, that the
place wherein the trespass was supposed to be
done, contained ten perches of land in length,
and twenty perches in breadth, which was his
own freehold at the time when the trespass was
supposed to be done, and that he fished there as
was lawful for him to do ; and this was adjudged
a good plea by the whole court : and, upon ar-
gument in that very case, it was agreed, that
no man could have a several fishing but in his
own soil, and that free fishing may be in the soil
of another man, which was all agreed unto by
Littleton, our famous English lawyer. So that
from all this may be drawn this short conclusion,
that if the angler take care that he offend not
with his feet, there is no great danger of his
hands.
But there are some covetous rigid persons,
whose souls hold no sympathy with those of the
innocent anglers, having either got to be lords of
THE LAWS OF ANGLING. 193
royalties, or owners of lands adjoining to rivers ;
and these do, by some apted clownish nature and
education for the purpose, insult and domineer
over the innocent angler, beating him, breaking
his rod, or at least taking it from him, and
sometimes imprisoning his person as if he were
a felon. [There is no reading this passage
without figuring to one's imagination the poor,
humble, patient angler, standing still and de-
fenceless, while the merciless lord of the manor
is laying on him with a stick, perhaps the butt
of his own rod, or a worse weapon. I will
not dispute with the author, whether the meek-
ness and submission of the poor fisher upon this
occasion are very becoming or not : but this
sort of passive valour is rather to be admired
than imitated. Yet has the angler his remedy,
as the reader will see a few lines below.]
Whereas a true bred gentleman scorns those
spider-like attempts, and will rather refresh
a civil stranger at his table, than warn him from
coming on his ground upon so innocent an oc-
casion. It would therefore be considered how
far such furious drivers are warranted by the
kw, and what the angler may in case of such
N
194 THE LAWS OF ANGLING.
violence do in defence of himself. If I coine
upon another man's ground without his licence,
or the licence of the law, I am a trespasser, for
which the owner may have an action of trespass
against me : and if I continue there after warn-
ing to depart by the owner, or his servant there-
unto authorized, the owner, or his servant by his
command, may put me off by force, but not beat
me but in case of resistance by me, for then I,
by resisting, make the assault ; but if he beat me,
I not resisting, in that case he makes the assault,
and I may beat him in defence of myself, and
to free myself from his violence. [Agreeable to
the rule contained in this barbarous distich:— -
Res dare pro rebus, pro verbis verba solemus,
Pro bufis bufas, pro trufis reddere trufas.
Things must be recompenst with things, buffets with blowes,
And words with words, and taunts with mocks and mowes.
DALTOH'S Country Justice, chap. 72.3
And in case I shall leave my rod behind in his
ground, he may take it damage feasant, but he
can neither take it from my person by force, nor
break it, but he is a trespasser to me; which
seems clear by the case of Reynell and Cham-
pernoon, where Eeynell brought an action of
THE LAWS OF ANGLING. 105
trespass against Champernoon for taking and
cutting his nets. The defendant justified, for
that he was seized in fee of a several fishing ;
and that the plaintiff, with others, endeavoured
to row upon his water, and with the nets to catch
his fish ; and that, for the safeguard of his fishing,
he took and cut the nets and oars : to which plea
the plaintiff demurred, and then it was adjudged
by the whole court, that he could not by such
colour cut the nets and oars ; and judgment was
thereupon given for the plaintiff.
Doubtless our forefathers well considered, that
man to man was a wolf, and therefore made
good laws to keep us from devouring one ano-
ther ; and amongst the rest, a very good statute
was made in the three-and-fortieth year of Queen
Elizabeth, whereby it is provided, that in per-
sonal actions in the courts at Westminster (being
not for land or battery), when it shall appear to
the judges (and be so by them signified), that
the debt or damages to be recovered amount not
to the sum of forty shillings, or above, the said
judges shall award to the plaintiff no more cost
than damages, but less, at their discretion.
And now, with my acknowledgment of the
advantage I have had, both by your friendship
196
THE LAWS OF ANGLING.
and your book, I wish nothing may ever be that
looks like an alteration in the first, nor any thing
in the last, unless, by reason of the useful plea-
sure of it, you had called it the Arcadia of
Angling, for it deserves that title ; and I would
deserve the continuance of your friendship.
THE LAWS OF ANGLTNG. 197
CONTINUATION OF THE DISCOURSE.
BY SIR JOHN HAWKINS.
the writing the foregoing Discourse, tne
laws of this country, relative to fish and fishing,
have undergone such alterations as would alone
justify an addition to it ; but as it has, of late,
been objected to all laws that assign an exclusive
right in any of the creatures of God to particular
ranks or orders of men, that they savour of bar-
barism, and are calculated to serve the purposes
of tyranny and ambition, it was thought neces-
sary to trace the matter farther back, and show
from whence laws of this kind derive their force.
And though it is not imagined that speculative
arguments will operate upon men of licentious
principles, yet, as the general tenor of this dis-
course supposes the angler to be endued with
reason, and under the dominion of conscience, it
may not be amiss to state the obligation he is
under to an observance of such laws, and to point
out to him the several instances where he cannot
pursue his recreation without the risk of his quiet.
Property is universally allowed to be founded
198 THE LAWS OF ANGLING.
on occupancy, the very notion of which implies
industry, or some act in the occupant of which no
stranger has a right to avail himself : he that first
took possession of an uncultivated tract of land,
provided it was no more than was necessary for
the subsistence of himself and his family, became
thereby the proprietor of such land.
Mr. Locke illustrates this doctrine by an ele-
gant instance : — " The water running in the
fountain," says he, "is every one's, but that in
the pitcher is his who draws it." — On Govern-
ment, book ii. chap. v. sect. 29.
And, if this reasoning be admitted in the case
of land, which is reckoned among the immoveable
objects of property, it is much stronger in favour
of things moveable, the right of which is at once
claimed, and fortified by an actual possession and
separation from that common mass in which they
were originally supposed to exist.
But, notwithstanding the innumerable appro-
priations which, in the present civilized state of
the world, appear to have been made, there are
many things which may yet be said to be in com-
mon, and in a state of natural liberty ; in this
class we. may rank creatures ferce nature^ beasts
of chase, many kinds of fowl, and all fish. The
BY SIR JOHN HAWKINS. 199
fisherman in Plautus admits, that none of the fish
were his while they remained in their proper ele-
ment, and insists only in his right to those which he
had caught ; Rudens, act iv. scene 3. And both
the Jewish and Roman lawyers assert, that wild
beasts and fish belong only to those who take
them.
This notion has led many persons to imagine
that, even now, there subsists a general commu-
nity of these creatures; and that, at this day,
every one has a right to take them to his own
use, wherever he finds them. Not to insist, that
if all men promiscuously were permitted the
exercise of this right, it would be of very little
benefit to any, it may suffice to say, that there
are few civilized countries that have not found it
necessary, either for promoting some public good,
or averting some public mischief, to control it
by express prohibitions; and how far such pro-
hibitions are deemed lawful and binding on the
consciences of those on whom they are imposed,
will appear by consulting Puffendorf, De jure
Nat. et Gent. lib. iv. cap. 6 sect. 6. Gudelin,
l)e Jure novissimo, lib. ii. cap. 2. D. lib. xli. tit. 2.
"De acquirend. vel. admittend. Possess." See
also Garcilasso de la Yega, Comm. Reg. lib. vi.
200 THE LAWS OF ANGLING.
cap. 6 ; where it is said, that in Peru, hunting,
by the inferior sort, is prohibited, lest, says tne
author, " men betaking themselves to the plea-
sure of the field, should delight in a continued
course of sports, and so neglect the necessary
provision and maintenance of their families."
And it is worth noting, that laws made to prohi-
bit the taking of creatures ferce naturd, by per-
sons unqualified, do not take from a man any
thing which is his own ; but they barely forbid
the use of certain methods of acquisition, which
the law of nature might perhaps allow of.
Agreeable to the principles here laid down, we
find that the laws of most countries, at least of
this, have assigned the property in the creatures
in question to particular persons. Thus to royal
fish, which are whales and sturgeons, the king is
entitled by his prerogative ; and the property of
fish in rivers, or, at least, a right to take them, is,
in many places, given to corporations ; as, with
us, the fishery of the river Thames is granted to
the city of London ; and the townsmen of Hun-
gerford, in Berkshire, claim a right of fishing in
that part of the river Rennet, called their common
water, under a grant from John of Gaunt, who,
we may suppose, derived it from the crown : but
BY SIR JOHN HAWKINS. 2
in most instances fish belong to the owner of the
soil.
These principles being recognized, and pro-
perty once settled, it is easy to see the necessity
and the justice of fencing it with positive laws.
Accordingly, in this country, judicial determina-
tions have, from time to time, been made, ascer-
taining the rights of persons to fisheries ; and
these, together with the several statutes enacted
to prevent the destruction of fish, compose the
body of laws relating to fish and fishing : the for-
mer, by way of supplement to the foregoing Dis-
course, are here laid down, and the latter will be
referred to.
The property which the common law gives in
river fish uncaught, is of that kind which is called
special, or qualified property : which see defined
by Lord Coke, in his Reports, part vii. fo. 17, b.
and is derived out of the right to the place or
soil where such fish live : so that supposing them,
at any given instant, to belong to one person,
whenever they resort to the soil or water of ano-
ther, they become his property, and so in infini-
tum.
And to prove that this notion of a fluctuating
or transitory property is what the law allows, we
202 THE LAWS OF ANGLING.
need only apply it to the case of the water in a
river; which is so constantly passing from the
soil of one to another, that no man can, in strict-
ness, be said to go twice to the same river ; and
yet, by a grant of any quantity of land covered
with water, which is the only legal designation of
a river, not only a certain tract of the river, but
the fish contained in it, shall pass. See Coke on
Littleton, 4, a.
In the Register, a very ancient law book, we
find two writs relating to fish : the one, for the
unlawful taking of fish in a several fishery, and
the other, in a free fishery. And of these in their
order.
A several fishery is that which a man is en-
titled to in respect of his being the owner of the
soil, and is what no one can have in the land of
another, unless by special grant or prescription ;
and whoever shall fish in such a several fishery,
without a licence, is liable to an action of trespass,
in which the plaintiff may well demand " where-
fore, in the plaintiff's several fishery, the defen-
dant was fishing, and his fishes took," &c., for
though the fish be fera naturd, yet being taken
in the water of the owner of the river, they are
said to be his fish, without saying in his soil, or
BY SIR JOHN HAWKINS. 203
water, 3d Coke's Reports, 553. Child and Green-
hill's case ; but he must set forth the nature and
number of the fish taken, 5 Coke's Reports, 35.
Playter's case, and 3d Coke, 18.
A free fishery is a right to take fish in the
water and soil of another, and is derived out of a
several fishery. If one seized of a river, grants,
without including the soil, a several fishery, or,
which amounts to no more than that, his watert
a right of fishing passes, and nothing else. Plow-
den's Commentary, 154, b. Coke on Littleton, 4, b.
And the word several, in such case, is synony-
mous with sole, and that in so strict a sense, that
by such a grant not only strangers, but even the
owner of the soil is excluded from fishing there.
Co. Lit. 122, a. And farther, where one pre-
scribes to have a several fishery in a water, which
prescription always supposes a grant precedent,
the owner of a soil, as much as a stranger, is
liable to an action if he fishes there : 2 Boll. 258,
the case of Foriston and Catchrode in the Com-
mon Pleas. Mich. 29 and 30 Eliz. But here th'
writ shall vary from that in the case of a sever?,
fishery, and demand " wherefore the defendant,
in the free fishery of the plaintiff at N., without
the licence and consent of the plaintiff, was fish-
'204 THE LAWS OP ANGLING.
ing," &c., expressing the nature and number of
the fish taken : but because the soil does not pass
by such a grant, and the fish are ferce naturd,
he shall not call them his fish, as in the former
instance. See the case of Child and Greenhill,
before cited.
The doctrine deducible from these principles
is, that that which, united with the soil, would
be a several fishery, when severed by grant,
though the grant be of a several, or sole, and
not of a free fishery, in terminis, becomes a free
fishery.
There is yet another case that I shall mention,
which will give the intelligent reader a clear no-
tion of this matter. A man grants to one, or
more, a liberty of fishing : here nothing but a
naked right to fish passes, and the remedy
against a trespasser is not severed from the soil ;
the owner whereof, and not the grantee, may
maintain an action, and may also fish himself.
Co. Lit. 122 a. [I find in Dudg. Warw. 1142,
in margine, an account of the following grant,
which for its singularity deserves notice. 31
Hen. III. " Thomas de Clinton, of Aminton.
levied a fine to Phil. Marmion, that he and his
heirs, -his wife, and their heirs, might, when they
BY SIR JOHN HAWKINS. 205
came to Tamworth, or to their castle at Middle-
ton, fish with a boat any where in his water of
Aminton, with one net, called a fleu-net, and a
tramil and sayna ; for which liberty he gave him
six marks of silver."]
As common of fishing may be appendant to
land, so also there may be a joint tenancy, or a
tenancy in common of a fishery. 1 Inst. 186 b.
Having thus shown in what cases the angler,
in the pursuit of his recreation, may become a
trespasser, let us next consider how far he is, by
taking fish, in danger of committing larceny ; for
that the taking fish out of a pond, without the
consent of the owner, falls within my Lord
Coke's definition of that crime, no one can doubt
that reads it. His words are, " Larceny is, the
felonious and fraudulent taking and carrying
away, by any man or woman, of the mere per-
sonal goods of another ; neither from the person
nor by night in the house of the owner." 3 Inst.
107. And a little after, 109, he expressly says,
" Larceny may be committed of fishes in a
pond."
Now, though to make the taking any personal
thing felonious, reason and the law require that
the party should do it animo furandi (see Brae-
206 THE LAWS OF ANGLING.
ton, lib. iii. fol. 150, Fleta, lib. i. cap. 36, which
we will suppose no angler to be possessed with),
yet whether by the word pond, we are to un-
derstand ponds at large, is perhaps of some
consequence for him to know.
It is a rule in law, that personal goods, and
things severed from the freehold, shall go to the
executors, and not to the heir. — Wentworth's
Office of an Executor, chap. v. And so shall fish
in a tank, or the like. — Ibid. But Lord Coke,
in his Commentary on Littleton, fol. 8, tells us,
that fish in a pond shall go with the inheritance,
" Because," says he, " they were at their liberty,
and could not be gotten without industry, as by
nets or engines."
From hence we may conclude, that fish in
ponds cannot be said to be mere personal goods ;
and then it follows as a consequence, that of such
fish larceny cannot be committed : and we may
farther conclude, that the word ponds, in the
above passage, must mean only stew-ponds, cis-
terns, or other such small receptacles of fish.
Many wholesome laws have from time to time
been enacted, to prevent the destruction of fish ;
but they are so numerous, that I must refer the
reader to the Statutes at large, or to the Abridg-
BY SIR JOHN HAWKINS. 207
ment published by a late worthy and learned
friend of mine, John Cay, Esq., deceased.
He may also see, a Discourse on the Laws
concerning Angling, and for Preservation of Fisfi,
at the end of the Angler's Sure Guide, written,
as it seems, by the author of that book, with the
learning and accuracy of an able lawyer.
FINH.
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