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HISTORY

OP THE

F I S H E

OF THK

BRITISH ISLANDS.

BY JONATHAN COUCH, F.L.S.

VOL. II.

CONTAINING SIXTY- THEEE COLOXmED PLATES,
PHOM DRAWINGS BY THE AUTHOR.

The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have
pleasure therein. Psalm cxi, v. 2.

LONDON:

GEORGE BELL & SONS, YORK STREET, COYENT GARDEN.

M DCCC LXXVII.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Bergylt ....... 3

Miller's Thumb 6

Father-lasher .......... 8

Bubalis 11

Greenland Bullhead 12

Four-horned Cottus 15

Elleck 19

Tubfish 21

Piper ........... 23

Streaked Gurnard ......... 25

Gurnard ........... 27

Bloch's Gurnard 29

Lanthorn Gurnard ......... 33

Little Gurnard ......... 36

Armed Gurnard .......... 38

Pogge ........... 41

Greater Weever ......... 43

Viper "Weaver ......... 48

Umbrina ........... 50

Sciaena ........... 54

Scabbard Fish . 59

Hairtail ........... 61

Mackarel . . . . . . . . . . .67

Spanish Mackarel . . . . . . . . 78

Dotted Mackarel 81

Scribbled Mackarel ........ 84

Tunny 86

Bonito ........... 97

Germon ... ....... 100

Pelamid 102

Plain Bonito 105

Pilot Fish 109

Bemora . . . , . . . , , , .113

IV CONTENTS.

PAGE

Doree 118

Pompilus ........... 123

Cornish Centrolophus . . . . . . . . 127

Ray's Bream 129

Opah 133

Scad 136

Derbio 139

Boarflsh ........... 142

Swordfisli .......... 145

Rock Goby 153

Paganellus . . . . . . . . . 157

Yellow Goby .159

Little Goby 161

Two-Spotted Goby . . .162

Broad-Finned Goby 165

Tail- Spotted Goby 166

One- Spotted Goby 167

Speckled Goby 170

Transparent Goby . . . . . . . . . 171

Slender Goby 172

Yellow Skulpin 173

Dusky Skulpin 178

Lumpfish .......... 183

Sea Snail 1-90

Montagu's Sucker 193

Network Sucker 195

Cornish Sucker . . . . . . . . . 196

Doiibly Spotted Sucker 198

Connemara Sucker . . . . . . . . . 201

Angler 204

Gattorugine . . . . . . . . . 219

Butterfly Blenny . . 224

Shanny 226

Montagu's Blenny 231

Yarrell's Blenny 233

Butterfish 236

Viviparous Blenny ......... 239

Wolf-fish 242

Dcalfish 246

Banks's Garfish 251

Red Bandfisli . 262

FISHES OF THE BEITISH ISLAl^DS.

MAILED CHEEKS.

CuviER says of this family of fishes, that it contains a
numerous class to which the remarkable appearance of the
head, variously armed and protected, gives a peculiar aspect
which has always caused them to be arranged in special genera,
although they have many close affinities with the family of
Perches. Their common character consists in having the bone
beneath the orbit more less extended over the cheek, and
articulated beneath with the first bone of the gill-cover. The
teeth generally are fine. The pectoral fins in the whole of
this class receive an extensive development, and are prepared
for functions somewhat different from those exercised by the
greater number of fishes; the separate rays of those fins being
endowed with special powers of sensation, for the exercise of
which they are supplied with nerves of more than ordinary
size. The bones at the setting on of those fins are so arranged
as to constitute what may be termed an arm, and the branches
of the nerves pass along these bones, to proceed through an
opening formed for that purpose between two of the bones,
which may be called by the corresponding terms in the anatomy
of man, the radius and ulna. The formation of the joints of
these fins enables them to exercise extensive motion; and as in
their more natural position, they are laid flat on the sides of
the fish with a direction backward, those rays become the
lowest which are most disengaged from their connection with
others, and so answer more nearly to the human thumb and

VOL. II. B

2 MAILED CHEEKS.

forefinger. In some instances they appear to assist in the
motion of the fish whilst resting on the ground; on which or
near it generally this family of fishes has its residence.

The species of this family are arranged among the Thoracic
fishes, or such as have the ventral fins directly under the
pectoral.

SEBASTES.

The head and body compressed, with scales which on the head
proceed to or beyond the orbits; the back part of the head having a
few small spines. The first gill-cover armed. The dorsal fin single,
formed by a notch into spinous and soft divisions.

BERGYLT.

NORWAY HADDOCK.

Perca marina, Linn.^tjs.

Sehastes Norvegicus, Cuvier. Yaeeell; Br. F., vol. i, p. 87.

Holocentre Norvegien, Lacepede.

Serramis Norvegicus, Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 212.

ScorpeBua Norvegica, Jenyns; Manual, p. 347.

" " Report of Natural History Society of

Dublin, 1856-7.
" " GuNTHEE; Catalogue of Br. Museum,

vol. ii, p. 96.

This fish is a native of the Northern Ocean, being found as
far north as Greenland; and it is not uncommon on the coast
of Norway. Its appearance in Zetland also cannot be regarded
as strange, since it is sufficiently well known there as to have
obtained a familiar name. The terms Bergylt, Norwegian Carp,
and Norway Haddock, however inappropriate the latter may
be as signifying a likeness to Gadoid or Cod-like fishes, are
designations applied to it by fishermen of those islands. It
scarcely appears by its form to be well fitted for extensive
wandering; and yet several instances have occurred to shew
that its visits to the British Islands are not uncommon.
Pennant must have had authority for classing it among British
fishes, and Dr. Fleming had seen an example in Zetland. The
latter also reports its occurrence on the coast of Aberdeenshire;

4 BERGYLT.

and Dr. George Johnson observed it in the neighbourhood
of Berwick. Mr. Gregor informs me of an example of one
caught near Macduff, and another on the Morayshire coast.

In the north of IreLand it appears to be of even more
frequent occurrence than in Scotland or England; or at least
it has been more frequently observed there by naturalists; and
the following account, which we extract from the Proceedings
of the Natural History Society of Dublin for the Session
1856-7, will add several particulars to what was before known
of its history: "The first record of this addition to the
ichthyology of Ireland was made by Mr. Andrews, Honorary
Secretary, at a meeting of the Society held on the 4th. of May,
1849. Two fine specimens of the fish were taken in the month
of March last, on the long lines set for Ling, in deep water
off the Wild Bank, Dingle Bay, and brought in by canoe men
in the employment of the Boyal Irish Fisheries Company.
Several specimens have since been taken in the same bay, and
in the summer of 1850 two were taken, in eighty-one fathoms,
off the Blasket Islands, coast of Kerry, on long lines set for
Cod; one of which Mr. Andrews had for some hours alive in
a tub of sea-water.

The Sebastes is an exceedingly active fish, voracious, and
apparently of pugnacious habits. In the recent state its colour
is very vivid, of a beautiful vermilion, the shades dark on
the back, assuming a lighter tinge on the sides, and passing
into a silvery white on the belly. The pectoral fins are large,
of a bright red colour, as is also the caudal fin, the fins
terminating in filaments. Mr. Gregor's specimen was yellow.
The eyes were very brilliant, particularly large, and prominent.
It is nearly connected with the Serrani in the ovate body,
obtuse head, large eyes, and formation of the jaw; the jaws,
head, and body being covered with rough scales. In the
Faroe Islands it is very frequently taken in deep water when
fishing for Cod; where it is termed Kongafisshur and the Hed
Perch."

In addition to the particulars given above from Irish authority,
it is with pleasure I am able to add others of interest, which
have been communicated to me by the kindness of W.
Wheelwright, Esq., on Swedish authority; with the observation
however, that the fish referred to as a variety, (and which

BERGYLT. 5

appears to be the same of which some of the habits, as well
as the description^ are contained in the work of Lacepede, who
says it attains to two yards in length,) may on examination
prove to be a distinct species. The fish here referred to is
known by the name of Hav Uez, and is twice as large as the
more common Bergylt. They are believed to live together in
considerable numbers, on stony ground, at the enormous depth
of from one hundred to a hundred and fifty fathoms. Professor
Nilsson, the eminent Swedish naturalist, informs us that not
unfrequently very large numbers of them are found floating
on the surface, dead or in a dying condition, with their eyes
protruding from their head, and their entrails from their mouths;
their violent death being ascribed to the circumstance of their
having fallen in the way of some of those sudden whirlpools
that occur at the bottom of the sea in these districts, of which
the well-known maelstrom is not the only example. The great
difference of pressure to which they are exposed, by being
thrust from the great depth of their ordinary residence to a
much higher stratum of water, will account for the particular
appearances attending their death. The young are produced
in June; and it is confidently believed by the fishermen that
they continue to accompany the mother for a considerable time.
It is even supposed on good evidence that they proceed from
the mother alive.

Fin rays dorsal fifteen spinous and thirteen soft, pectoral
seventeen, ventral one spinous and five soft, and three spinous
and seven soft, caudal fifteen.

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miller's thumb.

and after him Willoughby, represent the female as becoming
much distended with spawn, which she collects into little
lumps on her breast, where it is covered with a black membrane
until it is hatched. On the other hand Linnaeus says that she
forms a nest on the ground, to which Fleming adds that it
is made of a hole in the gravel, and there she broods over
it until they are produced to life. Blumenbach's representation
is, that it keeps watch over its nest. This species retains
life for many hours after it is taken from the water. It is
esteemed as food in those countries where very small fishes
are not disregarded.

It grows to the length of three or four inches; the head
large, broad, and depressed; the front round, swelling at the
cheeks, with a crooked spine low on the gill-cover. Jaws
equal, with very small teeth; eyes small, high on the head,
with a depression obliquely before them. The body smooth,
tapering from the origin of the first dorsal fin to the tail.
The lateral line almost straight. The first dorsal fin begins a
little behind the root of the pectorals, and is low, with an
oval outline; the second dorsal near the first, and passing on
close to 4he tail, which is round; anal fin not quite so long
as the second dorsal; pectorals large, the rays bearing out
the membrane; ventral fins small; the rays of all the fins soft
and flexible. Colour, on a ground of dusky yellow, dark
bands or spots, in which the fins partake; white below.

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FATHER-LASHER. U

This species generally seeks concealment under the shelter
of some stone or sea-weed, from which it passes out only in
search of prey, or to change one situation for another. The
season of spawning is probably spread over some distance of
time in the spring, and I have seen the single grains of spawn
with the embryo within them partly developed, as if scattered
at random in pools of the rocks. When freed from the egg
the young ones offer an example by which, perhaps, we may
judge how some other smooth-skinned fishes obtain the develop-
ment of their mottled colours. At their earliest stage the
surface of the bod.y is transparent; and the only visible coloured
substance is the peritoneum, or lining of the cavity of the
bowels. The colouring of the skin begins at the head, and is
gradually continued backward in defined and separate bands,
the intervals between each band continuing transparent for a
longer or shorter time; and each of the succeeding dark bands
at its formation is still paler than the next before it. The fins
assume their colours last of all; and when the whole of the
surface has become tinted, the alternate bands break into spots
or circles by which the fish is ever after distinguished.

The Father-lasher, or Sting-fish, will live long out of the
water, and the longer if its skin be kept moistened; but it is
said to be quickly killed if dipped in fresh-water; a circumstance
the more remarkable as its haunts are frequently in places
where the fresh and salt-water mingle together. It is widely
distributed in the seas of Europe; and besides the extreme
limits of the British Islands it is found from the Baltic to the
Mediterranean. With us, however, it is too insignificant to be
employed as food.

It grows to the length of four or five inches; the head large,
wide, and depressed; the eyes near each other, but directed
laterally; and I have seen an example with a row of tendrils
hanging from the skin above the eyes. A depression between
the eyes, and two bony prominences before them. On the top
of the head a lengthened channel; the gill-covers armed with
sharp spines, one of which is long and sharp, covered with
the skin, which the fish can in part withdraw, and cover it
over again. The mouth wide, with teeth in the jaws and
palate. The body rounded near the head, the belly protuberant,
tapering towards the tail; a row of low spines along the course
VOL. II,

10 FATHER-LASHER.

of the lateral line. Dorsal fins two, approaching each other;
the rays of the first firm. Pectoral fins large, nearly round,
the ends of the rays projecting; ventrals moderately extended;
the tail round; the fin rays generally stout and soft. The
colours dusky, often a dark green, and mottled; the belly pale
yellow, white, or green.

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11

BUBALIS.

Coitus Bubalis,

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LUCKY proach;

Confounded with the Father-lasher under the name of Gundie.

CuYiEE. Jenyns; Manual, p. 345.
Yarrell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 78.
GuNTHER; Catalogue of Br. Museum, vol.
ii, p. 164.

This species bears so near a resemblance to the Father-
lasher, or Sting-fish, last described, that until very recent times
they were confounded together; and for the purpose of
distinguishing between them, it will be necessary to describe
the Bubalis in comparison with the other, rather than inde-
pendently and by itself. It is about the same size, but of
slightly a more slender shape; head narrower and more rough;
spines sharper and longer; snout somewhat more protruded;
fins more developed; the second dorsal and anal carried nearer
the tail. In colour the difference is considerable; the species
now under consideration, although subject to some variation,
being adorned with a mottled variety of brilliant red and brown,
with bars of red or crimson across the pectoral fins and lips.
The rays of the fins are often highly coloured when the
connecting membrane is plain or colourless.

The habits of this fish, so far as they are known, appear to
be different from those of the Father-lasher only in that it
keeps in deeper water. It feeds on the smaller crustacean
animals, and probably on very young fishes. As it is often taken
in crab-pots, which are usually set in places where sand and low
rocks are intermingled, we conclude that such are its favourite
resorts; and that it enters those traps for the purpose of obtain-
ing a meal from the baits they contain. In its turn it becomes
a bait to entice the lobster and crab to a like captivity.

12

GEEENLAND BULLHEAD.

SEA SCOKPION. GREENLAND COTTUS.

Cottus Grcenlandicus, Proceedings of the JSTatural History Society

of Dublin, for the Session 1856-7, p. 61.

" " GuNTHEE; Catalogue of Br. Museum, vol.

ii, p. 161.

" " Yakrell; Br. Fishes, 2nd. Supplement by

Sir John Richardson, p. 1.

This is again a fisli which was long confounded with the
Common Father-lasher; and although its greatly superior size
might have been sufficient to raise a doubt in the minds of
observers of their being the same, the mistake has been corrected
only in recent times. It is a native of the Northern Ocean,
and is found on the American as well as on the European
side of the Atlantic; but further to the south in the former,
from the greater degree of cold that usually exists on the
eastward than on the westward side of any continent.

No more than two instances are known of its having been
taken in the British Islands; and both of these occurred in
Ireland; of which we have the following account in the
Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Dublin, above
referred to. Our figure also is borrowed from the same source,
but is closely simihir to that which is given by Sir J. Richardson,
from an American example: "It was taken in Dingle harbour.
County of Kerry, in the month of February, 1850, when
drawing a scan for sand-smelts. Its beautiful and vivid
colouring attracted the attention of Mr. B. Milliard, Agent to
the Royal Irish Fisheries Company, who, jJi'esuming it to be
of rare occurrence, at once forwarded it to Mr. Andrews, the
Manager of the Company."

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GREENLAND BULLHEAD. 13

" The Cottus GrcBnlandicus is admirably described in Richard-
son's 'Zoology of British America/ known as the Greenland
Bullhead the Kaniock and Kanininock of the Greenlanders.
The colours of the specimen here figured were extremely
beautiful the shades of the head Vandyke brown, the deeper
umber beautifully glazed over with a pinkish or violet tinge,
the dorsal and above the lateral line more or less shaded and
spotted towards the tail, and leaving a line of numerous papillae
or tubercles (altogether absent in C. Scorpius) below the lateral
line; large and irregularly formed white spots mark the sides,
shaded around with deep carmine and a rich chocolate brown,
the tinge towards the belly passing into rich orange; the belly
is also marked along the line to the tail with a row of roundish
white spots; pectoral fins beautifully shaded and barred, spotted
with white, the terminal portion and margins of a rich orange,
resembling and emulating in beauty the rich colouring of the
tiger-moth; irides of a deep golden yellow, tinged and marked
with orange. The posterior portions of the rays of the pectoral
and ventral fins are rough, with ciliated or minute spinous
processes, which seem to be characteristic, and are not present
in C. Scorpius or C. Buhalis, the rays in those species being
smooth on both sides."

Crantz, the historian of Greenland, who calls this fish the
Sea Scorpion, says that its resort is in the deeper water of the
bays of that country, where it is fished for with long lines;
the bait being a white bone, a glass bead, or piece of red
cloth; and that it is esteemed as food; being also sometimes
employed as a material for soup.

I suppose it highly probable that the account which Lacepede
has given us of the fish he calls Le Cotte Scorpion, and which
in his day was judged to be the same with the Greenland
Bullhead, was derived from observations that had been made
on the habits of the last-named species; for they certainly will
not apply to those of our more common Father-lasher. He
says, in regard to its haunts, that they extend to both sides
of the Atlantic, and so far north as to near the Arctic Circle.
It is very active, and swift in the pursuit of prey, which it
follows even to the surface; in which it differs from the
generality of the fishes of this genus, but the fact is established
on the evidence of later observers. Its victims are the blennies.

14 GREENLAND BULLHEAD.

herrings, cod-fishes, and even the salmon; and the last-named
circumstance will become the less incredible if it be true that
this fish reaches the length of two French metres, or about
two yards. This author contradicts the remarks of Crantz, as
regards its excellency as food; but may be explained by the
difference of taste between an inhabitant of Greenland and one
accustomed to the luxuries of the metropolis of France.

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FOUR-IIORNED COTTUS.

Coitus qiuidrlcornis, Ltnn.eus. Cuvier. Bloch; pi. 108.

" " Jenyns; Manual, p 345.

" Yaurell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 83.

Gotte quatrecornis, LACfc:pi';DE. Gunther; Catalogue of

Br. Museum, vol. ii, p. 166.

This species is an inhabitant of the Baltic, and the Northern
Ocean as far as Greenland; but it is only of late that it is
known to be a native of our own country. It was first observed
as British by Dr. John Edward Grey, of the British Museum,
who communicated the circumstance to Mr. Yarrell; and it has
since been noticed on the coast of Scotland, where probably it
is not rare. It appears to be an active fish, eager after prey,
for which it lies in wait under the shelter of the sea-weeds;
but its peculiar habits have been little studied. Lacepede
says it enters rivers, but it does not appear to be abundant
anywhere.

In size it exceeds the Common Father-lasher and Bubalis,
and is easily distinguished from either of them. The head is
wide, flat, and, notwithstanding the tubercles or horns, smoother
than in either of the above-named species. Jaws equal, and
the gape not wide; teeth fine. Eyes moderately large, close
to the top of the head, but with a flat space between them;
the pair of nostrils on each side separate from each other. In
front above the upj^er lip three tubercles placed triangularly.
Behind the eyes two elevated tubercles, recurved, and a
corresponding pair at the back of the head, having granulated
tops. On the hinder portion of the gill-cover a sharp but not
very prominent spine, pointing obliquely upward, and below
it a shorter one directed backward; a third still lower, pointing
downward. Body very wide over the back; belly much
distended; behind the vent more slender, and especially so

16 FOUR-HORNED COTTUS.

nearer the tail; the base of which expands where the caudal
fin rises from it. The first dorsal fin rises behind the insertion
of the pectoral, and is not very high. Second dorsal opjjosite
the anal; both of them wide, and at a good distance from
the tail, which organ is round. Pectoral fins wide, the lower
rays passing up under the throat; the middle rays reaching
beyond the termination of the first dorsal. Ventral fins small
and separate. A row of low tubercles runs along the body,
from the hinder elevated tubercle of the head to the tail; and
a row of low spines runs parallel with this, but a little
separated, to the end of the second dorsal; intermingled with
several irregular tubercles at the side opposite this second
dorsal.

It is probable that the colour of this fish varies as it is
found in dififerent districts; and the example which came to
me in spirit from London, and for which I am indebted to
the kindness of Dr. Gunther and Dr. J. E. Grey, was of a
uniform light brown, mottled on the dorsal, pectoral, and
caudal fins, with dotted points on the lips and gill-covers;
upper ridge of the tail with minute spines.

Fin rays pectoral sixteen, first dorsal nine, second dorsal
fourteen, ventral three, anal fifteen, caudal sixteen in all.

17

GURNARDS.

The fishes of this well-marked family have obtained their
English name from the firm, ragged, and bony structure of
their head: the word Gurnard being significant of this character
in the ancient language of Britain. The summit of the head
is high; and it slopes obliquely to the snout, which projects
over the mouth in a double and jagged process. The eyes are
on a level with the top of the head, and are directed laterally;
the cheeks firmly fixed, and the gill-covers nearly so; the
surface being bony, and studded with star-like lines, which are
not covered with visible skin. Posteriorly they are armed with
strong spines, which are rough, with raised lines; and one, of
a flattened triangular form, is at the side of the body. The
under part of the body is strengthened with a broad sternum
or breast-bone. The dorsal fins two, the first with spinous rays;
pectorals broad; but what particularly distinguishes this genus
are the three separate slender processes on each side, imme-
diately below the pectoral fins; which possess extensive motion
on a double row of joints not connected with the fins. These
processes or fingers are supplied with peculiar nerves, and
consequently are in possession of special functions. That they
are organs of feeling is not to be doubted; but the fish has
also been seen, when resting on the ground, to close the
pectoral fins, and to creep with an appearance of research by
the help of those processes, as if they were organs of motion
that could be employed without exciting alarm in the prey;
which the motion of the fins might possibly do. All of these
fishes are remarkably furnished with air-bladders, which vary
in shape according to the species; but all of them are firm in
texture, with muscular fibres interwoven with their fibrous
texture, and are so loosely fastened to the back-bone, as to
be capable of being removed from the body without the loss
of the contained air. By this structure of the air-bladder the

VOL. II. D

18

GURNARDS.

organ appears to be in some measure subject to the will of
the fish, and also to be capable of sustaining the various
degrees of pressure which it must encounter when these fishes
rise, as they sometimes do, from a considerable depth in the
water to the surface.

The fish of this family are placed by Linnseus in the Thoracic
order.

AIR-BLADDERS OF TRIGLIDJi.

Red Gurnard.

Grey Gurnard.

Tubfish.

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ELLECK.

RED-FISH. SOLDIER. RED GURNARD, ROTCHET.

Lucerna sive cticulhis, Willoughby; p. 281, tab. s. 5.

Trigia cuculus, Artedt.

" Yabrell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 38.

In most writers there appears to be great uncertainty as
regards this very common species; which, therefore, we must
describe and represent from our own knowledge, with little
reference to the authority of others. That the appearance and
colour may vary on different coasts of the kingdom we can
readily suppose; but the principal difficulty appears to have
arisen from confounding it with a kindred species, Avhich Bloch
has given an account of under the name of Trigia pmi, and
which I suppose to be the same with Bloch's Gurnard of Mr.
Yarrell.

The Elleck is caught on the west coast of England and
Ireland at all seasons; and it is known also at the extremity
of Scotland; where, however, as I learn from C. W. Peach,
Esq., of Wick, it is in such little esteem as food, as for the
most part to be thrown aside as worthless. In England they
meet with a ready sale; and it is their smaller size only that
places them lower than the Tubfish and Piper in public
estimation. The usual habit of this species, as of the whole
family, is to keep near the bottom in moderately deep water;
and there they feed on shell-fish, crabs, and small fishes, with
a variety of other creatures inhabiting the bottom of the sea.
They also take a bait freely, but are caught in the greatest
abundance with trawls. I have found them with spawn well
developed at the opposite seasons of January, April, and
June.

20 ELLECK.

The Elleck is usually about a foot in length, but has been
known to measure eighteen inches. The head is high, narrow
on the summit, with a depression between the eyes, which,
therefore, are close together; sloping thence to the snout, which,
is cut in on the front, and slightly divided, projecting over the
mouth; teeth small and rather numerous. The body irregularly
round, narrower on the back, and more slender towards the
tail. Above each eye an obscure row of spines; behind the
head a rough spine, another on the hinder gill-cover, and a
third above the origin of the pectoral fin; a line of low
tubercles runs along the side of the root of the rays of the
dorsal fin; the lateral line rough from a series of obscure
plates. The first dorsal fin with spinous rays, the first shorter
than the second, and having a rough front. Pectorals scarcely
reaching to the vent. Tail straight, except that sometimes
the outer ray above and below is longest. The head, back,
and sides, with the dorsal and caudal fins, are a bright red,
sometimes darker and sometimes dusky on the back, with
occasionally a few golden spots. Pectorals, ventrals, and finger
processes a paler red, tinged with yellow; anal whitish, tinged
with red. Iris golden or orange yellow, with a circle of red
or crimson.

An example of unusual size came under my inspection, that
was so stout as to be thicker through its body than deep; the
colours bright, with the back, head, and sides covered thickly
with golden spots about the size of a large pea.

Fin rays first dorsal nine, second dorsal eighteen, pectoral
ten, (bifid,) ventral six, anal seventeen, caudal fan-shaped.
The two last rays of the second dorsal and anal in some
examples spring from one root.

c

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X

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21

TUBFISH.

Sapphirine Gurnard, Willoughby ; p. 280.

Trigla Mrundo, Linn^us; but there is an error in

his specific character in assigning
to it a spinous latei'al line.
" " Donovan; pi. 1, but badly repre-

sented, especially in the head.
" " Fleming; British Auimals, p. 214.

" " Jenyns; Manual, p. 340.

" " Yareell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 47;

the head is represented too narrow.
" " GuNTHER; Cat. of Br. Museum, vol.

ii, p 202.
Trigla hirondelle, Lacepede. Eisso. Bloch; pi. 60.

The name of the household vessel, a tub, is derived from
a -word which signifies short and thick, and of which the
word tubbot, frequently used in the west of England, is the
adjective. This, beyond doubt, is the origin of the common
name of this fish, which is the thickest, and comparatively,
therefore, the shortest of the species of this genus.

It is as common as the EUeck, with which it is sometimes
confounded, and for which it is not unfrequently substituted
in the market. But it is not so abundant as the last-named
fish, although their habits are nearly the same; it also becomes
more scarce as we proceed northward, and is omitted from the
enumeration of fishes in Zetland.

The Tubfish keeps near the ground, in water of considerable
depth; but it occasionally rises to the surface, as some others
of kindred species are known to do. It feeds on crabs, shell-
fish, and such fishes as it is able to find in its usual haunts,
among stones or sand, and readily takes a bait. A pecten as
large as a half-crown, a donax, and small solen or razor-shell
have been obtained from its stomach. I have found it with
enlarged roe at Christmas, and also in May and July.

22 TUBFISH.

With a general tendency to the same form as the Elleck,
this fish is proportionally much stouter, and reaches a consid-
erably larger size. I have known it to weigh almost eleven
pounds. The head is short and stout, broad over the top,
with a slight depression ; the eyes sejjarated more than in other
British species. The sloping from the eyes to the snout
steep; mouth beneath; gill-covers rough, moderately armed.
Teeth fine, numerous, wanting at the symphysis. Body round,
tapering towards the tail; lateral line smooth, prominent, and
straight; an obscure row of spines on each side of the dorsal
fins. The pectoral fins are wide, but there is some difference
in their extension in different examples, sometimes reaching
to two inches beyond the vent, and at other times scarcely
extending so far as that organ. I have even found a difference
in this respect between the two sides of the same fish.

The colour of the head, back, and sides, without the dorsal
fins and tail, is red, more or less bright, but sometimes brown
along the upper portion; yellower below the lateral line, and
white on the belly. The pectoral fin a lively blue, especially
on its upper surface and the ends of the rays; anal fin pale,
tinted with red.

Fin rays first dorsal eight, second dorsal seventeen, anal
sixteen, pectoral eleven, ventral six. The two last rays of the
second dorsal and anal fins rise from one root; the ventral
fins large, separate, scalloped, and fastened down with a lateral
border. But as regards the rays in the root of the dorsal
and anal fins in the several species of the genus, there is
frequent variation, and dependence must not be placed on it as
a specific character.

u

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23

PIPER.

TrigJa lijra, Jonston. Willougiiby; p. 282, Tab.

S. 2, f. 2.

" " LlNN'.i;US. CUVIER.

" " Lacepede. Risso. Donovan; pi. 118.

" " Fleming; British Animals, p. 215.

" " Jenyns; Manual, p. 341.

" " Yakbell; British Fishes, vol. i, p. 51.

" " GuNTiiER; Cataloguo British Museum,

vol. ii, p. 208.

Several of the fishes of this genus are known to utter
obscure grunting sounds when newly taken out of the water,
and they continue them at intervals as long as they are alive.
This circumstance has given occasion to a familiar name for
most of them in some foreign languages, and is probably the
origin of the common English name of this species; but it is
also said to have obtained its scientific denomination of lyra
from its shape, as if it approached more nearly than others to
the ancient form of that musical instrument.

The Piper is little known in the north of England, and is
not numbered among the fishes of the north of Scotland. It
occurs in Ireland, but according to Mr. Thompson, of Belfast,
with some uncertainty, except in the south and west parts.
The Earl of Enniskillen informs me he has never seen it in
the north. It is far from rare, however, on the coasts of
the west counties of England, except in the winter, when
it appears to seek shelter in the deeper water, or perhaps by
migrating further to the south. It seems to be more abundant
in the Mediterranean than in Britain. In its general habits,
(the time of breeding and food,) it resembles the Tubfish, but
is in rather greater estimation for the table.

The head and beginning of the back is much elevated,
and the body tapers considerably towards the tail. An example

24 PIPER.

twenty inches in length, measured thirteen inches in girth
where thickest. Head flat on the top, slanting suddenly from
before the eyes, and advancing again to form a double pro-
jection, flat and toothed, of considerable length; eyes large,
high on the side of the head, a wide space between them,
distinct spines immediately encircling them above; under jaw
shortest; teeth numerous, small, a few in the palate. The
cheeks covered with rough stellated lines; head well armed;
the gill-covers with a strong spine; another, somewhat smaller,
behind the head, and a very long triangular spine, the longest
on the body, above the pectoral fin; the dorsal ridge, bordering
the dorsal fins on each side, formed of elevated flattened spines,
their points directed backward. Pectoral fin wide, reaching
to the vent; tail very slightly lunated; ventral fins long and
wide. Slight scales over the body. Colour of the head, back,
and sides brilliant pink or scarlet, faint and nearly white on
the belly. Pectoral fins, the dorsals, and tail more or less
red; ventrals and anal tinged with red.

Fin rays pectoral eleven, first dorsal eight, second dorsal
thirteen, anal seventeen, ventral six. The two last rays of
the anal fin are joined to one root; but examples vary in this
respect, as well in this species as in the others of this genus.

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25

STKEAKED GURNARD.

Mullus

imherhis,
it

Trii

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jla

lineata,
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((

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(

A riri*^ n-hi nn

WiLLOTJGHBY; p. 278, Tab. S. 1, f. 1.

Iago; in Ray's Synopsis Piscium, p. 165.

Tueton's Linneeus. Cuvier.

Donovan; pi. 4.

Jenyns; Manual, p. 339.

Yarrell; British Fishes, vol. i, p. 45.

GuNTiiER; Cat. Br. Museum, vol. ii, p. 200.

Flemiisg; British Animals, p. 215.

When speaking of the Surmullets we assigned a reason
why the older naturalists should stand excused for classing
the fish now named the Streaked Gurnard with that family,
under the name of Mullus imherhis, the Unbearded Mullet.
In its general appearance and some of its habits it greatly
resembles them; and if rare (as it has been usually considered)
on the western parts of the kingdom, it is only locally so, the
places of resort being chosen according to its peculiar habits,
and from which it does not much wander. Mr. Thompson
met with it on the east coast of Ireland, and an example has
been caught near Ayr, in Scotland; but this was an uncommon
instance, and it is not known in the north of the latter country.

It appears to perform a partial migration, at least from its
winter retreat in the deeper water to situations nearer the
shore ; and although it usually keeps near the ground, it
appears to imitate the Surmullets in effecting its passage at a
higher elevation, for I have obtained an example from a net
that floated over a depth of thirty fathoms; and there is reason
to believe that it even imitates one or two of the foreign
species of its own genus, in springing out of the water. On
one occasion, in the harbour of Polperro, (not its usual resort,)
a fish was seen to do this in a way that appeared unusual, and
when taken in a net it was found to be the Streaked Gurnard.

This fish does not usually take a bait, and, as its places
of resort are confined to a peculiar quality of ground, it is

VOL. II. E

26 STREAKED GURNARD.

less frequently caiiglit than from its numbers might otherwise
be supposed likely. Except in one or two rare instances, I
have only obtained it from trammels set to catch Surmullets;
but it is also taken with the trawl. In its stomach I have
found remains of small crabs and other crustaceous animals,
and small stones ; but Mr. Thompson found what appeared to
be vegetable matter, with a young sole and several sorts of
crabs. William Thompson, Esq., of Weymouth, who obtained
this fish at that place, found several dwarf swimming crabs and
small stones in the stomach.

It reaches the length of from twelve to fourteen inches; the
head moderate in proportion to the body, which is throughout
round and plump. The eyes elevated and near together; the
front sloping rather suddenly to the snout, which is not pro-
truded, and but slightly toothed; under jaw a little the shortest;
teeth just enough to give a slight roughness; cheek plates
regularly and finely radiated. Front of the orbit with four
short spines; a ridge behind the eye, followed by another
ending in a blunt spine; a slight spine on the hindmost plate
of the gill-cover the largest above the pectoral fin. Lateral
line straight, having a serrated ridge, the points directed back-
ward. First dorsal high; the first spinous ray with rough
tubercles of small size along its anterior margin, and so with
the second where it rises above the first; both dorsals enclosed
in a groove formed by projecting ridges of thin tubercles
which have toothed edges. Pectoral fins large, reaching con-
siderably beyond the vent. The separate fingers rather short;
caudal fin straight, except the outer rays, which are slightly
lengthened. Colour of the head, mouth, back, dorsal and
caudal fins, vermilion, but in some examples dusky red, the
dorsal fins with bars more or less strongly marked, and with
some clouds of pink. The ridges which pass round the body
are strongly pencilled with deeper red, and anteriorly below,
sometimes with reticulations. The fingers barred with alternate
rings of yellow or green and red; along the back some dark
spots. Pectoral fins red, with spots and lines of green and
blue, bordered with blue.

Fin rays first dorsal ten, second dorsal seventeen, anal
seventeen, pectoral ten (divided,) ventral six. The two last
rays of the anal fin from one root, but subject to variation.

o

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27

GURNARD.

GREY GURNARD. CROONER. CROONACK. To Croon

meaning in Scotland to make a dull croaking noise.

GOWDIE. HARDHEAD.

CuGulus griseus, Willoughby; p. 279, Tab. S. 2, f. 1.

Trigle gurnau, Lacepede. Risso.

Trlgla gurnardus, Fleming; Britisli Animals, p. 215.

" " Jenyns; Manual, p. 342.

" " Yarrell; Britisli Fishes, vol. ii, p. 53.

" " LlNN^US. CuviEE. Bloch; pi. 58.

Donovan; pi. 30.

The Gurnard is the most abundant of the British species
of this genus, as it is also the most widely distributed. It is
also less sensible than the others to the influence of heat and
cold, and therefore it is as common on the northern coasts of
Scotland and Ireland as in the south and west of England,
being also reckoned among the fishes of Orkney and Shetland.
From the notes I have been favoured -with by the Right
Honourable the Earl of Enniskillen, I learn that in or about
the month of June this species appears in Donegal Bay in
enormous shoals, and is then eagerly sought after by fishermen.
Besides such as are used fresh, large quantities are then salted
and laid up in store.

Its habits are social so far as regards its own species, for
not only do they commonly keep together in companies, but
sometimes in the fine weather of summer they will assemble
together in large numbers, and mount to the surface over
deep water, with no other apparent object than the enjoyment
of the season; and when thus aloft they move along at a slow
pace, and rising and sinking in the water for short distances,
and uttering a short grunt, as if in self-gratification. Some-

28 GURNARD.

times, indeed, they appear as if asleep, so that they do not
display any sign of animation until an attempt is made to
lay hold of them. Biat their usual place is at the bottom,
where they devour shell-fish, crabs, and small fishes, like the
other Gurnards, and they take a bait so freely that multitudes
of them are sometimes taken together. They are perhaps as
excellent for the table as the Tubfish or Piper, but their
smaller size renders them less valued; and when other fish
are abundant I have known them sold for two shillings and
sixj^ence the hundredweight, and thirty for a penny. A
more usual price is three or four a penny, but, as conveyance
becomes more easy, a ready sale may be anticipated for what
forms a wholesome and palatable article of food. The roe
is deposited through the spring, at some moderate distance
from land.

In its general form this species resembles the others of its
genus, but more nearly the Elleck than the Tubfish or Piper,
being less elevated than the latter on the head and before
the dorsal fin. It does not often exceed a foot in length;
the snout projecting in a slope from the eyes, bifid toothed.
The mouth beneath, with a bed of teeth in the palate; teeth
also in the jaws. Gill-covers with radiated lines. Three
flattened triangular spines, as in the other species, but that
one above the pectoral fin usually less extended than the spine
of the gill-cover. A rough ridge along the back, enclosing
the dorsal fins, and another (not very conspicuous) along the
lateral line. In some examples the first rays of the first dorsal
fin are rough also, a circumstance which appears to have been
the cause of mistake, as if it were the mark of a separate
species. In colour this fish varies much, but always with a
tendency to grey, the ground of the back being a yellowish
green, with bright yellow spots, with the sides below the
lateral line pink or yellow; dorsal, pectoral, and caudal fins
dusky. The pectoral fins scarcely reach to the vent. The
skin is usually smeared with slime, which continues to be
poured from the pores long after death.

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29

BLOCH'S GURNARD.

The name of Bloch's Gurnard was given by Mr. Yarrell
to a species of Trigla, which himself appears never to have
had an opportunity of examining, but of which a figure was
published by Bloch, with the name of T. cuculus, or the Red
Gurnard; which figure JNIr. Yarrell has copied in his "History
of British Fishes," although with a significant difference (which
we shall have to notice) between that of his first and second
edition. There is now no doubt that the fish thus represented
by Bloch is not the same with the T. cuculus of Linnaeus; and
if Bloch has not fallen into an important error, there can be
no doubt that the species referred to is different from any
one that has been recognised as inhabiting the British seas.
The Trigla cuculus of Bloch is shown as having the first ray
of the spinous dorsal fin conspicuously higher than the
second, with also a wide dark patch on the border of this
fin, which Risso, in his description of what he believes the
same species, makes a portion of its specific character. It is
certain that in all the British species the contrary of this is
the case, as regards the relative length of the fin rays; nor can
we find in the figures given by Willoughby or other writers
a single instance in which the first ray of the spinous dorsal
fin overtops the second. After the publication of his first
edition, Mr. Yarrell appears to have had his suspicions
awakened on this point; and accordingly we find in the second
edition of his "British Fishes," that the length of this ray is
brought down to be even slightly lower than the second, although
no reason is given why this correction is made, and the
reference is still to Colonel Montagu's description, in the
want of an example from which to obtain it anew. Montagu
himself was too close an observer to have passed over without
notice such a remarkable circumstance of the superior length

30 block's gurnard.

of the first dorsal ray, if such had been the fact; and when
he adds the remark that many examples are taken in summer
on the coast of Devon in shore nets, we may safely venture
to conclude that he neither refers to the Red Gurnard of Bloch's
figure, nor to the scarce species we shall presently describe.
A similar observation will apply to Mr. Jenyns, and Mr.
Thompson, of Belfast. The last-named writer particularly
points out the discrepancies which occur in some writers as
regards this fish, and especially that one which concerns the
relative height of the spinous rays; which latter particular is
not referred to by Mr. Jenyns, although he mentions as an
important character the presence or absence of rough granu-
lations along the anterior border of the first two rays; a
circumstance which, as I have already noticed, is exceedingly
liable to vary in the species to which I suppose him to refer,
that is, our common EUeck, where it is sometimes conspicuous,
and at others entirely wanting.

Without seeking to dispel the cloud of obscurity which
thus rests upon the fish of Bloch, I will proceed to describe
a species which, if not the same, is nearly allied to it, and
beyond question different from all that have already passed
under our notice. A particular account of it (with a figure)
was first published in the "Zoologist" for the year 1846, from
which again the following particulars are for the most part
derived. It is to be added that I have seen two or three
examples, at a considerable distance of time from each other,
and that another is reported to me as having been taken in
the Mount's Bay.

The length of the example described was twenty-six inches,
and round the body, where thickest, the girth fifteen inches
and a half; the shape much like that of the Tubfish, ( T.
hirundo,) but from the eyes to the snout more lengthened and
pointed, consequently less abrupt; the head more roughly
marked with similar stellated lines, and more effectually
armed. The snout was deeply bifurcated, and each section
was formed of three roundish distinct teeth, in this respect
more closely resembling the Piper than the other British
species of Gurnard. From the snout to the centre of the
eye it measured four inches; summit of the head wide and
flat, in which it resembles the Tubfish in a particular in which

bloch's gurnard. si

it differs from the Elleck and Grey Gurnard. Under jaw
pointed, with a fleshy tubercle at the symphysis; the jaws
rough with beds of fine teeth. Cheek-plates and gill-covers
very rough and striated, more so than in the Tubfish or
Elleck; the usual spines being stouter, and that one on
the upper portion of the hinder gill-plate much longer
than in either of the two last-named fishes. The second
or middle gill-plate has also two well-developed bifid spines
on its lower part, the uppermost longest. The markings
of the gill-plates will further distinguish this fish from our
other species, the two first being striated, the hindmost
punctulated, the rovighness being as if dotted with a pin.
The ridge bordering the roots of the dorsal fins formed of
broad firm plates, which, when dried, appear marked with fine
teeth. Scales on the body thin, ciliated on their posterior
edge, and not arranged in regularly circular lines, as in the
Streaked Gurnard. Lateral line rough, and most rough pos-
teriorly, the roughness formed of small obtuse points; behind
the fins the body is round, with a depression in a line with
the margin of the tail. Pectoral fin five inches long, not
reaching to the vent, and less wide than in the Tubfish. The
longest finger less than four inches, the shortest two inches
and a half. The first ray of the spinous dorsal fin is shorter
than the three succeeding rays, the second much the longest
of all. The colour of the cheeks is a mixture of silvery,
yellow, and light green; iris of the eye white; the back a
dusky red, but (chiefly near the head) mixed with definite
curved lines of pea green; the sides yellow; belly silvery.
The pectorals were pale on the outer surface, dusky within,
with tints of blue on the edge. Dorsal and caudal fins pale
red; the ventral and anal white; the caudal with tints of
blue. This specimen weighed five pounds.

Fin rays first dorsal nine, second dorsal nineteen, pectoral
eleven, ventral fifteen, anal eighteen, caudal eighteen.

The fish above described agrees in all its essential characters
with the species of Trigla noticed by Cuvier, (Poissons, vol.
iv, p. 67,) under the name of T. cuculus, Bloch, from whose
description it differs only in the want of a dark spot on a
first dorsal fin, a circumstance which Cuvier himself allows to
be liable to variation. It is remarkable, however, that in his

32 block's gurnard.

description, which is very minute, Cuvier omits to take any
notice of the supposed peculiarity already referred to, of the
superior length of the first ray of the dorsal fin in Bloch's
figure, an apparent proof that he did not place confidence in
the truth of that remarkable particular.

The air-bladder, the shape and size of which offer satisfactory
marks of distinction in the different species of Gurnards, is in
this fish four inches in length and six inches in circumference,
divided in front into two lobes, which are conical, but one of
them larger than the other.

p

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LANTHORN GUENARD.

SHINING GURNARD. LONG-FINNED CAPTAIN.

Trigla lueerna, Linn^us. Parnell; Magazine of Zoology

and Botany, vol. i, p. 526.
" " Yarrell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 63.

" ohscura, Ouviek. Gunther; Catalogue of British

Museum, vol. ii, p. 210.
" milan, Lacepede. B,isso.

It appears that Linngeus at first called this fish Trigla ohscura,
but perhaps becoming aware of the improjjriety of a name
which seemed to contradict one of the supposed characteristics
of the species, he changed it for another which especially
refers to its supposed property of aiFording light, and which
is more particularly the parent of one at least of its English
denominations.

The Lanthorn Gurnard was first made known as inhabiting
the British seas by Dr. Parnell, who was at that time engaged
in studying the fishes of our country. He obtained several
examples from the trawls at Brixham, where it was well known
to fishermen under the name of the Long-finned Captain, from
the great elevation of the primary rays of the first dorsal fin;
but it had remained generally unknown from the little value
set on it on account of its small size and consequent unfitness
for the table. I have obtained it from Plymouth, but it does
not appear to be caught in any abundance, and its habits
prevent it from being taken by other means than by the
dredging operation of a trawl. I know no instance of its having
taken the hook.

This fish appears to be well known in the Mediterranean,
where, according to Lacepede and Risso, its manners are highly
VOL, IT. r

$4 LANTHORN GURNARD.

interesting. By both these writers it is believed to possess the
property of displaying a conspicuous light by night an opinion
as old at least as the days of Pliny, (B. ix, C. 43;) and Risso
supposes that this faculty is common to all the species of this
genus. The shining parts of this fish are supposed to be the
head and mouthy and so brilliant are they said to be, that,
according to Lacepede, when the fish darts through the water,
the appearance is like that of a shooting star. But until this
phenomenon has been subjected to further inquiry, we cannot
accept it as unquestionable, for appearances not unlike it have
been noticed in other fishes, that are capable of receiving a
different explanation, and Cuvier positively denies the existence
of this property in any species of this genus. It is a well-
known fact that there exist minute inhabitants of the ocean, of
a pulpy nature, which are almost invisible to the naked eye,
but which, when excited, are capable of giving out a brilliant
light, that, when widely spread, is known to fishermen and
sailors by the name of briming. It occurs in almost every
region of the globe, except the very cold, and with us is
most abundantly noticed in the summer and autumn. These
little animals, which are transparent in their own substance,
are in the habit of attaching themselves to any body with
which they come in contact, and when thus situated they
display their brilliant light so much the more freely from
the activity put forth by the substance or animal on which
they are fixed. There are instances known, in which animals
of the ocean, of several sorts, have been supposed to afford a
conspicuous light, when the real cause has been no other
than an excited molluscous creature attached to its surface,
and such is probably the case as regards the Lanthorn
Gurnard. We learn also from Lacepede that these fishes swim
in companies, and when pursued by an enemy, that they spring
into the air for escape. It is probably for this reason, that,
among its other names, this fish was called the Milan and
Milvus, or the Kite.

The Lanthorn Gurnard scarcely reaches a foot in length,
and is more slender than several others of this genus, in this
respect approaching more nearly to the form of the Grey or
Common Gurnard, but with still less elevation of the head.
The eye is moderately large, and from it the head slopes

LANTHORN GURNARD. 35

gradually to tlie snout, which is armed with two protruded
spines. The usual spines on the gill-covers are but little
developed. The line of spines along each side of the roots
of the dorsal fins is not well marked; but on each side of
the body from the upper part of the gill-covers to the tail
runs a broad line, formed of plates, the longest diameter
of which is perpendicular to the length of the fish. Authors
have described the lateral line as double, and Linnaeus notices
this circumstance in the specific character of this fish; but
nothing like this appears on examination, and Dr. Parnell, who
describes the fish minutely, says nothing of it. In my specimen
the ventral fins are a little longer than the pectoral; but a
remarkable character is the great extension of the second ray
of the first dorsal fin, which is nearly twice as long as the
first ray. The colour of this fish is red, paler below, but in
our example the colour has faded.

We copy Dr. Parnell's enumeration of the fin rays: First
dorsal nine, second dorsal seventeen, pectoral twelve, anal
eighteen, ventral six, caudal nine.

36

LITTLE GURNARD.

Trigla poeciloptera, Yareell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 49.

" " Thompson; Nat. Hist, of Ireland, vol. iv, p. 79.

" " Gunthee; Cat. Br. Museum, vol. ii, p. 203.

This, the smallest species of all the British Gurnards, appears
to have been generally overlooked, from the supposition that
it was no other than an early stage of the growth of the
Common Grey Gurnard. It was first made known as an
inhabitant of the British Islands by Mr. William Thompson,
of Belfast, whose account of it we extract, as comprising
almost the whole of what is known concerning it.

"In the Zoological Proceedings for 18.37, I published the
following notice of an Irish specimen of this fish, the first
procured in the British Islands.

Triyla pcBciloptera, Cuvier and Valenciennes. Little Gurnard.
Amongst the number of fishes submitted to my examination
by Mr. Bell, is a Gurnard, apparently of this species, which
was taken at Youghal, I believe along with sprats, early in
the summer of 1835. In form it agrees in every character
by which the T. pceciloptcra is said to be distinguished. Judging
from its present appearance, I have little doubt that when
recent it would in colour also have corresponded. Its length
is two inches. Fin rays dorsal ten, (last extremely short,)
fifteen; pectoral ten, (three free;) ventral five; anal fifteen;
caudal fifteen. Second dorsal ray longest; twenty-five dorsal
spines; caudal fin a little forked; lateral line spinous. Thence
to the dorsal fin, and to an equal distance below the line,
rough with spinous scales, (this is not mentioned by Cuvier
and Valenciennes;) lower portion of the sides smooth. With
the T. aspcra, Viviana, as described in the last-quoted work,
and Avhich in length is stated, like the T. pceciloptera, to be

LITTLE GURNARD. 37

about four inches, the present specimen agrees in many respects^
but chiefly differs in the profile being less vertical, in the
anterior lobes of the snout, and in the negative character of
wanting a deep transverse hollow behind the posterior orbital
spine; nor with the highest power of a lens can any of the
anterior dorsal spines be distinguished as toothed, nor the first
and second rays of the dorsal fin as serrated, both of which
characters are attributed to T. aspera.

Since the above was written I have had an opportunity of
comparing the Trigla here treated of with two specimens of
T. aspera, one three inches and a half, the other four and a
half long, which are part of a collection of fishes sent from
Corfu by Robert Templeton, Esq. This comparison served
strongly to confirm everything above stated. The T. pceciloptera
had previously been obtained only at Dieppe, where it was
discovered by M. Valenciennes." William Thompson, Esq., of
Weymouth, informs me that this fish is also taken in the
trawls at that town, and sometimes in considerable numbers.

Examples nearly answering to the foregoing account have
also come under my notice at Falmouth and from the Bristol
Channel, from the latter of which the following description is
derived: The example scarcely exceeded an inch in length;
the head large; eyes elevated; top of the head rather flattened;
in the middle of the ascent from the snout to the eye are
spines, bent upward; separate tubercles near the snout; short
spines in front of and above the eye. Towards the neck at
the middle a pair, not close together; another pair behind
them, even with the first ray of the first dorsal; and again on
a line with the eye, just above the pectorals, a sharp spine;
another on the posterior gill-cover. A blunter j^air on the
angle of the jaw, a little before the ventral fins. A long
prominent line of sharp points borders the dorsal fins. First
dorsal high, close behind the head; second dorsal but little
separate from the first. The colour of this example, preserved
in spirits, was a dull green.

38

PERISTIDION.

"With the general form of the Gurnards the snout is much more
lengthened; the hody completely covered with plates, which are
arranged in ridges lengthwise. The separate processes are only two,
one on each side.

ARMED GURNARD.

MAILED GURNARD. MALARMAT.

Lyra altera Bondelefli,
Tritjla catapliracta,
Peristedion malarmat,

Peristellus cata^phr actum,

WiLLOUGHBY; p. 283, Tab. S. 3.
LiNN.EUS.

Lacepede. Risso. Cuvier.

Loudon's Magazine of Natural History,

New Series, vol. i, p. 17.
Tarrell; British Fishes, vol. i, p. 67.
GuNTHER; Cat. Br. Museum, vol. ii, p. 217.

It appears that the Armed Gurnard is not rare in the
Mediterranean, where, as we are informed by Risso, its haunts
are chiefly in deep water, but that it comes within reach to
be caught at the equinoxes. It seems, however, to be a local
species, for Willoughby did not find it at Venice during a
residence of four months, nor at Genoa beyond a single example;
but in the markets of Rome it was of frequent occurrence.
It is a rare visitant to Britain, and hitherto has been taken
only on the coast of Cornwall. It was first announced as
British by Dr. Edward Moore, of Plymouth, from an example
taken with a trawl in the neighbourhood of the Eddystone;
and since then I have been informed by Mr. Peach of two
that were caught by a boat off" Gorran, where that gentleman
at that time resided. A fourth has come to my hands from

p
<

(13 I

X

& ><
I 1

R

ARMED GURNAKD. 39

Mr. Richard Quiller CoucK, of Penzance, from which our figure
has been taken.

It is described by Risso as a solitary species, that is very
active in its movements, and often rises high in the water,
which it is able to accomplish the better through the help of
an air-bladder of more than ordinary size. But when at the
bottom, its restless motion, by driving it against rocks and
stones, causes the breaking off of one or both of the projecting
processes of the snout. Its food is molluscous animals, worms,
and sea-weeds.

The length of this fish is about a foot, but in the Medi-
terranean it is said to grow to double that size. Dr. Moore's
example measured eleven-- inches, of which the bifid snout
projected to the extent of an inch, but in my own specimen
the length of the snout was greater than this. The eye is
oval, high on the side of the head, with the slope thence to
to the root of the bifurcation of the snout gradual, and made
rough by several pointed tubercles. The eyes stand apart,
with a formidable border of spines above them; a serrated
spine behind each eye, and a broader one, irregularly triangular,
on the gill-covers; a third below, with a ridge, which appears
like a lateral continuance of each branch of the snout. These
spines and the cheek-plates rough with granular elevations.
The line of the mouth circular; jaws without teeth; several
filaments hang from the chin. The body is shaped into an
octangular form by a series of plates having a sharply-raised
edge in the middle, by which means the octangular lines
become toothed like a saw. The uppermost row of these lines
forms on each side a border to the roots of the dorsal fins,
and begins close to the head; and three of these ridges throw
out a slender bony process as a guard to the root of the tail.
In Dr. Moore's figure the dorsal fins are united, and the first
ray is the longest; the fin gradually sloping backward to near
the tail, which latter organ is concave, as in that of Mr.
Yarrell, with (in Dr. Moore's fish) the rays projecting beyond
the membrane.

This last-named circumstance, however, is to be ascribed to
the rough usage sustained by all fishes caught in a trawl, as
was probably the case also with Mr. Yarrell's example, in
which the first dorsal fin is represented low, with the rays

40

ARMED GURNARD.

projecting far beyond the membrane. In the specimen from
wliich our figure was taken, the tail was round, with the rays
contained within the border of the membrane. The first dorsal
also was distinct from the second, with the third rays longer than
the second, and much longer than the first, the membrane
extending from close to the top of each to the next succeeding.
The second dorsal rises close to the first, and ends at some
distance from the tail; the rays moderately high. The anal
fin ends nearer the tail than does the second dorsal. The
pectorals reach a little beyond the vent. The two separate
fingers are placed as in the true Gurnards.

The colour of this fish is red, (that described by Dr. JSIoore
was scarlet,) softening into pale flesh-colour below; the anal
and dorsal fins crimson: other fins pale and inclined to grey.

Head of Armed Gurnard.

o

o

Oj

X

41

ASPIDOPTTORUS.

The body covered with angular plates; the pectoral fins simple,
(without separate fingers.) Two dorsal fins, distant from the tail;
ventrals small.

POGGE.

ARMED BULLHEAD. LYRIE. SEA POACHER. NOBLE.

Cataphractus,

Coitus Catafphradus,

(S it

Asfidnplwre arme,
Cuttus Schoneveldii,
Asindopliorus Eiiropoeus,

" Cataj)liractus,

Agonus Catapliractus,

JoNSTON; quoting Schoneveld, who was

the first to describe it.
WiLLOUGHBY; p. 211, Tab. N. 6.
LinnjEus. Block; pi. 39.
Donovan; pi. 16.
Lacepede.

Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 216.
CuviER.

Jenyns; Manual, p. 346.
Yakrell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 85.
Guntuer; Catalogue Br. Museum,

vol. ii, p. 211.

This fish is found to abound most in the German Ocean;
but it is not uncommon along the shores of the British Islands;
where it is sometimes taken in harbours or near the mouths
of rivers, but occasionally at several miles from land, and at a
depth of several fathoms; where it keeps near the bottom, and
feeds on worms and the smaller crustaceous animals. I have
not heard of its taking a bait; one reason of which may be
the small size of its movith, that will not admit of a hook of
the size commonly used in the places it frequents, which are
stony or rough ground that is free from rocks. It is therefore
for the most part obtained only by nets, the dredge, or trawl.
The Rev. Walter Gregor, of Macduff, informs me that he has
found it in the tide pools near that place, and also that he
VOL. II. G

42 POGOE.

has taken it from the stomach of a haddock caught at five
miles from land. The time of spawning is said to be in spring.

They are reported to form an estimable dish; but the Pogge
is of too small a size, and perhaps too scarce, to be entitled
to much regard as food with us.

It grows to the length of from four to six inches; the general
form angular, from the rows of tubercles produced by the plates
with which the body is covered. The head is wide, flattened,
spreading towards the cheek, and becoming narrower towards
the snout, which ends in two upright forked spines. The eyes
moderately large, separate; mouth under the snout, narrow;
teeth small, numerous; tongue large. The whole head well
defended, covered with a crust; a strong, blunt spine runs
backward from behind each eye; two others on the gill-covers;
obscure twisted spines above, near the angle of the mouth.
Under the throat numerous slender filaments, and a few also
under the snout. Behind the head the back rises high and
wide, and from the first rays of the dorsal fins it slopes to the
end of the second dorsal; from whence it proceeds more slender
and even to the origin of the tail. From the top of the head
run two prominent ridges, which join behind the second dorsal
fin, and from thence pass less prominently to the tail. On the
side, opposite the middle of the first dorsal, another ridge begins;
and below this two stronger ones, close to the pectoral fin. The
first of these runs to the tail, and the lowermost encompasses
its side of the belly, to join the corresponding ridge of the
other side behind the anal fin; from whence it runs to the tail.
Lateral line bent, the whole formed of strong closely united
plates, of which there are twenty-nine in the most prominent
ridge. Dorsal fins two, near each other, and about the middle
of the body; standing in a depression between the two upper-
most ridges; the first rays of the first dorsal longest. The anal
fin ends at about the termination of the second dorsal. Pectorals
large; ventral fins small and slender; tail round; all the rays
of fins extending beyond the membrane. The vent far forward
from the anal fin. The colour varies much sometimes dusky;
at others with a ground of pale pink or red, and separate
bands of brown or dark; with bands also on the pectoral and
dorsals; the tail bordered with red; filaments under the throat
white.

p3

>

p3
H

CD

X

49

TRACHTNUS.

The head compressed; eyes high, and close together; angle of the
mouth depressed, the lower jaw closing a little over it; a long sharp
spine on the hinder part of the gill-cover. Two dorsal fins: the first
short, with firm sharp rays; second dorsal and anal long. Ventral fins
close to the throat, and thus arranged as jugular fishes by Linnaeus.

GREATER WEEVER.

STTNG-OULL. CATFISH.

Draco minor araneus, Jonston; Tab. 21, f. 3.

" sive araneus, {Weever,) Willougiiby; p. 288, Tab. S. 10.

Trachinvs draco, Linn^us. Ouvier.

" " Jenyns; Manual, p. 335.

" " Yakrell ; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 24.

" vive, Lacepede. Eisso; p. 108.

" " Donovan ; pi. 107.

" major, Fleming; British Animals, p. 214.

" " GuNTHER; Cat. Br. M., vol. ii, p. 233.

The several genera of fishes whicli are distinguished by
having their cheeks armed and defended with a crusty covering,
or their heads with strong projecting spines to which our
attention has been directed hitherto appear to be more for-
midable in appearance than in reality, the bristling arrangement
of their weapons being only adapted to defence against attack,
without the power of inflicting injury on such of their fellow
inhabitants of the deep as do not molest them. Very different
is the case with the fishes of the genus Trachinus, which,
without the same means of defence as the Gurnards, by being
furnished with a pair of piercing spines, and the skill to use
them as instruments of attack, have from an early date obtained
for themselves a formidable reputation under the names of
Spiders and Sea Dragons.

Pliny uses both these names, but, as it appears, with the

44 GREATER WEEVER.

understanding that they belonged to two separate, althongli
kindred species; both of which are now recognised as being
found in the Mediterranean, although, until of late, they had
since his time been confounded together. Conscious of the
presence of the long and piercing spines with which the,
superior portion of their gill-covers are armed, they scarcely
wait to see the near approach of danger. The apprehension
of it is enough to call them into action; and with a dread
of what may follow, if we may credit the poet Oppian, the
fishes which happen to be near give way, and suffer them to
march along without attempting to obtrude upon their course;

"Weevers, whose marcTi the timoroiis shoals obey,
Divide their ranks, and humbly give the way."

B. 2

Their usual haunts are near the bottom on sandy ground,
commonly at no great distance from the land; but I have
known this fish taken in a floating net over thirty-five fathoms
of water, and when several have been thus caught, it has
always been in the early morning cast of the nets, as if they
thus mounted aloft only in the darkness of the night. A fish-
erman expressed to me his belief that he had even seen this
fish spring above the surfc\ce. Its more familiar habit, however,
appears to be to conceal itself in the sand, where its variegated
colour on all the parts exposed must prevent it from being
readily discovered. A particular organization of the blood-
vessels of the tail appears to provide for the development of
organic sensibility in that organ, for the purpose of enabling
the fish to excavate a place and cover itself oyer; as I have
noticed also in some other fishes that are possessed of a similar
faculty of hiding themselves, of which the Launce and generally
the flat-fishes ( Pleuronectidce ) are instances. In this position,
the head only of the Weever appears above the sand, but the
fish is ready to spring up on the slightest notice, and to
move away with great celerity. In this situation of concealment
it may chance to be left uncovered by the ebbing tide; but
it is highly retentive of life, even when caught with a net or
line, and therefore it suflfers nothing by being left thus exposed;
and I have been informed of an instance where a dog, by

''TIEATER WEEVER. 45

its pawing in the sand, shewed its sense of some unwonted
object that was concealed below, which, when discovered by
digging, inflicted a blow on two persons who endeavoured to
grasp it, to their no small surprise and pain.
, The precision and skill with which the formidable spine of
the neck is thus directed to an object of fear that shall touch
it or approach too closely are indeed surprising, so that by a
sudden and rapid impulse it will inflict a wound if even the
touch is confined to the tail, and that too without any injury
to itself; and formidable indeed is the effect produced by the
puncture. It is certain that no exudation or discharge of a
poisonous fluid proceeds from this projecting spine; but it is
equally certain that the pain which instantly follows the puncture
is severe, and there are instances where within a few minutes
this pain has extended from the hand as high as the shoulder.
On one occasion, when a fisherman had laid hold of a Weever
which he had taken on a line, the sudden plunge of the
piercing instrument instantly compelled him to drop his prize;
and when, ignorant of the danger, it was grasped successively
by two other persons, so great was the agony felt by all of
them, that they were compelled to leave their fishing, and
proceed to land in order to procure relief; which, however,
was readily obtained by means of smart friction with the sand
of the shore. Nor has the frequency of instances of this
accident been lost upon fishermen, who, in consequence, are
usually careful to avoid the risk to which the incautious
meddlings with this fish would expose them. And the danger is
not wholly removed after the W^eever is dead; and we are
told that on this account, in some places it is provided by law
that this formidable dart shall be removed before its bearer
is oflfered for sale in the market. The spines of the dorsal
fin have also been an object of dread, and there is no doubt
that a puncture from them might be followed by unpleasant
consequences, such as are known sometimes to be produced
by those of other fishes that are similarly furnished; but in
these cases the wound is only accidental, and the fish does
not employ them for any purpose of injury or defence.

Various were the remedies employed in ancient times to
remove the pain, and cure the supposed ill consequences that
might arise from a puncture by the spine of this fish; and

4t) GREATER WEEVEK.

several of them were not a little absurd, althougli prescribed
by eminent physicians, Paulus ^gineta gives an enumeration
of these remedies; but Pliny and Dioscorides are content with
the body of the fish itself, to be cut open and applied to the
wound. If conveniently to be obtained, it is probable that
friction with olive oil, in which a little camphor and tincture
of opium are diffused, would be effectual; but if left to itself
it is said that the pain will subside spontaneously in twelve
hours, which space of time was supposed to be connected with
the duration of the ebb and flowing of the tide.

This species has a wide range of distribution, and is found,
not only in the Mediterranean, but on the coast of Africa,
as far as the Cape of Good Hope. In our own islands it is
most abundant in the West of England and Ireland, and is
caught most frequently in summer and autumn; but it has
been found also in the German Ocean, and the farthest north
of Scotland, but has not been recognised on the north coast
of Ireland. As food it is not thought of with us, but it is
described by French writers as of superior delicacy. It seems
probable that the spawn is shed at the beginning of summer.
A young example, measuring only three fourths of an inch in
length, taken in a drift-net in the month of August, was of
interest as displaying the order and degree of development of
its parts at that early stage of its existence. The long and
sharp spine on the hindward part of the neck had not come
through the skin, but as the skin became dry the ridge formed
by it could be seen. The bony structure before the eye was
visible, but not prominent. The colour had begun on the
anterior portion of the body only, and a large part of the
sides, belly, and tail remained transparent. The top of the
head and neck possessed colour, with dots of fine star-like
spots; more slightly coloured along the back with some
transverse bands, which are more faint backward, and none
appear near the tail. The lower half of the pectoral fins have
colour, but the upper portion are without it. Two or three
rays on the inner portion of the ventral fins are black. It
takes a bait, and I have found shrimps and small fishes in
its stomach. From one example I took two Gobies and a
Launce: from another a Squid, f Loligo media,) five inches in
length.

GREATER WEEVER. 47

The general form is long, narrow, and compressed, the
example described measuring ten inches and three fourths in
length, with a breadth (where widest) of one inch and five

eighths. The head short, compressed, flat between the eyes,
and rough on the summit; eyes on the fore part, high, with
some short spines above them; nostrils single, near the eye,
with a firm margin, terminated above and below by a small
spine, the uppermost directed upward, the lower near the
mouth, and inclining downward. Angle of the mouth depressed,
under jaw projecting, numerous teeth in both jaws; tongue
large. The hindmost gill-cover lengthened posteriorly, and
furnished with a long and sharp spine, which is directed
backward. The lateral line rises a little at first, passes along
nearer the back, and sinks suddenly near the tail: two plates
with rough edges at its origin. The belly short, the vent
being less than five inches from the front. Scales on the
gill-covers and body. Dorsal fins seated in a furrow; first
dorsal short, beginning rather before the root of the pectoral,
the second beginning close to the first, and reaching within
a short distance of the tail. Pectorals low, wide, near the
ventrals; the last-named fins close together, under the throat;
tail a little incurved. Colour yellowish brown on the back,
light purple below the eye; on the gill-covers yellow, with
sometimes light blue stripes. The body covered with narrow,
regular, intermingled brown and yellow lines, which run
obliquely from the back below, and become lighter before
they disappear. The fin rays generally extend beyond the
membrane; the first dorsal black or deep brown, the second
and the tail sometimes striped or mottled with yellow and
brown.

Fin rays first dorsal six, second dorsal thirty-one, pectoral
sixteen, ventral five, and caudal thirty-one. A Weever was
obtained from a trawl, with a remarkable deficiency in the
second dorsal fin, which failed at about the third posterior
portion of its length for the space of an inch and a half.
There was no mark of a fin or its rays at that part, and the
intermediate bones, which stand between the fin rays and the
spinous processes of the vertebrae, were wanting; so that the
fish in fact possessed three dorsal fins.

43

VIPER WEEVER.

Little Weever, OtterpiJce,

(( a ((

Trachinus vi^era,

it

E.AY; Synopsis Piscium, p. 92,
Donovan ; pi. 23.

CuviER. Jenyns; Manual, p. 336.
Yakkell; Br. Fislies, vol. i, p. 29.
GuNTHER; Cat. Br. M., vol. ii, p. 236.

The reference we make to Ray's "Synopsis," which might
be associated with another to Willoughby's "History of Fishes,"
affords no exception to the remark that this species was not
kziown to naturalists until the early part of the present century;
for before that time it was generally confounded with the
Greater Weever, already described, both as regards its form
and habits. The Viper Weever, however, is common on most
of the shores of Britain and Ireland, and in some parts is
more common than the larger species. This is particularly the
case in Scotland and the northern portions of the United
Kingdom, which perhaps may be ascribed to the nature of
the ground, as fitted to its habits, as much as to the cooler
condition of the water. It is even more accustomed to hide
its body in the sand than the former, and is quick to inflict
its sting on the feet of such as may tread on it when thus
concealed. It is also ready to give battle to those who may
entangle it in a net or take it on a line, which Mr. Thompson
reports as not uncommon at Youghal by boys fishing at the
quays. I have known it taken in a harbour where salt and
fresh water met together, with a preponderancy of the former.

This fish rarely exceeds the length of four or five inches,
and is proportionally deeper in the body than the Greater
Weever, the greatest depth being immediately below the first
dorsal fin. The front of the head appears less visibly armed
than in the kindred species, but the principal spine on the

*ili!iil;;.r"

03
>

VIPER WEEVER. 49

gill-cover is not less formidable, when an allowance is made
for the smaller size of the fish. The lines exist which cor-
respond with those which adorn the body of the Greater
Weever, but they are more faintly marked, and not so numerous.
The fins are much alike, except that the first dorsal seems
shorter, and the tail is not concave, but a little rounded. The
colour is mottled, on a ground of yellowish brown, with some
cross bars on the head and beginning of the back.

VOL. II. U

50

UMBRTXA.

CtrviER remarks, that in external characters, the family of which
the genus Uinhrina forms a part, displays but little difference from
that of the Perches, among which fishes a portion of them have
been arranged by some authors. Nor are the distinctions easily made,
although they have been sufficiently well marked to influence the
decision of Cuvier himself, as well as of other leading naturalists;
whose arrangement we follow the more readily as the species of these
scienoid fishes which are so called from Scuena, another of the
genera belonging to this family that wander to our coast, are but few,
and of uncertain and rare occurrence.

The fishes of the genus Umhrina have the body compressed and
somewhat lengthened; the upper jaw overtopping the lower, furnished
with fine teeth, with none on the palate. The head covered with
small scales, the body with scales of larger size. Cheeks without
plates, but the covers moderately armed and serrated. Two dorsal
fins; a short and thick barb beneath the lower jaw. This genus
ranks with the thoracic fishes of Linnteus.

UMBEINA.

Umhra, Gesnee's Nomenclator Piscium, p. 53.

Scicena or Umhra, Jonston. He adds the Glaucus, of Belon.

Umhrino, Willoughby ; p. 299, Tab. S. 21.

Scicena cirrhosa, Linnaeus.
Umhrina cirrhosa, and

vulgaris, Cuvier. Tarrell; British Fishes, vol. i,

p. 109.

Perseque umhre, Lacepede. Rtsso. Jenyns; Man., p. 353.

" " Gunther; Cat. Br. M., vol. ii, p. 274

This fish is well known through the whole length of the
Mediterranean, and from the coast of Spain is met with so far
south as the West Indies; but it seems to avoid colder climates,
and has only once been recognised in the British islands. In
the Minutes of the Proceedings of the Linnaean Society for
1827, November 20th., (vol. xvi,) a letter was read from John
Cress well, Esq., F.L.S., giving the information that a fish

<

s >

oi X
X

p

UMUKINA. 51

unlcnown to the oldest fishermen had been taken in the Elver
Exe, weighing one hundredweight, and proving indentical with
that known at Gibraltar by the Spanish name of Umbrina,
{Scicsna cirrJiosa, Linnaeus;) but a particular description of
this example does not appear to have been published or
taken. For its habits, therefore, as also for a figure, we are
compelled to have recourse to writers who have possessed
better opportunities of observing it than ourselves have been
so fortunate as to meet with.

It was well known to the ancients, who appear to have
been more observant of its habits than the moderns, for the
latter have often confounded it with other fishes; and by the
former it obtained the name still applied to it, and which
signifies a shade, whether because of the shadowy tints it
sometimes bears, or from the dusky colour it sometimes
assumes; on which account Ovid describes it as Corporis
umbra livejitis. But the Umbra of Ovid must be distinguished
from a fish of the same name mentioned by Ausonius, and
which inhabits fresh water, in fact the Grayling, which, says
Izaac Walton, was called Umber from his swift swimming or
gliding out of sight, more like a shadow (which the word
umbra signifies) or a ghost than a fish.

According to Pliny and others, copying Aristotle, the Umbrina
was supposed to be quick of hearing, and also sensible to
cold, which the first-named philosopher believed to be pro-
perties that belonged to all fishes which were in possession of
ear-bones: a supposition, however, which does not appear to
be universally correct. If we may trust Oppian, an occasional
method of taking it would shew it to be possessed of a low
amount of intelligence, for he represents them as falling an
easy prey to the diver, and only defended by the erected
spines of what we must suppose their dorsal fins, from the
formidable nature of which Ovid terms the Umbra the Horrid
Fish.

"The Shade Fisli swift with conscious fear implores
The kind protection of his native shores;
Some hollow cave or sea-green weed he seeks,
Delves in the slime, or nuzzles in the creeks.
But studious only to conceal his eyes,
Careless of other parts, exposed he lies,
IiTational! and hugs th' assuming pride,
To think he gives the night to all beside.

52

UMBKTNA.

The fish, in careless ease supinely laid.

The diver's grasping fingers swift invade;

Up from the deep he springs, and shews his prey,

Torn from his cave to gasp his life away."

Oppian. B. 4.

According to Columella it was one of the fishes that was
kept in their salt-water ponds by the Romans.

It is with the intention of furnishing observers with means
by which they may be able to decide on the presence of this
fish, if it shall be found again to visit our coasts, that we
borrow our description, with a figure, from Willoughby, whose
observations were obtained from the examination of recent
examples in the Mediterranean. The specimens he met with
did not exceed the usual size of a Carp, to the general
form of which he supposes it to bear a likeness; but Belon
described it as attaining the weight of sixty pounds, and a
length of five or six feet. We see above that the English
example was heavier even than this. The shape is somewhat
compressed, narrow at the back, and rising higher behind the
head, but growing more slender behind. The lateral line runs
along the middle of the side, but is bent near its origin
and termination. The scales of the body are of good size,
with incised edge:., but on the head they are small, and
extend over the gill-covers and to the mouth. The middle
border of the gill-cover is serrated; (Lacepede says there is a
spine on the hindmost gill-cover.) The under jaw short; gape
moderate; teeth very fine and slender. The barb on the under
jaw is so short as by Rondeletius to be termed a wart. The
dorsal fins two, very close together; tail straight or slightly
curved. The general colour yellow; the sides beautifully
adorned with circles or curved lines, in their course turning
towards the head, their colour leaden and pale yellow inter-
changeably: (in some instances a fine blue, becoming white
lower down; a black spot on the border of the gill-cover;
pectorals, ventrals, and tail dark; anal reddish; dorsals brown,
with two longitudinal white bands on the first dorsal.)

There is some confusion in the writings of Willoughby and
Ray in their accounts of this and kindred fishes; but there
does not appear any reason to doubt that the species described
by Willoughby at page oOO, under the name of Umbrino, is
the same with his Umbra as referred to above, but which he

UMBRINA. 63

seems to confound with the true Scirena or Maigre, the latter
not being otherwise mentioned in his work. He describes it
as having a pointed snout and large mouth; the teeth rough
in the jaws, but none in the palate. Nostrils wide; on the
lower jaw five pores, and eight on the upper. From the head
to the dorsal fin a beautiful light blue, with lines or streaks
from the middle of the back obliquely forward, and alternately
dusky and pale blue, growing paler in their descent. Fin
rays of the tail yellow, becoming black near the end, the
lowermost altogether black; ventral fins as if dipped in ink.

Fin rays first dorsal nine or ten, second dorsal twenty-three,
pectoral fifteen, ventral six, of which the first is a spine, anal
eight, the first also spinous.

54

This genus differs from Umhrina in having the jaws equal, and
the lower jaw without a barb. Spines of the anal fin weak.

It may seem unnecessary to divide these fishes, so very like each
other, into separate genera, especially on grounds which appear to be
so slight and indistinct. But it should be considered that in the
warmer portions of the ocean, the species in both of them, as well
as of other genera of this family of which no examples have been
known on our coasts, are numerous, and that therefore it suits the
convenience of naturalists to have them divided into acknowledged
groups, although the characters on which such a divisiou is founded
would under other circumstances be deemed insufficient.

SCIiENA.

SHADE FISH. MAIGRE.

LinNjEtjs. Cuvier; Animal Kingdom, but

S. aquila in his History of Fishes.
Lacepede. Risso.
Fleming; British Animals, p. 213.
Jenyns; Manual, p. 352.
Yarrell; British Fishes, vol. i, p. 104.
GuNXHEK; Cat. Br. M., vol. ii, p. 291.

In our account of the Umbrina we have hinted at the
confusion which exists, especially in the writings of the more
modern naturalists with regard to that fish in connection with
the Sciaena, as well as in reference to others nearly related,
or to themselves in different stages of their growth. There can
be little doubt that one source of this confusion is to be found in
the similarity of the names applied to these fishes, for although
Umbra and Scisena have a difference of sound, they possess
a similarity of meaning; and when a distinction of meaning
is applied to them, the difference has been made to apply to
the stages of their age and growth, rather than to the natural

ScicBua

umlra,

Sciene

umbre,

SrAcena

aquila,

tt

a

f(

M

((

li *

^ >

SCT^NA. 55

distinction of the fishes. Rondeletius informs us that the
fishmongers of Rome were of opinion that the fish known by
the name of Coracinus was a smaller size of the species which
they termed the Umbra, and that the fish Latus was the same
when it had reached its largest growth. Gesner, after quoting
this authority, goes on to say that the Umbrina, of which he
has given a characteristic figure, is the same with that to
which the French have assigned the name of Maigre, and in
this he is supported by the opinion of Lacepede, and which
name he supposes it to bear from the pale appearance of its
flesh, as if it were emaciated and bloodless. The Peis Rei or
Royal Fish he supposes to be the same with the Latus,
which he regards as not to be distinguished from the Umbra
and Coracinus, although he had said before that the Umbra
was furnished with a wart or tubercle on the chin, which the
Coracinus and Latus did not possess. This author also refers
to Rondeletius as assigning to the Umbra its characteristic
marks of oblique lines of golden and darker colour, which
are said not to belong to the Coracinus and Latus; and
there is no less a confounding of truth and error in the
writings of Willoughby and Ray as regards these fishes, of
which even Risso is not clear.

It is by having recourse to the work of Lacepede, that
we are the more effectually assisted to find our way out of
this confusion, and to enable an observer to decide upon the
distinction of these fishes when again found wandering to our
shores. It is to be desired, however, that to avoid further
confusion, the name of Maigre ought not to have place among
the English names, for assuredly such a denomination must
be inappropriate for a fish that is generally robust, and adorned
with such resplendent colours as will not fail to attract the
admiration of an observer. As definite marks of difference
between this species and the Umbra, besides those diagonal
lines or shades which ornament the sides of the latter when
in its highest beauty, in the former the jaws are of equal
length, and without a tubercle or barb at the chin. Serrations
on the foremost of the gill-covers will usually be less distinct
in age, and they not unfrequently vanish in such a degree
as to shew how little we can depend on them for distinction
of this species when fully grown; but in its early growth,

56 SCIJENA.

according to Lacepede, the Sciaena is marked with the posterior
spine, without the serrations.

This fish not unfrequently comes to our waters in the summer
and autumn, and sometimes in no inconsiderable numbers.
Its great beauty of colour and boldness cause it to be much
noticed by fishermen, and from them, in difi^erent seasons, I
have obtained some interesting information as regards its
habits. For a few years in succession, from 1849, they
attended on the boats that were engaged in the Pilchard
fishery on the south coast of Cornwall; and although they
never attempted to take fishes from the floating nets, the
eager Scitena would dart greedily after any that fell out of
them or were thrown to it, and in so doing its appetite could
scarcely be satisfied. It would approach close to the boat for
food; and this fearlessness it was that afforded observers the
opportunity of discerning the form, size, and colours of these
fishes; and by these means, compared with former opportunities
of examination more at leisure, I was enabled to form a
definite opinion of their identity. But the endeavours made
to catch them proved for the most part unsuccessful, for their
strength M^as in proportion to their swiftness and size, so that
the best lines were snapped asunder with apparent ease, and
they escaped capture, although perhaps they carried away
their death with them in the several hooks of the fishermen.
I have had an opportunity of examining two examples of
this species as they came fresh from the water, and thus had
an opportunity of making notes of their colour, Avhich was
alike in both instances; but a third which came under my
notice in London, in company with my friend Mr. Yarrell,
was without all this splendour of tints, so that the fish would
scarcely have been recognised except by close examination.
A specimen also which is described by Professor Nilsson, in
SAveden, was also much plainer in colours, as we shall presently
see, and thereby seems to afi^ord a proof that a change of
water or season will materially modify the appearance, as we
know to be the case indeed with many other fishes.

It appears that when these fishes come to our neighbourhood
it is in scattered companies, and that then their wanderings
are not confined within narrow bounds. Mr. Thompson, of
Weymouth, had noticed the occurrence of at least a single

SCT^NA. 57

one in that neighbourhood in one of the years above referred
to; and Professor Nilsson records it as having been once
taken on the coast of Sweden, which was in December, 1852,
and so much later than it was seen in the British Channel,
although in the same season. Long before this also an example
is mentioned by Dr. Fleming, as having been taken so far
north as the islands of Zetland. Little is known of the dis-
tinctive history of the Sciaena, beyond its fearless character
and occasional propensity to wander, with eagerness in swallowing
its food. For the table it is greatly valued, and in ancient
times was more so even than at present; so that in Rome,
even before the time of its highest luxury, the head and
neighbouring parts were reserved for people of the greatest
distinction.

The example described was one of two caught by fishermen
of Polperro in the month of October; its length five feet, and
weight fifty-eight pounds. The form is not much unlike that
of the Bass, but rather more bulky; head rather short; the
body moderately compressed, becoming more slender towards
the tail. Head and body covered with scales, those of the
body large, one of the latter that was separated measuring an
inch and a quarter in breadth. The jaws equal; teeth fine,
those in front shorter, and with an interruption at the symphysis
of the jaw; eye moderately large; lateral line with a small
curve - in its progress. Dorsal fins two, the first with spinous
rays, the second longer and lower; anal fin short; the tail
even. Colour behind the head a sparkling green; back a
bright copper; belly bright silvery; a fleshy gland-like substance
at the root of the pectoral fin a fine brown. According to
Risso the colours in the Mediterranean are even more brilliant
than I found them, the head being variegated with golden,
light blue, and pinkish purple, (amethystine,) with the fins
yellow, black, and silvery. The example described by Nilsson
was a silver grey, the back blackish, white below; fins reddish
brown; length five feet, and the weight seventy-two pounds.

The number of rays in the fins has been counted with some
difference. In the first dorsal there are ten; in the second
twenty-four and twenty-nine; ventral six, of which the first is
spinous; anal one or tAvo spinous, and the remainder eight:
pectoral from fifteen to seventeen; caudal eighteen or nineteen.
VOL. II. I

58

SCABBARD FISHES.

This family of fishes is distinguished by the great length,
of the body, which is thin and tapering, in some species
having no scales, and when they exist they are of very small
size. The jaws protrude much, and the cleft of the mouth is
wide, with prominent teeth. The gill-openings are also wide.
The dorsal and anal fins are long, and separate from the tail
where the latter exists; the ventrals, which are seated under
the- throat (jugular) when there are any, are merely rudimentary;
but in some species there are none. The Scabbard Fishes
were by Cuvier classed among those which are termed Band
or Bibbon Fishes, to which in their general shape they bear
much resemblance. But on more strict examination they are
found to differ in so many of their characters, as they appear
to do also in their habits; and some of them partake so much
of what may be called the aberrant forms of the family of
the Mackarels, that it is thought preferable to depart in this
instance from the arrangement of the illustrious French natu-
ralist, and to adopt that which is pursued by Dr. Giinther, in
his newly-published "Catalogue of the Fishes in the British
Museum."

m

KH

15^

1 1

Q

1 r

33

>

<J

X

CQ

X

m

J

<1

o

m

60

LEPIDOPUS.

Buo\ elongated and compressed; jaws projecting, armed with strong
teeth; cleft of the mouth wide. Dorsal fin long, and with the anal
fin separate from the tail, which is well marked. The ventral fins
are represented only by a pair of moveable scales; from whence the
name of the genus, which was formed by Dr. Gouan, professor of
natural historj^ at Montpellier, for the classification of a fish he had
discovered, and which is the only species we know of this genus; unless
it shall be determined, from the differences we have to point out,
that Eisso is correct in supposing that there are two to be regarded
as positively distinct. According to Gouan, this fish is to be defined
as having the body sword-shaped, of a silvery colour, with the head
protruded, and furnished with three scales, two of which occupy the
place of ventral fins, whilst the third takes the position of the anal.
In the figure which he gives he represents the tail as lengthened into
what is termed the lancet shape, in which he differs greatly from other
observers, and from our own example especially; and it was on this
account chiefly, although not solely, that Risso who supposed himself
the discoverer of a second species of this genus, which answers more
directly to the fish we have to describe.

SCABBARD FISH.

SCALE-FOOT.

Lepiclope Gouanien, Lacepede.

" peron, Risso; pi. 6, f. 18. L. Gouanien?

Lepidopus tetradens, Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 204.

" argyreus, Cuviek. Jenyns; Manual, p. 371.

" " Yarkell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 198.

" caudatus, Gukthek; Cat. Br. M., vol. ii, p. 344.

Scare ina argijrea, Raexnesque; p. 20, pi. 7, f. 1.

The following are names by which it has also been described by authors
whom we have not had an opportunity of consulting:

Vandellius Lusitanicus, Shaw.

Xiphotheca tetradeyis, Montagu.

Lepidopus Lusitanicus, Leach.

Lepidope Jarretkre, BoNNAXBJi.

60 SCABBARD FISH.

The Scabbard Fish has an extensive range, having been
found as well at the Cape of Good Hope as in the Mediterranean
and the British Channel. But it is scarce everywhere; which
may be accounted for by the supposition that it usually keeps
near the bottom in very deep water, from which it does not
wander, except under unusual circumstances. Dr. Pappe, in
his account of the edible fishes of the Cape of Good Hope,
says that not more than three had been taken there in the
space of six years. Montagu was so fortunate as to obtain
two examples on the coast of Devonshire; and one of them
was so small as to suggest the opinion of its having been
produced within a short distance of the place where it was
found. It has been taken in Ireland once, and I possess a
record of four specimens which have been met with in
Cornwall; and one of them, from which our figure was taken,
is preserved in the Museum of Natural History at Penzance.
It was caught at about twenty miles from land, and in length
measured five feet four inches; the head long, behind it a
protuberance, followed by a depression, from which the back
rises to the dorsal fin; the body thin and tapering, becoming
narrow behind the termination of the dorsal fin. The eye is
large; the head in front of it tapering to the jaws, Avhich
protrude; lower jaw longest; teeth projecting, curved, those
in the upper jaw longest. Lateral line straight. Dorsal
fin single, even, narrow, rising rather before the border of the
gill-covers, and ending distinct from the tail. Anal fin com-
paratively short, passing slightly nearer the tail than the
dorsal. Tail small and forked. Pectoral fin of a remarkable
shape, the shortest rays being above, and regularly increasing
in length to the lowest, Avhich is double the extent of the
uppermost ray, thus appearing like a fin turned upside down.
The vent is at the middle of the body. The colour above
was greenish, with a tint of blue; below white: but it appears
to vary in colour. Dr. Pappe says the colour of the back is
faint steel blue on a silvery ground, the whole surface sprinkled
with a silvery dust; to which Risio adds that the surface
reflects tints of golden, pink, and blue. It is said to swim
with a very swift and waving motion; and Dr. Pappe adds,
that he found its flesh fine and delicious.

Bisso reckons the fin rays as of the dorsal two hundred,
the anal twenty-two, pectoral twelve, and caudal thirty-six.

^I^k

- X

61

TRICHirRUS.

Tn the form of the body, mouth, and dorsal fin, this genus bears
great resemblance to the last; but it differs from it in the absence of
the tail; and everything like a ventral fin. In place of an anal fin
there is a row of very small spines, and the body at its teimination
is extended into a slender and compressed cord.

HAIRTAIL.

BLADE FISH.

Lepturns, Artedi.

Trichiurus Leiiturns, Linnaeus. Cuvier. Bloch; pi. i, 58.

" SwAiNSON ; Nat. Hist., vol. ii, p. 254.

" Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 204

' Jenyns; Manual, p. 372.

" Yarrell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 204.

" Gunther; Catalogue of the Br. Museum,
vol. ii, p. S-iC.

This species was first made known to science by the joint
labour of Artedi and Linnaeus; the first of whom has given a
particular description of it, to which we shall again refer. To
this Linnaeus has added that it is a native of China and
America, and has been known in many instances to have
leaped out of the water into the boats of fishermen. It is now
known to be found in the seas of the West Indies and South
America.

As regards our own country the history of this fish is
obscure, and not at all satisfactory. Mr. Hoy was the first to
obtain an example, which with some probability he referred to
this species; but it was much mutilated by a storm that threw
it on the shore in the Firth of Moray, in November, 1810,
Quoting from his account in Dr. Fleming's "History of British

62 HAIRTAIL.

Animals," he says, *'Tts head was much broken, the bones of
the upper part of the head still remained, and the sockets of
the eyes were distinguishable very near to each other; the
extremity of the upper jaw, or upper part of the mouth,
was entire; upon either side of which was an operculum.
The length of the head could not be measured exactly, but
was about eight or nine inches. The body from the gills to
the point of the tail was three feet two inches long; its greatest
breadth six inches and a quarter, and its greatest thickness
only an inch. The vent was two inches from the gills; these
were much broken and partly gone, so that the number of
rays could not be ascertained. Both sides of the fish were
wholly white, without a spot upon them; the dorsal fin was
the only part of a different colour, being a blackish green:
this fin ran all along the back from the gills to the tail,
consisting of a great number of rays, soft, and little more than
an inch long. Each of the pectorals had six double rays.
There were no ventral nor anal fins, but the belly was a sharp,
smooth, and entire edge. The tail ended in a point, consisting
of three or four soft spines or bristles, of different lengths, not
exceeding two inches. The body was nearly of the same
breadth for one half of its length, and then its breadth
diminished gradually till within three inches of the tail, when
the diminution became more quick. The lateral line was straight,
and strongly marked along the middle of the two sides."

It is remarkable that in November, 1821, the same gentleman
had an opportunity of examining an example of what he sup-
posed to be the same species, which had been thrown on
shore near the same place; but as, after the entire loss of its
head, what remained measured twelve feet nine inches, with a
breadth of eleven inches and a quarter; the distance from the
gills to the vent measured forty-six inches, the lateral line was
straight, and the tail ended in a blunt point without bristles,
we confidently question whether this example at least ought
to be referred to the species under consideration, or even to
the same genus. We add some notes from Artedi, in order to
shew that the description and figure derived from a Cornish
specimen, belongs, beyond question, to the same fish that he
describes. Head compressed, lengthened; produced into an
eminence behind, broad between the eyes; body long, narrow.

HAIRTAIL. 63

and thin; tail long, slender, pointed, and without a fin; above
and below sharp. Vent much nearer the head than the tail;
opening of the mouth cut far back, but not caj^able of being
thrown very wide. Lower jaw pointed, longer than the upper;
nostril single, open, nearer the eye than the snout; eyes rather
large, nearer the snout than to the border of the gill-covers,
which latter are oblong. Gill-openings very wide, reaching
nearly up to the end of the lower jaw. Teeth in a single
row, of irregular height and distribution; lateral line wide,
beginning on the upper border of the gill-cover, but bending
down towards the pectoral fin, and thence straight backwards.
Dorsal fin very long, beginning at the back of the head, and
ending without aj^proaching the extremity of the body. In
place of an anal fin, from the vent backward, a number of
slender points, of which those behind are directed forward, and
those nearest the vent are directed backward. The tail is long
and slender, compressed, and pointed.

The example we have the pleasure of introducing to the
notice of the reader, and of which our figure is the only
representation that has been derived from an undoubted British
specimen, was thrown on shore on the sand of the Whitsand
Bay, near the Land's End, in Cornwall, in the month of April,
1853; and was only defective in the loss of that slender portion
which was behind the dorsal fin, and which appeared to have
been bitten oflT. Exclusive of this it measured about two feet
three inches; depth at the pectoral fin two inches; at the
termination about five eighths of an inch; from the point of
the under jaw to the vent twelve inches and a half; thus
remarkably distinguishing it from the example described by
Mr. Hoy, where in a fish three feet two inches in length the
vent was distant only two inches from the gills. From the
point of the upper jaw to the eye two inches and a quarter;
the eye large, high on the side of the head; under jaw longest,
slit of the mouth far back. Teeth long, irregular, scattered,
locking together; one at the extremity of the lower jaw prom-
inent, and not received into the mouth. Border of the gill-
cover running back into a pointed oval, five inches and six
eighths from the point of the snout. Lateral line begins high
over the gill- covers, and descends gradually at about the end
of the pectoral fin; from thence straight to the tail. Pectoral

64 HAIRTAIL.

pointed, two inches and three eighths long. The back rises
from the head to the origin of the dorsal fin; and this fin
begins above the border of the anterior gill-cover. The colour
from the point of the jaws, along the back, brown; a lighter
brown on the hinder portion of the body; gill-covers and
sides inclined to blue; margin of the body, to the vent, pink;
pectoral fin tinted with blue; dorsal with a tinge of reddish
brown; iris yellow.

65

THE MACKAREL TRIBE.

Such of the Mackarel tribe as visit or frequent tlie British
seas constitute a well-defined family, the form and habits of
which render them easily distinguished from all others of our
native fishes. They are capable of great activity, for which
the shape of their bodies and the distribution of their fins
eminently fit them, the fore part of the former being of an
almost conical shape, by which they are rendered well fitted
to make their way through an opposing fluid; while the
hindward portion is so lengthened into a rounded slope as
to cause the water to glide past without forming an eddy
that might interfere with the smoothness of their course. The
requisite flexibility is secured by the smooth texture of the
surface of the body, on which the scales are so small and
even as to be scarcely perceptible; and in some of the species
the pectoral fin is received into a depression of the surface,
where it can lie hid when a sudden and rapid rush is to
be made, while the most prominent of the dorsal fins falls
into a cavity or slit, so as to be concealed when its special
duties are not required.

The tail in fishes is the great organ of propulsion, and in
its true nature consists of two lobes which are united in the
middle, but in this family with an obvious degree of separation.
Each of these lobes is capable of an action that is reciprocal
or independent of the other, by the sudden and impulsive
motion of which the water itself is constituted a fulcrum on
which each lobe of the tail is brought to bear, in the same
manner as with a single oar over the stern of a boat it is
driven onward, by what, in nautical language, is termed
sculling. A forked tail is better fitted to act powerfully in
this mode of progression than a round one, although the
latter may in dimensions include a larger space; and by the
former the influence of turning is more quickly and powerfully
brought under the action of the will. Belon makes the curious

VuL. II. K

(jb THE MACKATIEL TRIBE.

remark, tliat a forked tail is always accompanied with a pec-
toral fin that is (more or less) pointed, which observation,
although not in every case correct, is nearly so; and taken
together with the number of lesser fins on the hinder parts
of the body, the fishes thus furnished are rendered the best
qualified of all the tribes of the ocean to pass rapidly through
a large extent of space, and suddenly to change their course
as hope or fear may render expedient.

This family was regarded as a single genus by Linnaeus, and
was arranged by him in his Thoracic order; but by Cuvier
it has been divided into several genera, of which we shall
take notice as we proceed to describe the separate species.

X

1-1

< X
<

07

MACKAREL.

Scomber, Scomhrua, Jonston.

" WlLLOUGHBT; p. 181, tab. M. 4.

Scomber scomber, Linn^us. Cuvier. Bloch; pi. 54

Donovan; pi. 120.
Scombre maqiiereaU, Lacepede. Risso.

Scomber vulgaris, Fleming ; Br. Animals, p. 217.

" " Jenyns; Manual, p. 360.

Yarrell; Br, Fishes, vol. i, p. 137.
" GuNTHER; Cat. Br. M., vol. ii, p. 357.

The Mackarel is one ot our best-known fishes, highly
valued for the table, and, in consequence, an object of
importance to fishermen, who employ much cost and anxious
labour in pursuing them throughout the coasts of the British
Islands, and for a considerable distance into the ocean. These
fish occupy a wide extent of seaj for they are known along
the waters of the Northern States of America, as also the
whole of those of Europe, the southernmost point beyond
which they have not been met with being the Canary Islands;
although even a wider range than this has been assigned to
them by observers who had not learnt to distinguish between
our Common Mackarel and a kindred species. But wherever
found they shew themselves an ever-wandering race, which, in
addition to a habit of periodical movement, are led by other
impulses to be continually shifting their ground, and thus
render the pursuit after them one of the most uncertain that
can be imagined. Some indeed are to be found on the coasts
of Britain in every month of the year, and at irregular
intervals they have thus occasionally become abundant; but in
winter these are for the most part scattered individuals that
differ in many respects from the schools which are sought for
by fishermen in the early months of the year. It is in
January or early in February that what are called the right

68 MACKAREL.

fish begin to move from the deeper waters of the Atlantic, to
which they had retreated towards the end of autumn; and as
at this their early movement, their value to the fisherman is
much higher than afterwards, preparations are made to meet
them at a considerable distance from land at the entrance of
the British Channel, south or west of the Scilly Islands, or
towards Cape Clear, in Ireland amidst the uncertain weather
and darkness of the night, which render the voyage a service
of no slight labour and hazard. Such is the most frequent
course of proceeding, but it has sometimes happened that the
fish have shewn themselves near the western shores at an
earlier date than was expected, in which case, those who have
laboured the least have obtained the greatest success. I possess
notes which record that in the year 1818, fifteen thousand
were caught at Mevagissey, in Cornwall, between the 1st. and
12th. of February; and in the year 1843, on the 30th. of
January, two boats brought into Plymouth one of them fourteen
thousand, and the other four thousand. In 1843 some boats
succeeded in taking from twenty to thirty thousand in each
night of the first week in February.

There is reason to suppose that the fish thus first sought for,
which obtain a preference in the market, are the produce of
the last, or next to the last season of breeding; and the
moderate progress they have made in growth during the small
time of their retreat, if the suiDposition of their being the
progeny of the last season be allowed, is not a very formidable
objection to the opinion. By their inferior size and general
appearance they may without difficulty be distinguished from
those of advanced age, and which especially are more distinctly
marked with an interrupted dark line along the side, which
therefore is regarded even when it occurs in younger indi-
viduals as a sign of inferior quality.

I have had occasion to remark that in this early movement
the sexes are much divided, and that the males go before the
females in their course of migration. Out of twenty examples,
taken indiscriminately in March, sixteen were males; and in
another season, from a capture of seven thousand, seventeen
out of twenty were males. It is true I have witnessed
an exception to this, when in numbers selected from the
earliest fish, they consisted of an equal number of each sex.

MACKAREL. (y

But further examination tended to shew that this apparent
exception tended strongly to establish the rule. The whole
of the school thus taken were confidently pronounced by the
fishermen to be other than the "right" sort; that in fact,
they were the old fish of a former year, that had not sought
the retreat of deep water, or were pursuing an irregular course
of action. It may here be proper to remark that instances
have been noticed where both sexes have been united in
one individual. A lobe of roe has been found lying between
the usual pair of lobes of milt; and in many sorts of fishes it
is probable that similar instances are not uncommon.

It does not depend on the weather only that sometimes
these early Mackarel appear within the reach of the fishery in
the first few days of February, for they have abounded when
the weather Avas cold and stormy, and even when a brisk east
wind the most ungcnial for all kinds of fishing has been
blowing; but a particular temperature, or the direction of the
wind, will have an effect of causing them to swim higher or
lower in the water; in which case they may pass along the
accustomed districts without their presence being discovered, to
the great loss of the fishermen, who, in this, as in many other
instances, must be condemned to labour most when they find
the lowest amount of reward. It is on those occasions that
they have been found first in the eastAvard portion of the
British Channel, where otherwise they would not have been
met with until towards the latter part of April or May; and
the great body of them in this case may be expected to
return to the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, as if the
passage had been in its origin from the German Ocean.
It may be owing to casual deviations like this from their
usual course, that some naturalists have been led to believe
that the Mackarel was more particularly a native of the
little-known regions of the Frozen Ocean, where they have
been represented as revelling on an abundance of food,
amidst an intensity of congenial cold and storm; and from
Avhence, at a time when we should have judged ihat, if at
all, the northern sea was best fitted to their nature, they have
been said to depart in immense multitudes to supply an
esteemed article of food to nations further to the south. The
same account was formerly accepted as regards the Herring,

70 MACKAHEL.

and from the same authority; but in the last-named instance
it has been disproved, and it is no less imaginary in reference
to the Mackarel.

Dr. Edmonson, in his view of the Zetland Islands, informs
us that they only reach tliat coast in August, and continue no
longer than about a month; and there are further proofs of
the bounds within which they limit themselves, as well as
the course they pursue, which is particularly pointed out by
the time and manner of the fisheries which are carried on
for the purpose of taking them. These we find to differ in
time only, according to the manner in which the fishing is
conducted, the adventurous spirit of the fishermen, or the
distance of the place from that portion of the sea from which
they are expected to come. Large numbers of boats, both
French and English, from the eastmost and narrow parts of
the British Channel, assemble at Plymouth early in the spring,
for the purpose of seizing the occasion which the weather
may afford them to shoot their nets at the entrance of the
Channel; for, from experience, it is to the west, and not the
east or north, they look for success. Risso says that this
fishery is carried on at Nice in the spring; and Cuvier, that
the season at Aigne Montes is in April, in Languedoc from
June to August, at Fregus, in Provence, from May to
October, and in the Black Sea and the Tauride it is in the
spring as well as summer, when they are met in great schools
coming from the west. They are not found to enter the Sea
of Azof

Recurring again to the north we are informed that in the
Baltic the Mackarel at all times are few, and of small size;
but, according to Professor Nilsson, ("Skandinavisk Fauna,"
Fiskarna,) although they are not commonly found south of
Gothenburg, he has known them to come on the coast of
Sweden, and in one instance in very considerable numbers.
This was in the summer of 1851, when immense quantities
were taken in the Sound, but they were so small that it
required three to weigh a pound.

We may further remark of the Mackarel taken early in the
spring, that they often differ in quality according to the season
and place, a circumstance which may with much probability
be ascribed to the variety of food they chance to meet with

MACKAREL. 71

in their widely-extended excursions. In some parts of the
Mediterranean they are described as being always small and
dry; and such appears to have been the case in ancient times
at Rome, where, in their fresh condition, they were disregarded.
As they were sold by fishmongers wrapped up in paper which
was fit for no other use, a sarcasm was directed against
inferior poets, that their Avorks would be applied to the use
of wrapping up Mackarel. Risso, on the other hand, praises
the Mackarel taken at Nice for its superiority of size and
flavour; but we believe that in no district will any be found
to excel, and few to equal those which visit the west coasts of
the British Empire.

The number of boats engaged in this early fishery is
uncertain, but about two hundred have been known to assemble
at Plymouth at one time, and upwards of that number belong
to Cornwall alone. They are manned by from five to eight
men in each; and the string of nets is formed of several por-
tions that are capable of being taken asunder; and an ordinary
boat will be supplied with fifty of these nets, of which each
shall measure twenty-two fathoms as prepared for fishing, so
that when shot or cast from the boat they may reach to the
extent of a mile and three quarters. The size of the mesh is
calculated to spread twenty-six to a yard, and in the usual
depth of about three fathoms there are expected to be one
hundred and twenty meshes. They are made to swim by corks
which are set along the head-rope, the weight of the net itself
being sufficient to cause them to sink to the proper depth; and
in this condition they are cast across the expected course of
the fish, while by a rope or hauser passing to the bow of the
boat, they are kept stretched out, without the risk of being folded
together by the influence of the wind or tide. They are thus
shot or cast int^o the sea as the evening comes on, and again
lifted in after two or three hours, and to ease the labour of
this last fatiguing work, which is doubly difficult when the
nets are loaded with fish, a capstan is employed, each division
of the net being separated and stowed away as it is drawn into
the boat. Another cast of the nets is usual toward the
morning; for it is found by experience that, for fishes in
general, the most successful t^rne for their entering into a net
is about the passage from day to night, or the reverse. It

7^ MACKEREL.

is a supposition of fishermen, that Mackarel are subject to
dulness of vision at the beginning of the season, by reason
of which they become entangled in the net more readily than
afterwards; and it is remarkable that a similar remark has
been applied to the Tunny, and other fishes of this family.

It is an important object with English fishermen to bring
their fish to market as soon as possible, for the Mackarel soon
sufifers loss in its delicacy for the table, and a higher price is
obtained in proportion to its freshness. There are other
reasons also why delay and interruption would be productive
of ill consequences, and therefore the good sense of the
generality of fishermen has taught them to combine together, to
sacrifice a little for the advantage of the whole. They are
aware that, if at a time when fishing is pursued with success
at a large distance from land, with perhaps the wind against
them, each boat were compelled to run into port to obtain a
market, a large portion of their most valuable time would be
rendered unproductive; and on their return to the spot where
they had expected to meet again with success, they might
discover that the wandering disposition of these fish had carried
them far away, with the consequent loss of a whole season. It
is usual, therefore, for several boats to agree together as asso-
ciates, so that each one in its turn shall receive the captures of
all the others, and carries them to the maiket; returning again
with all haste in order to be entitled to an equal share of the
success obtained during its absence.

French vessels engaged in this fishery are usually much
larger than the English, and more abundantly manned; and
the success of their fishing depends on a different principle
from that of the latter. With us but little use is made of
salted Mackarel; and none are so preserved unless from delay
in the sale they have become unfit for other use, or Avhere
the market is distant; as in some parts of Ireland. But with
the French this is the principal object of the voyage, and
therefore as soon as caught, the fishermen set themselves to
the work of preserving them; which they do, first by a cross
slit at the vent to extract the entrails, and then by salting them
in bulk in the hold. When a loading is thus secured they
hasten to port, and it may happen that two or three successful
voyages may be accomplished in the course of a season.

MACKAREL. 73

Towards the end of May the Mactarel has become loaded
with spawn, and in the course of the following month they
approach the shore for the purpose of shedding it. They may
then be seen in schools in rapid motion, sinking, and again
rising to the surface; and shewing by the liveliness of their
actions, that this process of nature is one of exquisite enjoyment.
But it is to them a time also of great danger, which they make
little effort to avoid. Scans are now brought into action, and
a huer is appointed, whose station is on some commanding
eminence, where he watches for the appearance of the school.
On a signal given the fishermen haste to their post and prepare
to act. We shall describe the nature of a scan more at length
when we speak of the Tunny and Pilchard; but for the present
it will be sufficient to remark that the sean for Mackarel is
about one hundred and fifty fathoms in length, and nine
fathoms in depth at the middle or bunt, and seven fathoms
at the ends; these proportions being necessary in order to
allow of its being so swept in the action of tucking, as to
enclose and raise the body of fish to the surface. The meshes
are so small as to prevent the fish from being entangled in
them. The head-line in buoyed aloft with corks, and the
bottom carried down with leads. Two boats are employed, of
which one carries the scan, which is shot in a circle round
the fish, while the other keeps the loose end steady, and by
at last closing the ends, shuts up the fish as in a pond.
The Mackarel is an active fish, and might effect its escape
before the ends of the sean could be brought together, so as
by the operation of tucking, to bring the body of fish within
the reach of baskets, by which they are taken into the boats.
To prevent this, therefore, one or two of the men are kept
employed in plunging stones, prepared for the purpose, into
the opening, by which means the fish are hindered from ad-
vancing, until the only possible outlet for escape is closed
against them. This mode of fishing affords an occasion of
much interest and excitement to a spectator, as well as to the
fishermen, and some remarkable instances in it are recorded.
The season lasts for about a couple of months, at the end of
which the fish have again separated into smaller companies,
and the line and hook remain the only effectual method of
fishing.

VOL. II. L

74 MACKAREL.

The persons engaged in this last-named method of taking
Mackarel are usually a different class from those engaged with
the sean, and it is also frequently followed by gentlemen, for
the sake of the excitement that attends it. The line is the
same which is used for ordinary fishing at sea, and it varies
in length from ten to twenty fathoms; but, as rapid motion is
required, with the boat under sail in a sufficient breeze, it
becomes necessary to keep it at a proper depth by means of
a lead, of which the best form is that of a cone or sugar-
loaf; and close above this is fastened an outrigger of wood, at
the end of which is fastened a snoozing, which bears the hook.
The object of this is to cause the bait to be influenced to
an amount of action which shall resemble a living object, for
the Mackarel will not readily attempt to seize that which
seems without life, and its pursuit of prey at all times appears
to be under the influence of sight rather than of taste or
smell. Whatever shall display a shining action in the water
will serve the purpose, and a slip of red leather, or portions
of the stem of a tobacco-pipe, are employed with success.
The more usual bait, however, is a slice cut from the side of
the Mackarel itself, near the tail, and placed on the hook in
such a manner as to assume the imitation of an active fish
by an undulating motion in its progress through the water.
Fishermen ' observe that they are more successful if several
lines are brought into action at the same time, by which
means, if the fish are abundant, at least one or two Avhich
have taken the hook shall be dragged along, and shew the
course in which the boat is proceeding. The supposition is
that the fish still at liberty are thus guided in the right
direction by following their fellows, which otherwise they would
not be found to do. Several hooks are sometimes placed in
succession near each other, the better to arrest a passing fish,
and with good success.

Wallop Brabason, Esq., in his work on the ''Fisheries of
Ireland," informs us that (I suppose in the north of that
country) the season is from about the end of June to the latter
part of September; but he makes no mention of the sean for
catching them. With regard to the line he recommends for
the lower part finer twine than fishermen are accustomed to
employ; and with more than one hook, the hindmost, even

MACKAREL. 75

witliout a bait, being placed two or three inches behind the
first; by which contrivance those that follow the bait will be
caught, when perhaps they may not have an intention of actually
seizing it. This last method is certainly more successful than
that usually employed by fishermen, with a single hook.

But Mackarel will also sometimes remain at the bottom,
where they are fished for with a boat at anchor; and I am
informed that when thus situated, they may be drawn upward
by the excitement of bait prepared for the purpose. A
quantity of salted Pilchards that have become rancid, are
bruised to a pulp, and hung over the side of the boat in a
basket, the droppings of which, by the action of the sea,
offer an allurement they are not able to resist.

It sometimes happens that tlie usual habit of the half-grown
fish, of retiring into deep water on the approach of winter, is
so far interrupted, that they remain on the western coast even
so late as December and January, when they fall an easy
prey to the fishermen. In the year 1844, in the month of
October, the boats of Mount's Bay succeeded in taking fourteen
hundred thousand, for which they obtained about four thousand
pounds. In 1848, also, there continued for two months in the
same district a large abundance of small Mackarel; and in
December, 1842, with January of the following year, many
thousands, of the length of eight or ni lO inches, were caught
among Pilchards. Besides a great number given to the poor,
many were sold at a penny a score and sixpence the flasket.

There was a time when an extravagant price was paid for
an early arrival of Mackarel in London, but the conveniency
of carriage by rail has put an end to this, and reduced the
benefit to the adventurers to a juster level. The average
price of this fish througft the season for seven years, as
communicated by a fisherman, has varied from six pounds to
nine pounds the thousand; and the numbers caught in a boat
of rather less than the general size, with drift-nets, from fifteen
to twenty-four thousand. But it will sometimes happen that
more than the last-mentioned number will be caught in a
single night.

It is a remarkable circumstance in the history of so strong
and rapid a fish, that it not unfrequently becomes the prey
to enemies which appear to be far inferior in these respects to

76 MACKAREL.

itself. It is sometimes laid hold of by the sharp claws of the
nipper crab, fPolyhius Hensloioii,) a species indeed of great
activity, and which swims near the svirface, and is prepared
to seize any of the fishes which are there, until by the mere
fatigue of terror, it causes them to yield to their fate. It
is also the frequent victim of the sea lamprey, which by a
circular action of its teeth, bores into the flesh, and devours
the energies of its prey. I have known several instances of
a lamprey of no more than six inches in length, to be thus
taken in the act of inflicting a mortal wound on the Mackarel.
Among the ancient Romans this fish was only regarded for
its use in supplying a sauce, which was held by epicures
in high estimation. It was called the garum or sauce of the
allies, and was made from the entrails of the fish, for the
taking of which, to supply this article alone, fisheries were
carried on in those parts of Spain and Africa which lay beyond
the Straits of Gibraltar. It was sold at Rome at six thousand
sesterces, or about forty-eight pounds for the quantity of two
gallons; and we are informed that it Avas a source of con-
siderable riches to the countries from which it was brought.
Even the dregs of this precious luxury were valued as a sauce.
The astronomical poet Manilius gives his own impression of
this sauce:

"Could gluttons see, tliey would not bear the sight
Of preparations for their appetite,
Whilst blood and guts, in a polluted mass
Lie mixed, and are corrupted into sauce;
Till all the filthy gore 's distilled to treat
The fashionable palate of the great."

B. 5.

The Mackarel is so well known that it Avould scarcely
require a description, but for the sake of comparing it vv^ith
a few that are very nearly related to it. The general shape
is round and plump, approaching to a rather compressed
conical form on the fore part, and tapering gradually to the
tail. Snout rather pointed; jaws equal, with teeth which also
surround the palate. Eye lateral, moderately large; a soft
membrane overlapping its hinder part. Gill membrane closely
hid beneath the gill-cover. Scales of the body very small;
lateral line irregularly straight. The first dorsal fin is opposite
the ventral fins, which latter are slightly behind the root of the

MACKAREL. 77

pectorals, a situation which caused Linnseus to class this fish in
his Thoracic Order. A considerable separation between the
first and second dorsal fins, the latter opposite the anal fin;
and between this second dorsal above, and the anal below, and
the tail, there are five separate finlets. The tail forked, with a
small ridge at the root, above and below. Between the anal
fin and vent a small separate spine. Pectoral fins pointed. The
usual length is about sixteen inches; and the largest I have
ever seen measured half an inch short of two feet. Colour
of the back a varying blue, tinted with green; darker on the
head; pearly white along the belly; the latter reflecting tints
of purple and crimson when fresh from the sea; but these soon
pass ofi" after death. A series of irregularly-waved stripes of a
much darker colour pass from the back downward and obliquely
forward, ending above the lateral line; and usually from the
pectoral fin to near the tail, there is an obscure row of dusky
spots. Behind the eye a light yellow tinge.

The number of the fin rays are the first dorsal twelve, firm,
and received into a chink, second dorsal eleven; pectoral nine-
teen; ventral six, of which the first is spinous; anal, eleven:
but these numbers are subject to some variation.

78

SPANISH MACKAREL.

Scomber colias,

" maculatvs,

CuviER. Eisso.

Loudon ; Magazine of N"at. Hist.,

vol. V, p. 22.
Jenyns; Manual, p. 361.
Yarrell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 148.
GuNTHER; Catalogue of Br. Museum,

vol. ii, p. 361.

There appears much reason for believing that this species
of Mackarel is the same with a fish described by Rondeletius,
under the name of Colias, and of which as a principal character
he remarks that its back is marked with lines, as in the Common
Mackarel; but with the difference, that they are much less
numerous, and do not descend so far towards the lateral line;
and also that there are many dark spots, which he leaves
uncertain whether they are on the back along or among the
waved lines, or below on the belly. Willoiighby describes the
same fish, (p. 182;) but without appearing to copy he only
translates the words of Rondeletius, with the understanding,
however, that the spots are on the back in company with the
lines; although in both these writers the figures are represented
as without any spots. It is Kisso who adds the mention of
brown spots along the belly. This want of precision in the
above-mentioned authors may leave it in doubt whether the
fish mentioned by them be the same with that one called by
Cornish fishermen the Spanish Mackarel, or another which we
shall introduce to the reader as the Dotted Mackarel; but the
mention of waved lines on the back causes us to lean to the
former opinion, which is the same that has been adopted
generally by naturalists. Rondeletius informs us he had seen
it on the coast of France, but that it was more common in
Spain; a circumstance which may account for the name by

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SPANISH MACKARRL. 79

Avliich it is known to fishermen. In the memory of many
persons this species has not unfrequently been caught in nets
in Cornwall; where alone hitherto it has been found with us,
and sometimes to the number of three or four hundred at a
time, in the summer or autumn; but for several years it has
become much more rare.

It appears to be widely spread in the ocean; for besides the
Mediterranean it is also found on the coasts of America; but
its specific habits are little known. I have formerly been told
of its having taken the hook, but no certain instance of this
has fallen within my own observation. For the table it is much
below our Common Mackarel.

The example described measured in length fourteen inches
and a half, the figure round and plump, in girth six inches
and a half near the pectoral fins; the thickness of shape being
carried backward to the tail more than in the Common
Mackarel. The head bulky, eye large, an inch and an eighth
from the snout; mouth large, jaws equal, teeth small, tongue
moveable and pointed. From the snout to the pectoral fin
three inches and a half. Rays of the gill membrane concealed;
lateral line at first slightly descending, then straight. Some
scales on the superior portion of the gill-cover; and on the
body more visible than in the Common Mackarel. First dorsal
fin in a chink, seven rays counted, the first shortest, second
and third of equal length. In counting the finlets I numbered
the second dorsal and anal among them as six in number,
these first-named fins being low; tail forked, and at its origin
doubly keeled; vent prominent. The colour a dark blue on
the back, with waved stripes, but fewer and more obscure than
in the Common Mackarel; a row of large dark spots from the
pectoral fin to the tail; sides and belly thickly covered with
smaller dusky spots. The tail, gill-covers and sides, and behind
the eye, bright yellow.

Another example, from which our lower figure on the plate
is taken, I find to differ in so many particulars, and those not
of markings only, that I have been led to suppose it not
improbable to be a different species; but I prefer leaving this for
further observation, and proceed to point out its characters,
without being able to give anything of its history beyond the
fact that it was a male, with the milt not much enlarged on

8U SPANISH MACKAREL.

the 28th. of June; when it was taken in a not in company
with many of tlie Common Mackarel. In its stomach a mass
of pulp of the colour of lead, together with a considerable
number of parasitic worms. It measured scarcely as long as
the Common Mackarel caught at the same time, but was more
round and plump; the length from the snout to the end of the
middle of the tail twelve inches and a half; the body growing
slender near the tail, but less abruptly than in the former
example. Snout more produced than in the Common Mackarel,
and pointed; j,ws equal, with moderate teeth; head less, heavy
than in the former example of the Spanish Mackarel. Eye
large; scales well marked on the back and sides, not visible
on the belly ; nor did I perceive any on the upper portion of
the gill-covers. First dorsal fin in a chink; the rays much
higher than in the Common Mackarel, and extending along
the back more than equal to the space between its termination
and the second dorsal; so narrow at its extremity that the two
last rays are hid in the chink. Second dorsal and anal less
angular than in the other specimen of the Spanish Mackarel,
and their terminal rays lengthened out. Five rather long finlets
above and below; tail forked, with a keel above and below at
its root; ventral fins broad. Lateral line passes onward to sink
midway between the two dorsals. The general colour fine
lively blue, with deeper stripes as numerous as in the Common
Mackarel; sides and belly covered with dark spots, some of
them ocelated, and gyrations, of various sizes, on a brilliant
white ground; smaller and more numerous near the tail. No
tint of yellow behind the eye as in the Common Mackarel.
Pectoral, ventral, and the lower finlets, tinged with yellow; as
the tail in a slight degree. The first dorsal fin has eleven
rays. No air-bladder.

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81

DOTTED MACKAEEL.

Scomber fundatus, Natural History Society of Penzance.

Eepoi't for the year 1840, p. 353.
" "Zoologist" for 1849, No. 76.

** " Sir John Eichardson; Supplement to

Yarrell's British. Fishes, p. 12.

The first published account of this fish is contained in the
"Report of the Natural History Society of Penzance," as
quoted above, and which was copied into the "Zoologist;" and
as nothing relating to it has since come to my knowledge, I
shall best serve the cause of science by extracting from that
account its most material portion. Our figure is from the
original drawing, as taken when the fish was fresh from its
native element.

It was caught in a sean at Looe, in Cornwall, July 6th.,
1848; and I owe the possession of it to the kindness of my
late friend Mr. Clement Jackson, of that place. The length
was fifteen inches and a half, and the general proportions were
those of the Common IMackarel, but the jaws were more
decidedly of equal length. The more minute differences will
be pointed out at the conclusion of this description. The first
thing which attracted attention, in comparison with a Common
Mackarel which lay beside it, were the scales, which covered
the surface of the sides and belly, where none at all appear
in the common species. These scales were conspicuous, and
appeared to be marked out by the crossing of minute lines
running transversely, and their rounded edges appeared as
if directed forward. There was no corslet, but above the
pectoral fin there was some appearance of it in a line of denser
scales, which vanished under the pectoral fin. The first and
second dorsal fins were three inches apart, and the posterior
edge of the former was more extended backward, and the
VOL. H. M

82 DOTTED MACKAREL.

groove that received it longer than in the other Mackarel.
Lateral line remarkably and irregularly bent. First dorsal fin
with twelve rays, the first longest; second dorsal with eleven
rays, the terminal rays extended to overlap the first finlet;
the space between the dorsal fins a little longer than the first
dorsal; pectoral fin with twenty rays; a spine in front of the
anal; five finlets above and below. Tail rather more slender
than in the Common Mackarel, and in the attenuated portion
of the body, close before the caudal fin, depressed and square.
But the most remarkable distinction between this and the
other British species of Mackarel was in the colour, which
was a uniform dark neutral tint over the head and back,
without any bands or variegations, it might be termed an
olive bluish green, with green reflections at the sides; and
from before the eyes, along the back and sides to the tail,
the surface was thickly covered with spots of the size of a
small pea, generally round and well defined, but a little larger,
and elongated transversely on the summit of the back. The
spots ended a little below the lateral line, and the belly was
pure white; the surface between the carinations of the tail a
bronzed yellow colour. A membranous process united the fifth
ray of the first dorsal fin with the skin of the back; but this
may not be a permanent character. I found this specimen a
female, large with roe, and destitute of a swimming-bladder,
as is also our Common Mackarel, and I believe also the S.
colias, or Spanish Mackarel; and this observation becomes
important when we keep in mind that Sir John Richardson
has made the mistake of quoting my authority as if it had
possessed that organ; and also that there is a species, not
uncommon in the Mediterranean, which is only to be definitely
distinguished from the Common Mackarel by being supplied
with it.

Having obtained a figure, of the size of nature, with a
description, I sent this fish with a copy of the drawing to
Mr. Yarrell, in order to obtain his opinion with regard to its
identity with any known species; and a portion of his reply
is here given: "On comparing the preserved skin of our fish
with your representation I observe some points of distinction,
which, though slight, may increase the amount of differences.
Your fish appears to be les& deep in proportion to its whole

DOTTED MACKAREL. 83

length than the old Mackarel, the measurement being two and
three fourths deep, by fifteen seven sixteenths, or as one to
five and a half; the one three and one fourth by fifteen and
five eighths, or not quite one in five; and this is remarkable,
as your example was a female, and the roe large, as the time
(July 6th. j) would of itself indicate. The mouth in your fish
appears to be smaller, the angle of the gape not placed so far
back, and the superior maxillary bone is shorter and broader.
The posterior edge of the preoperculum is more rounded,
in our Mackarel the lower two thirds of this edge is almost
a straight and perpendicular line; the anterior portion of the
lateral line appears to be more strongly marked." To this
may be added, that the adult Common Mackarel is distinguished
from its younger condition by a dusky mottled line, which
runs along the side and separates the lateral line from the
belly. Nothing of this sort was found in this fish, though of
full growth and large with spawn. In reply to my suggestion
of a name, Mr. Yarrell said, ''Scomher punctatus would be an
excellent name for it, as referring at once to its most obvious
external markings."

84

SCRIBBLED MACKAREL.

Scomber scri])tns, Nobis.

This species is not yet recognised in science, but I possess
notes of three examples, which, in the course of years, have
come into my possession; one of which was taken with a line,
and the others in drift-nets, at a good distance from land.
The fishermen explained to me that it was because their
attention was excited by the distinguished beauty of these
fishes, that they were set aside from the ordinary Mackarel
taken with them, and brought to me for inspection.

The length of the specimen selected for description was
thirteen inches and a half; round and plump, with the general
proportions much as in the Common Mackarel; but there was
a decided difierence in some of the details, as, that the head
rises more especially in front of the eye, and again more
abruptly from a well-defined line at the junction of the head
and body, at which part the scales were more distinct, the
rising slope continuing to the origin of the dorsal fin. Lateral
line without those zigzags often seen in the Common Mackarel,
and remarkable in the Dotted Mackarel. The body was also
proportionally more slender as it approached the tail, and the
fork of the caudal fin more slender and pointed. Pectoral fin
more pointed. Carinations at the root of the tail further
asunder, and in one instance noted as being absent. I possess
a note of one example which possessed six finlets above and
below: the specimen from which our figure is taken was only
furnished with five. The first dorsal fin was lofty, the second
ray the longest, its length an inch and six eighths; the dis-
tance between this fin and the second dorsal two inches and
six eighths. A spine in front of the anal fin.

SCRIBBLFD MACKAREL. 85

But tlie distinguishing peculiarity of this species is in its
colour, which is generally a brilliant blue, deeper on the head
and back; along the sides, below the lateral line, light pink,
which separates the blue above from the white belly. The
waved lines proceeding downward from the back were minutely
scribbled or zigzagged, and more numerous than in the Common
Mackarel, in the proportion of three to one; added to which
there were alternate deeper and lighter bands of the general
colour thrown over the whole. In one specimen these alternate
bands were not perceptible, but along the top of the head to
the snout there were strongly-marked reticulated lines on a
light ground, all of which were separated from the cheeks by
a well-defined, although somewhat irregular border of black or
deep blue. The lines of colour on the back, which at their
beginning did not exceed in thickness a piece of whipcord, in
passing below the lateral line towards the belly became still
smaller, and separated into two or three branches in a level
with the pectoral fin. The ventral and anal fins and finlets
below were of a pale pink colour. In one example the
separated terminations of the zigzag lines on the side appeared
like waving circles, or half circles, with spots. The first
dorsal fin had eleven rays, pectoral twenty-one, and the ventral
six. There was no air-bladder; and on the 15th. of May the
roe far advanced.

86

THYNNrS.

"With much of the shape of the Mackarel, the body is more conical,
forward and backward, from about the pectoral fins. It is covered with
a coat of firm scales so closely united as to appear as if there were
none; and those of the I'egion of the chest are so distinct from the
others as to appear like a corset; which, however, is not visible when
fresh from the sea; and only appears when the surface has become dry,
A prominent ridge on the side of the body near the tail. The first
dorsal fin reaches back to the second. Finlets more than five.

TUNNY.

Tunny,

Scomher thynnus,

Thynnus vulgaris,
" thynnus.

Scomlre Tlion,

JONSTON; Tab. 3. WiLLOUGHBY; p. 176, but

not his figure, which docs not answer to his
description.

LiNN^us. Donovan; pi. 5.

Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 218.

Jenyns; Manual, p. 362.

CuviER. Yakrell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 151.

GuNTHER; Cat. Bi'. Museum, vol. ii, p. 362. It
is to be observed that Dr. Gunther supposes
the figure given by Pennant of the Tunny,
properly to represent another species, Tliynnus
albacora, but it is not certain that this figure
was taken from a native example.

Lacepede. Eisso.

The name of the Tunny is supposed to have been derived
from a word in the Greek language, signifying the wild rapidity
with which it swims; and we might rest satisfied with this
etymology if it were not that it has been thought probable to
have been originally obtained from a Hebrew or Phoenician
term, that was applied by the last-named people to this fish
from the great size much beyond that of others which were
known in the sea of that country to which it has been known

TUNNY. 87

sometimes to attain. It is certain that the name of Thon or
Than in the plural Thannin was in early ages applied to
any of the larger inhabitants of the sea, and even of the
river, as the crocodile; and that its special application to the
proper Whales is comparatively modern, and was only adopted
because of the greatly superior size of these animals, as in
still later times was also the Greek name of the Kete, and
the corresponding Latin word Cete, both of which have been
familiarly used tp signify a large fish of any kind. The Tunny
has been spoken of in these last terms as being the largest of
any for which observers felt a particular interest; and instances
are on record of its having been seen of such a size as fully
to equal any of the true Whales which ordinary observation
can have met with in the Mediterranean. Cetti, in his "Natural
History of Siberia," is quoted as saying that a Tunny
weighing a thousand pounds is not uncommon, and one has
been known of the weight of eighteen hundred pounds. Pliny
speaks as if he had been a witness to its weighing fifteen
talents, or about twelve hundred pounds; and he quotes
Aristotle for the fact that the breadth of its tail has measured
five cubits and a palm, or between seven and eight feet, which
large dimensions will appear the less surprising by reference
to the authority of Belon, who says that in the year 1665, a
Tunny was caught on the coast of Spain, which in length
measured thirty-two feet, and in girth sixteen.

The fishery for the Tunny appears to have been followed
in the Mediterranean from the earliest ages; and it is even
more than merely probable that the people along the coasts of
the nations which settled first on the sea border of Palestine,
began their acquaintance with the ocean by the pursuit of
which we speak. If we may give credit to the authority of
Sanchoneatho, the art of fishing was practised by one who is
believed to answer to the Tubal Cain of the Scriptures, and
who for that purpose invented fish-hooks and the use of little
boats; and, according to the same authority, there were fishermen
at Berytus when Chronus (or Noah) was yet alive. Nor let
it startle us that before the flood of Noah there should have
been a Mediterranean Sea, with cities on its borders. Pliny
records a tradition of the existence of Joppa before the flood,
(B. 5, C. 14;) and the great goddess of the Sidonians was

88 TUNNY.

represented witli the head of a fish, as signifying their con
nexion with the sea and fishing; the name of the city also
having been derived from the fishery there established. It is
not difficult to suppose that when the importance of this fishery
and the method of conducting it had extended to the Greeks,
the name applied to the fish would also be received, and
supplant any other, if such other had previously existed.

The large examples of this fish already mentioned may be
supposed to have attained a greater age than usually falls to
the lot of this species, since there is no reason to give credit
to an ancient opinion which affirmed that the life of a Tunny
did not amount to more than a couple of years. But these
individuals, contrary to the habits of their race, are found to
be solitary, which may arise from the circumstance that they
have survived the instinctive influences of their sex; but there
are others, not nearly so large, which in their wanderings
limit themselves to companies of three or four, and it is such
chiefly that visit the British coasts, especially on the western
borders of the Channel, in the summer and autumn, when
their headlong eagerness often drives them into the floating
nets, in which they become entangled, and where not unfre-
quently they are held by the roughness of their teeth alone.
They even reach the borders of Scotland, and have been taken
at Gothenburg, in Sweden, in pursuit of herrings and other
fishes of similar size and habits; but I have not been informed
of their taking a bait with us, although where they are more
abundant the fishermen obtain success with even a clumsy
imitation of living fish, of which the Sardine, Flying Fish, and
Mackarel are the most successful.

It is believed that this fish is listless in the winter, and
does not wander away from the district it happens to be in
when that season overtakes it; but in spring it revives, and
multitudes then gather together in the Atlantic, and press
towards the coast of Spain, from which they pass through the
Straits of Gibraltar in their journey towards the Black Sea,
in which alone it was the ancient although erroneous belief
that they chose to deposit their spawn. This proceeding forms
a regular system of migration, and is conducted in well-ordered
columns, in which the strongest and most rapid take the lead,
while the rest are content to follow their leaders along the

TUNNY. 89

accustomed route, wliich for tlie most part is witliin a very
moderate distance of the land, and consequently is much
influenced by the bendings of the coast, thus affording to
many districts an opportunity for engaging in an exciting and
successful adventure. It could only be in diminished numbers
that these successive squadrons could approach the narrow
passage of the Hellespont, of their manner in urging their
"way through which some curious information is given to us
by ancient writers. It was observed that as they rapidly swam
upward it was their constant custom to range along the shores
to the right, until they came to the narrowest part of the
Straits which separate Europe from Asia, where stands a rock
of remarkable whiteness, at the prospect of which they become
greatly terrified, and rush to the opposite side, in which
neighbourhood a prosperous fishery was in consequence carried
on, and which, from the wealth it brought was termed the
Golden Horn. This part of the coast is commemorated by
the poet Ovid in his melancholy voyage to the place of his
banishment; and from him we learn that it was called by
the Romans Tunny Bay. When, on the other hand, the
Tunnies are about to leave the Black Sea, they wait the
opportunity of a north wind, and hasten along in the opposite
course to that by which they went upward; a change which
observers attempted to account for by supposing that these
fishes possess moderate clearness of sight in one eye only,
and that for the sake of safety the blind eye is directed to
that side from which but little danger was apprehended. In
their different stages of growth these fishes were known by
different names, the very young being called Cordyla, and
when somewhat older Palamis; but there is little doubt on
the other hand that two or three separate species were thus
confounded together, as well as at last under the general name
of Tunny.

The Tunny fishery has always been a source of wealth to
the countries that have been engaged to it; but we need not
describe particularly the ways in which it is at present carried
on by the fishermen of Italy, and which appear to differ in
some considerable degree from those which were practised in
very early times. After referring to Herodotus, therefore, who

mentions the net set for the school of Tunnies, (B. 1.) as a
YOL. 11 S

90 TUNNY.

well-known practice as early as the days of Pisistratus, about
five hundred and fifty years before Christ,

"The net is set, and dexterously thrown;
By the clear moonlight shall the Tunnies come;"

we will content ourselves with quoting the accounts left us
by the ancient writers ^liaa and Oppian, the narrative by
the former author being of greater interest to us from the
fact, that there is reason for supposing that what he describes
is the origin of a practice now used on a part of the coast
of Cornwall for taking Pilchards. The antiquity and origin
of the thing will further appear from some remarks which we
owe to the kindness of an eminent scholar, who does not
survive to accept the thanks we would have offered him for
the information thus afforded, ^lian says (B. 15, C. 5.) that
the people who lived in the cities of Portus were well aware
of the times when these fishes came to their coasts; and they
prepared for them with boats, nets, and the other materials
that were necessary; and especially they reared up in some
commanding situation a watch-tower for the use of a man
whom we may well designate the huer, and who answers to
him who for the same purpose is employed also on the coasts
of Italy; but the towers spoken of by Strabo were built of
stone, whereas the one described by ^liau was formed of
stout beams of wood. Each boat had a crew of six young
men, and carried a long net, which was floated by means of
corks along the head line, and the bottom weighed down with
leads. When the weather was favourable the huer descried
the approaching school, and gave the alarm. The movements
of the rowers were guided by the sounds he uttered, and so
skilfully was the proceeding conducted, that it often happened
that the whole of the school became their prize. It will
sometimes happen, however, that this assembled army of fish
will change their course, and pass off towards the deejier
water; but this was soon detected by the ready observation
of the huer, who directed his orders accordingly. A long
hawser was fastened to one of the posts of the huer's watch-
tower for the purpose of sustaining the shore end of the net;
and several boats proceeded in chase, each one with a section
of the net that was intended to enclose the school. The first

TUNNY. 91

net was shot across the course of the fish, and as each of
the four or five boats came to the place their nets were
joined to the former, so as to surround and enclose them as
in a pond, within which these fishes now remained confounded
and helpless, without attempting to move. It appears that in
this condition it was not difficult to warp them by the help
of ropes to the land. The remarks before referred to, as
illustrative of the same subject, are given in the following
letters:

"I enclose, for your perusal, an account of the sean, which
I find placed in a copy of jEschylus, among the notes on the
Tunny fishery, "iEschyli Persae," v. 430. The poet there
describes the Greeks as knocking the Persians on the head
with pieces of the battered ships, as they floundered about in
the water, their ships being sunk or battered to pieces, as
they would so many Tunnies enclosed in a sean. In the
notes on the word Tunnies, the editor takes occasion to
mention the manner in which the fish were enclosed under
the direction of a huer, (OvyytaKoirop,) who ascended a pro-
montory for the purpose, exactly as our Pilchard huer does;
and he quotes passages from Theocritus and from Aristophanes
and other authors in illustration. See Bloomfield's "jEschylus,
Persfe," notes, L. 430, He thinks that ^schylus was fond
of the sport. I will venture a remark, and act the annotator.
It appears to me that the Greeks were not acquainted with
the tuck-net: they dragged the net to the shore, and then
knocked the Thunnies on the head, which were splashing
about and endeavouring to escape. This would appear from
the passage above quoted. The AfK^i.^X'^arpov was a simple
casting-net. The Scriptures partly prove my remark, 'Like
unto a net (Haytjvrj a sean,) which, when it was full, they
drew to the shore.' Mathew, xiii, 47." (I here beg to
observe that the Scriptures more than partly prove the remark,
for they make a clear distinction between two nets that were
used on the Lake of Galilee by the Apostles. In chapter iv,
verse 18, Peter and Andrew are described as ^aWov^af
aiJi^ip\rj(XTpov throwing a casting-net or amphibleestron into the
sea, for they were skilful in the use of it, being professed
fishermen; but in chapter xiii, 47, the action of the Sajrjm],
or sean, is differently described as a-vvayayovar] eKirav^o^; yevovi

92 TUNNY.

collecting all sorts together. Herodotus adds his testimony
to the distinction, as also to the antiquity of the casting-net,
which demanded considerable skill to use it successfully. His
description, in the "Shield of Hercules," is highly expressive:

"Two fish of silver scale,
Panting above the wave, the fishes mute
Gorged, that beneath them shook their quivering fins
In brass; but on the crag a fisher sate
Observant; in his grasp he held a net,
Like one that poising rises to the throw.")

"The sean was a drag-net: so the writer, whose letter I
enclose, understands it; very large, enclosing the fish by its
sweep, and then drawn towards the shore. The passage quoted
from Habakkuk, chapter i, 15, might be more literally rendered
'they drew them under their casting-net, and surrounded
them (or gathered them by surrounding) in their scans.' I
only mean this as a protest against regarding the Aix^L^Xriarpov
as a tuck-net inside the sean. The expression in Habakkuk
is in the Hebrew style an amplification of the same idea. The
writer of the enclosed does not allude to the huer. If I had
been bred at St. John's I should be tempted into that vile
practice of punning, and say, 'He was not up to him." qui
est in altum promontorium vel in malum litore infixum, unde
Thynnorrura gregem specularetur, quo viso, signum piscatoribus
dabat, qui retibus totum gregem includebant. Notse Bloomfieldii
in Pers. This fixing a mast and climbing to the top of it
must have been where the shore was low." (\ye observe that
^lian, whom the writer seems to have overlooked, describes
this elevation as a stage fixed on a couple of lofty posts,
with ledges to enable the huer to get up with ease.) "No
need of this in Cornwall; but it shows what a useful person
the huer was: they could not do without him. Dear sir,
I had quite forgotten that I possessed anything so much to
your wishes as I trust the enclosed will prove, till I found
it preserved in a volume of ^schylus a refreshment to my
memory. C. V. Legrice.

Potter translated

"onward rush

The Greeks, amid the ruins of the fleet,
As through a shoal of fish caught in a net,
Spreading destruction,"

TtlNNY. 93

loosely enough, omitting knocking them on the head with
spars and fragments of wreck. It is curious enough that our
fishermen do not employ the tuck-sean in the sean fishery for
Mackarel, a kindred fish to the Tunny, and that too, although
there are proofs of their losing a large proportion of what
they enclose, from the absence of another net. It would be
an improvement to shoot a second net outside the first, with
its joining opposite the bend of the former. The inner net,
thus first shot, would be used as a tuck-net.

The following is also from the same writer: "In a very
learned and curious work, 'Textrinum Antiquorum, or an
Account of the Art of Weaving among the Ancients/ by Mr.
James Yates, M.A., of which only two hundred and fifty
copied have been printed, I find an historical notice of the
sean. The two kinds of fishing-nets in common use among
the Greeks were the A/j,(f)i^Xr]aTpov and the Xayrjvr]. The
etymology of the former word clearly indicates the casting-net;
but etymology affording no clue to the sort of net intended
by the latter we must have recourse to the passages where it
occurs for a clear view of its meaning. In Alciphron, Epist.
i, 17, mention is made of persons who are fishing in a bay for
Tunnies, and enclose nearly the whole bay with their ^ayrjvr)
sean, expecting to catch a great abundance. Lucian speaks
of (rayi]V7] Ovvvev^iKT] a Tunny sean. The Septuagint trans-
lation of a passage in Habakkuk, chapter i, 15, is EijKeuaev
avrov ev afJL^tjBXrja-rpoi, Kat <7iV7]<ya'yev avrov ev Tai<; aayrjvatq, which,
instead of our common version, more literally is 'He (the
Chaldean) hath drawn him in a casting-net, and gathered him
in the seans.' That the sean was used by the Greeks, as
with us, to encompass a great extent of water, is shewn by
the various uses of the word o-ayTjvr} in a figurative sense, (of
which several instances are given, as well by ordinary as sacred
writers.) The Greek word having been adopted under the
form sagena in the Latin vulgate, this was changed into segne
by the Anglo-Saxons, and we, their descendants, have still
further abridged it into sean. In the south of England this
word is also pronounced and spelt seine, as it is in French.
"VVe find in Bede's "Ecclesiastical History" a curious passage
on the introduction of this kind of net into England. He
says, the people had as yet only learnt to catch eels with nets.

94 TUNNY.

Wilfred caused them to collect together all their eel-nets, and
to use them as a sean for catching fishes of all kinds." (This
remark of Bode, however, can only be supposed to apply to
the north of England; for as we have seen that the Phoenicians
ill the earliest ages were accustomed to use a sean, and it is
known that they traded to the county of Cornwall before the
days of Moses, it is a reasonable guess that this sort of net
was introduced among our ancestors by that people.

But, says Pliny, when caught, the Tunny is cut into pieces,
of which the neck, belly, and throat are the most esteemed;
but they must be eaten only when quite fresh, and even then
are apt to cause severe attacks of flatulence. Tlie other parts,
with the entire fish, are preserved in salt; and those pieces
which resemble an oaken board receive a name from that cir-
cumstance, and are called melandrya. The parts about the tail
are the least esteemed.

"The fisherman shall here his spoil divide
To different uses. TlUs when slightly dried
Is better meat; and that when moist is good,
Whilst other parts are harden'd into food."

Manilius, B. y.

It appears from Aristotle that the Phoenicians, who lived at
Gades, in Spain, on one occasion sailed westward from the
Pillars of Hercules for four days, when at some shallow places
full of sea-weed, they found a very large quantity of Tunnies
of enormous size; which they caught and salted in jars, and
afterward conveyed them to Carthage. These fishes thus pre-
pared were not exported by the Carthaginians, but consumed
in their own country, (Notes and Queries.)

The example selected for description was one of four that
were taken in the middle of September, entangled in a drift
net shot for Pilchards. It measured four feet nine inches in
length, and two feet five inches in girth before the pectoral
fins; the shape conical from this part to the snout, which is
pointed; jaws equal when closed, but when open the lower a
little the longest; teeth numerous, in one row, small, and sunk
in the jaw. Eyes large and bright; nostrils small, midway
between the eyes and snout. Scales so closely set on the back
as not to be distinguished, but, although lying close, perceptible
on the sides and belly, appearing as if sunk in the surface: no

TUNNY. 9$

corset appearing when recent from the water. Pectoral fin
slender, in a depression of the surface, eleven inches long, but
not reaching to the termination of the first dorsal fin; by which,
among other marks, it is distinguished from the Germon or
Long-finned Tunny. The corset line runs from the upper
margin of the pectoral fin, and in a waved form passes up to
the second dorsal; but before its rise the lateral line passes off
to the tail; at its termination a strong elevated ridge, with a
slight converging ridge above and below at the origin of the
tail.

The first dorsal fin begins nearly above the origin of the
pectorals, with, in different specimens, thirteen and fourteen
firm rays; the first rays elevated, but becoming shorter as they
extend close to the second dorsal, and all of them received
into a chink. Second dorsal and anal not opposite, both hook
shaped, their substance too stout to allow of counting their
rays. Pectorals with thirty-two rays. Ventral fins strong, sunk
into a depression, with six flat rays. The number of false fins
differs in different examples; varying from ten to nine above,
and from nine to eight below. The tail greatly incurved, and
slender towards the extremities; but the circle at the middle
is interrupted by a double projection, forming it into two fins,
with thirty rays. The tongue has a raised border or ridge on
each side, its colour black. Colour of the back, top of the
head, and jaws black, with a tint of blue, lighter at the sides;
the belly white. Finlets bright yellow.

The physiological condition of the family of the Mackarel is
most highly developed in the Tunny, and is highly characteristic.
Its vessels are so filled with red blood, as to give the flesh
the appearance of beef; and in consequence of this abundance
of red particles in the circulating fluid, the heat of its body
was found by Dr. Davy to be considerably higher than that of
the sea, and of any other flshes he had an opportunity of
examining, and to maintain a vigorous circulation of this blood,
of which the high degree of heat is a cause and consequence,
we find the heart possessed of a well-marked and powerful
organization. It is large, firm, and in shape an irregular solid
triangle. Internally there are cords which spring from that
portion of the auricle, (the office of which is to receive the
blood from the veins,) which is close to its union with the

96 TUNNY.

heart itself above and below; and they pass into the cavity of
the heart to become united to its walls on the opposite side.
This cavity has several lateral recesses which do not commu-
nicate with any vessel; but they appear to serve as an enlargement
of the cavity, without allowing of the weakening of its muscular
walls; which latter are very thick and full of blood. There
are three valves with cords at the beginning of the aorta (or
vessel which conveys the blood from the heart to other parts
of the body.) The general cavity of the heart and all its
smaller recesses are crossed and re-crossed with tendinous fibres,
to render them additionally strong. Such a powerful circulation
of the blood must render necessary a proportional supply of
pure air to maintain its energy; and this again an organization
by which the power of abstracting it by breathing from the
surrounding water shall be rendered efficient; a measure which
is accomplished by a high development of the nerves supplying
the gills

It is worthy of notice to observe how near sometimes the
ancients have approached to an important discovery without
having been able to make it. They could not fail to know
that the breathing of air was necessary to the life of animals
of the land; and they observed an action somewhat similar to
breathing in fishes, but were not able to suppose that air could
be obtained, or be necessary in the case of the latter. According
to ^lian, therefore, (B. 9, C. 64,) it was the doctrine of
Democritus, Aristotle, and his followers Theophrastus and
Empedocles, that the function of the gills in fishes was to
extract from the salt water of the sea a portion of fresh water,
which they supposed to be mingled with it; and that such a
separation of elements, and appropriation of fresh water, was
essential to their life in the same manner as the obtaining of
air is to creatures inhaling it.

^ x:

o X

97

BONITO.

Scom'ber Telamh, LtnNjEtjs.

Tliynnus Pelamis, Cuviee. Jenyns; Manual, p. 363.

" " Tarrell ; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 167.

Scombre Bonite, Lacepede. Risso.

" " GuNTiiER; Catalogue Br. Museum,

vol. ii, p. 364:.

This species is one of those wliicli was in ancient times
confounded with the Tunny, and for which, therefore, fisheries
were established as for that fish. Different representations are
made as regards its excellency as food, and Risso pronounces
it good; but it is probable that it varies according to the
season.

But pursued as it is by the arts of man, it is still more a
pursuer after those fishes it is able to overcome; the greater
portion of which are such as we suppose the most difficult to
be overtaken; but its swiftness, which we judge from its
structure to exceed even that of the Tunny, renders it fully
equal to the task. The Bonito therefore excites a larger amount
of interest from the accounts given us by sailors, who have
observed its actions in the wide expanse of ocean near and
within the tropics; where it is found in abundance, and is
often seen to spring aloft in pursuit of the flying fish; which
it has driven into the air as a last resource of safety. Some-
thing like this also not unfrequently occurs in summer on the
western coasts of England; where this fish and some others of
the same family are often seen in pursuit of the Saury or
Skopster; the chase of which presents an amusing spectacle
by its leaping into the air, in the vain hope of seizing those
which in that element at least are more than a match for its
VOL. il.

98 BONITO.

Utmost efforts. It is observed that in its spring from the
water a blow is sometimes attempted with the tail, in the
endeavour to bring down the flying prey; and that finding
itself too heavy for flight, it drops to the water on its side.

The Bonito has been known to wander so far north as the
coast of Scotland; and Dr. Scouler records an example that
was taken in the Frith of Clyde, in the month of July.
StcAvard, in his Elements of Natural History, reports another
which was caught in the Forth; and I owe the knowledge of
the capture of still another in the north to the kindness of
T. C Heysham, of Carlisle: it was taken at Whitehaven, in
Cumberland. It has also been taken in Ireland.

The example selected for description was twenty-nine inches in
length, which is little less than the size to which it usually grows;
and it measured twenty inches round close behind the pectoral
fins; head conical, ending in a point at the snout; under jaw
projecting, the gape not wide; teeth few and small; tongue
flat and thin; nostrils obscure, not in a depression; eye elevated,
round, two inches and a half from the snout. The body round
to the vent, from thence tapering to the tail, near which it is
depressed. Scales scarcely visible. Lateral line at first de-
scending and waved, becoming straight opposite the anal fin,
from thence ascending and terminating in an elevated ridge,
with another ridge above and below near the tail. Behind the
pectoral fins the corset is formed of a bright triangular section
of the surface, from which begin four dark lines, which extend
along each side of the belly to the tail, and which form a
characteristic mark of this fish. From the snout to the pectoral
fin eight inches and three quarters; the fin itself lower on the
side than in the Tunny; lodged in a depression, pointed, and
barely reaching to the border of the corset. The first dorsal
fin beginning four inches in height, but low in its progress;
lodged in a chink; and the separation between it and the
second dorsal proportionally rather wider than in the Tunny.
The second dorsal and anal hook-shaped, and nearly opposite
each other. Eight finlets above and below. The tail deeply
divided, the lower half rather more extended than the upper;
ventral fins in a depression. Colour a fine steel blue, darker
on the back, sides dusky, white below, from the eyes to near
the anal fin, with the exception of the lines before mentioned.

BONITO. 99

No air bladder; the muscle red, and greatly charged with blood.
It was a female, full of roe in July.

Another example offered some differences that are worthy of
notice. The length was a foot and seven inches, and the girth
a foot. The marking of the corset was not exactly as in the
former, and there were only three lines on one side, the dark
colour of the back being extended to include the uppermost
line. The first dorsal fin was altogether concealed in the chink;
the two first rays of equal length, and close together, fifteen
in all; the first ray white. The tongue of a remarkable form,
being in front flat and firm, turned up at the middle of the
side, and raised into a triangle, which sloped away inward, as
if intended to guide backward, as in a gutter, what passed
over it; and too firm to be moveable.

100

OECYNUS.

This genus, instituted by Cuvier, is only distinguished from Thynnus
by the very extended length of the pectoral fins, which reach beyond
the vent.

GERMON

LONG-FINNED TUNNY

Orcynus,

Scomhre alatunga,
Aile Longue,
Orcynus alalonga,

JONSTON.

Lacepede.

Risso.

Cuvier.

Eeport of Natural History Society of

Penzance for 1846.
Taekell; Br. Fishes.
EicHAKDSON; Supplement.
GuNTHEK; Catalogue Br. Museum,

vol. ii, p. 366.

The name of Germon has been applied to more than one
species, but we confine it to that to which in our opinion it
more properly belongs, and which is common and abundant on
the south coasts of Europe; as well within the Straits of
Gibraltar as without; where it has many of the habits of the
Tunny, and is equally the object of valuable fisheries. There
is no doubt indeed that a portion of the history of the Tunny,
as it has been handed down from ancient writers, applies to
this as to the Bonito and kindred species; so that long obser-
vation will be required before we can assign to each of them
its separate portion. It appears however that the Germon
passes through a less extensive range than the Tunny, at least

c5 >-^

GERMON. 101

towards the nortli; for while the last-named fish is often seen
ia our waters, and even visits the German Ocean, the Germon
has only on two or three occasions been recorded as British.
Twice it has been taken in the Mount's Bay, in Cornwall, of
which an account is given in the Report of the Natural History
Society of Penzance, as referred to above; and from one of
these our figure and description are taken.

A third example was obtained at Portland in the middle of
March, 1861, and came into the possession of William Thompson,
Esq., of Weymouth; to whom I owe the information of its
capture, and who presented it to the British Museum. Its
length was thirty-three inches, and the extreme girth twenty-
two inches and a quarter; extent of the pectoral fin eleven
inches and a half. The specimen from which we obtain our
figure and description was much less than this the length
being eighteen inches, and the depth where greatest five inches.
The snout sharp, under jaw longest, gape small; teeth in a
single row, small, sharp, and incurved. Eye large, placed over
the angle of the mouth; diverging thread-like branching lines
passing from it backward. Gill-covers in well-marked sections.
A corset begins behind the gill-covers, and encircling the origin
of the pectoral fin, forms for it a depression into which it falls.
From thence this corset rises to the back, and extends to the
second dorsal fin. Lateral line crooked posteriorly. The first
dorsal fin rises behind the root of the pectoral, and extends
to within a short distance of the second dorsal; the first four
rays longest, fourteen in all, and spinous. Second dorsal hook-
shaped, fifteen soft rays; anal also hook-shaped, thirteen rays;
this fin behind the second dorsal. Pectorals with thirty-seven
rays, so long as to reach to the hinder border of the second
dorsal. The two ventral fins close together, on a scale round
which is a depression, and between them are four false rays;
the first ray of this fin spinous, five others. Tail deeply con-
cave. Einlets eight above and seven below. This example
shewed extraordinary strength when caught with a line.

102

PELAMYS.

This genus was at first termed Sarda by Cuvier. The only distin-
guishing mark is, that the fishes included in it are furnished with
pointed and very strong teeth, which are separate from one another.

PELAMID.

Pelamys sarda, Willoughby; p. 179. Cuvier.

" " Tarrell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 159.

Scomber sarde, Risso.

' Pelamitus, Eaeinesque.

" " Richardson; Supplement, p. 18.

" " Gunther; Catalogue Br. Museum,

vol. ii, p. 367.

This fish is only of late known to naturalists as a separate
species; but it is widely distributed over the ocean, from the
Mediterranean through all its length and the Black Sea, to the
coast of America and across the Atlantic to the Cape of Good
Hope; although we do not find it numbered with the edible
fishes of the last-named district by Dr. Pappe.

In rapidity of motion and eagerness in pursuit of living prey,
it does not yield to any of this family, and it has been often
seen to spring into the air after the Saury and Flying-fish; but
its more characteristic habits are little known. In the montli
of September, 18o(i, in very fine weather, with the sea smooth.
a large number of fishes, which were described to me by the
fishermen so clearly that no doubt could be felt with regard to
the species, were very near their boats in pursuit of Skopstcrs,
(Sauries,) in chase of which many of them sprung above tbr
water; when their bellies were seen to sj^arklc like silver, and
the bands on their sides and blue backs were plainly visible.
The same has happened on other occasions.

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PELAMID, 103

Rafinesque says it is caught in considerable numbers in Sicily
in the spring by those who fish for the Tunny; and both himself
and Risso speak favourably of its excellency as food. But
common as it seems at times to be, it must be a wary fish as
well as active; for whilst some others of its family not unfre-
quently become entangled in floating nets, it is very seldom
that the Pelamid falls into this misfortune; and in two instances
onlv has it been known to have been taken in Britain. One
of these was so far north as Montrose; where it was recognised
by William Beattie, Esq., and when preserved afforded a portrait
to the second Supplement to Mr. Yarrell's History of British
Fishes. Another example, from which our figure and description
are taken, was caught at Swanage, in Dorsetshire, on the 4th.
of December, 1860; for which I am indebted to the kindness
of the Bev. J. M. Colson, who thus has placed it in my povv^er
to give a representation of a recent British example in its native
colours.

The specimen described measured no more than fourteen
inches, but it has been found to reach about a couple of feet
in length; the shape in general resembling the Common Mackarel,
but Avith a sharper and more lengthened snout; from which the
outline rises to the first dorsal fin; the body round and plump
to the second dorsal; from which it becomes much more slender
as it approaches the tail; the base of which is round and strong.
Und-er jaw longest, teeth numerous, large, loosely set, and re-
curved; two larger than the others on each side of the median
line. Teeth at the root of the tongue in the middle, and two
lines of them diverging posteriorly, one on each side of the
palate; the gape large, extending back to the plane of the centre
of the eye; the last-named organ small and bright, placed at
about two thirds of the distance between the angle of the jaw
and top of the head, and an inch and one eighth from the snout.
The corset is formed of coarser scales than appear on any other
part of the body; the lateral line forms a small arch at first,
with the corset, and then passes straight back to the tail, ending
in a prominent keel. The first dorsal fin rises just above the
pectoral, and three inches and a half from the snout; extending
back near to the second dorsal; the first rays longest, but
afterwards they gradually decrease in elevation; number oi rays
twenty-two, the spines stout and strong; second dorsal membranous

104 PELiMID.

at the edge, fleshy at the base, with twelve rays. The anal fin
begins opposite the termination of the second dorsal, with thirteen
rays. Finlets nine above and seven below. Tail deeply curved,
as in this family.

There are no oblique lines or cords above and below the
root of the tail; the absence of which therefore might be added
to the characters of this genus. Pectoral fin small, not very
firm, rising close behind the gill-cover, and lying on the corset,
which is about the same length; number of rays twenty -five;
ventral fins small, with one firm and five soft rays. Colour of
the head and back deep blue, with darker transverse lines passing
forward from the back to the lateral line; lighter blue below
the lateral line, and beneath this a deeper tint, fading into
silvery white at the belly. Tail blackish; ventral and anal fins
and the edge of the second dorsal inclined to yellow. It had
an air-bladder, which was long and large.

We have already taken notice of the high degree of animal
heat which belongs to some of the fishes of this family, and
especially in the Tunny; and its probable connection with their
activity and strength. But in the Pelamid this amount of heat
was found by Dr. Davy to be even higher than in the others.
In three examples which that gentleman examined at Constan-
tinople, the warmth of the body exceeded that of water on the
surface by seven degrees; and compared with water at a con-
siderable deplh, it was judged to exceed it by twelve degrees.

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105

AUXTS.

The characters of this gonus are like thee of f^comher, in having
the first and second dorsal fins widely apart; but it makes an approach
to the genus Thynnus in possessing a corset, and also a raised keel
at the termination of the lateral line. It differs from the genus Pelamys
in that the teeth are small.

PLAIN BONITO.

Scomher de Laroche,

" Bochei, Eisso.

" hisus, Eafinesque. Gunther; Catalogue Br.

Museum, vol. ii, p. 369.
Auxis vulgaris, Cuvier. Yarkell; Br. Fishes, vol. i,

p. 160.

This species, in common with the Pelamid, Germon, and
others of the same family, some of which have not hitherto
been known as British, was formerly confounded with the Tunny,
although the mistake can scarcely be imputed to the fishermen;
who, in the countries where it is familiarly known, have always
given it a distinguishing name. In the Mediterranean, where
it abounds, and is a regular object of the fishery, being caught
from May to September, it is said by Risso to be known by
the name of Bounicou. In southern climes its range is said to
be extensive, being set down among the fishes of the West
Indies on the one hand, and eastward among those of the Indian
Ocean. It comes more rarely towards the north, although, as
I am informed by the Rev. Walter Gordon, of Macduff, it has
been met with in the Moray Firth. Mr. Yarrell mentions two
examples which came to him at the same time, from some part
of the south coast, and a specimen was caught at Looe, in
Cornwall, in the year 1843. Two others have been taken in
Mount's Bay, from one of which, caught in 1844, our figure
YOL. 11. P

106 PLAIN HONITO.

and description are taken; the original specimen being preserved
in the Museum of the Natural History Society at Penzance.

It measures eighteen inches in length, and in girth behind
the first dorsal fin eleven inches and a half. Compared therefore
with the Mackarelj the body is short and thick, the upper jaw
short and sharp, gape narrow, under jaw longest, teeth small
and fine. Eye of moderate size, an inch from the snout, the
head elevated above it. Margin of the first gill-cover elliptic,
gill opening large, an inch and a quarter from the gill-covers.
Thickness of the body carried far back toward the tail; a corset;
lateral line crooked, ending in a raised ridge. The first dorsal
fin in a chink, five inches from the snout, having nine rays,
of which the two first are closely united and longest, the hinder
ones very low. Second dorsal and anal small, six inches from
the first dorsal to the second. The finlets appear to vary, as
I have a note in which they are eight above and seven below,
and in another enumeration nine. The caudal fin is propor-
tionally smaller than in the Mackarel, and the middle rays
shorter, fifteen in all. Pectoral fins small, not reaching to the
extent of the corset, stout, and received into a depression: as
are the ventral fins, and as the depression into which they are
received is single, they appear to lie beneath a scale. In the
pectoral fin are twenty-one rays, the ventral six, second dorsal
seven, and anal eight.

This fish is not entitled to the name of Plain Bonito, since
the back, although generally of a dark blue colour, is also faintly
marked with marbled lines and ocellated spots; as is also the
figure given by Cuvier. These, however, had faded in the
specimen when I examined it

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Centronote Pilote,

NAITCRATES.

This is an aberrant genus from the family of true Mackarels. The
general form is round, but less slender than ia the last-named fishes;
and the head more blunt. A keel on the side near the tail, as in the
Tunny. Separate spines in front of the single dorsal fin, and also in
front of the anal fin. The ventral fins are thoracic.

PILOT PISH.

LlNNi^US.

CuviER. WiLLOuGHBY; Appendix,

pi. viii, f. 2.
Jenyns; Manual, p. 365.
Yaruell; Br. Fishes, vol. ii, p. 170.
GuNTHER; Catalogue Br. Museum,

vol. ii, p. 374.
Lacepede. Risso.

In remote times a usual method of classifying animals, and
especially fishes, was by arranging together such as resembled
each other in habits, or that were found to frequent similar
situations; but from such a system it often happens that we are
involved in confusion and doubt, when we endeavour to ascertain
the species to which had been applied a particular and perhaps
obscurely discriminating name, or manners which it shared with
several others. This remark is especially applicable to the Pilot
Fish, which at a remote date attracted notice under the name
of Pompilus; but which became confounded with another fish,
of a different shape, and that in modern classification stands
under the generic name of Centrolophus , or Black Fish, and
assumes to itself the specific denomination formerly applied to
the Pilot Fish. There is still another species which bore a
name of similar meaning, and of which a greater degree of
uncertainty exists; to which we shall find further occasion to
refer at the conclusion of our history of the present species.

108 PIT.OT FTSH.

^lian informs us, b. ii, c. 15, that the Pomjnlus, or Pilot
Fish, hated any approach to the land, and on that account was
considered sacred to Neptune, the god of the ocean, which
rendered it safe from any designed injury; and this in common
belief was confirmed by the circumstance, that a man who had
ventured to make a meal of it, soon afterwards had the mis-
fortune to lose his son by drowning. But the origin of the
name, and what caused these fishes to be mistaken for each
other was, that both of them were supposed to be actuated by
a friendly feeling towards sailors, as was shewn in their gambols
at the sight of the ''human face divine." They, therefore, gladly
drew near a ship when they descried it on the open ocean,
and kept close to it in all its voyages, so as not to be driven
away even by any show of violence. It was only when the ship
drew near the land that this fish was prepared to leave it;
which propensity was of the utmost importance to the unskilful
sailors of that day, who thus received the warning of their close
approach to land, which otherwise they would not have dis-
covered. Ovid refers to what was in his time perhaps the only
fact that he had heard or believed of this tradition:

"And thou companion of the swift-winged ship,
Its constant friend o'er all the foaming deep."

And Pliny notices the same habit, but of which he knew so
little as to confound the subject of it with the Tunny, and
even the Nautilus; but it is in Oppian that we find the full
particulars of the popular belief; b. i.

"He the deep seas prefers to noisy straits,
Who for the distant ship ijnpatient waits,
The friendly Pilot Fish, who gladly views
The well-rigged bark, and every sail pursues.
Round it the wanton shoals in order move,
And frisking, gaze on him who steers above:
Eager press on, nor will be left behind.
Though the full sails swell bloated with the wind.
Thus they, while no approaching shores displease,
Swim with the ship tumultuous o'er the seas.
But when they conscious scent the coming shore,
Averse they court the sailor's look no more;
Avoid the nearer land, and hie again
With equal haste to the unbounded main.
Pilots observe the sign, and know the coast
Draws nigh when they perceive their comrades lost."

PILOT FISH. 109

The supposed dislike of the Pilot Fish to a near approach
to land is the only circumstance in this description that is
doubtful; but if true in any degree, it is more probably to be
ascribed to the greater dilution of the salt Avater at a harbour
situated near the mouth of a river, of which it would be quickly
sensible.

But that it will hold fellowship with a vessel for large distances
is beyond doubt; and it is to this circumstance we owe it that
the Pilot Fish has, not unfrequently, been a visitor to the British
shores. The first mention of this was in the Linnsean Transac-
tions, vol. xiv.; where two examples are reported as having
accompanied a ship from the Mediterranean into Falmouth.
They have even done so the full distance from Alexandria, in
Egypt, and some have remained to be taken in the quarantine
pond of that port. One at least has been taken with a line;
but such numbers have come under observation, that it becomes
unnecessary to specify particular instances. It appears however
that they do not often accompany a ship to the shallower or colder
water of the British Channel; and only a single one has been
found east of Plymouth. In 1818, we are informed that a
Pilot Fish was caught in the harbour of Dartmouth.

It appears probable that when its friendly association with
the ship is broken this fish hastens back to its more congenial
climate; and in only one instance have I learnt that it has been
found when alone, and at a considerable distance from any
floating friend, or harbour. It seemed then to be bewildered,
ran itself close to the shore, and without much eflfbrt to escape
was taken with the hand. This was the largest example I have
had an opportunity of examining, and has aflforded the figure
and description we shall give of this fish.

But remarkable as is this apparently friendly companionship
between the Pilot Fish and his ship, there is another association
which appears still more remarkable; but whether it be the
same spoken of by ancient authors, will be regarded as uncertain.
The most particular account we have of it is by Oppian, b. 5,
who represents it as a property of a fish which he calls Hegetera,
and which ^Elian, b. ii, c. 13, call Hegemenous, to accompany
the more stupid whale as its guide, to point out the presence
of dansrer, and lead it to safetv and its food. Plinv also men-
tions this fish under the Latin name of Musculus ; but the

no PILOT FISH.

descriptions left us of its shape and size are insufficient and
contradictory; and the figure given by E-uysch, in his "Theatrum
omnium Animaliuni," pi. iv, f. 4, of the fish which he terms
Mijsticetus Balence Dux, acknowledged from Aldrovandus, is
wholly imaginary. Modern observation therefore has failed in
recognising this Guide or Pilot by any other character than
that implied by its name; but it is only necessary for us to
substitute the Shark in the place of the Whale to enable us to
discover how fittingly the history answers to the fish we are
speaking of

It is the firm belief of sailors that such a fish is known to
them; and that it ventures to be in close companionship with
those ferocious inhabitants of the ocean without fear or danger,
and even with signs of attachment; while the Sharks also seem
conscious of a sympathetic feeling for their little friend. This
widely-spread belief is remarkably corroborated by the narrative
of the late Lieutenant-Colonel C. Hamilton Smith, who himself
was well known as an eminent naturalist, as the Captain Richards
he mentions was also a man of unquestionable truth, and a
correct observer. It was in the Mediterranean that, on a fine
day, a Blue Shark followed the ship, attracted perhaps by a
corpse which had been commited to the waves. After some
time a Shark-hook, baited with pork, was flung out. The Shark,
attended by four Pilot Fishes, repeatedly approached the bait,
and every time he did so one of the Pilot Fishes, preceding
him, was distinctly seen from the taffrail of the ship, to run
his snout against the side of the Shark's head, and turn it away.
After some further play the fish swam off in the wake of the
vessel, his dorsal fin being long distinctly visible above the
water. When he had gone, however, a considerable distance,
he suddenly turned round, darted after the vessel, and before
the Pilot Fish could overtake him and interpose, snapped at the
bait and was taken. In hoisting him up one of the Pilot Fishes
was observed to cling to his side until he was half above water,
when it fell off. All the Pilot Fishes then swam about awhile,
as if in search of their friend, with every apparent mark of
anxiety and distress, and afterwards darted suddenly down into
the depths of the sea. The Colonel believed these observations
on the Pilot Fish to be perfectly correct, as he had himself
watched with intense curiosity an event in all respects precisely

PILOT FISH. Ill

similar to the one now related. (Griffith's Cuvier, p 637.)
The Blue Shark is in the summer a common fish in the
west of England, but in no instance has the Pilot Fish been
seen to accompany it there.

The example from which principally our description is drawn,
was of more than the usual size; its length being fifteen inches
and a quarter, and its girth eight inches, at the front of the
dorsal fin. The general form is round and plump; scales on
the body small, with marks resembling scales on the first gill-
cover; the hinder gill-cover regularly but slightly striated.
Forehead short and rounded; under jaw a little the longer;
teeth numerous, slender, thickly set, with a vacancy at the
symphysis. The eye prominent, and in one instance one eye
differed from the other, both in size and colour. Lateral line
but slightly bent, although in two other examples this line
passed off high at first, and became bent down opposite the
origin of the dorsal fin, ending in an elevated ridge close to
the tail; a deep notch above and below the root of the caudal
fin. Dorsal fin single, beginning at the middle of the body,
more elevated at its origin, but lower in its progress; in front
of it a ridge bearing spines, three in number, but probably a
fourth hid in the skin; and in another example there were five
spines, the first of them concealed. The anal fin begins opposite
about the middle of the dorsal; and in front of it a single
spine, but in a smaller specimen two spines. A small mark of
a corset near the pectoral fin, which fin is pointed, round below;
ventrals long and wide; tail forked. Colour blue, of different
degrees of intensity in different examples from brilliant sky
blue with green tints, to very dark; white below, the body
encircled with five deep blue bands. Caudal fin above and
below tipped with white, as also the first rays of the dorsal
and anal fins. The dorsal fin has twenty-nine rays, the anal
eighteen, pectoral sixteen, ventral five, caudal twenty-one, besides
fifteen false rays above and below.

112

ECHENEIS.

This genus is recognised by having a flat oblong disk on the top of
the head, which is marked with a double row of transverse raised
lines or ridges, each of which is furnished with spinous teeth, the
whole enclosed within a raised border. There is in addition a single
dorsal and anal fin, and the ventral fins are thoracic.

There are several species of this genus, but there is reason to suppose
they have been represented as more numerous than they are, for it
appeal's from the observations of Dr. Albert Giinther, in the "Annals
of Natural History," March 1860, that the number of plaits or laminae
in the disk or sucking apparatus on the head is subject to variation,
and in consequence tliat a separation of species built on such variation
will lead to error. It appears also that the exact form of the tail is
uncertain as a distinction; for it is found to vary from the forked
shape to the round in what may be termed the Common Remora, as
the laminae vary also in the same fish from sixteen to twenty.
Roughness of the tongue has also been thought a specific character;
but in the sam.e undoubted species this has been seen to vary from
a state of smoothness to decidedly rough.

All the fishes of this genus may be considered as being only furnished
with a single dorsal fin; but an attempt has been made to represent
the sucking apparatus as in its nature an anterior dorsal tin, although
for special purposes it is made to assume a dift'ercnt form from ordinary
fins. It is the opinion of Voigt that this modification is accomplished
by the bending of the rays downwards on both sides, to constitute the
disk with its laminae, and that the very small hooks which are on the
borders af the laminae have the same function as similar formations
have in the several species of the family of Belistes. It is beyond
doubt that there are examples in nature where an organ by even an
apparently small change of structure is rendered capable of performing
functions which appear very different from those for which it seemed
originally intended; but more extended examination must be instituted
before this can be considered certain in the present instance; and if
there be at all a resemblance to a fin in this organ, it would rather
appear to be in the raised border of the disk than in the laminae, the
structure of which appears to be of the nature of cartilage, and which
rest on a series of bones that communicate with the spinous or upright
processes of the vertebrae, and are themselves moved by independent
muscular fibres. These laminae are in pairs, proceeding from a middle
longitudinal ridge, and in this respect differ greatly from the fins of
any known fishes. When about to bring this sucking organ into
action, the fish appears to bring the hooks or rough edge of these
laminae into contact with the surface on which it is its purpose to fix
itselfj and then, chicfiy by means of the raised border of the diek,

( I

REMORA. 113

to drive away the water, so that, by a process of exhaustion, it may
adhere with the firmness it is known to be capable of exerting, which
is so great that the strength of a man is scarcely sufficient to tear it
away. Even in death itself the close attachment continues, altliough
a sliding motion may without much difficulty loosen its hold. To the
fish itself this removal is easy, and is accomplished chiefly by an action
of the border, that permits a little water to pass among the attaching
laminae. From the drawing of a foreign species in my possession, I
am led to conclude that when the sucking apparatus is not in action
the sides of the disk are capable of being brought together for the
purpose of covering and protecting the laminae of the disk.

REMORA.

SUCKING FISH.

Eemora, Wilioughby; Appendix, table ix.

Echeneis remora, Linn^us. Cuvier. Bloch; pi. 172.

" " Lacepede. Eisso.

" " Jenyns; Manual, p. 473.

" " Yarkell; Br. Fishes, vol. ii, p. 377.

" " Gunthek,; Annals, etc. of Natural History

for 1860, p. 6; and Catalogue of British
Museum, vol. ii, p. 378.

It does not appear that when left to itself this fish is capable
of long continued or very rapid motion; and yet it is found to
be distributed over a wide extent of ocean, in regions where
the climate is sufficiently accommodated to its nature; but it has
not been met with northward of the temperate zone; beyond
which the water appears to be cold for its sensations. It is
said to be common in the Pacific Ocean, East and West Indies,
and on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as in the Mediter-
ranean; although, at least in the sea last mentioned, it is
represented, as we have seen, to shun a near approach to the
land; a habit which, according to Risso, has been accounted
for by supposing that it is influenced by dislike to the diluted
condition of the Avater, where a river pours its stream to mingle
with the Salter fluid of the deep. But whatever be the cause,
there is reason to think there is truth in the supposition that
VOL. II. Q

114 REMORA.

in fact tliis fisli does shun the close neighbourhood of land;
and Rafinesque, who seems to have studied carefully the fishes
of Sicily at Palermo, had not an opportunity of obtaining a
specimen. Hasselquist, also, does not name it among the species
he was able to find at Alexandria, in Egypt; although he
mentions the E. naucrates, which is another of the same genus;
and to which more especially some of the remarks of the ancient
writers must more particularly apply. jElian knew no other
than the Remora, or Echeneis, that was of a dark colour, and
in shape like an eel, (b. ii, c, 17,) which answers only to the
species referred to by Hasselquist.

There is no doubt, however, that both these fishes were well
known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, however they might
confound them together, according to their practice in regard
of species that displayed a likeness of habits, however they
might vary in shape. But what the ancient authors have chiefly
handed down to us about them, is for the most part limited to
what were the popular notions of the wonderful, occult and
supposed magical powers with which their adhesive faculty was
believed to be accompanied. We have already seen that the
principal character of the Remora is the apparatus which is
placed on the head; and modern observers have so far studied
the actions of this fish, when endeavouring by its aid to lay
hold of an object, as to instruct, us with regard to the minuter
actions of the fish in accomplishing its object.

It appears probable that under ordinary circumstances this
fish is inert; and although for a short time, and on the spur
of the moment, capable of active exertion, that it soon becomes
fatigued and listless. It is not in search of food, therefore, as
some have supposed mistaking it for the Lamprey, or supposing
these dissimilar fishes to have like habits but for the sake of
rest; and to be conveyed over a considerable depth of water,
and for a long distance, with the smallest expenditure of effort
on its own part, that it thus lays hold, with the instrument
given to it by its Great Creator, of any one of the larger and
more active fishes, with which it is able to come into contact.
A Shark, Whale, or ship, which latter probably it mistakes for
a Whale, aflfords the required accommodation; and in approaching
them its motions are described as being with a sort of wriggle,
with the necessary accompaniment, on the authority of the French

RFMORA. 115

naturalist, Commerson an observer of high excellency that its
mode of swimming, even under ordinary circumstances, is with
the back downward : a position which its general appearance in
the relative distribution of colour and action of the smaller fins
render probable, and which the act of adhesion in its final
operation must necessarily require. In this action the pectoral
fins are directed towards the back, and the ventrals are turned
in the contrary direction; so that each of these pairs is engaged
in performing what in other fishes is the office of the other;
and the Remora glides along the surface of that to which it
seeks to affix itself, until it has reached the place where it will
be least exposed to injury from the violent actions of its bearer.
A slight effort of the sucking laminae displaces the fluid on the
skin; and then by a movement in its nature much like that by
which a boy contrives to cause his plaything of leather to adhere
to a stone, by which to drag or lift it, the fish remains firmly
fixed to the body that supports it; and from which a violent
direct eflfort is scarcely sufficient to dislodge it, although a
sliding movement in a forward direction may accomplish the
removal with comparative ease. From a remark of Commerson,
there seems reason to suppose that the adhesion is further
secured by some specific action communicated to the skin of
its bearer by the sucking organ, and by which its sensibility is
greatly blunted. Lacepede quotes the manuscript of Commerson,
as saying that on applying his finger to the organ of an active
fish, he found it powerfully affected with numbness, so as to
render it almost paralytic for a long time afterwards.

It was this remarkable habit of adhesion that excited so much
wonder in ancient times; for the explanation of which, as it
was far beyond the philosophy of the age, they were driven to
the resource of an occult quality; which in that day was a
common method of accounting for every obscure or otherwise
unaccountable appearance of Nature. Nothing was too wonderful
to lie beyond this ready method of explanation, and hence arose
an ordinary article of popular belief, that by attaching itself to
any moving object, and even to the largest ship, this fish was
able in an instant to stop its course through the waves, and
fix it in the midst of the sea immoveable as a rock.

After arguing on this subject, and holding up to scorn the
doubts of unbelievers, Oppian represents his own and the ordinary

116 REMORA.

creed; althoug^h it is clear that he knew so little of the fibh as
to confound it with the Common Lamprey.

"The Sucking Fish beneath with secret chains,
Chmg to the keel the swiftest ship detains.
The seamen run confused, no labour spared,
Let fly the sheets, and hoist the topmost yard,
The master bids them give her all the sails,
To court the winds and catch the coming gales.
Bat though the canvas bellies with the blast,
And boisterous winds bow down the cracking mast.
The bark stands firmly rooted on the sea,
And will unmoved nor winds nor waves obey.
Still as when calms have flattened all the ])lain,
And infant waves scarce wrinkle on the main.
No ship in harbour moored so careless rides.
When ruffling waters mark the flowing tides.
Such sudden force the floating captive binds.
Though beat by waves, and urged by driving winds-
Appalled the sailors stare through strange surprise,
Believe they dream, and rub their waking eyes."

Pliny repeats in prose the same account, and individual
instances are handed down by writers who certainly believed
the occurrences they relate, as due to the cause to which they
were ascribed; although a more intelligible explanation will
suggest itself to the mind of a modern reader. It Avas love
for Cleopatra that was more powerful than this fish in delaying
Antony's ship at the battle of Actium, and the drunken idleness
of the roAvers offers a better explanation for the slow progress
of the Emperor's galley, when Caius Caligula made his voyage
from Astura to Antium.

There are but few instances in which this fish has been
obtained in the British Sea; which is the more remarkable, as
it is its frequent habit to attach itself to the Blue Shark, of
which hundreds, and perhaps thousands, are caught on the
western coasts of the kingdom every year. There is a specimen
in the British Museum, which is reported to have been taken
at Guernsey, but under what circumstances does not appear.
Dr. Turton is reported to have himself taken an example from
the back of a Codfish at Swansea; but Mr, Dillwyn, in his
"Fauna of Swansea," says that he had strong grounds for
believing that there was some mistake about it. There remains,
however, an instance that is unquestioned; as reported by the
late William Thompson, Esq., of Belfast, in his "Natural History

REMORA. 117

of Ireland." It is contained in a letter from Dr. R. Ball, of
Dublin, who says that on the 29th. of July, (1848,) Mr. N. A.
Nicholson brought to him a fresh specimen of this fish, which
he found adhering to the gills of a large Shark, which he had
captured in Dublin Bay on the preceding night; where it was
observed in shallow water, and driven on shore. A second
Remora adhered to the gills at the opposite side, but when
disturbed it made its way inwards by the branchial orifices, and
was not seen again. Dr. Ball afterwards obtained the fish on
which the llemora was found, and it proved to be a Blue
Shark, of the length of ten feet and an inch; but the second
llemora was not discovered.

The length of the specimen examined was four inches and a
half; the figure stout on its anterior part; the head flat above,
to afford space for the sucking disk; which reaches from the
upper lip backward to almost the end of the pectoral fin in
form oval, and in this example with eighteen laminae proceeding
from a middle longitudinal ridge. The eyes prominent; under
jaw protruding; cheeks full. Body more compressed from the
pectoral fins, tapering nearer the tail. Pectoral fins round, and
high; ventral fins thoracic. A slight ridge from the disk to
the dorsal fin; which fin and the anal are opposite; tail concave.
Colour brown, but its distribution is remarkable, the under
parts being dark, and the dorsal parts lighter, as well the back
itself as the dorsal fin. We have already seen that the form
of the tail and number of laminae of the disk are liable to
variation.

118

ZE[JS.

Thk body deep and much compressed; head sloping; upper lip formed
by a membranous band. The general outline approaching to an oval.
Gape wide, jaws capable of great protrusion. Two dorsal fins, the
first having spinous rays. Stout spines along the roots of the dorsal
and anal fins, and along the belly. Ventral fins thoracic.

DOREE.

JOHN DOREE.

Doree, Jonston; Tab. 17, f. 2.

Faber, Willoughby; p. 294, Tab. S. 16.

Zeus faher, Linn^us. Cuvier. Bloch; pi. 41.

" Donovan; pi. 8. This and Bloch's

figure are not good.
" Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 218.

" " Jenyns; Manual, p. 367.

Yarkell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 183.
" " Gb'NTiiER; Cat. Br. M., vol. ii, p. 393.

Zee forgeron, Lacepede. Risso.

There rests some obscurity on the history and meaning of
the ancient and scientific names of this fish, which in the Greek
of Oppian appears to be Chalkeus, (Xa\Kev<;,) or the Copper
Smith; and the Greek name of the more exaUed of the gods
of the heathen, which was selected by Artedi as the designation
of the genus (Zevi,) was applied to it by the Romans of the
most ancient times,' according to Columella, with the addition
also of Faber, or the Workman. It would be vain to offer a
guess on the cause of these high-sounding denominations, which
probably had their origin, in times of high antiquity, from some
such superstitious notion as supposed the Eel to be the em-
bodiment of an evil spirit, and forbad the use of Surmullet as
food, according to the doctrine of Pythagoras; but, taking an

p4 "^
I I

o

o

DOREE. 119

opposite direction, it caused the Doree to be regarded as sacred
to Neptune, the deity of the ocean. An explanation, which
ascribes the names of Chalkeus and Faber to its sooty appearance,
and the numerous tools signified by the angular spines with
which the outline of its body is studded, was probably an
after-thought. Its common English name appears to have been
obtained from the French language, as signifying the yellow
or gilded appearance which this fish not seldom displays when
fresh from the ocean; but Janitore (the Doorkeeper) and Adoree
(the Worshipped) have also been claimed as affording the
proper etymology.

This fish is common in the Mediterranean, and along the
south coasts of Europe, as also on the west and south of the
British Islands; but it becomes more scarce as we proceed
northward, and is accounted rare in Scotland and the north of
England and Ireland. It is not the least uncommon portion
of its history that it is met with also in the sea of Japan and
Australia, although not known in the ocean between us and
those distant regions.

The motions of the Doree are in some degree influenced by
the seasons, so that it is more frequently and abundantly caught
in the summer and autumn; but its subordinate wanderings are
guided by the prey it follows after, in the pursuit of which its
appetite is eager and even ravenous. From the stomach of a
Doree that measured twelve inches and a half in length, I have
taken twenty-five Flounders, some of which were two inches
and a half long, three half-grown Father-lashers, and five stones
from the beach, one of which was an inch and a half in
length; the latter having been swallowed, as we may suppose,
in the eagerness of devouring the fish from the ground. So
gorged was this fish with its gluttony, as to have become
helpless and unable to escape being taken with the hand.

Athough its ordinary motions are but slow, it also at times
shews itself capable of securing a prey possessed of nimbly
active powers; and this it effects by suddenly protruding its
capacious jaws, and as quickly swallowing what it obtains. The
Common Cuttle, f Loligo vulgaris, J of a few inches in length,
has been found in the stomach of a Doree that measured only
four inches. Pilchards also are a favourite morsel which it
follows with perseverance, and thus it becomes often enclosed

120 DOREE.

within the sean witli them. From habits such as these we may
judge that the Doree is ready to take the hook; but to ensure
success the bait should either be alive, or made to imitate a
living fish. A Chad, (the young condition of the Common
Sea Bream,) hooked at the back, is too tempting a bait to be
resisted.

The Doree is a fertile fish, and the young ones of small
size are often met with, but they soon become scattered, and
are not found in such abundance as might be looked for. It
is not caught in very deep water, but its haunts are in what
fishermen term rough ground, or in sandy bays Avhere weeds
abound, where it devours the smaller fishes which resort thither
for the sake of the pasture. It often seems to float along rather
than move, and the upright posture is preserved by the action
of its ventral and pectoral fins, materially assisted also, as may
be supposed, by the tendrils that overtop the spinous rays of
the first dorsal fin, and which sometimes are of great length.
On the authority of fishermen there appears to be also another
use of these tendrils, not much unlike that of the fishing-line
of the angler. The Doree is said to retire to rough ground,
or to make for itself a depression in the sand, and when thus
half hid these prolongations of the membrane overtopping the
rays of the dorsal fin are allowed to float about like worms, to
the temptation of passing fishes, which are thus enticed and
put off" their guard, when, by means of the powerful ventral
fins, the Doree starts up and seizes its victim. But I have
been informed also that at times it has taken the horizontal
posture, and in that position has moved about with an effort
to take its prey. The smaller fishes will scarcely shew alarm
at the appearance of this seemingly sluggish enemy, until they
find themselves engulfed in its ruthless throat.

This fish is well known to those who highly value the
luxuries of the table, and usually fetches a comparatively
considerable price. It was so in the ancient times of Rome,
on which account Ovid applies to it the word rarus, in reference
to its value rather than to its scarcity; and Columella names
the Atlantic Doree among their most generous fishes. It was
less known as such among ourselves until about the middle of
the eighteenth century, but whether its coming into greater notice
at that time arose from the preference shewn it by the well-

DORER. 121

known actor, Qain, is uncertain. However this may be, I find
in some MS. notes of that date, that a sudden advance in the
price took place then, which is much complained of by a
country gentleman. "The variety of sea fish," says he, "which
our Devanciers had in great plenty and very cheap, is in our
days become scarce and extravagantly dear, never cheap but
when an accidental glut of Whitings and Macrell come in,
which is casual and seldom; but for valuable fish, as Cod,
John Dory's, they are seldom seen, and when they are, come
extravagantly dear, and ye Cod never good or firm, Dorys
yt used to be sold for 3 or 4 pence a piece, (Mr. Collins
remembers them at 2gd. since his time,) are now two shillings
or half-a-crown a good one." On the other hand it has been
a misfortune to fishermen that considerable numbers have not
maintained a corresponding value. On one occasion in the
autumn more than sixty were hauled on shore in a ground-
sean, and some of them of large size. Yet the whole were
sold for nine shillings; and in another instance a hundred, the
larger part of full growth, were taken together, with small profit.
The heaviest 'example I have obtained information of weighed
eighteen pounds, and the longest measured twenty-two inches
and a half. The whole figure much compressed, oval; older
individuals proportionally longer than the younger. Head
large, sloping from the eyes to the upper lip. Gape wide,
jaws capable of extensive motion and protrusion; teeth in both;
upper lip formed of loose dense membrane folded across. Eyes
moderately large, high on the head; nostrils close before them.
A furrow from the upper lip to the first dorsal fin. Scales
very small. Lateral line curved. Two dorsal fins, sometimes
connected by a membrane, the first with strong spines tipped
with soft processes, which are sometimes of great length.
Second dorsal and second anal opposite each other; the first
anal with four strong crooked spines. Pectoral fins small and
round; ventrals large and long. Caudal fin round, and at its
root the body becomes almost square. At the angle of the
lower jaw a strong spine; each side of the body, along the
roots of the dorsal and anal fins, and also along the belly a
row of stout spines, which at the root of the second dorsal
and anal fins are double. Two flat-pointed spines at the back
of the head, and a broad spine at the upper part of the pectoral

VOL. II. R

122 DOREE.

fin. Colour of the back pale brown, lighter on the belly,
sides often of a golden yellow, and I have seen seven well-
marked golden lines on this part, and on the middle a large
dark spot, yellowish within, and with a light halo on its outer
border. The whole is sometimes dusky, or with purple lines.
When dying the colours fade ^reatlv- but are restored Avhen
life has altogether depafcea.

m

^

O

a, ^

%
o

CL,

123

CENTROLOPHUa

The body moderately compressed, lengthened, covered with very
small scales. Gape moderate. From the head, along the back, a
ridge, on which stauds the single dorsal fin. Eye lateral. Ventral
tins thoracic.

POMPILUS.

BLACKFISH.

BlacJcfish, JoNSTON; Table 3, f 5.

Coriji^hcena 'pompilus, LiNN EUS.
Gentro[o}ihus pompihis,

and G. morio, Cuvier.

Coryphcena pompile, Lacepede, Risso

" mono, Jenyns; Manual, p. 370.

Yarreli.; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 179.

" " GuNTHER; Cat. Br. Museum, vol ii.

Holocentre noir, Lacbpede.

Thr Reverend George Jago was the resident minister of
the Episcopal Chapel in East Looe, at the beginning of the
eighteenth century, and, while residing there, he employed the
favourable opportunities within his reach in making collections
for a work on the natural history of the fishes of Cornwall,
which, however, he did not live to accomplish He had made
known some of the fruits of his labour to the well-known
naturalist, Petiver, by whom they were communicated to Dr.
Derham, who inserted them as an appendix to the posthumous
"Synopsis" of the illustrious Ray. When Jago died, his MSS.
and drawings were left with his friend. Mi. Dyer, of East
Looe, in whose house he had lived; and by the last-named
gentleman they were handed over to Dr '^orlase, who at that
time was engaged in writing his "Natural History of the County
of Cornwall." The figure given by Borlase is small, but

124 POMPTLUS.

characteristic; but the colour described by Jago differs so
widely from what is ascribed by other authors to the fish now
known to be the same species, and the error committed by
Borlase in regard to the proportions of its measurement, arising,
as we judge, by copying the writing of Jago wrongly, is so
great, that naturalists remained long at a loss to decide which
was the true species. No doubt could be felt that the examples
described were different from every other known as English
fish, and therefore Pennant did not hesitate to include it in
his work on British natural history, where he called it the
Black Ruffe, a name which is changed into Black Perch in
the last edition. Turton copies this (or is copied by it) when
he names it Perca nigra in his translation of the "System of
Nature" of Linnaeus. Fleming ventures to guess that it resembles
the Ruffe in form, and Stewart, in his "Introduction to the
Study of Natural History," goes so far as to suppose it a
variety of the last-named species; forgetting that it is not
probable the Ruffe should be taken in the open sea, and that,
even in fresh water, it has never been found in Cornwall.

It is probable, however, that the difference of colour was the
chief cause of the mistakes committed by British authors in
regard to this fish, and in which Lacepede was prevailed on to
follow them; for it was not then so well known as it is now,
that fishes which wander to our seas from warmer or brighter
climates are liable to suffer this change in a remarkable degree.
Linnaeus, who, in regard to fishes, is usually led by the
authority of former writers, defines the specific character of
Coryphcena pompilus by the colours only; the back being
painted with small bands above the arched lateral line, which,
as a mark of distinction, would scarcely point out a sj^ecies
that, when found in our waters, was as black all over as if it
had been dipped in ink. Nor would the little note he adds
at the end be of great service in further identifying the
species. The circumstance which had the effect of dispelling
the obscurity which had so long rested on the history of this
fish, may be termed an accident. I had been examining the
figure given of it by Borlase, as compared with one by Gesner
of the Pompilus of ancient writers, when an example was
brought to me of a fish that was unknown to the fisherman
who had caught it; and its resemblance to these figures in

POMPTLUS. 125

shape was so close that no doubt remained of their being the
same species, a fact now admitted by all naturalists.

But this fish was not unknown to ancient observers, although
for want of discrimination they fell into that error concerning
it which is common to them as concerns many species which
possess the same or similar habits. They confounded it with
the Pilot Fishes, and the remarks of Oppian are as applicable
to one class of these fishes as they are to the other. The
Pompilus seeks the society of a ship at sea, and will accompany
it through a great extent of ocean, although not in equal
numbers with the true Pilot Fish, already described. An indi-
vidual of the species now under consideration came with a
ship to the harbour of St. Ives, in Cornwall, and while there
suflfered itself to be caught with a gaff from a boat alongside.
Jago's examples were taken together in a net in the year 1721,
at the mouth of the River Looe; and so was another which
came into the hands of my late friend Clement Jackson, a
skilful naturalist of the same place. It was caught in a floating-
net, set for Salmon; and such was the force exerted by this
fish, that it carried the net before it over the head-rope, when
it fell into the folds and became entangled. An example was
taken in a drift-net shot by a boat near Falmouth, in August,
1850, and another was caught near Penzance, in February,
1857. The example before referred to as caught near Polperro,
was taken with a hook baited with a slice (termed a lask)
from the side of a Mackarel; but a mussel, without the shell,
and a piece of the flesh of the Sea Bream, were found in the
stomach, both these substances probably having been snatched
from the hooks of fishermen. Jago found oreweed in the
stomach of those he examined, and Ruysch says they feed on
this, although chiefly on flesh. All the examples we have
named were met with in Cornwall, but I have learnt from
Joshua Alder, Esq., that this fish has wandered much farther
towards the north. An example is reported by him as having
been taken at Cullercoats.

The second specimen I have met with measured thirty-two
inches in length, which probably is the greatest size to which
it attains; but that from which our description was derived,
was in length only fifteen inches, which was exactly the same
with Jago's fish. The depth of the body behind the head was

126 POMPILUS.

a little beyond three inches, and a little less than four inches
at the beginning of the dorsal fin. This fin is situated on an
elevated ridge, and begins at four inches and a half from the
snout, ending opposite the termination of the anal fin, twelve
inches from the forehead, which is blunt and rounded, flatter
on the crown; mouth moderate, teeth in the jaws fine, tongue
rather large; nostrils double, that one nearest the eye large and
open. Eye prominent and bright. Membrane of the first gill-
cover soft, but with a free edge that is a little cut in or
serrated. Body compressed, with very small scales, which,
when dry, appear curiously striated. Lateral line bent at its
commencement. Vent six inches and a half from the point of
the lower jaw, Rays of the dorsal fin fleshy at the base.
Pectoral fins pointed; ventrals bound down by a membrane.
Tail moderately forked. Colour all over black, the fins intensely
60, scarcely lighter on the belly; a little bronzed at the origin
of the lateral line. While employed in taking a figure, the
side on which it lay changed to a fine blue. The larger specimen
weighed nearly fourteen pounds; and the skin was found to be
so tough as to be stripped from the body like that of an eel.
No air-bladder was found. The taste ivas delicious.

The colours (as described by Risso) of a fish of the Medi-
terranean are, numerous dashes of blue, varied with slender
bands of yellow; anal fin deep blue; pectorals yellow; dorsal
fin with thirty-eight rays, pectoral fins with eighteen, ventrals
six, anal twenty-four, caudal eighteen. It is said to come near
Nice in spring and autumn.

D

a.
O

C

a;

u

o

o

127

CORNISH CENTROLOPHUS.

C^ntrolophus Britannicus, Gunther; Cat. Br. Museum, vol. ii,

p. 402, quoting Annals and Maga-
zine of Natural Histor-, ISQl}, p.
46,

In the middle of February, 1859, this fish was thrown on
shore by stormy weather not far from Looe, and the specimen
was immediately conveyed to me by the kindness of the late
W. H. Box, Esq., of that town. After making a drawing, from
which our figure is copied, and also a description, it was
committed to the care of Mr. William Laughrin, A.L.S., of
Polperro, for preservation; and when set up, it was sent to
the British Museum, at the time when Dr. Gunther was
engaged in forming the new and extensive catalogue of fishes
contained in the national collection. I had easily ascertained
that this fish was new to British natural history, but it remained
for the discrimination of Dr. Gunther to discover that it differed
from every species hitherto known to science. The natural
habits of so uncommon a fish must of course be unknown;
but from its rarity we may judge that it keeps far from land,
and probably in the deeper regions of the ocean.

In length this fish measured one foot and seven inches ; the
general form compressed, thin at the back, with a more slender
firm ridge also from the throat to the vent, at which it is five
inches in depth. The vent at about the middle of the body,
the opening compressed. The head to the hinder gill-cover is
short; forehead rounded, both across and from above the mouth;
and the back rising from the head to the origin of the dorsal fin.
Eye large, perpendicularly oval, and with a singular aspect, as if
looking towards the front; its centre an inch from the snout;
several ducts round it on a diverging form. Nostrils double,
close together, nearer the Lp, large, and open. Under jaw a

128 CORNISH CENTROLOPHUS.

little the shortest; the gape moderate; teeth fine. The breadth
of the body is carried evenly to within a short distance of the
tail; lateral line arched for a small distance, and then passes
straight to the tail. Scales not perceptible. Border of the
foremost gill-cover free, with soft projections, as if serrated.
The ridge along the back begins close behind the head, and
the dorsal fin, which is embedded in it, begins at first obscurely
anterior to the origin of the pectoral fin; the rays, which are
firm, are so closed up by the skin of the dorsal ridge, as to
be but little capable of motion. This skin becomes wider beyond
the middle of the body, as does also the anal fin, which is
equally embedded in a ridge, and both end almost opposite
each other, at an inch from the tail. The pectoral fin was
much mutilated from injury when cast on shore, as were also
the ventral fins, which appear to have been small, and were a
little behind the pectorals. The tail wide, and deeply divided.
Colour nearly uniform brownish pink, lighter on the belly,
darker along the top of the back, and still darker on the fins.
The tail darker than the fins. As well as I could count them,
the rays of the dorsal fin were forty-seven, in the pectoral
seventeen, anal twenty-nine, and caudal twenty-five. In pre-
serving it the stomach was found of large size, and contained
green and red sea-weeds. Bones of the head and back soft as
cartilage. The flesh resembled that of the Sunfish. There
were not any teeth in the palate, as in the genus Coryphcena.
The small difl^erence in the relative dimensions, as given
above, from those of Dr. Gunther, is to be ascribed to the
process of setting up; and Dr. Gunther further observes, that
the rays of the fins are feeble, low, and the point where the
species pass into the rays cannot be distinguished. Both the
dorsal and anal fins have scales. The rays of all the fins are
shorter and much more slender than in the Pompilus; to which,
we may add, that the general proportions of the body of these
species differ considerably.

129

B

ama

Ravi,

BEAMA.

The body compressod, deep; head blunt and round above the mouth;
clefts of the jaws openinc: downward. Dorsal and anal fins single and
long; tail forked. Gill-covers entire. Ventral fins thoracic.

EAY'S BREAM.

WiLLOUGiiBY; Appendix, p. 17, Tab. v. 12.
Eay; Synopsis, p. 116.
Donovan ; pi. 37.
Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 201.
Jenyns; Manual, p. 359.
Yarrell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 133,
Spare Castagnole, Lacepede. Risso.

" " Report of the Penzance Nat. Hist. Soc,

for 1818, copied in Zoologist for 1849,
xxvi.
" Gunther; Cat. Br. M., vol. ii, p. 408.

Cuvier expresses his opinion that it was Bay's Bream Avhich Rafinesque
had in view in describing his Lepodus saragus, and which in Sicily is
called Saragu, imperiali.

This fish was first made known to science by Ray, who
obtained a figure and description from his friend, D. J. Johnson,
of an example which had been left by the tide at the mouth
of the Tees, in Yorkshire. This was in the month of September,
1681, and although since that time many specimens have come
into the hands of naturalists, it is worthy of notice that a
large proportion of them have only been met with dead on
the shore after a storm, or ready to expire, as if they had
been exposed to some uncongenial influence of weather or
temperature after having wandered from a depth or district
which was better fitted to their natural habits. One, however,
that came into my possession, was taken with a hook by a
Cornish fisherman; and a remark of Risso implies that it is
also caught with oome regularity in the Mediterranean in May,
June, and December. The comparative rarity of its capture
VOL. IL. S

130 ray's bream.

and the circumstances usually attending it, seem to imply that
its more usual resort is in the deeper portions of the sea, where
the temperature is colder, or at least more equable, than in
shallower water; which circumstance may help to explain how
it happens that it has been found within an extensive range
of apparently opposite situations.

An example in the British Museum was brought from the
Cape of Good Hope, and a large portion of the British specimens
were obtained in the north of England, Ireland, and Scotland.
Professor Nilsson also speaks of this fish as scarcely rare in
the south and west of Sweden, although the instances are of
sufficient interest to have secured the mention of the particular
dates at which they were obtained, as well as the weather
during which they were thrown on the coast, and which, in
every instance was severely stormy. Five such occurrences are
noticed by him to have taken place in different years between
1825 and 1850, and from the 1st. of November to the 15th
of December. An instance occurred, within my own knowledge,
where a specimen was taken with the hand by a servant girl,
who saw it in the water close to the beach, as it was about
to die from no obvious cause; and of this example, before we
conclude, we shall give a particular description, as it remains
a question whether it was not in reality a distinct species from
the better known Brama Raii.

Of the more characteristic habits of this fish we know little,
and Risso limits his information to the facts of the seasons of
its appearance, and that it is valued as food; in which last
particular he is supported by Rafinesque, if Cuvier's supposition
shall prove correct, when he says that the Lepodus saragus,
described by him, is the same as Ray's Bream.

So deeply impressed on my mind was the opinion of the
probability that two specimens which might have been supposed
examples of the Brama Raii, were, in reality, of different
species, that I ventured to communicate to a local Society
of Natural History (of Penzance) a paper on the subject,
with figures, and the opinion thus formed has received some
support from the observations of two eminent naturalists of
Sweden, whose evidence will be produced at some length.
In my own paper, here referred to, the example of Ray's
Bream is thus described: The specimen measured twenty-three

ray's brbam. 131

inclies in lengtli, which is three inches shorter than the one
described by Ray; the depth eight inches and a half before
the dorsal fin, where that naturalist's measurement was ten
inches; the shape much compressed. Head small, sloping in
front; the snout short; angle of the mouth depressed, under
jaw longest; teeth slender, numerous, sharp, incurved, the inner
row of the lower jaw longest; tongue fleshy. Eye large,
round, not far from the angle of the mouth; the iris dark,
pupil light. Nostrils single. Measuring along the curve, the
dorsal fin begins seven inches and a half from the snout,
having the shorter rays like blunt spines, each longer than
the former; the fourth ray longest; the fin then becomes nar-
rower, and continues slender to within an inch of the tail.
Anal fin shaped like the dorsal. Pectoral six inches long,
rather narrow, its direction obliquely upward. Ventrals trian-
gular, with a wing three fourths of their length. Tail deeply
forked. Lateral line nearer the back, obscure. The head,
body, and fins, except the pectorals and ventrals, and even the
mystache, covered with firmly-fixed scales, which are absent in
a band across the forehead, the colour of which, and also of
the back, is a very dark blue; copper-coloured brown over
and before the eye; somewhat silvery on the sides and below.
The dorsal and anal fins, and a stripe along the root of the
former, are a sparkling silvery white, tinted with green before
the dorsal fin; coppery and lake along the upper part of the
sides. The rays of the dorsal fin number thirty-four, anal
thirty, pectoral eighteen, ventral five, caudal twenty-four. The
liveliness of the colours will be accounted for by remembering
that this example was fresh from the water. In another
example the tints were wanting.

From Nilsson's "Skandenavisk Fauna" I learn that, among
examples of this genus taken in the Northern Ocean, not far
from the coast of Norway, was a specimen which was believed
to offer considerable differences from the others, of a character,
in the opinion of the naturalist Fries, to vindicate him in
forming for it a separate genus, to which he appropriated the
name of Pterycomhus (Brama.) The example was mutilated
and dry when it came into the hands of its describer; but the
distinguishing characters, as noted by him, are, a difference from
the other species in the number of the rays of the fins, and in

132

RAY S BREAM.

the arranfjement of the scales which cover the dorsal tin. The
vertical number of the rows of scales in the first-named fish
was eighteen, and in the latter thirty-four. The dorsal and
anal fins were without scales, and set in a deep furrow that
was bordered on the sides with a row of large scales. The
fin rays are said to be of the dorsal forty-six, anal forty,
pectoral twenty, ventral six, and the tail twenty.

How much of the discrepancy between this description and
that which I shall proceed to give of an example taken in
Cornwall, (figured below,) can be ascribed to the confessedly
mutilated condition of the northern fish, will only be a matter
of opinion; but if finally it should be decided that they are
only variations of one species, they form a new and remarkable
portion of the history of this curious fish.

The specimen which came under my own inspection measured
about seventeen inches in length, and, exclusive of the fins, was
five inches and a half in depth; the snout blunt, sloping
suddenly above the eyes; angle of the mouth depressed; teeth
numerous, sharp, incurved, the four in front of the under jaw
very long. Body thin, deep. Dorsal fins appearing as two,
the first having flexible rays, the second long and narrow, and
there was no reason to suppose that the appearance of two
dorsal fins was owing to a rent or injury. Tail deeply divided;
pectorals long; ventral fin with a wing, by which means each
fin seemed double; anal fin fleshy and somewhat expanded at
its origin, obscure in its progress. No visible lateral line. A
broad band from eye to eye. Colour blue, deeper on the
back. Covered with large scales, as well on the body as the
fins, so that the dorsal and anal appeared like an extension of
the body, and I found it impossible to count the rays.

(

<

a.

O

^

133

LAMPRIS.

The body deep in proportion to the length; the side ridged as it
approaches the tail. Snout short; gape narrow; teeth small or none.
Dorsal and anal fins single, and much extended on the fore part; tail
forked. Ten long rays in the ventral fins, which are placed far back
on the belly.

OPAH.

Zeus luna, Turton's Linneeua.

Chrysostose lune, Lacepede.

Lampris guttatus, Cuviek.

" luna, Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 219.

" " Donovan; pi. 97. Jenyns; Manual, p. 369.

" " Yarrell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 194..

" ' Gunthek; Cat. Br. Museum, vol. ii.

This fish of remarkable shape and gorgeous colours remained
unknown to the students of nature until comparatively modern
times; but Nilsson informs us that it has been taken off the
coast of Norway titne out of mmd, and in that country it bears
the name of Laxetoye, or the Large Salmon, under which name
it was described by Peder Claussen in the year 1682, the
example which was the subject of his observations being of
the weight of one hundred and forty pounds. It will serve as
an apology for the popular mistake in referring this fish to a
family which differs from it so considerably, to mention that
Dr. Parnell, as referred to by Mr. Yarrell, informs us of an
example which was washed ashore near North Queensferry, in
July, 1835, and it was found by those who ate it to have its
flesh red, and as good as that of a Salmon, which it also much
resembled in flavour. It has also been sufl^ciently known in
Scandinavia to have acquired the native name of Glansfisk.

Its discovery in England is of later date; and as there was

134 OPAH.

not tlien any known reference to a description of it, a desig-
nation was adopted which it was said by an African prince to
bear in his own country, where, however, it is not certain it
was ever seen, and thenceforward it has been called by the
name of Opah.

I have received information of an example that was obtained
in the west of Cornwall, in the early part of the summer of
1835, M^hich is so far remarkable that other specimens of this
rare fish were taken in other places about the same date. One
has been obtained in Devonshire also; but the larger number
of British specimens have been taken in the north. One of
these was secured in August, 1835, in the bay of Landada,
near Conway; another at Queensferry in the same year; and
again another on the coast of Norfolk, in July, 1839. Mr.
Norman, in the "Zoologist," mentions an individual taken off
Flamborough Head in February, 1849. And we think it
material to the history of a fish, the habits of which are so
little known, to preserve those dates, as a contribution toward
an explanation of the causes which may entice or drive it
from its native depths. This species, in common with the
Bergylt, affords an exception to a general remark that those
natives of the seas are the most splendidly adorned which
inhabit the warmer and brighter regions of the globe, where
the ocean is more shallow, and themselves under the influence
of a tropical climate. The reverse of this obtains in the fishes
we have mentioned; and it is probable that even the line of
the fisherman has never elsewhere reached to so vast a depth
as when it plunges to the regions in which they dwell. It is
from the united evidence of Scandinavian and British observers
that we class the Opah as an inhabitant of the deeper waters
of the North Sea, from which it does not often emerge, and
where its range appears to be a limited one, for it has not
been seen off the coast of Greenland, nor anywhere eastward
of the North Cape.

Individuals of this species have been found to measure in
length from three to five feet; and an example of the former
was sixteen inches in depth, with the head, from the snout
backward ten inches. The jaws are equal, or perhaps the
lower a little the longest, without teeth. Eye large. The slope
is continued from the beginning of the dorsal fin to the upper

OPAH, 135

jaw. Body more slender near the tail. Lateral line much
arched at first, afterwards lower and irregular. The dorsal fin
single, beginning above the middle of the root of the pectorals,
the first rays long and decreasing, the fin proceeding moderately
low, and spreading again at its termination: the anal does the
same, but less conspicuously. Pectorals very long and pointed.
Ventrals also very long, and far back on the body abdominal.
Tail broad and forked. *The general colours are splendid red
and green, with tints of purple and gold, dotted over with
round silver- white spots; but in one instance, described by
Nilsson, the spots of yellow and white were only below the
lateral line. Iris of the eye scarlet, and the fins a lively red.

136

TRACHURUS.

The body compressed; the lateral line armed with firm plates, which
have a raised ridge along the middle. Two dorsal fins, with a horizontal
spine pointing forward before the first of these fins. Before the anal
fin a few spines, either free or joined together with a membrane.
Thoracic fishes.

SCAD.

HORSE MACKAREL. CANOKUM. BUCK MACKAREL.

Trachurus,
Scomber trachurus,

Garanx trachure,

" trachurus,

Trachurus vulgaris,
(( ((

(( ((

" trachurus,

JONSTON.
LinNjEUS.

WilloucxHby; p. 290, Tables M. and S. 12.
Lacei'ede. Risso.

CUVIER.

Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 216.
Jenyns; Manual, p. 367.
Yaruell; Br. Fishes, vol.

1, p.

JO.

Gunther; Cat. Br. Museum, vol. ii, p. 419.

There is perhaps no other fish so widely-distributed through
the ocean as this, for it is not only found at times on every
shore of the United Kingdom, but northward along the coast
of Sweden, and towards the south through the extent of the
Mediterranean; and further still by Madeira across the tropics
to the Cape of Good Hope, Australia, and New Zealand; the
companion, in these last-named regions, as we are informed, of
some other species of the same genus that have not been seen
in European seas. Osbeck found it also in China; and speci-
mens from the above-named regions of the east and south are
preserved in the British Museum, which are not seen to differ
in outward appearance or inward structure from others in the
same collection that were obtained in our own country.

With us this species finds shelter in deep water during the
colder months of the winter and spring, and does not shew
itself within the reach of fishermen until about the beginning

p f>

o O

SCAD. 137

of April; but for the remainder of the year it is amongst the
commonest of British fishes. Yet from its sensibility to the
impressions of cold, there is considerable variation in its habits
in the different parts of the British Islands; so that in Scotland,
as well as in the north of the European continent, it is only
known as a casual visitor whose motions are irregular and
interrupted. As the only proof he knew of its occurrence in
Scotland, Dr. Fleming adduces an instance in which a mutilated
individual was found on the shore near the mouth of the Tay;
and Mr. Thompson tells us that although known in the north
of Ireland, it is abundant only in the south of that kingdom.
I have found the Scad with roe ready to be shed at the
middle of July, and large numbers, scarcely exceeding two
inches in length, were taken in the middle of October in the
same year. Yet this cannot be its usual season of spawning,
or it must produce its young twice in the year; for I have
known them, not exceeding an inch in length, to be found in
great numbers in the mouths and stomachs of large fishes,
from the end of December, through January, to the middle of
February. And again, I have known them, of the length of
three or four inches, abundantly taken in August and September,
in company with the young of the Common Mackarel of the
same length; these last-named fish being well known as spawning
on our coasts in June, and not later than the early part of July.
The fate of these little fishes is sometimes unfortunate, as they
come to the surface for the benefit of the warmth and sunshine;
for as they huddle close together they are assailed from below
by murs and guillemots, which dive beneath, and terrify them
from seeking safety in the only way in which it can be ob-
tained, while multitudes of gulls rest on the water and devour
them at their pleasure. These last-named birds are so closely
pressed together, that there is no room for those which have
come the last, but in alighting on their comrades, which thus
are compelled to make room and rise aloft. In this way there
is a constant motion among them, until the diving birds
beneath are gorged to the full, and make way for the fishes to
escape by sinking beneath. In September and October it is
usual for Scads, of the length of about seven or eight inches,
to be caught in considerable abundance in the drift-nets shot
for Pilchards; but such numbers of this size have also been
VOL. II. . T

138 SCAD.

taken in July, that they have been sold at the rate of sixpence
the hundred, (of one hundred and twenty fish.)

Full-grown Scads are for the most part solitary, and swim
low in the water, where they take a bait freely, but much less
frequently when the boat is under sail. On some occasions,
however, they gather into vast multitudes, and pursue their
prey, especially the Launce, with such reckless impetuosity that
considerable numbers of them are thrust upon the shore. On
one occasion, in the Mount's Bay in Cornwall, ten thousand
were brought together within the compass of a ground-sean;
and on another occasion upwards of twenty thousand were
taken, and at the same time, as evening advanced, men, women,
and children rushed into the sea and grasped the fish with
their hands, amidst the shouts of spectators who had assembled
to see the sport. The prize indeed is not of great value, for
this fish is not held in estimation for the table; but it is not
distasteful to every palate. Lacepede speaks well of it, and in
the west of Cornwall and Scilly Islands, as also in the north
of Ireland, where it is called the Crake Herring, they are
salted like other fish, and preserved dry for use in the
winter, when rough weather may have shut up all access to
the sea for fishing.

The Scad grows to about a foot in length, the general form
moderately compressed; jaws equal, with small teeth; eyes
large. Body more slender towards the tail. Lateral line bent
down opposite the expanded portion of the second dorsal fin,
armed with plates through its length, which rise into a ridge
as it approaches the tail; the middle of each plate with a
point directed backward, their number liable to vary. The
first dorsal fin with eight firm rays, of which the third is the
longest; before this fin a recumbent spine, the point directed
forward. Second dorsal close to the first: it and the anal wider
at their origin, narrower in their course, ending near the tail,
which is forked. Pectoral fin pointed, reaching to the curve of
the lateral line. A small fin, with two short rays, in front of
the anal, in a depression. Ventral fins a little behind the root
of the pectorals. Colour of the back dusky green, with tints
of blue, and a couple of obsolete lines of yellow; the belly
lighter, with shades of blue, green, and red; on the borders of
the gill-covers a dark spot.

I

139

LICHTA

The body compressed, deep, slender towards the tail, which is forked.
A single dorsal and anal fin; opposite each oilier, and proceeding near
the tail. Free spines before the dorsal fin, the first of them pointing
forward. Free spines also before the anal fin. Ventral fins behind the
root of the pectorals.

DERBIO.

Glaucus,

Glaucus primus Bondeletii.

Scomber glaucus,
Lichia glaucus,
Caranx glauque,
Cetitronote glaicos,
Centronotiis hinotatus.

JoKSTON; Table 1, f. 11.

WiLLOUGHBY; p. 297, Table S. 15, f. 1. He
describes what Jonston represents the
dorsal spines united by a membrane, which
appears not to be the usual condition. In
Cuvier's figure there is a slip of membrane
to each spine.

LiNNiEUS.
CUVIER.

Lacepede,

Eisso. Y.\RRELL; 2nd. Supplement, p. 23.

Eafinesque.

GuNTHER; Cat. Br. Museum, vol. ii, p. 477.

It may be supposed that this fish obtained its ancient name
of Glaucus from its light or sea-blue colour, but it became also
the proper designation of the species, in the same manner as we
apply the name of blackbird to a well-known bird as peculiarly
its own, although there are others to which it may, as a des-
cription, be equally adapted. This fish was also called by an
analogous designation in Greek, but in the latter instance there
is much uncertainty in its application. Thus, in one place
Oppian speaks of a spf cies which he calls Glaucus, (Halieutics,
B. i, line 170,) which he associates with the Gilthead and
the other sorts of Sea Breams, as frequenting stony or sandy
ground, and this name the translator renders by the term

140 DERBIO.

Blueling; but near the end of the same book he clearly applies
the name to a different fish, which cannot be any other than
the Blue Shark, (line 749.) Nor can it be an objection to
this, that he represents this latter species as depositing its eggs
before they are hatched. The alleged love of the parent to
its young, and its habit of giving them shelter in its mouth
whatever may be judged of the truth of this trait of character
is decisive on this point, and it was from a persuasion of
this that the translator in this instance renders the name of
Glaucus by that of the Blue Shark.

This fish is common through the whole extent of the
Mediterranean, and was much esteemed for the table by the
people of Greece and Rome. Southward from thence, we are
informed that it is also found at the Cape of Good Hope,
and across the Atlantic Ocean on the coasts of Brazil; but it
is only in a single instance that it has been met with in our
own countiy. This example was caught by a fisherman of
Mount's Bay, in October, 1857, and from it several photographs
were taken, one of which is in my possession; but our figure
and description are from the fish itself, shortly after its capture.
Its peculiar habits are but partially known; but there is no
doubt this is the fish of which Pliny expresses the popular
belief that, in order to escape the heat of summer, it ceases
to be seen for the space of sixty days. Ovid refers to the
same habit, in saying of it,

"Et nunquam fsstivo conspectus sidere Glaucus;"
"The Glaucus, never seen in summer's heat."

The extreme length of the specimen was thirteen inches and
a half, and to the fork of the tail eleven inches and a fourth;
depth, immediately under the dorsal spines, three inches and
seven eighths. The body compressed, slender near the tail.
The under jaw a little the longest. Eye large, low on the
cheek; nostril midway between the eye and the snout. Vent
about an equal distance between the ventral fins and the
separate abdominal spines, or a little nearer the latter. The
lateral line at first slopes downward, and then passes with a
slight undulation to the tail. Seven elevated dorsal spines,
the hindmost united to the dorsal fin, and another in front.

DERBIO. 141

prostrate, and pointing forward. Two free spines a short
distance before the anal fin. Dorsal and anal fins at first
elevated, gradually becoming narrower, and ending opposite
each other, not far from the tail, which is deeply forked; the
lobes slender and pointed. Pectoral fins moderate; ventrals
small, behind the root of the pectorals. Colour on the back
decided blue, from which four bands stretch down the sides.
The belly light yellow, with pink tints. Upper part of the
origin of the dorsal and anal fins with a distinguished dark
blotch. Iris of the eyes yellow.

U2

CAPROS.

The body compresspd, deep, covered with rough scales. Mo\ith

capable of great extension. Dorsal fins two, closn together; base of

the dui'SiU uud anal lius without spines. Ventral tins thoracic.

BOAKFISn.

Aper, JoNSTON; pi. T, f. 8. Willouguby; p. 296.

Zeus apur, LiNN.^iUS.

(Japrus aper, Cuviee.

aaanlier. Lackpede. Risso,

Jenyns; Manual, p. 368.
Yarkell; British Fishes, vol. i, p. 190.
Zoologist, vol. i, p. 191.
*' GuNTHEH; Cat. Br. M., vol. ii, p. 496,

This fish obtains its name from the shape of its snout,
which is turned up, and capahle of being greatly protruded.
The spines also of its first dorsal fin are stiff and long, added
to which it exudes a strong and unpleasant smell, and, if the
Boarfish mentioned by Pliny as being found in the River
Achelous be the same, is accustomed to utter a grunting sound;
all of which were supposed to point out a sufficient rcisemblauce
to a boar to warrant the appellation.

It is known in the Mediterranean, and usually has been
regarded as a species of rare occurrence. But it is only
necessary to find its haunts to be able to pronounce it locally
abundant. It was first discovered to be a British fish by Dr.
Henry Boase, who obtained a specimen at Penzance; and, in
the second place, an example was procured at Bridgewater, by
Mr. William Baker. In the first volume of the "Zoologist,"
page 191, IS an account, with a figure, of one that was found
on the shore at Brighton, and which was thought worthy of
the notice of royalty. Since these I have known two caught

w

CO

t 1

1 (
P3

>
O

<

XI

O

m

BOARFISH. 143

by a trawler of Plymouth; and a single individual was brought
to me in January, 1852, by a boy who found it entangled in
ore-weed in the harbour of Polperro. I possess a record of
eight examples obtained at Falmouth in the space of three
years; but the whole of these instances signify little in com-
parison with the numbers which have been since taken in the
west of Cornwall, on the first adventure of a trawl-vessel from
Penzance, which was in July, 1844. The place where these
examples were found was close to the Runnel Stone, near the
Land's End, and on the first day sixty were brought to land,
while several others had been thrown overboard as worthless.
Within a few days after this two others were caught, and in
the course of a single week afterwards, a hundred more were
captured; the numbers finally taken and subjected to examina-
tion exceeding two hundred. Further observation has shewn
that these fishes may always be found within half a mile of
this well-known rock, where they are probably induced to
assemble by congenial food; but they are scarce, or not to be
found beyond that distance. Small crustaceans were the only
food found in any of these specimens.

The numerous examples of these fishes varied in length from
five to seven inches, which therefore may be regarded as the
usual dimensions of the species. The depth of one that
measured seven inches, in front of the first dorsal was three
inches, and the girth seven inches. The snout is lengthened,
and is capable of being protruded beyond its ordinary length,
to the extent of seven eighths of an inch. Above the eye the
head is narrow, and the outline is then arched concavely upward
and backward in a waved form to the origin of the first dorsal,
which is the highest elevation, from whence it slopes backward
to the stalk of the tail. The eye is large, round, five eighths
of an inch in diameter, and the same measure from the snout
when the mouth is closed. When extended the snout is
membranous, and surrounded anteriorly with a rim of bone,
forming the jaws, on the upper part of which is a long stout
bone, which passes into a conspicuous socket between the eyes;
and anteriorly it expands on each side like two wings which
terminate in two horns. From the orifice of the socket pos-
teriorly a small slight bone passes obliquely downward and
forward to meet another from the rim of the mouth, thus

144 BOARFISH.

forming a nearly equilateral triangle with the base above. The
rim of" the -lower jaw is attached loosely to the anterior side
of the triangle, and when the mouth is closed the whole of
this mechanism resembles a mystache. It is not easy to imagine
a more skilfully-constructed contrivance than this of the
Boarfish's mouth for sudden motion in the capture of the very
small but nimble creatures on which it feeds. The teeth are
small. Scales numerous, large, finely serrated and ciliated, so
that the surface of the body has a beautiful silky appearance,
over which if the hand be passed backward it feels smooth,
but rough in the reverse. The lateral line is not well marked,
but is plainly apparent through the first third of its length,
and may be traced throughout. It rises about the fourth of
an inch behind the eye, arches upward near the dorsal fin,
and afterwards is bent down. Origin of the dorsal, ventral,
and pectoral fins nearly in a straight line, that of the latter
being rather in advance. First ray of the first dorsal very
stout, very short, and almost unconnected with the others;
second ray five times as long as the first, and curved backward,
as are all the others; the third is the longest, after which the
remainder become shorter. All these rays stout, and, with
the exception of the first three, are stoutest at the middle;
they are longitudinally striated, and the first three are more
elevated at their root than the others; no scales at their base.
The second dorsal is soft and placed on a ridge. In the
abdominal fin the membrane does not extend to the end of
the soft rays. In none of these specimens were the first rays
of the dorsal fin serrated, but the first ray of the ventral was
strongly so. The tail straight. Colour of the eye, when
recent, bright yellow and silvery white; of the body fine
crimson, delicately bright, faded into yellow, and from thence
to a silvery white as it approached the belly. In none of
them were there lateral bands, as are sometimes described, and
as was the case with an example at Falmouth. In the specimen
obtained at Polperro the rays of the ventral fins were purple
at their points and red at the root. Rays in the first dorsal
fin nine, in the second twenty-four; in the pectoral thirteen;
ventral six; anal twenty-seven, of which the first three are
spinous; caudal fourteen.

p

>

o X

145

XTPFTAS.

The body morlerately long and compressed. Upper jaw very long,
narrow, firm, and depressed; under jaw much shorter; month without
teeth. Side of the body near the tail ridged. No ventral fins; and
on this account it is classed by Linnjeus in his order of apodal fishes.

This family has received the name of Swoi'dfishes from their long
and narrow projecting snout, which is formed of the premaxillary
bones, closely united together, and firmly articulated with tlie prenasal
and maxillary or upper jaw bones. Swordfishes are divided into several
genera, two of which, at least, are furnished with ventral fins; but
there is only a single species which is known with certainty to visit
our coasts Yet there is some reason to suppose that another species,
an inhabitant of the Mediterranean, may also come to the British
Channel. Mr. Edward Chirgwin, of Newlyn, near Penzance, who was
acquainted witli most of the fishes of the western coasts of England,
informed me that he had obtained four examples of the Swordfish, in
three of which he found an air-bladder, the possession of which is an
acknowledged character of the Xiphias gladius, presently to be described.
In his other specimen this organ was not funnd. A fisherman also
informed me, that while observing a Swordtish, which sprung out of
the water at no great distance fi'om him, besides the pectoral fins, he
noticed fins that projected below the belly; a character of tne other
fish of this family, {I'etrapterus Belone) which is also found in the
Mediterranean, but not yet recorded as British.

SWORDFISH.

Sivordfish, JoNSTON; pi. 4. Willdughby; p. 161,

tab. S. 27.

Xiphias gladius, Linn/eus. Cuvier. Bloch; pi. 76.

Espadon, Eisso. Fleming; British Animals, p. 220.

Xiphias gladius, Jenyns; Manual, p. 364.

" " Yarrell; British Fishes, vol. i, p. 164.

" Gunther; Cat. Br. M , vol. ii, p. 511.

This fish, Avhich is not less remarkable for its habits than

its form, is seen not unfrequently on our coasts in the summer

and autumn, and, when with us, it shews itself as one of the

most active of our visitors, occasionally springing above the

VOL. II. U

146 SWORDFISH.

surface; an action supposed to be caused by the irritation it
suffers from the torment inflicted by a parasitic animal that
sometimes pierces through the skin beneath the pectoral fins.
It is probable, however, that this leaping above the surface,
which has been witnessed by our fishermen, is frequently to
be attributed to a wanton exuberance of spirits; and although
many instances are recorded of the capture of this fish in
Britain, we are not acquainted with one in which the attention
of observers has been drawn to the presence of this supposed
enemy.

I have several times been told by fishermen that this fish
has shewn itself near their boats; and it appears surprising
that it is not more frequently taken, since its well-known
swiftness may be judged likely to cause it to become entangled
in the floating nets which, in the season of its visits, are
spread along the whole extent of our Avaters. But the only
instance of its capture in this way, that has come to my
knowledge, was in October, 1861, when an example became
entangled in some drift-nets, about two miles from the Wolf
Rock, near the Land's End. The larger number have been in
scans near the land, at a time when its wandering disposition
has brought it into shallower water than its usual habits would
have rendered likely. According to vElian, when thus enclosed
in a scan, it often succeeds in delivering itself from the danger
by means of its sword-like snout, which tears the meshes, and
sets free the Tunnies as well as itself.

Its general safety must be ascribed to instinctive vigilance;
for we can scarcely ascribe it to fear when we know it to be
a portion of the character of this fish to assault with violence
the mighty bulk of a Whale, when chance may bring them in
sight of each other. That the Swordfish has been seen not
unfrequently to do this has been long asserted by sailors,
although doubted or disbelieved by some who were not in
circumstances to be able to form a satisfactory opinion upon
the subject. But instances of this nature have been so often
warranted by men who, although not acquainted with natural
history as a science, were practically accurate observers, that
no reasonable ground of disbelief can be permitted to remain,
although the motive which leads to such forcible display of
enmity must remain beyond our power to imagine. In the

SWORDFISH. 14T

month of August, 1801, near Westra, one of the northernmost
islands of the Orkneys, an individual of the smaller species of
Whales, known as the Herring Hog, was attacked by a
Swordfish; and when thus compelled to leap out of the water,
which it did to the height of six feet, it was observed that
the sword had been thrust into the Whale's body behind the
pectoral fins. Its leaps continued, and then it was perceived
that a Thrasher was assailing it on the sides. The Whale
appeared as if near death as the three passed near the boat
in which the observers were.

If the usual incitement of appetite be supposed in this case,
it can only have been gratified with blood; for the Swordfish
has no teeth to tear the flesh, and, from the structure of its
mouth, the food can only be swallowed whole. Dr. Fleming
found the remains of Cuttles (SepiceJ in its stomach; and,
besides these, it has been known to feed on small fishes. Oppian
says that it eagerly devours the Hippuris, which we suppose
to be the species of Corijpli(^na at this time so named; and
Captain Beechy, in his voyage to the Pacific Ocean, mentions
an instance in which a Swordfish (perhaps not the European
species) made an attack on the tin case in which a thermometer
was let down into the sea, but it did not succeed in carrying
it oft'.

It becomes still more difficult to imagine a cause for the
angry feelings of the Swordfish, when we discover that in this
persecution of the Whale, the attack is shared by a fish with
which it does not appear to possess any similarity of feeling
or habits. Yet the strange contest has been witnessed in many
instances, where the Thrasher (Shark) has put forth all its
powers of exciting terror, while the Swordfish has carried on
its more formidable warfare, by rushing at and piercing deeply
its giant victim even to the death.

But the Swordfish is not always on the conquering side;
and I possess a memorandum, from the mouth of a sailor who
watched with interest the anxious motions of one, which he
supposed to be eight or nine feet in length, as it was followed
closely and rapidly in all its turnings, by a Blue Shark. Twice
did it leap above the surface to escape the near approach of
its pursuer, but with what success at last the observer had
no opportunity of knowing.

148 SWORDFISH

It probably arises from mistaking a ship for a Whale that
this fish is sometimes known to dart on the former, and by
this error, inflict on itself the destruction it had meditated for
its opponent. Notices of such an occurrence are met with in
the writings of ^lian, who refers to a particular instance of
what Pliny mentions cnly in general terms. The remark of
the last-named writer is, (B. xxxii, C. 6.) that the Swordfish
has a sharp-pointed snout, with which it is able to pierce the
sides of a ship, and send it to the bottom; instances of which
have been known near a place in Mauritania, known as Cotte,
not far from the river Lixus, on the African side of the
Mediterranean. jElian was so little acquainted with this fish,
that in one place he supposes that the injury was inflicted
with its fin; but he afterwards describes it with some degree
of accuracy, and compares the sword to the beak of the ship
known as the trireme, which was rowed with three banks of
oars. He mentions an instance that was mvich talked of, where
not only the fish was killed, but its head was torn from the
body by the motion of the ship, while the sword remained
fixed in the plank. He adds also that the Swordfish is fre-
quently seen in the Black Sea, and delights to enter fresh
water. Accordingly it is met with in the Danube, where,
with several other fishes, it was sometimes caught on the
breaking up of the ice towards the end of winter. This occa-
sional habit of entering fresh water is confirmed by a narrative
of Daniel, mentioned also by Southey, that a man was
killed by one of these fishes while bathing in the Severn, near
Worcester; and, to establish the certainty of the fact, the fish
was afterwards caught. I have also been informed that a
Swordfish, supposed to weigh nearly three hundred pounds,
was caught in the river Barrett, near Bridgewater, in July, 1834.
Several instances in which large ships have been pierced
with the sword of this fish are known in modern times, and
the blow has been struck with such force, that not only
the thick plank of an East Indian merchant-ship has been
pierced through, but the timber, or rib by which the plank
was strengthened, was penetrated to such a depth as no man,
with all his force, could have driven a bolt. A relic in testi-
mony of this is preserved in the British Museum. In the year
1860 it was reported in the newspapers that a Swordfish was

SVVORDFTSH. 149

found to have driven its sword through the double copper
sheathing of a ship, and then through a plank of the thickness
of two inches and a half, deep into one of the ship's timbers,
where it broke. We quote another instance, in which the
editor' speaks in his own person: "We have had the pleasure
of inspecting a piece of wood cut out of one of the fore
planks of a vessel, (the Priscilla, from Pernambuco, now in the
port of Liverpool,) through which was struck about eighteen
inches of the bony weapon of the Swordfish. The force with
which it must have been driven in affords a striking exempli-
fication of the power and ferocity of the fish. The Priscilla is
quite a new vessel. Captain Taylor, her commander, states
that when near the Azores, as he was walking the quarter-deck
at night, a shock was felt which brought all hands from below,
under the impression that the ship had touched upon some
rock. This was, no doubt, the time when the occurrence took
place."

"Nor burnished steel, nor plates of flaming brass,
In solid work the fishy snout surpass."

Oppian.

The flesh of the Swordfish is thought delicious, and Linnaeus,
who met with it in Norway, compared it in taste to the
Salmon. To obtain it in the Mediterranean there is a regular
fishery, which has been carried on from ancient times, and
which, with some variation, is described in the poem of
Oppian, B. iii. A man, who answers to the huer already
mentioned in our account of the Tunny fishery, is stationed in
some elevated place, where he can discern the course and
motions of the expected fish, and from whence he can com-
municate with the fishermen afloat, whose course is directed
by his signals. The excitement of the chase is highly amusing,
and much skill is shewn in use of the dart with which the
flesh is struck, and which is fastened to a line that is
suffered to run out, but is tightened to restrain the exertions of
the fish. What follows is a counterpart, on a small scale, of
what is practised in the Whale fishery; and the time and
patience engaged in the efforts to obtain the prize are spoken
of as not a little considerable.

Oppian describes another and a very ingenious practice, that

150 SWORDFISH.

displayed a minute acquaintance with the habits of this fish.
A bait was employed, but it was fastened with a sliding noose
to the line at a distance above a naked hook; and the whole
was so contrived that when the Swordfish seized the bait with
its mouth, it should glide along, until, by the force of its
motion, it was thrust upon the hook below, the sudden shock
of which was a signal to the fisherman of the success of his
skill. The Swordfish is said to be fond of the society of its
fellows, and not to wander without some one to accompany
him^ and this again formed the foundation of a stratagem to
entice it to its destruction. An artificial imitation was made of
its own form, and when, in obedience to the attraction, it was
brought near the boats that closed around it, the dart was
thrown; and when, in spite of its struggles, it was dragged
within reach, a blow upon the head deprived it of the power of
further resistance.

A usual length of this fish is from eight to ten I'eet, but
Willoughby, as well as Rondeletius, have known it to reach
to fifteen feet. An example which measured seven feet and a
half, was, in its greatest depth, one foot, and in thickness
nine inches. In a fish ten feet in length, the girth was three
feet. The comparative length of the snout or sword appears
to vary, since in some it is described as equal to the length
of the body, and in others to one third. At its origin the
breadth of this organ is about the fifth part of its length,
from whence it proceeds flat and tapering to a point. The
under jaw is short, pointed, and about a fourth part of the
length of the upper; but there is reason to suppose that the
relative length of the two is more equal in young examples.
The head slopes from the front of the dorsal fin to the begin-
ning of the snout. Eye large and prominent. Body thick near
the head, a little compressed further back, becoming more
slender near the tail, and, at the root of this organ, above and
below, a depression. On the sides, behind, a raised border or
keel, as in the Tunny. The scales hid in the skin.

The dorsal fin begins very high, opposite the edge of the

hindmost gill-cover, and it passes on, narrower, to near the

tail, where the last rays arc again lengthened; and, in old

examples, the middle rays of this fin have altogether disappeared.

L'he vent is behind the middle of the body; and the anal

SWORDFISH. 151

fin, although shoitci, in other particulars resembles the dorsal.
The pectoral fin is situated low down, and its upper rays are
long and pointed; the tail deeply forked. The dorsal fin,
when complete, has, according to Risso, forty-two raysj anal
eighteen; caudal twenty-six; pectoral seventeen, Avhich are firm
and bent like a scythe. The colour is dark, almost black on
the back and tail, lighter on the sides, and white below; but
in the Mediterranean the back is described as being of a steel
blue. Pectoral fin yellow.

Doctor Caius, (Keys,) who lived in the middle of the six-
teenth century, and wrote a well-known "Natural History of
British Dogs," was the earliest of modern writers who notices
this species, which he did in a communication to the naturalist
Gesner, where he particularly describes the sword-like snout,
from a dried specimen. He says that the upper part of this
beak is altogether hard and bony, and, as Aristotle says, equal
in length to the rest of the body. It is formed of two bones,
which are so closely joined along their course from the point,
as to appear like a single bone. Near the head they gradually
separate, so that the upper one rises in a broader form, to
constitute the skull, and the lower becomes the bone of the
palate, the brain and eye being thus situated between them.
Along the middle of the beak or sword there runs a depression,
and a shallower one on each side of it, with a suture on the
lower side; nothing of which can be discovered in the recent
specimen.

It has been observed that in the development of fishes from
the egg, the ventral fins are the last of all the organs to make
their appearance. Their absence, therefore, in many genera
constituting the order of apodal fishes in the system of Linnteus,
is to be understood as an arrest of development, and of which
the genus Xiphias approaches the most nearly to the orders
above it, by its close affinity to other Swordfishes which have
these fins in perfection.

162

GOBIUS.

The head short before the eyes; cheeks full; eyes high on the head.
The body moderately compressed. Dorsal fins two, the first with un-
branched but flexible rays; tail round. The ventral fins thoracic, and
united together, more or less in the form of a funnel at the root.

Some species of this family are to be met with in almost every part
of the world, and so numerous ai'e they in the warmer portions of
the ocean, that in Dr. Giinther's, "Catalogue of the Fishes Preserved
in the British Museum," chiefly procured in these regions, upwards of
a hundred and fifty kinds are specified, which may prove at last to
be no more than a moderate portion of the whole race. Rut the
whole of this numerous familj'^ are of small size, and many of them
bear a near resemblance to each other; and, as the species are also
subject to variation in colour, and, in a less degree, even of form, it
happens that a considerable amount of uncertainty attends the attempt
to distinguish the species, even in those which have been recognised
as natives of our own seas; a circumstance which renders it still more
difficult to decide upon the correctness of the synonymes applied by
other observers; and the difficulty is scarcely lessened, if at all, by a
reference to the figures of them that are contained in books, or by the
descriptive names which have been arbitrarily applied.

An attempt thus to assign the species has been made with much care,
but with little satisfaction to myself: it has therefore been thought
more advisable to avoid the further perpetration of error, by confining
myself to the description and figures of such as have fallen in my
way after a rather extensive and diligent search; and that the reference
to the synonymes of other writers should only extend so far as I feel
confidence in their accuracy, with the expression of a doubt in cases
where our figures and descriptions do not closely agree. In one or
two cases only is a species described as different from any one generally
recognised; and this is uuiie with no other intention than to place
on record fishes which seem to be so far removed from those hitherto
known, as at least to demand further research. There is a limit to
variation even in the most variable; and there are instances where
creatures which had long been regarded as only varieties of known
kinds, have, on further inquiry, been admitted as true species, an
observation that may be applied tn these fishes as well as to others.

m
o ' '

P>
t^ o
o X

153

EOCK GOBY.

BLACK GOBY. MILLEr's THUMB.

Black Goby, Jonston; Table 15, f. 11, 12.

WiLLOUGUBY; p. 206, plate N. 12, f. 1.
Gobius niger, Linn^i;s. Cuvier. Block ; pi. 38.

Jenyns; Man., p. 305.
" " Yareell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 281.

" " GuNTHER; Cat. Br. M., vol. iii, p. 11.

Gohie Boulerot, Lacepede. Eisso.

The name of Black Goby, by wbich it is often designated,
cannot with propriety be applied to this fish, which is met
with most frequently of a mottled greyish brown colour. We
therefore prefer a name taken from the rocks, among which
it commonly chooses to live, and where its peculiar habits are
more remarkably displayed. It is common on shores of this
description throughout the coasts of the British Islands, and
from the Mediterranean to the north of Europe. It is also
abundant in the Baltic, although of smaller size than with us;
but it is rare in other ground than that mentioned above.

It is not easy to understand how this fish is able to obtain
access to some situations in which we find it, and in which it
reaches its largest size, and becomes adorned with its richest
colours. It breeds in the open sea, but there are pools in the
rocks, of such elevation that it is only in very high tides or
stormy weather that the water of the ocean can flow into them;
and into many of them a rill of fresh water is constantly
dribbling, so that the fluid becomes so fresh as to lose even
the taste of salt. These are the favourite resort of the larger
Gobies, and we can only explain how these fish have been
conveyed into such places, by supposing that they have seized
VOL. 11. X

154 ROCK GOBY.

an opportunity when the tide has been of unusual hpi^ht.
But in these pools they continue for life, safe from the
depredations of the shag and cormorant, which are ever
prowling round the shores in search of the smaller fishes they
can meet with there. The pools are clothed with green oreweeds,
on which the Gobies sometimes feed, for I have found it in
their stomachs; yet it does not appear natural to them, for I
have seen it, as it has passed into the intestines, very little,
if at all digested. Their more appropriate food seems to be
the abundance of crustacean animals which are bred in these
haunts, and they are seen to rise to the surface, and seize
the flies that have alighted for a moment to rest themselves.
They take an appropriate bait eagerly, and I have taken a
Shanny of two inches in length from the stomach of a Goby
that but little exceeded six inches. When they have seized
their prey of a size greater than they are able to swallow
with ease, they carry it off" to a safe place, and there appear
as if struggling with it in the act of devouring it.

This fish has a sharp sight, and, when alarmed, which is
easily effected, it darts away for shelter to some well-known
crevice, where its colour, which resembles that of the rock,
secures it from discovery. When at ease it rests on the ground,
but there is no reason to suppose that the characteristic structure
of the ventral fin affords any power of adhering to the sub-
stance on which it rests, and when kept in captivity the use
made of it appears to be only for mechanical support. When
once settled in their limited domain, it does not appear
probable that they ever leave it again, since I have never met
with them of proportionate size in other situations; but those
which keep on the open shore are usually in oozy places,
where, when the tide has left them, they find concealment
under a stone. They are equally capable of living in fresh
and salt water, and even if changed suddenly from one of these
to the other. I have found an individual with enlarged roe
in February, and very young ones, which appeared to belong
to this species, in the autumn.

If we may trust the poet Martial, there was a Goby that
was highly valued for the table by the people of Venice in
ancient times; but with us the whole of them are of small
account as food.

ROCK GOBY. 155

The largest I have seen measured nine inches and a half in
length, but from six to eight inches is a more usual size. The
head and fore part of the body are thick, but narrower before
the eyes; the back broad, but the whole more compressed
posteriorly; cheeks full. Eyes moderate, high; gape moderate;
lips fleshy; teeth sharp; under jaw a little the longest. Dorsal
fins two, close together, the first beginning opposite the ventral
fins, having six rays, which are simple and flexible, and
decrease in length from the first; the second dorsal has fifteen
rays, of which the two last are from one root, the last being
bent forward to meet its fellow, (but this arrangement is not
constant, and consequently does not afford a distinguishing
character.) Anal fin shorter than the second dorsal, with
thirteen rays, the first and last united in pairs, and the
points of these and of the second dorsal bound down with
membrane. Pectorals and tail round; ventrals united into a
single fin, with ten fan-shaped rays, which at the root are
united by a membrane forming an enclosed cavity. Between
the vent and anal fin a free process. The colour varies
according to the ground: sometimes an intense black, but
much more frequently a greyish brown, mottled with darker
brown and yellow; darker on the head and back, and the
circular border of the tail.

On one occasion an example was obtained of about three
inches and a half in length, which diflfered so greatly in
appearance from what is usual with the Rock Goby, that I
was at first inclined to believe it a distinct species; but further
examination has led to a change of opinion in this respect. It
appeared as if emaciated, with the head not so high, the body
more shallow and compressed, more deep at the root of the
tail, and the middle rays of the tail more lengthened. The
colour a pale grey, with separate well-marked spots of yellowish
brown on the head, body, and fins. A figure of this fish is
given on the next page.

As we have already remarked that there is considerable
difficulty in distinguishing some of the species of this genus
from others decidedly different, we shall copy from Dr. Gunther's
catalogue, as quoted above, some supposed unvarying marks by
which each one in doubtful cases may be known: "In the
Rock Goby there are eleven or twelve series of scales between

156

ROCK GOBY.

the second dorsal and anal fins; and it is to be observed, as
a general rule applicable to all fishes, that although the scales
increase in size with the growth of individuals, they are not
known to vary in number with difference of age." Professor
Nilsson says that in the female the pectoral and ventral fins are
shorter than in the male, and the two dorsals further apart.

Figxire, shewing the ventral fin.

4mmM

4

I't

VI ^'

^ I 1

<

a.

157

PAGANELLUS.

Paganelkis, Willoughby ; p. 207, Table N. 12, f. 4.

Paganel, LaCepede. Eisso.

Gobius faganellus, Linn^us.

" GuNTHER; Cat. Br. M., vol. iii, p. 52.

Tht? species has been generally overlooked in British natural
history, or confounded with the Hock Goby, which it resembles
so closely that it will be described best by comparing it with
that species, and noting the circumstances in which they differ,
as is done by Willoughby, in the following particulars: It
seldom grows so large, and its colour is usually more pale,
(although we admit that the degree or variation of colour is
little to be depended on in the distinction of species in this
family. The first dorsal fin is marked along its border with
a line of yellow or pink colour. In regard to structure, the furrow
in front of the dorsal fins is less deep and not so long; and,
what is more observable, the head is something shorter, and
the jaws more distended. The membrane which connects
together the external rays of the ventral fins does not rise so
high; but the distinction advanced the last, where the Paganellus
is said to keep in rocky ground, and the first-described species,
on the contrary, prefers that which is oozy, seems less appro-
priate, since some of the examples of the Paganellus which I
have seen, and which were obtained from the north shores of
Somersetshire, through the kindness of E. T. Higgins, Esq.,
were procured from a bottom where only sand or ooze was to
be found. Whether it will, like the Rock Goby, by choice
live in fresh or slightly brackish water, seems less certain; but
the extent of its range appears to imply that it is more sus-
ceptible to the impression of cold than the Rock Goby; for
although it has been found in Scotland and the south of
Ireland, as well as in the north of Somersetshire and Cornwall,

158 PAGANELLUS.

it is more abundant in the Mediterranean, and even so far
south as Madeira.

In addition to the comparative description of this species we
have aheady given, it is to be observed, that in one of two
examples sent to me, the rays of the first dorsal fin were of
very great length, the fourth of them (which was the longest)
extending to the fourth ray of the second dorsal, a particular
which appears to have existed also in the specimen of which
a figure is given by Willoughby, as referred to above, but in
either case it seems to be of no usual frequency.

The uncertainty or confusion which has existed among
eminent naturalists in regard to the Paganellus, is singularly
shewn by comparing the description given by Risso, with that
which is found in the work of Lacepede, to which the former
writer refers without apparent hesitation. Risso describes the
tail of this fish as elongated in the middle, while Lacepede
is careful to say that it is nearly straight. In our own examples
the shape is as represented by Lacepede, or but slightly more
round. As a further mark of distinction, Dr. Gunther says
there are fifteen or sixteen longitudinal rows of scales between
the second dorsal and anal fins,

I have not found an example to exceed about four inches
in length. The general proportions much like those of the
Rock Goby, but the fins appear more extended, and the
pectorals especially longer; the anal not passing so far back as
the second dorsal. The scales small, but well marked. General
colour dull yellow, mottled with brown, and with brown lines
radiating from the eyes, but in this particular liable to variation.
First dorsal fin with six raysj the border white, with successive
bands of blue and pink. Second dorsal with fifteen rays, with
two equal bands of blue and pink. Anal with twelve rays,
and, in one example 1 counted ten; blue, with a white border

1. YELLOW GOBY,

2. LI T T L B GOBY.

3. TWO-SPOTTED GOBY.

c

169

YELLOW GOBY.

Golius auratus, Eisso; p. 11, pi. 11, f. 42.

Elotris auratus, Cuvier.

" Gukther; Cat. Br. M., vol. iii, p. 11.

This fish was first mentioned as a separate species by Risso,
and hitherto it has been supposed to be confined to the Medi-
terranean. But although its range in our own country may be
limited, there is reason to believe that within certain districts it
exists in moderate numbers, for I have received a few examples
that closely resemble Risso's figure, and answer to his description,
from the neighbourhood of Weston-super-Mare, in Somersetshire,
through the kindness of Edmund Thomas Higgins, Esq., by
whom these and a few others presently to be described, were
procured from the shrimp-nets and crab-pots employed in that
neisrhbourhood. The shores there are lined with sand or soil,
to whicli it is probable these fishes, shew a preference: a cir-
cumstance which may explain why this and some kindred
species have not been seen on shores with which I am best
acquainted, where the sea is bounded only by rocks, except
where an harbour opens to the ocean. But the individual
habits of these fishes are yet to be inquired into.

The length of the largest example was nearly three inches;
the fore part of the body stout, more compressed along the
sides, slightly tapering near the tail. The head broad, but
not nearly so as in the two last-named species, short before
the eyes, and blunt. Under jaw a little projecting; angle of
the mouth descending. Eyes close to the top of the head,
and near each other. Cheeks full. The first dorsal begins
at half the length of the pectoral; the rays even with the
membrane. The second dorsal only a little separate from the
first. Anal beginning opposite the first ray of the second

160 YELLOW GOBY.

dorsal, and botli ending together at a good distance from tlie
tail; the last-named fin round. Pectorals also round, not
reaching to the vent. Yentrals united, round, but with a
separating line causing them to appear as two, on which
account a separate genus, as above, has been created for them.
The general colour is a pale yellow, with a pink border to
the very small scales. Slight pink bands on the dorsal fins
and tail; border of the ventral fins very dark.

I have noted that this species appears to be the most heavy
of any Gobies that I have examined, and that there was much
difficulty in the attempt to count the number of the rays of
the fins. I supposed them to be the pectoral fourteen, and
twelve, ventral ten, caudal fourteen. According to Risso, the
first dorsal is furnished with six rays, which appears to be
the usual number in most of the species in this section of the
genus; the second has fourteen, pectoral fifteen, anal twelve,
caudal fourteen, ventral ten. He says also that the pectoral
fins have a brown spot at their base, and a slight mark of
this appeared in the example we have described; but in his
specific character he speaks of this spot as sky blue, which at
least implies a tendency to variation.

161

LITTLE GOBY.

LiWe Gofiy, Donovan; pi. 38.

Gobius minutus, Guxtheh; Cat. Br. M., vol. iii, p. 58.

1 JUDGE that the spfcies now to be described is the same
which is termed Gobius minutus by the generality of naturalists,
and the small size of the one or two that have come under
my notice, scarcely reaching two inches in length, will go far
to support the propriety of the name. But, on the other
hand, there are so many species of this family which are little,
if at all of greater bulk, and one or two which are usually
found smaller, that the species bearing this name can scarcely
be thought Avell distinguished by the appellation.; the more
especially as the figure of it given by Donovan, which we
may suppose to be of the actual size of the example from
which it was drawn, is a little more than three inches in
length..

From the accounts I have received it appears to prefer soft,
sandy, or oozy ground, and the specimen from which our
figure and description are derived was from the bay of Weston,
on the Bristol Channel In shape it conies nearest to that
which I have termed the Yellow Goby, but compared with
that fish the eyes were a little smaller, and scarcely so near
each other. Dorsal fins still closer together; middle rays of
the tail more lengthened. The ground colour had a tendency
to yellow, but freckled over, and the body was encompassed
with seven dark bands, between each pair of which, across the
lateral line, a shorter line. A dark line also descends from
the eye; and there are spots on the first dorsal, and a dark
patch at the root of the tail. Ventral and anal fins dark.

VOL. IT.

m

TWO-SPOTTED OOBY.

DOUBLY-SPOTTED GOBY.

(rdhius Buthensparri, CuvrER.

" bipundatus, Yarrell; Br. Fishes, vol i, p. 285.
" Buthensparri, Gunther; Oat. Br. M., vol. iii, p. 76.

There is a little natural section of the family of Gobies, in
which the species differ from those we have described, as well
in form as habits, but of which the characters have not been
marked with the discrimination required to determine the
species, and of which therefore more than one or two have
been confounded together. These we shall endeavour to dis-
tinguish; and, however unwilling to increase the number of
synonymous names of fishes which may have been noticed
and defined by foreign naturalists in books to which I have
not obtained access, I shall be compelled for the sake of
perspicuity, to apply to one or two of them names not hitherto
in use, but which will be expressive of some individual
character or peculiarity.

This small division of the genus is formed of fishes of small
size, which on that account receive little notice from fishermen;
who are not aware of the fact that they are of value to them
so far as that they form the food of species of larger size,
which, in pursuit of them, are drawn within the reach of their
productive labour. Indeed so small are these Gobies, that for
the most part they cannot be preserved in collections in the
manner of the greater number of fishes; and, besides the
shrinking which they undergo if preserved in spirit, their
colours, which are usually of much beauty, will generally be
found to vanish if thus treated; which circumstance will serve
to explain how it is we meet with such imperfect representations
of them in works on the history of nature.

TWO-SPOTTBD GOBY. 163

The habits of this limited section of the Gobies are amusing
in no slight degree, as we watch them in a summer's day
where the sea is unruffled and the tide flowing gently in,
while the observer keeps himself still or concealed behind a
rock; for as these creatures have reason to fear an enemy on
every side, they shew their apprehension of every unusual
appearance, by instantly darting into some neighbouring crevice,
where they lie hid until the danger is passed.

The two or three species which have been confounded
together under one common name, may at this time be seen
floating in scattered groups at mid-water, where they appear
to enjoy the sunshine, but are ever ready to rush after the
minute animals that come Avithin their reach, at the same time
keeping careful watch against being themselves the prey of
prowling fishes of a larger size. They perhaps may seek
concealment also at the bottom or among sand, where the
crevice of a rock or stone is not near; and the mottled ap-
pearance of their back will tend to aid conceahnent; but it is
not their habit to rest on the ground as those species do which
are of a more heavy form. Nor do they commonly pass into
a considerable depth of water; and the only exceptions to this
remark that I have met with among the smaller Gobies, have
been in the instance of one or two presently to be described
under the name of Slender Goby, or a kindred species, examples
of which were obtained from the depth of about forty fathoms,
in the months of December and February.

The Doubly-spotted Goby is found on every part of our
coast suited to its habits, as well in England as in Ireland.
Nilsson says it is also abundant in the north of Europe,
except in the Baltic, where it has not been seen. As there
are two species at least which are met with on our coasts
that bear the name of Two-spotted Goby, we shall first describe
that one which we have represented in our engraving under
that name.

It seldom reaches two inches and a half in length; the
general shape compressed, and moderately lengthened. Head,
before the eyes, short; lower jaw a little protruding. Eyes
high on the cheek, near each other, and conspicuous. A
slight channel in front of the dorsal fins; these fins close
together, and in some examples I find the first ray of the

164 TWO-SPOTTED GOBY.

first dorsal the longest, decreasing gradually, in another the
second and third ray longer, the rays of these and the anal
not bound down, but carrying out the membrane. Second
dorsal and anal with the first rays longest, and both these
fins equal in length, ending far from the tail. Pectoral fin
having rays of nearly equal length, except the two or three
lowest rays, which are shorter. Tail slightly round. Ventrals
forming a simple oval, with a slight line through the middle.
Colour a lively chesnut brown, mottled on the back with
some regularity, sometimes with light specks. At the root of
the tail a conspicuous, dark, ocellated spot, and another at the
side, covered partly by the pectoral fin. Fins usually pale,
but sometimes with longitudinal bars. Iris of the eye commonly
red. In one specimen the first ray of the second dorsal fin
was shorter than the second, and in another it was longer
than all besides; and in this example the second dorsal and
anal advanced nearer to the tail than in others. These
mark a distinction of species; but in this instance they are
pointed out to shew the liability of some kinds of Gobies to
sport Into varieties.

1. B R .\ 1
T A I L - ? P T T B; D GOBY.

I N N B D GOBY.

3. O N E - S P T T E D GOBY.

CI

165

BEOAD-FINNED GOBY.

Gohius hiocellatus, C

Ttits species has mucli the same habits, and is found in the
same places as the last, with which it has been confounded,
and to which it bears considerable resemblance. The differences
will be found in the following description. It is not quite so
long, its greatest length being about two inches; but the fore
part of the body is stouter. The eye is large, a little higher
on the head, which is flat. Jaws about equal. Scales on the
body large for the size of the fish. The dorsal fins are rather
closer together; but what is to be particularly noted is the high
elevation of the second dorsal fin, and the great length of
the hinder rays, which, when laid on the back, overlap the
root of the tail. The first ray of the first dorsal highest,
seven in all; in the second dorsal twelve, as is also in the anal
fin; upper rays of the pectoral longest, supposed eighteen rays;
ventrals wide, fan-shaped, with ten rays , tail round, with
thirteen rays.

The general colour is brown, with a tinge of pink, speckled
along the sides with white tinged with purple. Two ocellated
spots, as in the Two-Spotted Goby Dorsal fins and tail on
a ground of pink have lines of faint white which decline as
they pass backward. The cheeks yellow; belly white. In one
exam])le the anal fin was almost as wide as the second dorsal

166

TAIL-SPOTTED GOBY.

Gobius aitenuatus, C.

This species is found in the same places with the two last
named, to which, chiefly on account of its colour, it bears
consideiable likeness; hut it is much more rare than either of
them. The length scarcely exceeds tvvo inches, and the general
shape almost uniformly slender from head to tail. The snout
is even shorter in front of the eye than either of the others,
but the eye is not quite so high. Under jaw protruded. The
dorsal fins are further apart; second dorsal and anal low, and
the latter begins opposite about one third the length of the
former, both ending together. Tail straight. In the example
described the ventral fin was divided, but this may have been
produced by accident.

The colour was uniform chesnut brown, lighter on the belly;
dorsal fins and tail with reddish bars; anal fin pale; a dark
ocellated spot at the root of the tail, but no mark or stain of
this sort on the side, as in the other tail-marked species.

167

ONE-SPOTTED GOBY.

Oohius unipunctatus, Yarbell: Br Fishes, vol, i, p. 292.

I HAVE not met with this species on the rocky coast with
which I am best acquainted, but examples have been obtained
from Weston-super-Mare, on the Bristol Channel, by E. T.
Hiprgins, Esq., and kindly sent for my use. It was first made
known by Dr. Parnell, who procured it on the coast of Scotland,
in the shallow water of sandy bays; but beyond this little
seems to be known of its peculiar habits, except perhaps a
circumstance that will be mentioned presently, if the species
should chance be the same.

The example described measured two inches and seven eighths
in length; the shape not greatly compressed, deepest at the
first dorsal hn, and from thence becoming more slender to the
tail. Eves of moderate size, high on the cheek, near each
other, but not in contact. The snout not sloping so much to
the mouth as in the three last-mentioned species. Under jaw
longest; teeth conspicuous. Scales on the body distinctly
seen. The first dorsal fin rises at about half the lensrth of
the pectoral, the rays elevated, and the membrane passing far
back beyond the last ray. Pectoral ending opposite the last
ray of the first dorsal, upper rays shortest. The two dorsals
widely apart; the first ray of the anal slightly in advance of
the second dorsal, and the two ending opposite each other at a
considerable distance from the tail; the latter fin but slightly
rounded; the ventral fins reach to the vent.

The colour is a pale brown along the back, from which in
one example proceeded several bands of a fainter colour; the
fins also were of the general colour of the body, and on the
second dorsal, anal, and caudal fins were three or four darker

IbJS ONE-SPOTTED GOBY.

bands or stripes. But the distinguishing niar\ which has been
assigned to this fish is found on the first dorsal fin, and which
is described as a black spot, of a constant character, between
the fifth and sixth rays. Our representation will shew, however,
that this spot, if so it may be termed, by no means invariably
answers to the description given of it. In one example it
occupied, in a triangular form, more than half of the anterior
portion of the upper border of the fin, and also more widely
the posterior border; but below the first portion it was bordered
with a white stripe that was directed obliquely upward, and
the second portion was bordered with a bent line below, and
both these white marks were succeeded below by a darker tint.
In another specimen the anterior portion of this black mark
was narrower, but bordered above by a white' edge to the fin.
The lower portion of the fin in this instance was decidedly
dark.

Naturalists are not agreed whether the species termed
the Spotted Goby ( Gohiiis minutus,) be or be not a younger
condition or variety of the One-Spotted Goby. It was the
opinion of Dr. Parnell that he had proved them to be different,
while the decision of Dr. Gunther is to the contrary; and it
must be confessed that I have not been able to discover any
difference between them, except in the size of the fishes and
the presence or absence of the spots that ornament the first
dorsal fin. The question therefore is left undecided, and we
content ourselves Avith extracts from the authors already quoted.
Dr. Parnell, as referred to by Mr. Yarrell, says: "This fish,
although closely allied to the other species of the same genus,
is undoubtedly quite distinct from them, the black spot on
the first dorsal fin being far more constant and conspicuous
than any character which distinguishes the rest of the British
Gobies. The only species it can Avell be mistaken for is the
G. minuhis, but differs from it in having a black spot between
the fifth and sixth rays of the first dorsal fin, the second dorsal
with eleven rays, and the tail fin even at the extremity. Whereas
the G. minutus has no black spot between the fifth and sixth
rays of the first dorsal fin; the rays of the second dorsal ten
in number, and the tail fin rounded at the end." On these
points Dr Gunther's observation is, that Parnell's assertion
"that specimens with a spot on the first dorsal fin have two

ONE-SPOTTED GOBY. 169

rays more in tlie anal than those Avithout a spot, is not con-
fimed by my examination of numerous specimens."

In the first dorsal fin of the example we have given a figure
of there were six rays, in the second dorsal ten rays, the last
being double. The anal fin with eleven rays; the tail with
sixteen; ventral having sixteen, cf which some were very
short.

VOL. II.

170

SPECKLED GOBY.

Gohius rliodovterus, Guntheb.; Cat. Br. Museum, vol. iii,

p. 16, quoting McCoy, in Annals
and Magazine of Natural Historr,
vol. vi, p. 403.
" reticulatus, Ouvier.

The species named as above is known in the Mediterranean,
and was discovered by Professor McCoy, in Dublin Bay; but
I am only able to express the supposition that it is the same
with a fish supplied to me from the north coast of Somersetshire
by E. T. Higgins, Esq., where, with others Ave have occasion
to mention, it was taken in a net for shrimps.

This example was a little beyond two inches in length; the
head short before the eyes, which are high on the head, but
not close together; lower jaw a little the longest. Body wide
behind the head, compressed posteriorly. The first dorsal fin
begins over the first third of the pectoral, and Dr. Gunther
says of this species the second ray is the longest: to me it
appeared that the first four of the six were nearly of equal
length, but their bent position gave the appearance as if the
outline formed a circle; not so high as the second dorsal,
which begins near the first and ends at a good distance from
the tail. Anal fin shorter than the second dorsal, but they
end opposite each other. Pectorals of moderate size; ventrals
close under the throat. The general colour grey, with bars on
the dorsal fins and tail; the last-named fin round.

1. SPECKLED GOBY.
A N S P A R E N T GOBY. 3. S L K N D S

CII

3 Y.

171

TEANSPARENT GOBY.

Gobius pell'ucidus, 0,

The fish of which a figure and description are now given,
under a name new to science, was procured from the Bristol
Channel, by the kindness of E. T. Higgins, Esq.; and in
several particulars it differs so considerably from every species
to which I am able to refer, as known hitherto on the British
coasts, that. I feel compelled to regard it as new.

Two examples in my possession were of about equal size,
and when first caught they were even more than semitransparent.
Mr. Higgins remarked that they might be compared to the
Morris in this respect; but their size, which measured an inch
and three fourths in length, will not countenance the supposition
that this transparency can be accounted for by the early con-
dition of their growth. The snout is of greater length than in
most of the species of Gobies that have come under our notice,
and consequently protrudes further before the eyes ; under
jaw longest, and the gape wide, running back under the eye.
The body slender, of uniform breadth, beginning to slope only
near the tail. First ray of the first dorsal over half the length
of the pectoral; length of the rays decreasing rapidly. Second
dorsal not near the first, low, parallel with the anal; pectoral
fins slender, long, ending in a point; ventrals slight; tail a
little concave. No visible scales. No spot nor bar on any of
the fins, except that in one example there was a slight dusky
mark at the root of the tail. Colour simply pale. VieAved
from below the borders of the gill-covers appeared to close
one over the other.

112

SLENDER GOBY.

Gohius gracilis, C

If we may judge from the discrepencies that are seen in
the descriptions of a species under the name of the Slender
Goby, and the disagreement between the description and the
figure in a popuhar and generally excellent work, we cannot
avoid the conclusion that more than one, or even than two
kinds of Gobies have been confounded together under this
name. It appears useless to attempt to decide in this case, as
to the question which of these authorities is to be followed,
and therefore under this title we give a figure and description
of a fish which, from its form and proportions, seems well
entitled to bear the designation. The difference from those
which we have already represented will scarcely be disputed;
but of its distinguishing habits we are not able to say more
than tbat it Avas taken, with others of the same genus, near
the shore in the bay of Weston-super-Mare, in Somersetshire.

It measured an inch and a half in length; the greatest
depth at about the root of the pectoral fin, from whence it sloped
gently to the snout; and from the first dorsal fin becoming
more slender posteriorly, but most so behind the vent. Lower
jaw a little the longest; the gape a little oblique. Eyes con-
spicuous, high on the cheeks. Dorsal fins widely apart; the
rays of the first of equal length; anal fin shorter than the
second dorsal, but ending together. Tail Avith the middle rays
lengthened, and consequently almost lancet-shaped. Colour
dark, especially on the back; sides and belly pale yellow, with
dark spots, which are largest along the lateral line.

The White Goby of Dr. Parnell has fallen under my notice
in Cornwall, but, from its very minute size and diaphanous
appearance, I regard it as the young of some better-known
species. It is the Gohhis alhus of Yarrell's "British Fishes,"
vol. i, p. 295; Latruncnlus albus, Gunther's "Catalogue of
British Museum," vol. iii, p. 80.

a,
m

O

o

173

CALITONYMUS-

Thk head obloug, depressed; eyes on the top of the head, and near
each other; the intermaxillary portion of the jaw capable of protrusion.
Gill openings very small, high on the body; hinder gill-covers armed
with a spine. Ventral fins larger than the pectorals, and placed under
the throat, which places them in the order of jugular fishes as
arranged by Linnaeus. Dorsal tins two.

It has long been believed that there were two fishes of this genus
which were natives of the coasts of the British Islands; and the
general proportions of their shape, the very difi'erent dimensions and
form of their organs of swimming, with great diversity of colour,
appear sufficient grounds for this supposition; but it is an extraordinary
circumstance in connection with the history of these fishes, that in
recent times a doubt has been thrown on the fact of their being of
distinct species; and it has become the belief of some naturalists that
the two supposed British kinds of Callionymus are, in reality, only
separate sexes of the same fish. In proof of this opinion it is argued
that no decided instance has been met with in which roe has been
detected in the species known as the Yellow or Golden Skulpin,
{Calliom/mus h/ra;) whereas in all cases the less developed, and more
soberly-ornamented Plain Skulpin, or, as it has been called, the Sordid
Dragonet, is found to be a female, or, if a male, the latter is in its
earliest and less-developed stage of existence. Where this diversity of
opinion exists, it remains for further observation to decide the question;
but, in. the meanwhile, as their appearance is very difi'erent, and some
diff'erence also is believed to exist in their habits, we deem it proper
to proceed on the old opinion, and describe them as if they were truly
sepnrate species.

These fishes are without an air-bladder.

YELLOW SKULPIN.

GOLDEN SKULPIN. YELLOW GURNARD. GEMMEOUS DRAGONET.

GOVVDIE.

Callionymus lyra, LtnNjEUS. Cuvier.

Callionyme lyre, Lacepede. Risso.

Callionymus lyra, Donovan; pi. 9. Fleming.

Jenyns ; Manual, p. 388.

Yarrell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 2(^7.
GuNTHER; Cat. Br. M., vol. iii, p. 139.

174 YELLOW SKULPIN.

This fish is common in the Mediterranean, and must therefore
have been known to the ancients, but from their want of
precision on subjects of natural history, it is not easy to
pronounce whether it be the same with the species known to
them by the name of Callionymus, which is the term adopted
by Linnaeus as the designation of the genus in which the
Yellow Skulpin is arranged. Some fish which bore this name
is referred to by the Greek comic poet Aristophanes, as
sufficiently known for popular allusion by the supposed property
of possessing a large abundance of gall. It is also mentioned
by Aristotle, and in later times by ^lian. Pliny further tells
us that with the Romans, in addition to the name of Callionymus,
it was known as the TJranoscopus, or Sky-gazer, because its
eyes were on the top of the head, with their vision directed
upward. This latter circumstance, in connection with the
former name, which recognises the beauty of its appearance,
may be supposed to point to the Yellow Skulpin, which
answers to both these particulars; but if any doubt remains
concerning it, we are not able to mention any other author
of a remote date who has given an account by which it can
be more definitely determined.

Of the earlier writers of modern times we find that Jonston
and Willoughby have copied into their works (from Rondeletius)
the figures of a species which may have been intended for the
Yellow Skulpin; but these representations cannot be quoted
as a fair representation of the fish, since they shew the
lengthened rays of the first dorsal fin as of equal extent; and
it was only so late as about the middle of the seventeenth
century that Dr. Tyson was able to remove the doubts con-
cerning it as a species, and to shew that it was to be found
also in Britain. And with us it is far from uncommon,
although the habits of naturalists, rather than of the fish, have
caused it to be regarded as rare.

Willoughby and his friend Ray were accustomed to visit the
markets in places they visited, for the purpose of obtaining
examples of such fishes as were brought thither for sale; but
it must happen that there are many sorts (as in our own
country the Yellow Skulpin) which are not of sufficient value
to be thus dealt with. Nor does the species now referred to
Irequeatiy take a bait, which, however, is not caused by any

YELLOW SKULPIN. 175

peculiar manner of feeding, but it proceeds from the fact that
at the depth of water in which it usually keeps, the hooks
employed by fishermen are too large for its mouth. It is more
likely to be dragged from the bottom by a trawl, and it is
not unfrequently found in the stomachs of the larger fishes
that take their prey from the ground, which is its appropriate
resting-place, and on which its flattened shape enables it to
recline with ease. In this situation also the size and position
of its ventral fins afford it support, while, by a very slight
motion in them, it is able to raise itself in an instant for
escape, or to seize any object it wishes to devour. The food
is laid hold of by a thrusting forward of the upper jaw, the
intermaxillary bone of which is capable of being protruded
through a portion of a circle, and thus of grasping an object
from below as well as from above, for the lower jaw as well
as the upper has an extensive motion. It is probable that the
balancing power of the extended rays of the first dorsal fin
may be of service in the sudden and rapid actions of the fish
when it rises from or descends to its place of rest at the
bottom.

The Yellow Skulpin is knov/n through the extent of all the
coasts of the British Islands, at least as far as the Orkneys;
and it is also found along the coasts of the North Sea and
the Cattegat, but it is not met with in the Baltic. It does
not appear to be in the habit of congregating into companies,
and seldom comes very near to the land; but it prefers to
remain at the depth of from twenty to sixty fathoms, at least
on the western borders of the kingdom. It is observed that it
does not die speedily when taken from the water, which
probably arises from the remarkable construction of its gills,
through which the stream can only find a passage through an
opening of small size, the direction of Avhich is well fitted to
a creature which rests habitually on the ground, and the
breathing of which would be with difficulty if the aperture
were open only on the under side.

The example selected for description measured in length ten
inches and a half, and an inch and three fourths across where
widest, which was above the gills; head depressed, becoming
narrower and rounded to the upper lip, which protrudes
beyond the lower jaw, which is narrow; the teeth fine and

176 YELLOW SKFTPTN'.

numerous. Eyes on the top of the head, near each other; the
vision lateral, but on dissection the muscles of the eyes are
seen to be so placed as to roll the ball upwards, but not
downward. The tonsrue thin and free. Gill membrane
fastened down except at a small orifice behind the eye; on the
margin of the anterior border of the gill-cover is a strong
flattened spine, having three points directed obliquely upward.
The body is narrower than the head, depressed, and channeled,
but round at the sides, becoming slender towards the tail.
Dorsal fins two, the first ray of the first being so long as to
overlap the tail, slender, and (in the example described) five
inches and a half long; the rays, four in number, decreasing
in length in regular progression, on which account Lacepede
launches out into a fanciful analogy between them and the
cords of the lyre, from which the fish has obtained its trivial
name. The second dorsal is broad, but does not approach the
tail, its ten rays rising above the fin, but bound down on its
border, the two last bound together, and longer than the
others. The anal fin answers to the second dorsal in the
number and nature of the rays, but is placed nearer the tail;
the latter organ rounded, with nine divided rays projecting
beyond the membrane. A process in front of the anal fin.
Pectorals with nineteen rays; those of the ventrals five, fan -shaped.
Lateral line begins high on the back, irregular at first, and
then straight; when dry this line appears like a fine cord,
and along its course at regular distances are short threads
proceeding obliquely backward, appearing the discharging ducts
of mucous glands. The colours are beautiful, but subject to
some variety: top of the head and along the back dusky
yellow; light golden yellow on the cheeks and sides, with two
regular stripes and some spots of azure; an ocellate spot near
the beginning of the lateral line, the centre yellowish brown,
the circle a fine blue. Dorsal fins golden yellow; on the first
dorsal stripes of azure run in the direction of the rays; at the
bottom a line ranges along parallel with the back. On the
second dorsal four longitudinal azure lines; tail with irregular
lines of the same. Pectorals yellow; ventrals dark, in some
examples with stripes of yellow and blue. The ventral is
united by a membrane to the pectoral. Belly white; the thorax
black.

VELLOW SKULPIN. 177

There is a variety of this fish which differs sufficiently to
require a separate notice. It is of less frequent occurrence than
that which we have described, but is represented by the figure
in Mr. Yarrell's second edition, as already referred to. The
membrane of the first dorsal fin much wider than usual, and
reaching to near the extremity of the longest ray.

As bearing on the question of the sexes of this species I
quote the following note from an examination of two examples,
one of which possessed the usual marks of the male; but the
other displayed those characters which by the Prince of Musig-
nano are ascribed to the female. The mouth was more slightly
formed, and had a less extensive gape; and the lengthened
ray of the first dorsal reached no further back than to the end
of the third ray of the second dorsal. The colour of both
examples was the same. We shall say more on this subject
when we describe the Dusky Skulpin.

VOL. 11. ^ A

17

DUSKY SKULPIN.

SORDID DRAGONET. COMMON SKULFIN. FOX, perhaps

from the colour it sometimes assumes, as represented in Bloch's
unsatisfactory figure. But this fox-like tinge is only seen in

particular situations.

CalUonymus dracuncuhis, Linnaeus. Cuvier.
Callionyme dragonneau, Lacepede. Risso.

Donovan, pi. 84.
CalUonymus dracimculus, Jenyns; Manual, p. 389.

" Yarrell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. .302.

" Gunther; Cat. Br. M., vol. iii, p. 139.

This species, if it be a species, and not merely the female
or undeveloped male of the fish last mentioned, is perhaps
more abundant than the Yellow Skulpin, as indeed would
necessarily be the case if it includes a large portion of the
two sexes; but this circumstance may also be explained by its
being more frequently found in sandy bays and shallow water,
where its presence and motions can be more readily observed.
It may there be seen at rest on the ground, where, however,
its mottled colours serve in a great degree to conceal it, although
not with such certainty as to prevent it from being often the
prey of the larger and more voracious fishes, to escape from
which it would appear from an observation of Dr. Ball, in
Ireland, that it is capable of burying itself in the sand. But
it is also common in deep water, where we know it chiefly
from its capture in trawls, or from the stomachs of fishes which
take their food from the bottom. Its own food is worms, small
shellfish, and other sorts of molluscous animals.

We can believe the assertion of Lacepede, that both these

CL,

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M

09

P

O

DUSKY SKULPIN. 179

kinds of Skulpins afford good food, but they find no place
at British tables.

The Dusky Skulpin is known on every part of the coasts
of the British Islands, as also in the North Sea and Mediter-
ranean.

I have known this fish to measure nine inches in length,
but usually it is not so large. The general proportions as in
the Yellow Skulpin, except that the head in front of the eyes
is not so long. The most remarkable difference, however, is to
be found in the comparative length of the rays of the dorsal
fins, and in the colours, which, in the Dusky Skulpin, however
prone to vary, are never like those of the Yellow Skulpin,
either in tints or arrangement. Sometimes the prevailing colour
is olive green, sometimes brown, dark, or light copper, with
mottlings which occasionally assume the form of bars or bands
across the back; and an example has been seen from the deeper
water at the mouth of the British Channel, in which the
upper surface of the body was covered with beautiful ocellated
spots, the second dorsal having also a broad line of the pre-
vailing colour of the body. But in no instance has there been
observed a tendency to the resplendent blue which adorns the
sides, cheeks, and fins of the Yellow Skulpin. But the more
remarkable dissimilarity is found in the extent of the rays in
the fir-st dorsal fin, the first and longest of which does but
little exceed, if at all, those of the second dorsal. It is
common also for this first ray to be bound down on the fin,
as if incapable of becoming of longer growth. This, however,
may be the character of the female only, as is the undoubting
belief of some naturalists; and in justice to the subject, it
must be noticed, that instances occur in which individuals may
be supposed to be in the condition of passing from the partially
developed to the perfect state, or from that of the undeveloped
male, resembling a female, to the state in which the male
characters are fully represented.

The earliest manifestation of this asserted development is
seen in a lengthening of the first ray of the first dorsal fin,
to the extent of a fifth part of its ordinary length, as measured
in the Dusky Skulpin. But in another example, which had
attained the length of seven inches and a fourth, this first ray
was so much elongated as to reach backward more than half

180 DUSKY SKTIT,PIN,

the length of the second dorsal, its extent being two inches,
while in another fish of the saine size it . measured only
about half an inch. The snout in front of the eyes in this
example with the partially lengthened fin, has also assumed
the protruded form of the acknowledged Yellow Skulpin. The
difference in colour was only that this example was pale,
without the dark tinge on the throat which is seen in the
fully-coloured Yellow Skulpin; while several specimens of the
Dusky Skulpin, with short dorsal rays, laid by its side, had
their colours, as described above, strongly marked. In the
month of December none of these fishes contained evidence
of roe or milt. The number of rays in tlie fins of both these
fishes is the same.

181

SUCKING FISHES.

( Discohuli of GouAN.)

This small family of fishes is distinguished by the remarkable
character of possessing an organized disk below the throat,
where it is encircled with a narrow border of fin, which forms
an union also with the pectoral fins. The office of this disk
is to enable the fish to fosten itself to any fixed object, in a
manner which bears some degree of likeness to that by which
the Remora attaches itself to the body of some larger species;
and the diff'erence in this respect in the last-named family
chiefly lies in the position of the organ, which, as we have
seen, is on the top of the head.

This family of sucking fishes does not appear to have been
known to the ancients, but we learn from Griffith's translation
of Cuvier's "Animal Kingdom," that a Greek writer of the
seventh century, A.D., has mentioned them, although, judging
by their habit of adhering to other substances, he regarded
them as belonging to the same class as the Remora. He terms
the fish mentioned by him Naucrates, which is the name applied
by others to the true Remora; but he says the organ was on
the middle of the breast, and that it resembled the musical
instrument, a cymbal. These fishes were little known also to
naturalists of the middle ages, whose notice of the larger
species, our Common Lumpfish, appears to have been limited
to the circumstances of its curious shape being turned into
distortion, for the purpose of its being displayed to the
wondering crowd, among a variety of other "ill-shaped fishes."

Jonston gives us a figure of this species of the natural
form, as well as of that which had been thus distorted; but
our earliest knowledge of the peculiarity of this best known
of the class is owing to Willughby, who has engraved a
competent likeness of the Large Lumpfish, and who also men-

18S SUCKING FISHKR.

ti'ons a smaller species under the name of Liparis. This last-
named species was placed by Artedi in a separate genus, and
in this he was followed by Gouan, Cuvier, and the generality
of modern naturalists; but so imperfectly was Linnaeus acquainted
with these fishes, that, although they are known on the coast
of Sweden, where Nilsson enumerates five kinds, he hesitated in
defining them. The genus Cijclopterus, as arranged by him
in his tenth edition, contains only one European species, of
which he seems only to have felt assured on the authority of
Willughby; but he makes no mention of Liparis, either as a
species or genus.

This family of sucking fishes has been called Discoholes,
from the circumstance that they bear their circular disk on the
throat; where it is formed of a border of flattened tubercles
round a somewhat level middle portion, which is capable of
expelling the water that might lie interposed between itself
and the substance on which it seeks to fix itself, and then of
exhausting all the influence that might prevent the closest
adhesion. We shall have occasion to mention the strength by
which this adhesion is accomplished when we speak of the
separate fishes of this family.

I I
Hi

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o

183

CYCLOPTERUS.

The head is blunt; eyes lateral; gill-openings small, and closed below.
Body without scales. Pectoral fins continued to the ventrals, the latter
encircling a disk, which is organized in such a manner as to enable
these fishes to adhere firmly to a solid substance. Body thick and
solid, with a fatty ridge on the top of the buck.

LUMPFISH.

LUMPSUCKER. SEA OWL. PADDLE, COCKPADDLE.

Lampus Anglorum, Pr'scis glohosus, Jonston; table 13, f. I and 2.

WiLLUGHBY; p. 208, table K 11.
Cychpterus lumpus, Linnaeus.

" CuviER. Bloch, pi. 90,

" Donovan, pi. 10.

Cydoptere lojnpe, Lacepede.

Cychpterus lumpus, Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 190.

- " " Jenyns; Manual, p. 471.

" " Yarrell; Br. F., vol. ii, p. 3(35.

" " GuNTHER; Cat. Br. Museum,

vol. iii, p. 155.

This fish is common along the coasts of the British Islands,
and becomes still more numerous as we proceed northward,
even to the Island of Greenland, as well as in the Baltic. It
is also known on the northern parts of America, but is not
enumerated by Risso among the fishes of the Mediterranean.
As food it seems not to be thought of in England, the taste
being mawkish and unsubstantial, the fiesh dissolving in the
mouth like mucilage or oil. Yet the Lumpfish was thought of
some value as a delicacy, even in England, in times not very
distant. Hollinshed says: "Lumps are uglie fish to sight, and
yet verie delicate in eating if it be kindlie dressed." But in
the colder regions of the Northern Ocean, and especially in

184 LUMPFISH.

Greenland, this fish is an object of attention, and is sought for
with nets and long lines, the flesh being used either fresh or
salted and dried, and in the latter case it is even prepared for
exportation. Crantz informs us, however, that even in Green-
land it is not relished by every stomach. The roe is more
esteemed, and, when salted, is made into a sort of caviar, and
even exported as such.

With us the Lumpfish is noticed rather for its grotesque
shape than for any remarkable properties which are supposed
to belong to it, and yet its history possesses no small degree
of interest in the view of those who feel pleasure in tracing
the wisdom whereby the structure of an animal is made to
exert its influence on its habits, or the latter are confirmed to
the former; as also in observing that combination of properties
by which some apparent defect is converted into a benefit, or
becomes balanced by organizations and instincts which afford to
their possessor some unexpected compensation.

Unwieldy heaviness of form must necessarily prove an obstacle
to activity of motion, and thus it happens that the Lumpfish
becomes liable to the assaults of many formidable enemies; and
also, from the same cause, when the sea is lashed into fury it
possesses little active power to keep itself from being dashed
against the rocks. This last-named danger, however, is provided
against by the possession of that peculiar organization on' the
under part of its body, from which the genus, and this species
especially, derive their characteristic name. But to escape the
depredations of its enemies is a greater difficulty than to obtain
safety from the storm, although the rough tuberculated nature
of its covering might seem to offer it sufficient security. The
Seal is one of the most formidable of its enemies; and, with
all the eagerness of appetite, this creature displays also a high
amount of skill in ridding the fish of its skin before it pro-
ceeds to swallow the delicious morsel. A particular account of
the process by which the flaying is accomplished is given in
the "Zoologist" for the year 1851, by Mr, Harris, of Gamrie,
although not, in all its details, for the first time, as that
gentleman supposed. He remarks that this covering is fre-
quently floated in and deposited on the shore by the tide,
and, as usually seen, with the head and tail attached to it;
sometimes, however, the head is wanting. Judging from a

LUMPFISH. 185

variety of specimens, the operation is commenced on the
shoulder and carried downward to the tail, which is regularly-
chopped off, and dismissed with the skin. On his attention
being first called to this flict, he thought it possible that the
cast-off skin might be accounted for on the assumption that
the Seal effected his repast by excavating the flesh out of the
skin; but all the fishermen decidedly affirm that he flays or,
as one of them quaintly expressed it, he peels them like a
potatoe. Sharks fed on them also, and in our western seas
an example has been taken from the stomach of a Skate.

With us this fish does not often take a bait, but crustacean
animals fOnisciJ have been found in their stomachs; and,
from the great length of the entrails, it may be judged that
a portion of its subsistence at least is derived from sea vegetables,
for it is a law of nature to which hitherto no exception is
known, that creatures, whether of the land or sea, which feed
on the productions of the vegetable kingdom, are supplied with
entrails far more cajmcious than such as subsist on animal
tissues alone. In a Lumpfish of the length of ten inches, the
intestinal canal measured eleven feet, and the capacity was
further increased by several blind appendages, termed caeca,
which are organs of peculiar use, and, among their other
functions, serve materially to increase the functional power
of the intestines. It is probable also that the Lumpfish pursues
some other prey, which is to be obtained only at a higher
elevation in the water; for it is sometimes caught in bag-nets
set for Salmon, and in drift-nets shot in the fishery for Mackarel.
When thus exerting itself, it may be for rest only that it
sometimes resorts to the same contrivance as the Remora; for
I have been credibly informed of an instance in which a small
example was found adhering to the skin of a Mackarel that
had become entangled in a drift-net over a considerable depth
of water.

These fishes are most frequently taken in the spring, when

they come to the nearer neighbourhood of the land for the

purpose of depositing their spawn; and at this time it happens,

whether by accident or otherwise, that many more females are

caught than males. The roe is produced in very large quan

titles, so that in the month of April I have found it occupying

the larger portion of the cavity of the body; and the grains
VuL. II. 2 B

186 LtlMPFISTi.

were of a beautiful pink colour, lying apparently loose in the
bag of the ovarium, as not attached to its sides, and only
slightly to each other by means of a very fine filmy thread.
Mr. Thompson informs us that in a fish fifteen inches long he
found twenty-five ounces of roe, of which he weighed a drachm,
and from this quantity calculated that the number of the whole
was very nearly a hundred and two thousand grains. In
another instance we are told that what was collected after they
were shed in a prepared place of deposit, amounted by
measure to seven quarts; but it is obvious that this large
quantity must have greatly exceeded the ordinary bulk of the
parent fish; and yet we must not conclude that it was pro-
duced by more than one female, but rather that after exclusion
the grains had swollen greatly by the absorption of water, as
is known to be the case with the frog and other creatures
which shed their spawn in watery places. It seems certain
that a cavity is formed, which has been termed a nest, for the
reception of this treasure, and it is not improbable that the
sucking organ is of some service in this important operation.
But in addition to the instinctive intelligence which this implies,
a high degree of conscious feeling has also been ascribed to
both the parents, in which, indeed, the male is said to exceed
the female.

The French naturalist Lacepede refers in a florid manner
to this supposed trait of character, in a class of animals which
generally have been judged greatly deficient in this particular;
and which in the Lumpfish is said to be not only shewn in
providing a nest, but in carefully watching over the development
of the young, as well after as before their escape from the
egg, so as not to suffer an enemy to molest them. A similar
tenderness has been said to exist also between the parents
themselves, whose attachment to each other is thought as
lasting as their lives, if, indeed, any human being can be
supposed to have had an opportunity of witnessing the con-
tinuance of such an union. And yet the whole of this is not
romance; for besides the formation of what may be termed
a nest, which is placed not far from low-water mark, and
in which they are more than imitated by several other fishes;
both the parents have been seen to manifest considerable
anxiety when watched and disturbed during the continuance of

LUMPFISH. 187

tlie proceeding, and the male has been known to flit hither
and thither, without being able to leave the spot. But the
further supposition, referred to by Lacepede, of the continuance
of this watchful care until and after the appearance of the
young ones, by remaining near them, may receive an expla-
nation which would lead to a different conclusion. The
Lumpfish is slow to move at any time, and there are few fishes
Avhich are not particularly inert when the proceeding of shedding
their spawn has been accomplished. It is easy to suppose,
therefore, that when thus exhausted with lassitude and fatigue,
the sucking organ would be put into action for support, and
not again be soon disengaged. Such will probably be the
case with both the parents; or different individuals of the same
sex may become settled down without motion near each other,
without being influenced to this by the amicable feelings which
have been imputed to them.

It seems probable that the time of depositing the spawn
is not always the same; for although the young for the most
part appear early in summer, I have known them of very
small size in the month of September. Their escape from the
egg is speedy, and when of early growth they are found in
crab-pots that have been set in favourable situations at the
depth of six or eight fathoms. The opportunities which thus
offer themselves are so far of interest that they have afforded
the means of observing the remarkable changes the young pass
through in the early stages of their growth; in which they
undergo such transformations as may Avith some propriety be
termed a series of metamorphoses.

Thus in an example of minute size, not exceeding three lines
in length, the general shape conveyed the impression of some
resemblance to the tadpole of the frog, although with a deeper
form of head, and bearing a different colour. The head itself
and anterior portion of the body were elevated, solid, wide,
and rounded; the forehead perpendicular from the jaws, which
are equal; mouth with a moderate gape. Back flat, slightly
rounded, where in the full-grown Lumpfish it is ridged.
From the vent backward slender, compressed, longer to the
caudal fin than from the vent forward. Dorsal fins two, the
first narrow and elevated, the second and anal fin long, narrow,
united to the tail; the latter round; through the transparent

188 LTTMPFISH.

flesh the lines of the vertebrse were seeii carried upward along
the border of the tail for two thirds of its length, thus ia
some degree imitating the permanent organization of that part
in Sharks and Sturgeons, as also in several races of fishes in
extinct and fossilized families, as well as, in a less degree, the
Common Salmon. The rays of the caudal fin are seen to
proceed downward from this line of vertebrae through the
membrane of the tail. The sucking organ under the throat
was simple. Colour a yellowish brown, with a bright silver
line from near the front, at the lips, through the eyes, and
backward opposite the first dorsal fin. A line of the same
kind ran across to join the former from before each eye. A
little before the caudal fin on the middle line of the body,
above and below, was a pale spot, appearing like a mucous
orifice; but there was no appearance of a tubercle, and the
skin seemed to be furnished with punctations. Professor
Nilsson has observed a process of development similar to this,
and which he has described in his "Scandinavisk Fauna."

When grown to near an inch or perhaps more in length, I
have found it still without a ridge on the back, or a tubercle
on the skin; and the tail was even lancet-shaped, but the
head had become more massy; and in assuming the finally
characteristic form the alteration appears to proceed from before
backward. It is at this time also, or often when the length
does not exceed half an inch, that the tubercles begin to
appear, which is first on the anterior portion of the body,
along the line above the pectoral fin, and below it from the
sucking organ, but particularly also along the ridge of the
back to the first dorsal fin. This then becomes raised and
thrust backward, until the fin itself has become swallowed up
in the fat integument, and the whole fish assumes the form as
we shall now proceed to describe it.

A full-grown Lumpfish has measured twenty-one inches in
length, and eleven inches and a half in depth; the head
broad, ascending from the mouth in a slightly curved outline
to what has been the first dorsal fin, and which continues to
be such in the male, which is considerably less than the
female. The body is thick and solid, becoming thin and
ridged at the back, along which runs a row of elevated rough
tubercles, as far as opposite the vent, and close behind this

LUMPFISH. 1^9

it sinks abruptly to a flat space that is enclosed behind,
between it and the second dorsal, with part of a circle of
tubercles. The under jaw may be said to protrude a little;
lips full; teeth small; nostrils tubular. Eyes elevated and
prominent. The body slopes down towards the tail, which
organ is a little rounded, but sometimes straight. There are
three rows of tubercles on each side, besides the ridge of
them along the back One of these begins a little above the
nostrils, runs in a curved shape above the eye, and behind
the head it runs with larger tubercles to the origin of the
tail. Another begins a little above the root of the pectoral
fin, and ends also at the tail; the lowermost begins near the
sucking organ and ends close to the anal tin. The head is
otherwise rough, sometimes also with scattered tubercles, and
the skin of the body with small points. The pectoral fin is
wide, and passes forward under the throat to be united with
the narrow ventral fins, together encircling the sucking organ.
Twenty rays in the pectoral; second dorsal and anal fins opposite
each other ; the first with nine rays, the second with eight.
Tail with nine rays; outline of the fins generally waved. There
are perpendicular lines at that part of the body where the
greatest motion is exerted. In young individuals the prevailing
colour is green; when older a blue tint succeeds; which in the
larger females at last becomes black, except beneath. The male
is, at least in the breeding season, of a bright pink beneath,
as also on the fins, and a fine blue above. The bones of this
fish are soft, as in the cartilaginous fishes. The Lumpfish is
very retentive of life.

190

LTPARTS.

The head morlerately short, body len(?thened, compressed nearer the
tail; a single, lengthened dorsal fin. The surface of the body smooth.

SEA SNAIL.

lAparis nostras, Willughby: Appendix, p. 17.

" " Ray; Synopsis Piscum, p. 74.

" " Artedi; Appendix, p. 117.

Gyclopterus Liparis, Bloch; pi. 123.

" " Turton's LinnEeus.

" " Jenyns; Manual, p, 472.

Liparis vulgaris, Cuvier. Fleming ; Br. Animals, p. 190.

Cycloptere Lifaris, Lacepede.

Cyclopterus " Donovan; ]A. 47.

Liparis vulgaris, Yarrell; Br. Fishes, vol. ii, p. 371.

" " GuNTHER; Catalogue Br. Museum, vol. iii,

p. 159.

A FISH is mentioned under the name of Liparts by some of
the older naturalists, but in such a manner as to raise a doubt
whether they are always referring to the species now understood
by that name; for, although it may be deemed probable that
the species called in the north of England the Sea Snail is one
of the number thus designated, it is also certain that at least
the fish which we shall call the Butter Fish, Blentiius gunnellus,
was also known by the same denomination. But the principal
difficulty in deciding on the present species from the description
of these ancient writers arises from the fact that they make no
reference, or a very uncertain one, to that characteristic organ
the sucker; which is indeed referred to by Willughby and Ray;
but only as a mark resembling a seal; and probably it is on
this account that Linnseus hesitated in accepting it, although it

CO

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SEA SNAIL. 191

finds a place in his classification by Artedi, with a generic
character at this time not to be mistaken. It is plain, however,
even from his own authority, that although the last-named
author felt no doubt of the existence of this fish, he had never
himself examined it, notwithstanding that from the authority of
Nilsson, we learn the fact of its being met with sometimes
on the coasts of Sweden. It is indeed, more than most others
of this family, a fish of the north, for its range extends even
to the icy regions of Spitzbergen; and it is also found at
Kamtschatka, although whether in the ocean between these
districts appears uncertain. On the north of Scotland and
England it is not rare, and it has been met with even at the
mouth of the Thames; westward of which it is among the rarest
of fishes. Yet I have been informed of its occurrence near
Weymouth; and on the authority of W. P. Cocks, Esq., a single
example is recorded as having been found under a stone in
the harbour of Falmouth. Its proper haunts appear to be not
far from low water mark, where it seeks shelter under stones;
but it also advances up into the fresh water of rivers, although
perhaps never beyond the reach of the tide. Its food is the
small crustaceous animals it meets with at the bottom, and its
season of procreation is early in the spring. So oily or muci-
laginous is the fleshy substance of this fish, that soon after
death it melts away on slight exposure to the sun; on which
account it is that it has received the name of Sea Snail.

The Sea Snail attains the length of four or five inches. In
its shape the parts in front of the dorsal fin are round and
heavy, but towards the tail more compressed and tapering.
Eyes high on the head and prominent, but not close together.
The snout blunt and rounded; jaws equal, the teeth only rough,
upper lip with two short threads or barbs. A process of the
integument on the gill-cover stretched over the small opening
of the gills. Skin smooth and soft, without tubercles. Belly
protuberant; a single dorsal fin, which begins only a little behind
the head; anal fin also single, and both these fins run back to
be joined to the tail, but not amalgamated with it. Tail round;
sucking organ round, on the throat. Pectoral fin wide, upper
rays longest, but again lengthened near where united to the
ventrals; and which together encircle the throat. The colour
is liable to variation: the back and fins of different degrees of

192 SEA SNAIL.

brown; light on the belly. The back and sides ornamented
sometimes with longitudinal waved stripes of a light tinge, edged
with tints of blue; but soon after being caught the colour is
said to change and grow pale. The Rev. Mr. Holdsworth
informed me that of three examples he had met with two M'ere
covered with narrow longitudinal lines as usually described, but
the third was blotched all over with white on a very dark
ground, not unlike some individuals of C'otius bubalis.

1. MONTAGU'S SUCKER. -MALE,
2. MONTAGU'S S U C K E R. F E M A L K. 3. NETWORK SUCKER

CVII

193

MONTAGU'S SUCKER.

Lijmris Monfagni, Cuvier. Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 190.

Cyclopterus Montngui, Jenyns; Manual, p. 473.

Liparis Montagai, Yarrell; Br. Fishes, vol. ii, p. 374.

" " GuNTHER; Catalogue Br. Museum,

vol. iii, p. 161.

This species was first described by George Montagu, Esq.,
who was commonly known as Colonel Montagu; and from that
circumstance it obtained its secondary name. It is common on
the shores of Cornwall and Devon, and also, as we learn from
Mr. Thompson, round the coasts of Ireland; but it becomes
more rare as we proceed northward or greatly to the south,
although, as Mr. Peach informs me, an example has been obtained
at Wick, in Scotland. With us it is seldom taken beyond the
depth of four or five fathoms; and in the spring we discover
it near low water mark, not unfrequently left by the tide and
lying hid under a stone; in which position when uncovered,
without much effort to escape, it usually assumes the curious
habit of throwing its tail forward towards the side of the head.
Its time of spawning is in the spring, and it has been seen
greatly distended with spawn at the middle of April, the spawn
lying very loose in the ovary. As food four examples of the
Sandhopper have been taken from the stomach of a single
individual. Some individuals of full growth were placed in a
bottle with sea-water, where they readily attached themselves
by the sucker to the sides, and even to the top with their
backs downward; and when they chose to shift their places
they as readily attached themselves to the fixed object again.
At times their motions were lively, but at other times the con-
trary. The actions of the dorsal fin appeared as if the hinder
portion only moved; and as the structure of the anterior portion
VOL. II. 2 C

ly* >^ONTAGU*S SUCKER.

is more stout and fat than that which is nearer the tail, and
the rays more separated and not so high, the appearance is as
if there were two dorsal fins.

The females, as far as they have been seen, are larger than
the males, and the longest of them measured three inches.
The head broad, flat on the top, cheeks tumid; the front
descending from above the gill-covers; snout rounded and pro-
truding; under jaw beneath, a rough bed of teeth in each;
mucous orifices large round the mouth. Eyes lateral; the body
round, forward, compressed posteriorly; the skin smooth. The
dorsal fin begins opposite the half of the pectoral; the anterior
portion low, and suddenly expanding above the origin of the
anal fin ; behind this both the last-named fins correspond to each
other, and end near the root of the tail. In examples which
I consider the male I have found these fins expanded at their
termination; but in the females wider at the middle, and narrow
behind. Tail slightly round, or straight. Pectoral fin has its
rays longest above, but in a narrower form it unites with the
ventral to pass under the throat in front of the sucking organ.
The latter has thirteen protuberances, of which the odd one is
in front, like the keystone of an arch. The vent is in the
middle of the body. The general colour is a chesnut brown,
light on the belly: some examples are much yellower; a row
of small Avhite dots sometimes runs along the lateral line; brown
bars on the dorsal and anal fins, and on the tail; with a tinge
of pink on the border of the pectoral fins and belly. Those
last-named marks I have only seen on the female. The fin
rays are, in the dorsal twenty-five, anal twenty; in the pectoral
twenty-two, and ventral, counted separately, seven. In the tail
eleven.

195

NETWORK SUCI^R.

Liparia reticulatus, Risso?

Le;padoci aster bimaculatus, Gunther; Cat. Br. M., vol. iii, p. 514.

The naturalist Risso describes under the name here given a
kind of sucking fish which he supposed new to science, and
which he had discovered in the Mediterranean. The specific
character which he assigned to it is, the colour a dusky yellow,
with a network of grey and black; the dorsal and anal fins
opposite each other, and not united to the tail. In his description
he also remarks that the muzzle is short and round, and the
jaws of equal length; but he further adds, with some apparent
contradiction, that the dorsal fin, which is furnished with six
rays, is placed immediately over the tail, and the anal with
only four rays is opposite to it, but both of them are at some
distance from the tail. But setting aside these last-named
particulars, if the fish thus referred to be indeed a distinct species,
and not a variety of Montagu's Sucker, as Dr. Gunther sup-
posed it to be, we may then venture to claim some Cornish
examples as the same with Risso's fish, and as such one that
has not hitherto been recognised as belonging to the British
Catalogue. Three species have been examined, and all of
them from a very limited extent of coast, at the depth of only
a few fathoms; but of their particular habits nothing further
has been ascertained.

The length was very nearly three inches. In comparison with
an example of Montagu's Sucker the front appeared wider, head
more depressed, dorsal and anal fins shorter, and approaching
less nearly to the tail; sucking organ with the same number of
tubercles. The general colour was a dusky yellow, lighter or
the belly; but the whole surface of the skin and fins was covered
with a network of lines, of which the meshes in diflferent parts
only varied in being more or less small. They were so especially
in front, from the eyes to the mouth. When an example had
been preserved for no long time in diluted spirit of wine, this
beautiful network disappeared.

196

LEPABOGASTER.

The body is depressed from behind the head forward, compressed on
its hindward half to the tail; the upper jaw lengthened into a narrow
flattened snout. The sucking organ is divided into two portions, of
which one is bordered by an union of the pectoral fins, and the other
by the ventrals.

CORNISH SUCKER.

SUCKING FISH. JUKA SUCKEK.

Cycloptere spatule, Lacepede.

Lepadogaster Cornuhiensis, Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 189.

Cyclopterus ocellatus, Donovan; pi. 76.

Lepadogaster hiciliahis, Eisso ; p. 73, pi. 4, f. 9.

" Cornuhiensis, Jenyns ; Manual, p. 469.

" " Yahrell ; Br. Fishes, vol. ii, p. 359.

" Gouanii, Gunther; Catalogue Br. Museum,

vol. iii, p. 610.

The species termed the Cornisli Sucker is so named because
it was first noticed in that part of England; and it is there
still regarded as being pre-eminently the Sucker, from being
the most frequently met with of this family, and especially bacause
the propensity to exercise the adhesive faculty immediately excites
the attention of a casual observer, Avho may chance to take it
in his hand, to which with a slight flutter it soon becomes
attached. Rest and inertness form indeed a prominent portion
of its habits; and it "will continue to fasten itself to one place
without moving for many hours together. When disposed to
move from one station to another, it presently again assumes
the same fixed attitude, which it will sometimes continue by
means of the mechanical operation of the sucking organ, even
after death. There is reason to believe that it is not found in

1. DOUBLY-SPOTTRD SUCKER.
9. CORNISH SUCKER.
CVIII

CORNISH SUCKER. 197

water exceeding a few fathoms in depth; but it is widely dis-
tributed, and has been noticed round the shores of England and
Ireland. Risso, as referred to, also classes it among the fishes
of the Mediterranean. Its food is the smaller crustacean animals,
which it swallows whole. It is large with ' spawn in March,
and the grains are of considerable size in proportion to the
bulk of the fish. I have found what might be thought a little
family of five or six of different sizes, under one stone.

A full-grown example of the Cornish Sucker measures four
inches in length; the forward portion of the body and head
depressed and broad, but it sinks before the eyes, and the snout
grows narrower, and projects in the form of the bill of a duck,
although proportionally wider. The gape is wide, lips mem-
branous, under jaw narrow, and shorter than the upper. Eyes
lateral; nostrils at a small distance before them, and close to
each nostril two threads or processes, the longest of which in
an example two inches in length, measured the tenth of an
inch, and is branched like a deer's horn. The body becomes
compressed opposite the dorsal fin, and tapers to the tail. The
single dorsal fin begins at two thirds of the whole length; the
anal tin begins behind this, and both run back to be joined to
the tail; the latter small and round. Pectoral fins behind the
greatest breadth; united to the sucking organ, which is a double
disk, separated by a channel; their circles formed of small
tubercles. The colour varies from purple, with a tinge of pink,
to crimson or dull red; the belly pale red; and the colours of
the body extend to the fins. Behind the eyes are two round
spots, of a darker colour than the general surface, with a centre
marked with light blue, and a light coloured border; in some
cases these outer borders touching each other, with a light
coloured line stretched out behind each of them; and across,
from one eye to the other, a straight band, with one or two
bent lines, having an angle directed backward.

198

DOUBLY SPOTTED SUCKER.

Cydopterus himaculatus, Turton's Linnaeus. Donovan; pi. 78.

Lepadogaster " Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 190.

Lapadogastere ocelle, Risso.

Lepadogaster himaculatus Jenyns; Manual, p. 470.

" " Yarrell; Br. Fishes, vol. ii, p. 363.

" " Gunther; Catalogue Br. Museum,

vol. ill, p. 514.

We only give the English name as above, because it has
been so applied by several writers; for it is but slightly des-
criptive, and might with greater propriety be assigned to the
Cornish Sucker. The species which bears it was first made
known by Pennant, but since his day it has been found far
from uncommon in the west counties of England; and if Ave
are right in our belief that it is, as Risso supposed, the same
with that which he has called Lepadogaster ocellatus, it is also
met with in the Mediterranean. On the other hand Nilsson
says it has been taken off the west coast of Norway; where,
however, it is regarded as among the rarest of their fishes. In
Cornwall examples of small size are met with under stones near
low water mark; not far from which it is probable they are
bred. They are also not unfrequently drawn up in crab-pots;
but the larger individuals prefer deeper water, and their common
resort is further from the land than is usual with the Cornish
Sucker, from which beyond doubt it is a distinct species. An
example an inch and a half in length, was thrown from the
mouth of a fish as it was drawn up from a depth of thirty-eight
fathoms.

A small example, placed in a cup of sea-water, appeared
more active and observant than the last-named fish; and even
when the body was still the pectoral fins were frequently in

DOUBLY srOTTRD SUCKER. 199

motion. While quiet, and attached by its sucTcer to the cup,
the tail was usually thrown forward either to the right or left,
and so bent that its fin reached to the gills, in the manner of
Montagu's Sucker, and in this posture it was able to move
forward, as if by the action of the ventral fins. The grains of
spawn were of large size in May; and on this portion of its
history, Mr. Thompson, in his "Natural History of Ireland,'*
vol. iv, affords us some further information. He says, "Mr.
Hyndman, when dredging (the 20th. of June,) off St. John's
Point, County of Down, brought up from the depth of fifteen
fathoms, a perfect and full-grown specimen of the bivalve shell
Venus Virginea, in which were a Lepadogaster himaculatus ,
with its ova and young, some only of which had made their
appearance; and the same gentleman at the end of August, in
the same year, dredged in Belfast bay a single full-grown valve
of Pectunciiliis pilosiis, the hollow of which was closely studded
over for the space of a square inch with the ova of this species,
each ovum touching or close to the next one. These ova are
deposited singly over the surface of the shell on which every
one rests; each ovum globular, about one sixteenth of an inch
in diameter, Avhich is remarkably large for a species which I
have not known to exceed two inches in length. I had fre-
quently seen this species when brought up in the dredge within
old single valves of bivalve shells, but until the instance just
mentioned occurred I was not aware of the cause of its par-
tiality for them." Mr. Thompson, of Weymouth, has observed
the same thing in the upper valve of an oyster shell, and says
the fish remains near its spawn until it is hatched.

This fish reaches the length of about two inches, and in
many particulars bears a not distant likeness to the more common
Cornish Sucker, although a decided difference will be seen
between them when examples of each are laid together. Thus
in the present species the cheeks are not so full, and the
snout is shorter and sharper. The colour is always very
different, being of a light reddish orange, without those spots
which are behind the eyes in the Cornish Sucker, and which
are always present, even in small examples of that species.
The tail in each is more or less round; but the most remarkable
and decisive distinction between them is in the situation and
extent of the dorsal and anal fins, which are short in themselves,

soo

DOUBLY SPOTTED SUCKER,

and at a considerable distance from the tail. The number of
rays in the former has been counted as from five to seven,
and those of the last-named fin one or two less. Mr. Thompson
had counted only three, but he supposes the fin to have been
injured. When viewed obliquely an obscure tabular process
was observed in front of each eye; but this could not be
discerned except when the fish was alive in the water; obviously,
however, their absence ought not to be made a portion of the
specific character.

The colour of different examples varies considerably. Thus
in one it was light brown, with a number of dots of ceerulean
blue between the eyes, and others of smaller size extending half
way back to the tail; colour of the pectorals pale pink. No
more than eight rays were counted in the tail; which is the
more remarkable, as Mr. Thompson assigns to this organ twelve
and thirteen, and Mr. Yarrell ten. The name of this species
has been assigned to it from two remarkable and beautiful spots
which adorn the sides, one on each, near the pectoral fin; but
they frequently are not to be seen, without regard to the size
of the fish; and I have never been able to perceive them in
examples obtained close to the shore.

Sucker of tlie Cornish Sucker.

CONNEMARA SUCKER.
CIX

201

CONNEMARA SUCKER.

gouan's sucker.

Lepaclogaster, Gouan; p. 177, pi. i, f. 6, 7.

Lepadogastere Gouan, Lacepede. Risso.

Lepadogaster cephahis, Thompson ; IN'at. Hist, of Ireland,

vol. iv, p. 214.

The references here given are placed together from the
belief that they are applicable to the same species, and of
which the figures we supply may be said to be the first that
have been published. They are at least new in British natural
history; and we add, that if the three contained in our plate
may be supposed, from their different appearance and colour,
to belong to two distinct fishes, it will then follow that there
are two species of this family which are now for the first
time arranged among British fishes. The figure given by
Gouan does indeed display some diflferences from those Avhich
are here produced; but the engravings in that author's work
appear to have been intended for diagrams rather than individual
likenesses; and if there is found some difference of description
in the works of Lacepede and Risso, that difference especially
is at variance with the extended notice of the fish in the work
of Gouan, which still these writers refer to as their authority.
The last-named author describes the surface of his fish as
treslisse, and in Latin Ifevissima, or very smooth, as we have
found it when fresh from its native element; but according to
Lacepede and his follower, Risso, the skin is marked with
slight tubercles or granulations.

But justice will not be done to this portion of the subject
unless we quote the remarks of Mr. Thompson; for although
the opinion of that gentleman may in some degree appear to
differ from that which we advance, there can be little doubt

VOL. II. 2 D

202 CONNEMARA SUCKEB.

that the species he has met with in Ireland is the same that
Avill be here described. In the collection of Dr Ball, of
Dublin, there is an apparently undescribed species of Lepado-
gaster, which was taken in Roundstone Bay, Connemara, on
the western coast of Ireland. From the two British species
already known, L. hhnaculatus and L. Cornuhiensis, this fish is
very different. It cannot be that alluded to in his paper on
the fishes of Cornwall, by Mr. Couch, ('Lin. Trans.,' vol. xiv,
p. 470, J as allied to the latter, nor can it be mistaken by any
ichthyologist for the L. Cornuhiensis , which has been described
so differently by authors, as to have led Mr. Jenyns to
remark in reference to it, that ^possibly we may have two
species in our seas which have been hitherto confounded.' A
critical comparison shews that the fish under consideration
agrees not with any of the eleven or twelve (?) species
described by Risso as inhabiting the Mediterranean. Of these
the L. biciliatus is considered by Mr. Yarrell to be the same
as the L. Cornuhiensis. Although in the depressed form of
the head this fish resem.bles more the minute species, L.
himaculatus than the L. Cornuhiensis, yet its equalling the
latter in size, and having with it the dorsal and anal fins
occupying a considerable portion of its length, renders it only
necessary to be compared with this species. In general form
it differs much from L. Cornuhiensis. Though narrower in the
snout, it is of greater breadth across the posterior part of
the head; it is also much more depressed in the anterior
half, and narrower suddenly behind the veiitral disk, being to
the tail compressed and tapering. In L. Cornuhiensis the body
slopes gradually from the head posteriorly."

It is probable that this fish is limited to particular districts,
and the few examples that have fallen into my hands have
only been obtained at very low tides, under a stone, or in
shallow water.

The length of the examples selected for description was two
inches and a half, and the general shape much like that of
the Doubly-spotted Sucker; and from this it is immediately
distinguished by the much longer dorsal and anal fins, the
former of which begins nearer the head, and both approach
close to the tail. From the Cornish Sucker it is distinguished
by the difference of proportions, particularly of the head and

CONNEMARA SUCKER. 203

snout, and more especially by the absence of the ocellated
spots behind the eyes, as well as by the much smaller size of
the tendrils or cirri near the nostrils. Some marks are rep-
resented m Gouan's figure of this fish, but they appear only
as faiui stripes, and I have seen marks which appeared like
them in only one individual, from which our description of
the colours of this fish were taken. In another example the
general colour approached to orange red, varied only in
becoming paler on the lower surface; and in a third the
anterior parts were dark brown, lighter, and approaching to
yellow on the hindward part of the body, with two crimson
lines running from behind the eyes downward to the sucking-
organ. Eut the most beautiful of these examples was all over
of a dusky red; the iris of the eyes with red radiations from
the pupil. Two broad vermilion stripes on the cheeks, one
from the eye obliquely backward, and another from the side
of the head to the side of the sucker; pale vermilion bands
across the back in front of the dorsal fin, which fin is dark,
with six round bright vermilion spots along its root. Anal
fin lively vermilion with a dusky border. The tail is round,
and in the fii'st-mentioned example the central rays were much
lengthened.

204

LOPHICJS.

The head very wide, depressed, vvith protuberances; mouth capacious,
armed with formidable teeth. On the head long, separate, moveable
tendrils, distinct Irom the dorsal fins, which are two in number. Skin
soft, without scales. Pectoral fins fleshy and horizontai, toi'med like
arms, the bones of which resemble the bones of the human arm, but
in reality answer to the bones of the wrist Ventral fins like feet.
The gill membrane wide, supported by long bony rays; the gills
themselves ou each side formed of three arches, ojjening behind the
pectoral tins.

ANGLER.

TOADFISH FKOGFISn. FISHING FROG. SEA DEVIL.

Uana piscatrix, B. marina,
it ((

Lophius 'piscatorius.

.Lopliie Baudroie,
Baiidroie Pecheresse,
Lophius piscatorius,

u

M

JoysTON; Table 11, f. 8, p. 37.
WiLLOUGHBY; p. 84, Table E 1.

LiNNiEtJS. CUVIER.

Griffith's Cuvier, pi. 44.
Bloch; pi. 87. Donovan; pi. 101.

LaCEI'EDE.

Bisso.

Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 214
Jenyns; Manual, p. 389.
Yaerell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 805.
GuNiHER; Cat. Br. M., vol. iii.

This appears to be the fish which is described by Caius
under the name of Ceruchus, but he does not seem to be
aware that it had been noticed by any other writer: and
indeed it may be true as he remarks, that he was the first
that gave a precise description of it.

The remarkable form of this fish, in connection with its still
more remarkable manners, had attracted the attention of
observers of nature from the earliest times; and, strange to

<

ANGLER. 205

say, at a time -when imagination, superstition, and imposture
were united in ascribing to the inhabitants of the ocean
mysterious properties, so that the circumstance of his inquiring
into their nature and structure was believed to be a sufficient
proof to shew that Apuleius, the Roman writer of the famous
romance, the "Golden Ass," could be no other than a magician;
and when in numerous particulars of form this fish differs
much from all others that were known to the ancients, there
was still less of the wildness of imagination applied to it than
to a large proportion of others.

The general appearance of this fish, which is represented
as at least unsightly, has caused it to be compared to a
tadpole a tadpole of course of enormous size; and when the
rough protuberances of its head, and its projecting teeth and
ample mouth, were taken into the account, its supposed hideous
aspect was judged sufficient to entitle it to the name of Sea
Devil. Yet in the form and arrangement of these parts we can
discern a noble example of exquisite contrivance, by which, as
in the corresponding instance of the apparently sluggish
Lumpfish, what seems a defect is fully balanced by a skilful
adaptation of instinct and inward organization to that definite
end, which comprises the safety and comfort of the creature
itself. It was the instinctive habits thus displayed that
especially drew the attention of ancient philosophic observers;
and accordingly we find them particularly described in the
poet Oppian's verses, although indeed they are there accom-
panied with the addition of some particulars which tend to
raise a doubt whether this generally accurate writer had closely
studied the fish itself. He represents it as that

"Within her jaws the fleshy fibre lies,
Whose whiteness, grateful scent, and worm-like size,
Attract the shoals, and charm their longing eyes.
But as they near approach, with subtle art,
The wily toad contracts th' inviting part."

A more accurate description of the organ and its use is
given by ^lian, (B. 9, C. 24,) where he says: "The Fishing
Frog derives its name from the manner in which it employs
itfclf. In front of its eyes there are placed some long processes,
to the end of which are affixed enticing baits for the purpose

206 ANGLER.

of enabling it to ensnare little fishes. This Toadfish is aware
of the use it may make of these organs to obtain food, and,
for concealment, hides itself in some muddy place, where it
keeps its body unmoved, while it lifts up and stretches out
its line and bait. Little fishes that are wandering about are
soon attracted, and begin to nibble, which the Angler is quick
to perceive; and then it proceeds to move its line in a
cautious manner, so as to lead the prey, without alarming
them, into the gulph of its jaws, which close upon them
beyond the power of escape."

The generally abiupt depth of water in our seas is a
hindrance to the observation of such actions as these, but
there does not appear to be any reason for doubting the
accuracy of this account; and, on the contrary, an examination
of other portions of the structure of this fish will tend to
point out an extension of these powers in other directions.
Thus, from the jaws round the border of the body to the
tail there is found a row of membranous or cutaneous lobes,
which, in most instances, at their extremities are divided into
club-shaped partitions. These are not merely insensible doublings
of the skin, but, although in a less degree, they perform the
office commonly assigned to the fictitious bait suspended from
the fishing-rod on the top of the head. They offer themselves
enticingly to be nibbled by fishes that wander in that direction;
and then is brought into exercise an organization Avliich dis-
tinguishes the structure of the pectoral and ventral fins.

The species of this and the neighbouring family of Blennies
possess the power to change their place as they lie on the
ground, without an eflfort of the tail or dorsal fins; which
latter organs are the instruments of motion in the generality of
fishes, but which, if put into action by the Angler, would
excite alarm, and so drive away the prey. The pectoral fin
of this fish possesses such a framework of bones as is equivalent
to the wrist joint of a higher class of aninfals; and the ventral
also is so fitted with joints resting on a firm series of bones,
to which also the pectoral is attached; and the whole is so
well supplied with nerves of sensation, that, with a slow but
sure and consciously-directed motion, the fish is enabled to
creep in advance or retreat, or to turn itself round, and so
lay hold of such incautious rovers as have crowded round it.

ANGLER. 207

and who are without a suspicion of the dana^ei' proceeding from
the gaping but quiescent cavern of a mouth. And formidable
indeed is that gulph which lies open to receive the prev, as
hungry is the stomach which is prepared to receive it. "This
fish is all one vast extended mouth," says Oppian; to which
we may add by adaptation, from our English poet Spenser

"The open mouth, that seemed to contain
A full good peck within the utmost brim,
All set with dreadful teeth in ranges twain,
That terrified his foes, and armed him,
Appearing like the mouth of Orcus ghastly grim."

The extent of the mouth is indeed formidable, for in an
example which measured four feet and a half in length, and
weighed seventy-two pounds, this organ measured fourteen
inches across; and this in action is capable of being greatly
extended by means of several joints with which these parts
are supplied, to a larger degree than in most other fishes. In
opening the mouth the lower jaw is rather protruded than
lowered. The upper jaw is also capable of some degree of
protrusion, and at its symphysis a sidelong motion is also put
in action, by which it appears possible that the Angler might
be able to swallow a prey equal, or nearly so, to its own
bulk, to which also a wide gullet can afford a passage and
the stomach a welcome; while the skin of the body is so
loose as to allow of any degree of distension without incon-
venience, and there are no ribs on the sides that might offer
a mechanical resistance. Nor can the food pass easily out of
the stomach into the intestines without being entirely digested,
for its lower or pyloric orifice is small, and there is reason
for supposing that the process of digestion is itself slow. On
one occasion there were nearly three quarters of a bundled
of herrings found in the stomach of an Angler, and so little
change had they suffered that they were sold by the fis;hernien
in the market, without any suspicion in the buyer of the
manner in which they had been obtained. In another instance
there were taken from the stomach twenty-one Flounders and
a Dorey, all of them of sufficient size and sufficiently uninjured
to make a good appearance in the market where they were
sold.

208 ANOLER.

The teeth of this fish are set round the month like the prongs
of a rat-trap, and are long, strong, and pointed; and those of
the lower jaw are directed obliquely inward, so that as this jaw
is Avithdrawn to close with the upper, these teeth may become
interlocked together, and thus prevent the escape of the prey;
while the teeth of the tongue and gullet, by the action of
nuiscles which act on the latter, prevent such struggles as might
obstruct the process of swallowing. The teeth appear to be in
a state of perpetual renewal, and those of the inner row are
for the most part the largest. They carry with them in their
growth a covering of the membrane from which they are pro-
duced, and from it perhaps they derive nourishment long after
their protrusion from the gums.

The instinctive force with which the Angler retains its prey
when this has come within the grasp of these teeth, may be
judged from a fact related by the natural historian Jonston;
who tells us that the fish had been left on the beach by the
receding tide, when a fox came prowling along in search of
provender, and chanced to thrust its nose within the compass
of the expanded jaw; which then closed upon it and held it
fast, until, after a considerable time, it was discovered by
people that were passing by. In another instance an Angler
of large size was discovered by a couple of boys, in shallow
water, in a boat where they happened to be without oars. But
with the intention perhaps of annoying the fish, they loosened
a board that lay along the bottom of the bo it, and thrust it
within the creature's expanded jaws, which immediately closed
upon it. A struggle then commenced, but so firmly did the
fish retain its grasp, that it suffered itself to be dragged out of
the Avater and secured.

But sometimes stratagem will fail to supply the cravings of a
hungry stomach; and then, in spite of its inaptitude for effort,
the Angler will mount into the higher regions of the sea, and
there without discrimination endeavour to glut itself with any
object that may attract its attention. It has been known to
grasp within its jaws the floating barrel which is usually
fastened to the middle of the head-rope of a Pilchard scan;
and it has swallowed a large whitewashed ball of cork Avhich
formed the buoy of a crab-pot, by which it became choked.
When an individual was seen by a fisherman to be swimming

ANGLER. 209

near the surface, he threw his boat's iron grapnel at the fish,
but, not terrified with the blow, it turned and seized the object
as it sunk. A struggle again was observed at the surface,
and on the approach of a boat it was found to proceed from
an Angler in its efforts to swallow a gull, which it seems to
have laid hold of as it was floating on the surface. The fish
measured three feet in length, and had so far swallowed the
bird, which was found to be the Larus argejitatus, and which
measured almost four feet six inches across from wing to
wing, as that the stomach and gullet were filled, while the
feet, tail, and ends of the wings projected from the mouth.
The fish had become choked with the struggles of its prey,
and they together now form a portion of a local museum. An
Angler was seen to have seized a bird called the northern
diver, Colymhus gracialis ; but after a long and earnest struggle
both the combatants were secured by a fisherman. And,
however difficult it may be to imagine how it can happen
that such an apparently unwieldy fish has been able to lay
hold of the active birds and fishes we have mentioned, some
portion of the difficulty will disappear when we know that in
addition to the width of gape and stealthiness of approach, by
a particular construction of the uppermost portion of the chain
of vertebrae, by which a distance is preserved between the
upper processes of those bones nearest the head and the head
itself, the head may be lifted without any motion of the body;
which is contrary to what takes place in the generality of
fishes.

As another proof that the Angler sometimes seeks its prey
at mid-water a fisherman had hooked a Codfish, and while
drawing it up, he felt a heavier weight attach itself to his
line; this proved to be an Angler of large size, which he
compelled to quit its hold, as it grasped its prey across the
mouth, by a heavy blow on the head, and the Codfish still
remained attached to the hook. In another instance an Angler
seized a Conger that had taken the hook, but after the last-
named fish had been engulphed within the cavern of the
mouth, and perhaps the stomach, it struggled through the
aperture of the gills, and in that situation both the fishes
were drawn up together. How indiscriminately these fishes
feed on each other appears from the fact that in the stomach

VOL. II. 2 E

210 4.NGLER.

of an Angler which measured two feet and a half in length
was found a Codfish that measured two feet, and in the latter
were the skeletons of two \\^hitings, within which again were
other small fishes.

As this fish has on some occasions displayed a considerable
degree of apparently stupid indifference to fear, with remarkable
want of caution in avoiding danger, it has been concluded that
its powers of perception are in a low degree; and this opinion
is strengthened by noticing the small size of the brain in
comparison with the bulk of the body. It scarcely fills half the
chamber of the skull in which it lies, the remainder of the
space being occupied with water, as in other fishes; and it is
even said that this brain in bulk is but little above that of
a sparrow. The whole head also is regarded as being in a
condition of restricted or arrested development; for, as in most
animals, in tneir embryotic state the head is proportionally
larger in reference to the body than it continues to be in
the state of perfect development, it has been judged that its
existence in the magnitude we find it in the Angler, is a proof
of the small development also of its other powers. But the
abstract truth cannot be reached by such an analogy; and it
is to be questioned whether a comparison of the brain of this
fish with that of a sparrow be in any respect a just one.

There are in all creatures nerves and portions of the brain
which are endued with special sensibility, as that of seeing,
hearing, and tasting, but in which the anatomist, with his
microscope, has not yet learnt to discern a different structure
from that which is possessed by other nerves that are altogether
insensible to such, or indeed any other conscious sensations.
And again there exist creatures which, to all appearance, arc
guided by strong powers of reason in their animal actions,
whose brains are vastly smaller in size than that of the Angler.
The weight of the brain of the bulky fish and of the bird
may therefore be the same, but we know that their form, extent
of surface, and arrangement of parts are diflferent, and it is
probable that the internal structure of the lobes is still more
so; as we know further is the expansion and arrangement ol
the nerves of the external development of the organs of sen-
sation; in which last particular indeed this fish excels a lar^^e
number of the other inhabitants of the sea. What appears to

ANGLER. 211

stand in the place of the olfactory portion of the brain exists
as a separate globe of nervous matter, distinct from the united
ganglions forming the true brain, although it is united to it
by a bar or string of nerve; and from this anterior globe
proceed some fine fibres which we should have described as
passing forward to the perforated elevations above the upper
jaw, which we suppose to form the nostrils; but we hesitate
to say that these fibres are actually united to or expanded on
these processes, since Professor Owen, whose accuracy in
observation no one will question, has not been able to trace
them thither. These processes are also furnished, at their root
at least, with nerves of considerable size; but which are only
organs of feeling, as is the nervous trunk from which these
branches spring, and which conveys its powers of sensation
over the face and to the corner of the mouth, with the
neighbouring parts. As this nerve is the largest in the body,
except the nerve of sight, we may believe it to bestow the
function of exquisite touch in a degree proportionate to its
superior size.

There exists in this fish also, what perhaps we should least
expect to find in it, an organ of hearing, which it possesses
in a higher degree of development than in many other species.
It is true there is no external orifice by which undulations
causing sound can obtain access; but there is no reason to
suppose that any modulation of sound is felt by any true fish.
It is only a few varieties of noise or tone that is perceived
by them; and in this particular the Angler is at least equal
with the generality of the inhabitants of the ocean.

But to the eye of this fish we would direct particular
attention, as in its structure we discern it to be better prepared
for variety of vision than is the case with the larger part of
bony fishes. The crystalline lens is large, by which means it
is able to take in a wide range of vision; while its situation,
far back in the chamber, and very near the retina or expanded
fibres of the nerve of sight, from which, by bringing the rays
of light to a short focus, the distance at which objects would
be seen must be small, is changed, and a larger extent of
perception secured by the compressing operation of the external
muscles of the eye-ball; the lens itself being thus driven
forward towards the front of the organ, where it is soft and

212 ANGLER.

flexible, and which thus is caused to project for the purpose of
lengthening the focal distance. When this muscular pressure
is removed, the action of a small muscle attached to the
hinder portion of the lens, the existence of Avhich in several
fishes was discovered by Mr. Dalrymple, is employed to draw
it again to its original seat. In common with some other
kindred fishes, the Angler is able to move its eyes in various
directions; and I think it probable that this is efiected by
each one independent of the other, as is certainly the case
with the Blennies. From the appearance of lines or stripes
on the iris of the eye, there seems reason to suppose also that
this organ is capable of contraction and expansion; by which
means the eye may be fitted to the varying degrees of light,
as it exists near the bottom or at the surface of the sea.

This fish is retentive of life, so that when the skin has
been kept moist it has been known to live out of its proper
element for several days.

It is known that the race of this fish is continued by means
of spawn, as in other bony fishes; but much obscurity has
existed in regard to the early stages of its growth, and from
the observations of Dr. Gunther, there seems to be a founda-
tion for the supposition that in its young condition it has
been mistaken for a different species. To elucidate the present
state of this question we give much at large the remarks
which that gentleman has pviblished, in the volume of the
"Annals and Magazine of Natural History" for 1861, page 6,
together Avith some figures; but, as regards the latter, I prefer
to give that of a specimen formerly in the possession of Mr.
Yarrell, and which was drawn at the time of a visit to thuf'
gentleman. The specimen itself appears to have been obtained
from the Mediterranean, but it answers closely to that orie
marked C in Ur. Gunther's Plate X.

"Small specimens of the European species of the Fishing
Frog, or Sea Devil, are extremely scarce in collections, and
scarcely any attention has been paid to the remarkable changes
in the form of the body and fins, to which this fish is subject
in age. Valenciennes is the only author who enters upon the
subject at all. He says, 'The specimen examined is two
inches long; the disk of its head is only one third of the
total length; and the pectoral fins, which are as long as the

ANGLER. 213

head, appear to be more elongate than in old individuals.
The same is the case with the tail, measured from the gill-
opening. It appears to have a greater number of tentacles on
the skin, especially on the pectorals; the margin of the
pectorals appears to be finely ciliated. D. 11, (dorsal fin with
eleven rays.) The differences from old individuals as we find
them stated here by Valenciennes, agree, in the chief points,
with our observations; but it is evident that Valenciennes took
his notes from a mutilated specimen, in which the delicate
appendages of the fins had been lost or shrivelled up, either
previous to or during its preparation in spirits. The two
specimens observed by DLiben and Keren, on the western
coast of Norway, were much more perfect; they were 94 mm.
and 78 mm. long, and exhibited such remarkable differences
from the specimens commonly observed, that those naturalists
were induced to describe them as a new form, under the
name of LopJiius eurypterus, a species which we find adopted
by Professor Nilsson, in his work, 'Skandinavisk Fauna.'

"The view of the fish represented is the most depressed one
possible.

"I extract the following notes from the very detailed des-
criptions: The head is described as broader than long, less
depressed than in Lophius piscatorius, its length (from the
extremity of the snout to the posterior margin of the gill-cover)
being one half of that of the remainder of the body, the
caudal fin not included. The dorsal spines are comparatively
short, the length of the first being only half of that of the
second, or one fifteenth of the total length of the fish; the
first terminates in a transverse cylindrical knob, wdiich is pro-
vided with minute cilia; the two others have alternate fringes
on both sides. The spines which form the continuous dorsal
are similarly fringed; and the rays of the soft dorsal project
very slightly beyond the membrane. The pectoral is exceed-
ingly broad, and extends beyond the origin of the anal. The
ventral also is broad, and can be expanded like a fan." The
disproportion of this fin, however, in the two individuals observed
is very remarkable. It is nearly twice the length in the larger
one that it is in the smaller. The pectoral also is absolutely
as well as relatively larger in this specimen than in the one
tgured, a difference by which perhajDs the sexes are dis-

214 ANGLER.

tinguished. During my last visit to Frankfort, Dr. Riippell
shewed me several small specimens of a Lophius collected by
himself at Messina, which, after a careful comparison with mature
ones, I declared to be the young of L piscatoriiis, in spite of
their apparent dissimilarity, an opinion which has been enter-
tained by Dr. Riippell from the time that they first came into
his hands. Having since compared those specimens and the
account of Diiben and Koren, with a sketch fortunately made
by Riippell on the spot, and kindly presented to me, I have
now not the slightest doubt that L. eurijpterus is identical with
the Frankfort specimens, and that both are the young of L.
piscatorius.

In the Mediterranean fishes the first ray is comparatively
longer than in the Scandinavian, and terminates in two com-
pressed fiaps, which perhaps are only a '^lore developed form
of the transverse cylindrical knob in L. eurypterus. How
variable the length and the shape of the fins and of their
appendages are, even in specimens of the same size and age,
is fully proved by the Scandinavian specimens, one of Avhich
has the ventral twice as long as the other. Further, the
anterior dorsal spine, whether it serve as a bait to attract
other fish, (which is by no means improbable,) or as an organ
of touch, is constantly exposed to injury from the peculiarity
of its function. Finding it, however, sometimes very long and
fully developed in old fishes, Ave cannot hesitate to assume
that it is reproduced when lost; and this appears the more
probable, if Ave consider that portions of the fin rays, as Avell
as of the barbels, are reproduced in other fishes. We cannot
therefore think it a matter of any importance Avhen Ave find
the anterior dorsal spine of different length, and its tentacle of
different shape. Both are subject to an indefinite number of
accidental and individual changes, besides the constant differences
by which the young fish is disthigiashed from the old one.
Finally, another source of discrepancy in the descriptions and
representations of the authors named, is the alteration Avhich
the fishes undergo by their preservation in spirits. A part or
all of the tender filaments in Avdiich the rays terminate are
easily lost, and the fins themselves are considerably shrivelled
up, so that it Avould be impossible to reproduce a figure of
the present Frankfort specimens similar to that which Avas

ANGLER, 215

made from tliem when they were quite fresh. The ventral
fins are still longer in the Mediterranean fish than in one of
the Scandinavian specimens, being, w'th the filaments in which
the rays terminate, as long as the whole fish. Diiben and
Koren believe that the length of the ventrals indicates a sexual
diflerence. I cannot share this opinion, which is contrary to
what we observe in other fishes. If there are external sexual
difi'erences in a species, they do not appear before the individuals
approach maturity. The young male and female of Callionymus
lyra are perfectly alike.

"The Mediterranean and Scandinavian specimens agree in
the chief points; their head, compared with mature individuals,
is shorter and less depressed; the anterior dorsal spine is
shorter than the following ones, which are more fringed; the
pectoral and ventral fins are much longer and more expansible;
the fin rays are produced into delicate filaments; in short, the
young Sea Devils are provided with a down which is lost with
age. There are two distinct s})ecies of Sea Devil in the
Mediterranean Seas, Lophius jnscatorius and L. Budegassa.
The distinctness of these two sj ecies has been doubted by most
ichthyologists, the second (called by Cuvier L. parmpinnis^
having been founded on apparently variable characters, as
colouration and number of the dorsal rays. The latter may
be relied upon if immature specimens (not more than one foot
in length) be examined; L. piscatorius having not less than
eleven, and L. Budegassa not more than nine dorsal rays.
Biit the anterior rays become very indistinct in adult specimens
of the former, and are totally lost to observation by the
process of stuffing, to which the large specimens are submitted.
In consequence of this the Short-finned Sea Devil has not
been admitted as a species by Valenciennes, Nilsson, and
others, who perhaps never examined an individual really
belonging to it, always taking incomplete specimens of L.
piscatorius for L. Budegassa. Both, however, may be readily
recognised at any age, by the form of the humeral spine,
which has two or three tooth-like processes in the former,
whilst it is smooth, simple, and lanceolate in the latter. L.
Budegassa does not appear to grow to the same size as L.
piscatorius. It will be evident from these remarks to which
of the two species we refer the L. eurypterus. Although no

216 ANGLER.

mention has been made of the humeral spine, the number of
its fin rays, (dorsal twelve and anal eleven,) and the absence
of the true L. Budegassa in the northern seas, prove its
identity with L. pUcatorius.''^

A remarkable portion of this subject is the rarity of this
young condition, as compared with the commonness of the
full-grown fish, and its prolific character. Mr. Thompson
weighed the roe in an Angler which measured four feet and
a half in length, and found the bulk enclosed in the mem-
brane to amount to one pound and thirteen ounces; from
which, with due allowance for the superfluous materials he
calculated the number of grains to amount to almost a million
and a half.

This fish is not thought of for the table with us; but
Jonston quotes an unknown author, Alexandrides, for the fact
that it was produced at a feast given by Cotys, King of
Thrace; and, according to Antiphonis the belly was particularly
esteemed. Willoughby says that when boiled the flesh is white,
and in taste is like a frog; to which we may add that,
according to Risso, a fish which he calls Genelli, and which
he considers a variety of the Angler, is a delicious dish, as
has also been reported by a private individual of our own
Angler.

A large example of this species may measure between five
and six feet in length, but the specimen described was three
feet, and its breadth, across the widest expansion of the pec-
toral fins, about twenty-two inches. The head broad and
rounded, forming a large proportion of the bulk; the bod)'-
tapering behind the pectoral fins, and more compressed towards
the tail. Head studded with bony tubercles, six in number,
with a depression from the upper jaw upward between the
rows, in which the processes of the maxillary bone are received.
The under jaw projects, and is capable of great protrusion.
Breadth of the mouth in this example ten inches, with two
or three rows of long sharp teeth, the innermost row generally
the stoutest and longest, especially in the lower jaw, and each
tooth through much of its length encased in a separate
membranous covering; in front of the palate also are rows of
strong teeth, and the same in the floor of the mouth in the
place of a tongue. Eyes high on the head, separate, with a

ANGLER. 217

depression between them; vision toward the sides. Eound
the body from head to tail a series of membranous processes,
flat and lobulated, but of some variety in shape, the longest
round the head. Skin smooth, loose, and slimy. Strong
tubercles behind the eyes; the head covered with numerous
irregular lines, from which proceeds a tenacious slime. Two
short soft processes, already referred to, above the upper jaw;
between them a slender upright filament, its interior structure
bony, and which is joined to the bony structure of the head,
in some cases by a ring joint, in others a portion of the
ring is formed of soft substance. This forms the fishing-rod
and line, its termination expanded, soft, hanging down like a
bait, and in this example the whole was nine inches long.
Behind this are five slender processes, obscurely united by a
membrane, which may be regarded as the first dorsal fin, these
processes or rays becoming gradually shorter; second dorsal
and anal opposite each other, the former having twelve rays,
the latter ten; pectoral fins horizontal, with twenty-four rays,
joined to the body by a lengthened Avrist, which is hid under
the skin; and the longitudinal direction of the bones of the
wrist causes this fin to be placed far behind, yet not so far as
the gill-opening; which is situated behind it, and is so open in
consequence of the low nature of its membrane and the length
of the six slender branchial bony rays that by fishermen the
pair are termed pockets. The ventral fins resemble slender
paws, with six rays. Tail slightly rounded, with eight rays;
all the fins thick and fleshy, with lobes or crenations at the
border. The colour above is of various shades of dark or
ashy grey, mottled, and in a younger condition prettily and
regularly striped; white below; extremities of the fins often
red.

Doctor Borlase, in his "Natural History of Cornwall," has
described a fish, under the name of the Long Angler, which
he supposed to be a distinct species, but which is now believed
to have been a mutilated example of the fish we have described.
He says it was of a longer form, the head more bony, rough
and aculeated; with none of the fin-like appendages round
the head, but there was a series of them on each side of the
thinner part of the body, beginning under the (second) dorsal
fin, and reaching to within two inches of the tail. On the

VOL. II. 2 F

218

ANGLER.

border of the pectoral fin were spines an inch and three
fourths in length, and at the end of the tail others three
fourths of an inch long.

Ferguson also has described an Angler which he supposed
to be a separate species, and which has been received as
such by Lacepede, but of which no other example has since
been recognised. It was caught in Bristol Roads in 1763,
and was probably a variety of the common species. It was
described as not having the body flattened above and below,
nor compressed at the sides, but of a cylindrical form, and
ending in a cone. Behind the upper lip were two hard elastic
filaments, one before the other, long, but without a membrane
at their extremity. It was in length four feet nine inches.

Form of membranous barbs round the jaws of an Angler.

7,

O

o

o

219

BLENNIUS.

The body compressed, smooth, and slippery, without scales. Jaws
equal, teeth in a sino;le row. Dorsal ami anal fins single, lengthened,
with flexible rays. Ventral fins at the throat, each having (only) two
rays.

This family of fishes was called Alauda by the older naturalists, because
of a kind of crest which some species of them possess on the head, in
which they were supposed to resemble the lark. The name of JSlennus
was applied by the same writers to several sorts of fish, because of the
soft and grea-y appearance of their skin; and in the History of Fishes
by Jonston, the figure which may be supposed to represent the Dusky
Skulpin is marked with that name. It was from A^tedi that the
present genus received its name, with a slight change from the older
designation; and thus it became adopted by his friend Linnteus. There
is reason to suppose that some fish of the same family, and probably a
species of PerioptJir'' ms, which' has not been found in Britain, is the
Exocoetus of Aristotle; and that it was so named because it was believed
to quit the water for the sake of repose; as we shall find that some
of the genus now under consideration are known to do.

GATTOEUGINE.

Gattorugine, Willoughby ; p. 132, pi. H. 2.

Blennius Gattorugine, Linn^us. Cuvier..

Blennie " Lacepede.

Slennius fusciatus, B;isso; p. 127.

Gattorugine, Fleming; Br. Animals,' p. 206.

" " Jenyns; Manual, p. 379.

" " Yaerell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 256.

" " GuNTHER; Catalogue Bri.ish Miiseum,

vol. iii, p. 212.

This fish is known to fishermen of the west of England by
the homely appellation of Tompot; but the Italian name, as
above, will prevail with the more scientific portion of the public,
although the signification of the latter is scarcely more lofty
than that ot the former. It seems to be heavy in all its motions,

220 GATTORUGINE.

and its range of action is usually confined to the neiglibourhood
of rocks and stones not far from land; where it keeps close to
the bottom at the depth of a few fathoms. It does not often
take a bait, but this appears to arise from the fact that the
ground it haunts is rarely fished over except by those whose
pursuit is for crabs and lobsters; and in their pots it is so
commonly taken, that in the season of this fishery it not unfre-
quently happens a few examples are drawn up in every one.
A fisherman informed me that he has thus caught as many
as fifty in a day. They are not thought of as food, although,
according to Lacepede, they are acceptable for the table; but
our fishermen are accustomed to use a degree of cruelty, by
thrusting their ordinary skewer through the gills of the fish
whilst yet alive, and so hanging it up in the pot for bait. It
will continue alive in this state for two or three days, if not
before devoured by the captive crab or lobster; to which it is
believed that they are a Avelcome morsel. Its own food appears
to be indiscriminate, but perhaps with a preference for the
smaller crustaceans; but various sorts of bivalve shells and
portions of star-fishes the common jointed coralline and brown
sea-weeds have been found in their stomachs. There cannot be
a doubt also that they are enticed to enter the fatal crab-pots
by an appetite for the fishy bait contained within them.

About the end of May they are found large with roe, the
grains of which are some of them a mulberry and others a lead-
colour. Numbers of young ones of very small size are also
found at the same season.

It appears to be the habit of this fish, as it is of the Common
Shanny presently to be described, and the Crested or Montagu's
Shanny, to employ their pectoral and ventral fins as organs of
feeling; and also in the place of hands or feet in crawling among
the rocks with but little action of the other parts of the body.
For this purpose these organs are well supplied with nerves and
accompanying blood-vessels; and especially there is Avell developed
a series which, as analogous to those possessed by animals of a
higher order in the scale of existence, an anatomist would
denominate the axillary plexus; which unite together and again
divide as in something of a net- work, some of the branches
penetrating through the bones of the pectoral fins, that both
sides may be sufficiently endued with sense; the separate rays

GATTORUGINE. 221

Tvhicli possess the functions of fingers being thus furnished; and
as one of the larger branches is seen to proceed forward from
a different source, as concerns the other, we are led to conclude
that the sense of touch and voluntary motion are equally present
in these fins.

The Gattorugine is common in the Mediterranean, where it
has obtained the name now usually applied to it. We have
seen that it is also abundant in Cornwall, but it becomes more
scarce as we proceed eastward or to the north. Mr. Thompson?
of Belfast, obtained it on the coast of Ireland, and I have
received examples from Weymouth, through the kindness of
William Thompson, Esq., of that place. A specimen in the
British Museum is marked as having been taken in the Frith
of Forth, but it is not enumerated among the fishes of Scandi-
navia, by Professor Nilsson.

The Gattorugine sometimes exceeds the length of nine inches,
but the example described measured only eight inches and a
fourth, and at its greatest depth three inches, which includes the
breadth of the dorsal fin; the general form short and heavy,
but growing more compressed and tapering towards the tail.
Eyes elevated and near each other, with a slight depression
between them, and above each a fleshy process, which in different
individuals is more or less divided into branches. The front
slopes suddenly from the eyes to the mouth; jaws equal, lips
membranous, gape moderate, teeth fine and regularly set. In
a single example a strong curved tooth was found in front of
the palate. Cheeks fleshy and full. The back rises high
suddenly behind the head to the beginning of the dorsal fin;
the belly protuberant. Behind the vent a short tubular process
Lateral line bent down as it comes opposite the vent, and
behind this it disappears. The dorsal fin begins on a ridge
close behind the head, anterior to the opening of the gills, and
becomes a little narrower above the vent, then wider but
gradually lower as it approaches the tail, to the root of which
it becomes united; as does sometimes the anal fin as it proceeds
from the vent. Tail more or less round. All the rays of these
fins fleshy, as are those of the pectoral fin, which is round;
the rays of the latter projecting beyond the membrane. The
ventral fins are on the throat, each one divided into two fleshy
processes, which separate near the root. The colour is usually

222 GATTORIIOTNTl.

reddisli brown, much mottled and clouded: the fin rays for
the most part vermilion, as are the lips and tendrils over the
eyes.

I have never knoAvn the fish as thus described to be left by
the tide in any concealment; but on the other hand I have
met with two examples thus left, which answered closely to
the figure (PI. 86) given by Donovan, to which Dr. Gunther
refers as a representation of the Gattorugine, although very
different in its colours. I scarcely venture to differ in this
respect from an observer whose accuracy in general cannot be
disputed; but if these instances only constitute a variety it is
remarkable, and as coupled with a variation of habit also it
is deserving of a distinct representation and description. Fig.
1, Plate CXIII.

The smaller example of the two, which scarcely exceeded two
inches in length, was found concealed under a stone at about
low- water mark; and the larger, Avhich measured four inches
and a half, was taken from a cleft in a rock, where it had been
left by the tide in the manner of the Common Shanny, which
in shape it much resembled. A description of this specimen
will be best understood by a comparison with those particulars
of the Common Gattorugine, in which they differ one from the
other. The eyes were less distinctly elevated, in this respect
resembling the Shanny more than the Gattorugine; the dorsal
ridge only a little elevated above the level of the head; the
belly less protuberant, and no separate process between the first
ray of the anal fin and the vent. The dorsal rays comparatively
higher, and their extremities more free of the membrane, the
first ray in fact being lengthened into a short process. Pro-
cesses above the eyes, each a single thread with lateral fibres;
ventral fins undivided to a greater length; pectorals extending
even beyond the vent, while in the Common Gattorugine it
extends to little beyond half that distance. The dorsal fin
especially is proportionally more expanded as it approaches the
tail. A slight tuft of fibres project from the nostrils as the fish
is seen alive in a pool, where it shews little signs of activity-.
The fin rays were the same as in the Gattorugine, with the
slight exception of a single one in the dorsal fin and tail. The
colours were beautiful, and much varied; the ground colour rich
brown; a broad, light, crooked band from the eye to the cheek;

GATTORUGINE. 223

iris of the eye light bhie; seven bands of dark brown pass down
the dorsal fin to join corresponding patches on the body. Lips,
throat, gill-membrane, pectoral fins, and tail, bright vermilion,
as is the border of the dorsal, and hindward portion of the anal,
the latter edged through its length with Avhite. Root of the
pectorals brown, and an ocellated spot between it and the
gills.

224:

BUTTERFLY BLENNY.

Blcnnius Bellouii, Jonston; tab. 19, f, 15; but he appears to

have confounded it with the Gobies, and
gives it two dorsal fins; perhaps from a
casual separation of the membrane, where
in its perfect condition it is depressed; and
so depressed that Willoughby remarks,
without attentive observation this fish
might be supposed to ^jossess two dorsal
fins.
Butterfly Fisli, Willoughby; p. 131, Table H. 3.

Blennie Lievre, LACErEDE. Eisso.

BUnnius ocellaris, LinnjEus. Cuvier.

" " Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 206.

Jenyns; Manual, p. 379.
" " Yarrell; British Fishes, vol. i, p. 253.

" Gunthek; Cat. Br. M., vol. iii, p. 222.

This species is common in some parts of the Mediterranean,
but, according to Risso, not in others; and indeed it appears
to be only locally distributed anywhere, Willoughby found it
in the markets for sale at Venice, but Lacepede says it is
indifferent food, to which Swainson adds that it only comes
to the table of the poorer people of Italy. From the great
height of its dorsal fin we may suppose that its habits and
motions are different from those of several others of its genus;
but they have not been particularly studied.

In the British Islands this fish is rare, even where it has
been met with, Montagu was the first who noticed it by the
capture in a dredge of three examples on the south coast of
Devonshire; and Mr, Yarrell described it from an example
which he obtained among the rocks at the Island of Portland.
Mr. Thompson has obtained several at Weymouth. In the
British Museum there is a specimen from Plymouth, which
was presented to that collection by Lieutenant Spence, R.N,,
who employed his time and skill in preserving the skins of
the fishes of that neighbourhood; and I am informed by W

PQ

I I

PC

ca

BUTTERFLY BLENNY. 225

P. Cocks, Esq. that it is scarcely uncommon at Falmouth. Dr.
Vigors, of that town, was in the possession of one which was
found in the empty shell of an old whelk, and which differed
from the usual colour of this species in being perfectly white.

British examples have been generally of less size than those
of the Mediterranean, where, as Willoughby informs us, this
fish has been seen to exceed seven inches in length. The
head is large and elevated, sloping suddenly from the eyes to
the mouth; the lips membranous, and the gape appearino-
limited, although, as remarked by Willoughby and Eisso, it is
capable of being much expanded. The teeth are prominent
and in regular order, with two canine teeth bent inward in
each jaw. Eyes large, and high on the head; above, and a
little in front of each, a tendril slightly fimbriated. Cheeks
full. Belly protuberant. The lateral line begins at the upper
portion of the gills, and is bent down as it passes beyond
the fulness of the belly. A particular character of this fish
is the high elevation of the first portion of the dorsal fin,
which begins close behind the head, and its first ray rises
high beyond the membrane, as, in a less degree, do the two
next rays. This fin becomes much narrower at about the
tenth ray, from which it again becomes wider as it passes to
the root of the tail. The tail itself round; the ventral fins
with two, and, Lacepede says, three rays; anal fin from the
vent to the tail.

The colour, as well of the body as the fins, is liable to

variation, but in its perfection it has a greenish tint, sometimes

with blue spots, and mottled with olive-colour or brown. On

the upper part of the anterior expansion of the dorsal fin is

a large, and usually conspicuous dark or deep blue spot, with

a light-coloured border, which spreads from about the fifth to

the eighth ray. Mr. Yarrell describes his example as for the

most part brown, and, as we have already seen, the specimen

obtained by Dr. Vigors was white. A specimen taken in the

Isle of Man, and described in the ninth volume of the

^'Magazine of Natural History," had the dorsal fin only slightly

narrower in the middle. In one of Montagu's examples the

spot on the dorsal fin was hardly visible. This dorsal fin

numbers twenty-seven rays, pectorals twelve, anal seventeen,

the tail twelve.

VOL U. 2 Q

^26

SHANNY.

MULLIGRANOC. SMOOTH BLEA'NY.

Pliolis, JoNSTON; Table 17, f. 4.

Alaucla non cristata, Willotjghby ; p. 133.

Blennius fliolis, Linnaeus. Cuvier. Bloch; pi. 71, f. 2.

" " DOXOVAN; pi. 71.

Blennie pholis, Lacepede. Eisso.

Pliolis IcBvis, Fleming ; Br. Animals, p. 207.

Blennius pliolis, Jenyns; Manual, p. 382.

" " Yarrell; British Fishes, vol. i, p. 260.

" Guntiier; Cat. Br. M., vol. iii, p. 226.

The Shanny is well known in the Mediterranean, and is
common along the borders of the British Channel; but it
becomes more scarce on the east coasts of the kingdom, and is
rarely found in the north of Scotland. Nilsson also says it is
scarce on the south-west coast of Norway. It is nowhere met
with at a considerable depth of water; but its haunts for the
most part are in rocky places from which the tide retires to
a small distance; and there it hides itself under a stone in a
moist situation where weeds abound; or, more frequently, as
the tide goes out, it creeps into a hole or chink in the rock,
where it remains for an hour or two until released by the rising
again of the sea. Its head in this situation is always outward,
as this position affords it the opportunity of discerning the
approach of an enemy; on the discovery of which it withdraws
itself from sight with a backward motion to a deeper part of
its retreat, by the help of its pectoral and ventral fins.

It is through an instinctive feeling of pleasure as well as of
safety that this fish will quit the water for a time; and it is
scarcely to be doubted that by this means also it secures a
renewal of health and vigour, for when its resort is in a pool
of the rocks from which the sea cannot retire, it climbs to some

1. B L E N N O I D F I S H. (^ee page 222.)
2. S H A N N Y . 3. MONTAGU'S E L E N N Y.

CXIII

SHANNY. 227

elevated spot that is out of the water, and there basks in the
sunshine. But in this situation it exercises so large an amount
of watchfulness, that on the approach of any object, and before
it could be supposed that the object itself was seen, the fish is
heard to pluns^e into the pool with an effort of agility that, in
regard to another species of this family, which he calls Adonis
and Exocoetus, and the habits ot which he describes as resembHng
very closely those of our Shanny, Oppian compares to what is
displayed by a dancing tumbler on the stage. In the pool
itself it quickly flies to a shelter in some crevice where it can
lie hid in sate concealment; nor is all this vigilance without
sufficient cause, for it is liable to be sought out by the sharp
bills of the cormorant and shag, which are often found divinof
in the neighbourhood of its resort. It may contribute in a
material degree to its safety from numerous enemies, that this
fish, no doubt like many others, is capable of directing its
eyes separately in such opposite directions as to look backward
and forward at the same time, as it is well known the chameleon
is also able to do.

As this fish may be tamed or rendered in a slight degree
familiar when kept in the captivity of a tank, an opportunity
has thus been obtained of observing some of its habits more
closely, and the following notes were made from such oppor-
tunities. The example particularly studied was more than half
grown, but it obtained no increase of size for upwards of six
months that its imprisonment lasted, at the end of Avhich as
the reward of amusement afforded, it was restored to liberty
in its native element. It often varied in colour, from no
obvious cause. In warm weather it mounted on a stone in
the tank, and there basked itself for hours together, so that
in summer the full half of its time was spent out of the
water; but when the air grew colder it remained under water,
and when very cold it sought the securer shelter of a stone,
under which it remained until the weather became again
temperate or warm; but in no case were its actions in corres-
pondence with the ebb and flow of the tide, as popular opinion
would have them to be. In these instances of exposure to the
sun and air we discern the admirable use of the slimy covering
of the skin with which the author of nature has provided this
fish and its kindred species; for without such a protection these

228 SHANNY.

characteristic habits could not be indulged, or the skin would
become scorched and dry, and death would inevitably be the
result-
It is obvious from these well-known habits, as well as from
experiment, that this fish is highly retentive of life; and
accordingly it has remained alive for several days when only
covered over with moist sea- weeds. Lacepede records an
instance where, as he supposed, a Shanny had made an attempt
to feed on an oyster that lay with its valves open, in consequence
of which it became shut up a prisoner by the closing of the
shell. In this condition of confinement the fish had continued
so long that the oyster had been dredged and carried to a
considerable distance, when on opening it the captive was
again set free, alive and without injury. It is necessary,
however, that, in aid of this life-sustaining power, the moisture
with which it is enveloped should be of sea water, for that
which is fresh is fatal to it.

As the flowing tide comes to its habitation in the rock the
Shanny is seen to glide from it in search of food, which is
whatever it can obtain of an animal substance; and of which,
with its well-arranged cutting teeth, it bites off portions, with
an apparent struggle before it devours it. It feeds also on
small shell-fish, and the sessile barnacles of the rocks. But in
the eagerness of search it is exceedingly jealous of the inter-
ference or near approach of one of its own kind, which it
immediately endeavours to drive beyond its own range of dominion,
with the chance of a battle on the intruder. It is therefore not
common to find two in or near the same hole; and when one
was placed in a tank in which another had lived long alone,
a speedy battle was the result. In consequence of this pro-
pensity of combat it is an amusement of children to set them
fighting; when they will lay hold of each other with the teeth
and long retain the grasp, as they will also do on the head,
although not capable of inflicting a wound. It may be partly
from the dread of combats with each other that these fishes
wander but little from their accustomed haunts; but it may
also proceed from a want of power, for the heaviness of the
body and head, and the absence of an air-bladder, are hindrances
to raising themselves high in the water or passing over a con-
siderable depth.

STIANNT, gS9

The spawn of the Shanny is shed in summer, and the
manner in Avhich it is disposed of and protruded has been
observed within my own knowledge, and by the research of
Mr. Richard Q. Couch; the contrivance dispLaying no slight
degree of instinctive intelligence. The place selected is some
small chamber among the ranges of its usual haunt as left by
the tide, but nearer the low than high-water mark. The
entrance to it is narrow, with a roof as little broken by crevices
as may be; and the grains of spawn are laid close together on
this roof and the sides of the diminutive cavern^ where, as they
are of a bright amber colour and a polished surface, each one
above the tenth of an inch in size, they display a brilliant
appearance, and the place looks as if it was vaulted with
mosaic work. The parent herself has several times been dis-
covered in this secret retreat, and on one occasion in the act
of depositing her roe, the grains of which have been watched
to their development. The young ones are of speedy growth.

The Shanny seldom exceeds five or six inches in length,
but it has been known to measure seven inches and a half,
with the weight of two ounces and a half. The head large,
fleshy^ with full cheeks; forehead high, sloping rather suddenly
to the mouth; the lips membranous; jaws equal; teeth in an
even row, with a single canine tooth in each lower jaw.
Eyes of moderate size, high on the head, with a depression
between them, and having no separate crest or filament above
them; palmated filaments project from the depression of the
nostrils below the eyes, visible when the fish is in the water,
but scarcely to be seen at other times. The line of the back
continuous with that of the head; body compressed, smooth,
tapering towards the tail, which is round; lateral line scarcely
perceptible. The dorsal fin single, beginning above the gill-
opening, and rising at about half its length, and ending at a
short distance from the tail, as does the anal fin, which begins
at the vent. Pectoral fins round. All these fins have fleshy
rays, which project beyond the membrane, and such is the
case especially with the first half of the dor?al fin. The
ventrals are firm finger-like processes, partially divided into
two. In internal structure the pectoral and ventrals resemble
those of the Gattorugine. The colour various, sometimes almost
uniformly deep green, oj mottled with yellow and white, The

530 SHANNY.

fin rays, of the dorsal thirty-one, of which twelve are in the
first division of the fin; anal fin nineteen; caudal eleven;
pectoral thirteen; ventral two. There are eighteen teeth in
the lower jaw, between the two hooked canine teeth.

In one instance there has been met with a curious deviation
from the usual structure of this fish, and that too in an
important particular. It was fully grown, but on the left
side was altogether destitute of a pectoral fin, and in the place
of it a depression which shewed that the loss was not the
consequence of injury. But as a compensation for this there
were three rays instead of two in the ventral fin of that side.
This additional ray was less in size than the others.

231

MONTAGU'S BLENNY.

Blennius galerita, LiNN^us. Jenyns; Manual, p. 381.

" " GuNTHER; Cat. Br. Animals, p. 222.

" Montagui, Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 206.

'= " Yarkell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 249,

There is mucli confusion iu the synonyms of this species,
but the opinion of Dr. Gunther is that the fish now represented
and described is the true . galerita of Linnteus and of
Montagu, and that the difFerence of description by Fleming
and others applies only to some casual variation of structure.
Yet we are desirous of retaining the common English name of
this fish, in memory of the indefatigable Montagu who first
discovered it in Britain, and also because the designation of
Crested Blenny has been appropriated to another species.

Montagu's Blenny is found further to the south than the
Shanny, being known in the Island of Madeira, as also in the
Mediterranean, and even in the Black Sea; but it is less
common man that species even in its appropriate limits, and
it is rare in the north of Britain. Nor does it often, like the
Shanny, seek shelter in a hole so as to continue out of the
water, and its more frequent haunts are in pools of the rocks,
where a crevice affords it a convenient hiding place. It takes
a bait, but less eagerly than the Shanny.

This species probably is the fish, or one of them, that is
mentioned by Belon as being employed as a bait for shore
lines in catching the larger fishes; but with us the species of
this family are not employed for any useful purpose.

Montagu's Blenny is best described by comparison with the
Common Shanny, to which it bears considerable likeness,
although it never reaches beyond half or two thirds the size.
The form is also somewhat more slender, and the head less
heavy; but the more remarkable difFerence, and that which

232

MOiSTAGU S B LENNY.

constitutes the particular character of the species, is the crest
or elevation which stands erect across the hinder part of the
head. This is also slightly fringed at the border, and behind
it are a few less elevated thread-like processes. The mem-
branous border of the mouth at the corner is lengthened out,
and when the fish is in its nafive element it is so stretched out
as to show that it is probably endued with particular sensation,
(see figure below.) The crest is sometimes placed further in
advance than it appears to be in other instances. The under
jaw is rather feeble; first portion of the dorsal fin proportionally
a little longer than in the Shanny The colour is for the most
part more varied than in that fish, but with similar tints; and
the mottled markings are carried under the throat, where iu
the other fish they do not shew themselves. The crest has
usually a red margin, and the tail also is tinted with red.

-A

-^ o

>-

S33

BLE^NIOPS.

The body lengthened, having small scales. Head sloping to the

mouth; over the eyes elevated and bordered branched or fimbriated

tendrils. Dorsal fin long and even, except the first two or three rays,

which are longest, and tipped with tendrils. The scales are scarcely
or not at all visible when newly from the water, and they do not
overlap each other.

YARRELL'S BLENNY.

B^ennius galerUa, Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 207.

" palmicornis, Jenyns; Manual, p. 380.

" Yarrellii, Cuvier. Yarrell; Br. F., vol. i, p. 263.

Blemiiops Ascanii, Guntuer; Cat. Br. M., vol. iii, p. 28t.

This species has been known in Britain for almost a century,

but so imperfectly as to have been confounded with one or two

others, to which it bears but little likeness. Yet it cannot be

deemed rare, for besides an example that is represented in the

work of Pennant, it was found by Dr. Fleming in Scotland, on

the coast of Norway by Nilsson, in Yorkshire and also at

Berwick by Dr. George Johnston, by whom the specimen was

communicated to Mr. Yarrell and Mr. Jenyns. It has been

found also at Wick, in Scotland, by Mr. Peach, and not un-

frequently in Cornwall, so that three examples have been

taken there in one day. In no instance, however, have I

known it to have taken a bait: a circumstance which may be

explained by the fact, that while it generally keeps in deeper

water than the others of the British species of its family, the

narrow gape of its mouth scarcely admits of its receiving such

hooks as are employed at the depth of water it frequents,

and which is not commonly less than from five to seven or

eight fathoms. It is worthy of notice, however, that while this

is the case in Cornwall, it is found only between tide-marks

in the north. It is caught not unfrequently in crab-pots,
VOL. II. 2 H

236

CENTROXOTUS.

The head small; jaws equal; body long and much compressed;

dorsal fin long, and with the anal running near to the tail, but not

continuous with it. Yuntral fins with two short rays, which are
jugular.

BUTTERFISH.

SWORDICK. GUNNEL. NINE EYES.

Ckmnellus Cornuhiensmm, Willoughby; p. 185, pi. G 8, but the

specimen figured had died in a spasm.

Blennius gunnellus, Linn^us. Blocii; pi. 71. Donovan; pi. 27.

" " Jenyns; Manual, p. 283.

Bletuiie gunnel, Lacepede.

Gunnellus vulgaris, Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 207.

" Yaerell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 269.

Centronotus gunnellus, Guntuer; Cat. Br. M., vol. iii, p. 285.

This species receives the name of Butterfisli from its very
slippery skin, from which and its active wriggling, it is difficult
to grasp or hold it in the hand. The name of Gunnel, by
which it is usually designated in books, was assigned to it by
Ray, who supposed he had found it so called in Cornwall; but
the origin of this name, which, on the authority of that
eminent naturalist and excellent man has been widely spread,
appears to have arisen from a somewhat ridiculous mistake.
As this fish was new to his inquiries, he appears to have
applied for information to some one as little informed as
himself, and the answer he seems to have received was that
it looked like the gunwhale (pronounced gunnel) of a boat,
from which casual circumstance has arisen its best-known
denomination. Bloch, Avho had no knowledaje of tlie English
language, has given a similar explanation of the term, which
therefore he probably received from a travelling friend, to

X!
O

BUTTEHFISH. 237

whom we know he was indebted for other information as
regards Cornish natural history.

This fish is not met with in deep water, and near the shore
it frequents oozy ground, espeeially in tidal harbours; where
it keeps near low-water mark, and is often left concealed under
a stone, at a few feet or yards from the border of the lowest
tide. It is a native of northern climates, and is known even
in Greenland, where it is said to reach a larger size than is
usual in the British Islands. Nilsson says that it is found on
the coasts of Finmark and Norway, down to the mouth of
the Baltic, but not in the more eastward part of that sea,
where it is probable the water is too fresh to sustain its life.
It is also a native of all the shores of the British Islands,
wherever it can find suitable shelter and subsistence; but
everywhere it may be considered a solitary fish, as it is not
common to find two or three together. It is said to be found
also in North America, but it may be doubted whether the
American fish is not a distinct species, which, however, Mr.
Yarrell, on comparison of specimens, believed it not to be. Its
food appears to be for the most part the smaller crustaceous
animals.

Nilsson says its spawn is shed in November, but it is
probable that the season holds through the summer. In the
first week in June, Mr. Peach, who then resided at Fowey,
discovered the grains of what there seems to be no room for
doubting to be the spawn of the Butterfish, attached to the
under surface of a stone in the harbour of that port, with the
supposed parent near it; and with a microscope a considerable
progress was rendered evident in the development of the
embryo fish, as promising a speedy birth with resemblance to
the supposed parent.

An usual size of the Butterfish is five or six inches in
length, and the general shape is long, compressed, and of
nearly equal depth from the head to the tail. The head slopes
gently from the front of the dorsal fin to the mouth, where
the jaws are equal; gape narrow, and opening obliquely
downward; teeth regular, and some in the palate; eyes high
on the head. The body smooth and slippery; vent at about
half its length, excluding the tail; a slight mark of a lateral
line The dorsal fin begins in a line above the border of the

S38 BUTTERFTSH.

gill-covers, narrow, even, joined to the border of the root of the
tail; anal from the vent to the root also of the tail; the last-
named fin round, Rays of the dorsal fin seventy-eight, of the
anal forty, the two first firm; pectoral fi.n moderate, round,
eleven or twelve rays; ventrals very small, the rays two; the
tail round. The general colour brownish yellow, sometimes
mottled; a dusky line from the eyes over the gills, and one
(more deeply marked) from the eye downward. A row of
dark, almost black spots along the back from near the beginning
of the dorsal fin to the root of the tail, each one bordered
with a ring of light colour. They stretch from the back, each
one over its own portion of the fin, and vary in number from
eight to twelve, the two or three nearest the tail more obscure;
anal fin with oblique pink bands or stripes; pectoral fins
commonly yellow.

m

m
I I

m I>

P X!
o O

<

>
>

2Bd

ZOAECHUS

The bofly lengtlipned, smooth; dorsal and anal fins running to the
end of the bod}', where they unite to form the tail; veutrals short,
with three or fuur rays, placed as in the Blennies.

VIVIPAROUS BLENNY.

GREENBONE.

Mustela 7narina vivipara, Jonston; Table 46, f. 8.

WiLLOUGHBY; p. 122. BLOCH;pl. 72.

Blennius vivi'parus, Linnaeus. Donovan; pi. 34.

Zoarces viviparus, Cuviek.

Gunnellus viviparus, Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 207.

Zoarces viviparus, Jenyns ; Manual, p. 384.

" " Yarrell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 273.

" " GuNTHER; Cat. B. M., vol. iii, p. 295.

This is a fish of the North Sea, and is common on the
coast of Scotland, as also on that of Norway and Sweden,
with the Baltic Sea along its length. As we come southward
it becomes more rare, and west of the Straits of Dover we
are informed of only a single specimen, which was obtained
by Colonel Montagu in Devonshire.

Its usual haunts are not far from the shore, where it seeks
concealment and safety under a stone. Its food is generally
those objects which are sought for by the other species of the
family of Blennies. But what has particularly attracted the
attention and excited the wonder of observers, is that remarkable
variation of nature as compared with its congeners, of hatching
its young within the body of the parent and producing them
alive; a portion of which process and development is thus
described by Willoughby, with the addition of a few remarks
derived from the work of Professor Nilsson.

240 VIVIPAROUS BLENNY.

The males are mucli less in number than the females, and
are also of mferior size; but they are not otherwise to be
distinguished, except when the females are distended with the
young. Willoughby supposes the season of fertility to be
about the spring equinox, but according to Nilsson it is through
the year; at which time the grains of spawn are very small,
firm, and of a whitish colour; and they are seen to be con-
tained in a bag which before had appeared empty. In a little
more than a month these grains have increased in size, and
are become of a reddish colour; they become more soft when
as large as a grain of mustard seed, and then they assume a
lengthened shape, with a couple of dark specks where the eyes
are to be. The thread also is visible by which the nourishment
is conveyed into the bowel; and finally the tail is seen, but not
thicker than a very slender thread, and it appears bent at its
termination. With the growth of the young the belly of the
parent becomes more and more distended, but not solely from
their increasing bulk; for what contributes to it is a tenacious
fluid with which each ovum is supplied, and by which (and
an attendant bed of soft fibres) the soft and tender substance
of each young one is kept from pressing on and injuring the
structure of the others. The thick and tenacious fluid in which
the young ones float diminishes as their growth increases, and
it altogether disappears about the time when they are to be
produced to light, no doubt by absorption into the body, the
number at one birth having been known to amount to three
hundred. This would appear, however, to be the extreme limit
of their number, since Nilsson says that in a fish which measured
a foot in length, it amounted to one hundred and ninety-five,
and in one of thirteen inches to two hundred and sixty-tAvo.
It breeds at an early age, since a fish which measured only
six inches has been known to contain roe; but the number
produced, and their size, have been observed to vary with the
bulk and consequent age of the parent; so that the example
from which our figure and description were taken, and which
was a little beyond ten inches long, produced only seventy,
while in some of the largest size the young ones in this first
stage of their existence, measured between four and five inches
and so perfect are they at their first entrance into life, that
they are immediately able to put forth all the activity of exis-

VIVIPAROUS RLKNNY. 241

tence. Soon after, the production of their young the parents
are lost sight of, and probably they have retired to deeper
water. They are sometimes brought to the market, but are
not esteemed for the table.

This fish is of a lengthened form, Avhich is round at its
origin, but becomes compressed and tapering as it approaches
its extremity The head slopes gradually from behind to the
lips, which are fleshy; upper jaw longest; the teeth conical,
and not so closely and regularly arranged as in the generality
of Blennies. Eyes of moderate size, towards the top of the
head, but not close together. A line runs from the head along
the back, and is lost as it comes near the tail. The dorsal
fin begins above the border of the first gill-cover, and runs, a
little waved, to form the tail, by becoming joined to the anal
fin; but at a short distance from this union there is a deep
notch, from which it passes on in a narrower form. The pec-
toral is large and round; ventrals close under the throat, small,
with two or three obscure rays. The colour is a chesnut
brown, lighter on the belly; some white marks between the
eyes, aiad Avhite dots on the belly; anal fin with a red border.
The surface of the body is studded with circular depressions,
which were observed with a microscope by the late Professor
Quekett, and found to be formed of small round scales, each
about the twelfth of an inch in diameter, of a white colour,
and with a very small black spot in the middle. They are
placed deep in the skin, and in some situations stand at regular
distances.

VOL 11. 2 I

242

ANAETIICHAS.

The hearl elevated, short, descending in front. The body more
compressed; tail separate. Strong teeth in the juvva. Doisul tin siuj^lc,
long, not joined to the tail; no ventral fins

WOLF-FISri.

CATFISH.

lAipus marinus Sclienfeldil,

AnarliicJias lupus,
Anarhique louf,

AnarMclias lupus,

JoNSTON; Table 47, f. 2, but without a
description. The figure copied by
Willoughby, H. 3, f. 1, and p. 130.

Ltxn.eus. Cuviek. Bloch; pi. 74.

Lacepede. Donovan; pi. 24.

Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 208.

Jenyns; Manual, p. 381.

Yarrell; Br Fishes, vol. i, p. 277.

GcNTHER; Cat. Br. M., vol. iii, p. 208.

The Wolf-fish is well known in all the countries which lie
on the borders of the North Sea, from Iceland and Greenland
to Norway and Sweden, and the shores of Ireland and Scotland,
with those of the coasts of the east of England; but it is
among the rarest of fishes on the south of the British Islands.
Yet it has sometimes been taken there, and a specimen is
known to have been caught at Plymouth, with another at
Fowev, in Cornwall. A third example was obtained at Looe
within our own knowlcd:.;e, and from this our figure and
descrii)tion were derived; a circumstance the more fortunate as
we are not able to refer with confidence to a published
likeness of the fish, except in the elegant work of Fries and
Eckstrom, on the "Fishes of Scandinavia;" most of the others
appearing to have been drawn from dried skins or such as
were very indifferently preserved. In some parts of Scotland,

I

x

o

WOLF- FISH. 243

as well as in Novsvay and Sweden, this fish is not unfrequently
brought to the market, where its flesh is said to be well
esteemed, although its general aspect has but little to recom-
mend it.

The Wolf-fish is in fact a gigantic Shanny, with most of the
characters of the latter greatly exaggerated. It does not permit
itself indeed to be left exposed by the ebbing of the tide,
nor does it seek shelter in the hole of a rock; but it possesses
pugnacious habits of a iormidable sort, and its power to
display them renders it no despicable opponent. Its eagerness
for food is great. Crabs are easily crushed and swallowed.
It finds but little difficulty in breaking to pieces and swallowing
the shells of shell-fish, or otherwise it swallows them whole.
It is said that it has been known to lay hold of the anchor
of a ship, and while the bite was with a grating sound, evident
scratches on the iion were made by the teeth. It was a less
eflbrt in the individual that was caught within our own
knowledge, that it bit asunder a stick held to it, although as
stout as a man's finger; and therefore we need not question
the accuiMcy of Lis^ter Avhen he tells us that in three examples
he had known caught at Scarborough, the teeth Avere found
broken thjough their substance.

It swims with some rapidity, and resists with violence efforts
that are made to catch it. Its time of spawning is in Miiy
and June. Tiie people of Greenland employ its skia in forming
bags and other useful articles.

Dr. Fleming appears to limit the length of this fish to
abo\it three feet, but it is said on other authority that it
sometimes reaches to more than twice that size. The specimen
we describe did not exceed two feet nine inches. The first
half of the body stout and round, growing more slender and
compressed behind the vent. Belly prominent, and the vent
at about the middle of the length. Head large, elevated, with
a prominence on the top, the profile descending rather suddenly
to the mouth; the lips fleshy, with furrows; teeth conical,
irregular, loose in their attachment. Eyes at half of the
distance between the top of the head and mouth; nostrils on
a prominent process. Regular furrows diverging from the eye,
and numerous wrinkles on the cheeks. The dorsal fin begins
a little anterior to the root of the pectoral, the first rays

244 WOLF-FISH.

shorter than those which foUo-w, the margin waved, and near
its end an indentation, which may be accidental. This fin and
the anal run near the tail, their termination rounded and
bound down, but not actually united to the tail; this last
organ round, as is the pectoral also, and fleshy, wide, extending
low towards the throat, the border crenate, with eighteen rays.
The ground-colour of the head and body is dull brown,
becoming paler, to white below, with numerous white mottlings
and seven irregular bluish bands on the back and sides, passing
up also over the dorsal fin, except the hindmost band, which
is confined to the back. None of these bands are found on
the body towards the tail. On the dorsal fin also there are
oblique lines of dark blue colour, which run obliquely backward
without being conformed to the course of the rays. The
border and lower portion of the pectoral fin pink. Net-formed
markings on the forehead.

S.'!.*)

RIBBAND FISHES.

The s])ecies of the family of Ribband fishes possess a general
likeness of shape not inaptly represented by that useful portion
of apparel; the body being long, narrow, and especially thin,
with a border along the back of a lengthened single dorsal fin,
and in some of the genera also with an anal fin. Tho tail is
differently shaped and directed in different genera of this family;
and in some of them, especially such as have been found in the
Mediterranean, this variation might appear to have been adopted
with a view mostly to give the bearer a fantastic appearance;
but the peculiar actions of these fishes are but little known, and
there is no doubt that a wise intention has presided over these
diversified arrangements, in fitting them for the particular in-
stinctive actions which have not yet come under the observation
of man. We have followed Dr. Giinther in excluding from this
family the genera Lepido])us and Trichiurus, as being more
closely than the others connected with the family of Mackarels:
and therefore we find among the true Ribband fishes that their
proper character, in addition to what is remarked above, is their
havinff the head short, elevated, abrupt in front, with the opening
of the mouth not extensive.

!246

TEACTIYrTEr.rS.

The hocly lenjjthened, verj* tliin, naked; eye lateral, cleft of Ihe mouth
small. Dui-sal fin long, with a partially separate and elevated portion
in front. No anal tin; ventral fins on the throat, wuii d(jvclu]jL'dj lail
out of the lengthened diiectioia of the body.

DEALFISH.

Vaagmdr, Loudon; Magazine of Natural History, vol.

iv, p 215, the figure by Dr. Fleming, copied
by Mr. Yarrell, 1st. ed., vol. i, p. 191, but
rejected for another, 2nd. ed., vol. i, p. 210.

Gymneirus ardicvs, Jexyns; Manual, p. 372.

Tracli^ijpterns arcticus, Guxtiier; Cat. Br. M., vol. iii, p. 395.

The Dealfish finds its home in the icy portion of the northern
ocean, and probably in its deepest recesses; from Avhich it emerges
only on rare occasions, when it visits or is thrown on the shores
of Iceland, Norway, and Finland; and our knowledge of it in
the first place is due to the inhabitants of the country first
named. But the substance of this fish, as of some others of this
family, is so tender and brittle, that examples have rarely been
secured in a perfect condition, for which reason a great degree
of obscurity remained for a long time on some of its characters;
and it is only within a few years that a definite description
and correct representation of its shape have been obtained; so
as to decide in what genus of the Ribband fishes it ought to
be placed.

Its claim to be considered a British fish was first rendered
certain by Dr. Fleming, on the authority of a specimen which
was sent to him from the island of Sanday one of the Orkney
group; where it was caught alive, and where two or three ex-
amples had been seen within a short space of time. The specimen
examined was three feet in length, but by the time it had reached
Dr. Fleming, it had become so injured and broken that the
figure drawn from it bears little likeness to what we now know

<:
o

o

DEALFlSir. 247

of it, and the description is, if possible, still more imperfect.
Besides some other examples that are known to have fallen
under the notice of ordinary observers, it appears from Avhat is
said by Albany Hancock, Esq., and Dr. Emblcton, in their
account of another species of this family presently to be referred
to, that at least a couple of specimens of this fish have been
obtained nearer to us than the islands of Orkney; since one
which measured five feet five inches in length, that was taken
on the coast of Northumberland, is preserved in the museum
at Newcastle; and another is described by Professor Eeid, of
St. Andrews, as having been in his possession.

From the circumstance of the great rarity of this fish, and
the mutilation it receives from even moderate handling, so that
a specimen preserved in the British IMuseum is far from being
in a perfect condition, our figure and the history of its habits
so far as they are known, must of necessity be borrowed from
writers of the Natural History of the North; among whom we
chiefly distinguish Professor Nilsson, Avhose authority for its
habits were for the most part obtained by inquiry among
fishermen of his nation. It is to be remarked however that this
eminent Swedish naturalist advances the opinion that there are
in reality two species of what in Iceland is called the ^'^aagmaer,
and by the Swedes Norsk-Solv-Queite; but that they so closely
resemble each other that they are usually confounded together.
As it is thus possible that both these supposed species may be
met with among ourselves, it is judged best to give a lengthened
extract from the Swedish author's volume; and for the sake of
greater accuracy to add to it the description of this fish, as
given by Dr. Giinther, in his Catalogue of the Fishes of the
British Museum.

This fish, says Nilsson, approaches the coast of Finland, Avhere
it is known by the name of Solv-Queite, or Silver-coloured
Holibut; which is intended to signify that its habits are like
those of the Flounder. It is rare, although most of the fishermen
have met with it; and sometimes after a storm two or three
examples are found to have been thrown ashore. Sometimes
also in the autumn one or two may be caught in the herring
nets, but at other seasons they are believed to lie out of reach
in deeper water. At the season of their appearance however
they are occasionally discovered as they lie quietly close tc

248 DEALFTSH.

the bottom in water of the depth of two or three fathoms, where
their silvery colour renders them easy to be perceived; and as
their motions are slow, the fishermen experience no difficulty
in laying hold of them with a hook, and drawing them up as
they would a dead Seal. When they move it is something
like a Flounder, with one side turned obliquely upward, and
when resting at the bottom the left side is always towards the
ground, (which is judged to be the reason that both sides
are not exactly alike.) In all these particulars their motions
resemble those of the Flat fishes, f Pleuronetidce. J It is scarcely
known what is their food, but it is supposed to consist of
crustacean animals and moUusks. The fishermen of Finland
report that when alive this fish is very fat, and its sides round;
but the fat is so liquid and oily, that it runs from the body
as soon as the fish is dead; and then its shape becomes thin
and flat. The fish when caught are sold to the Russians of
Archangel, who purchase them for the sake of the fat.

The description by Ur. Giinther is thus given: The greatest
height of the body is at its central part, where it is contained
five times and a half in its length, while the height at the
nuchal region is nearly one seventh of the total, or equal to
the length of the head. Muzzle truncated; cleft of the mouth
subvertical; upper jaw very protractile. The maxillary teeth
are thin, conical, and pointed, nearly recumbent, with the apex
turned towards the pharynx; two on each side of the upper
jaw, three or four on each side of the lower; one or tAvo single
pointed teeth on the vomer, none on the palatine bones. The
superior pharyngeal bones are studded with pointed curved
teeth. The eye is situated near the frontal profile, and its
diameter is two sevenths of the length of the head. Interoper-
culum nearly as large as the operculum. The short pectoral
fin is situated nearer to the ventral margin than to the lateral
line. The anterior five dorsal rays are somewhat detached from
the others, and appear to be produced; the rays are quite
smooth, slender, flexible, without the slightest trace of transverse
joints; they are dilated inferiorly into a saddle-shaped shield,
with a short curved point in the centre; a number of small
sharp bodies appear along the root of the fin. The vertically
raised caudal fin contains eight rays, the outer ones of which
are longer than the six middle ones; the two central rays are

Dealfisi?. 249

studded with minute spines. There are several rudimentary-
rays at the extremity of the taiL Firm papillary warts along
the abdominal mar2;in. The lateral line is armed as in T. tcenia,
and is confluent with that of the other side beneath the end of
the tail: a stronger spine indicates the point of junction. The
vent is situated somewhat behind the middle of the length.
Silvery, with two blackish spots; fins reddish; the anterior spot
is situated at the commencement of the second fourth part of
the whole length of the fish, the posterior being near the
middle.

The above characters have been taken from the excellent
accounts of Professor Reinhardt and Nilsson; but as the latter
gives a comparative description of what he supposes a nearly
allied, but, as he judges, a different species, which perhaps may
more closely resemble the fish described by Dr. Fleming, it is
thought best to add the description given by the last-named
Swedish naturalist.

The example described was sent to Lund from Tromso, by

Professor Lilljeborg, and measured six feet in length from the

extremity of the snout to the root of the tail; and from the

former also to the hindmost border of the gill- cover nine

inches; from thence to the vent forty inches. Behind the

head the depth was eight inches, Avhich increased to ten inches

above the pectoral fins, and to fourteen inches at thirty-four

inches from the snout, which was the greatest, and after which

it suddenly slopes away backward, and at the distance of eight

inches from the caudal fin it was only four inches; close in front

of the tail it was only four lines and a half. The body is

thickest along the middle of the sides, and thin along the back

and belly; gill openings Avide; the body covered with a rough

and firm skin, Avhich is studded with rough protuberances,

numbering from twelve to fourteen to the inch. On the sides

of the back these are large and more distantly placed, and along

the sides of the lower edge of the body they form high and

hard conical warts. The lateral line at first passes up to the

side of the neck, and then is bent down behind the pectoral

fin; behind this it is straight, but at last drops nearer to the

lower border, which it joins under the root of the tail. It is

formed of a row of small fiat oblong and rough plates, each

having a small spine at its middle, directed forward; and at the
VOL. ii 2 .

250 DEALFISH.

last eighth shield the spines are longer, pointed, and of the
same shape and size as the saw-teeth. Again, the three or four
hindmost sheaths or plates are smaller and oval; and below the
last of them, or a little further back, on the lower side of the
tail are two pair of spines, which point downward; the first pair,
which are the largest, having a direction forward, and the others
backward. At the end of the lateral line are three double spines,
beyond which it does not extend, as it appears to do in the
figure of the Vaagmiir by Reinhardt. The dorsal fin begins at
about three inches from the neck, and becomes broader until
it reaches its greatest breadth at its hindward third part, where
it is five inches and a half in height; from which portion it
becomes narrower as it proceeds to the tail; the rays number
one hundred and sixty. In front of this fin were spines or
broken rays, which perhaps were the remains of a fin. The
pectoral fin is low, and measured in length two inches and a
half, with ten simple rays; a spine in front of it.

In the true Yaagmar, or Dealfish, there are ventral fins under
the pectorals, but in the fish here described there was no mark
of such; and although the part where they might be expected
to be found was dissected, no signs of even the rudiments of
such fins were discovered; (in which it agrees with the fish
described by Dr. Fleming, as before referred to.) The caudal
fin six inches and a half long, the rays, eight in number,
directed obliquely upward. The eye of the left side less than
that of the right. The colour of the head blackish on the top,
of the right side of the head and body a glossy silver, which
is removed when the skin is handled; of the left side pale grey,
with dashes of glossy silver. Dorsal and caudal fins red. The
two oblique oblong black spots which are on the sides of the
Dealfish near the back are not seen in the fish here described;
but in place of them is a black dash parallel with the upper
border of the body. According to the reports of fishermen this
fish is sometimes found ten feet in length. As in the figure by
Dr. Fleming, the vent is represented as near the head, and the
representation we derive from Professor Reinhardt displays that
outlet as about the middle of the body, there seems no doubt
that, taken in connection Avith other particulars, they apply to
two different fishes; of which there is reason to conclude that
both of them have been taken in the British Islands.

w

Uj

t '

<

Q

i 1

o

M

u;

2,

<

n

251

GYMNETRUS, {Cuvier.) REGALECTJS, {Gra,/.)

The body long and very thin; head compressed, and sloped from the
top to the mouth. A long dorsal fin, the first rays of which ore much
elevated. Distinct ventral fins, each formed of a long filament; no
anal fin; the tail with scarcely the murk of a fin.

BANKS'S GARFISH.

Hawkins' Gymnetrus, (referred to)

Regaleczis Banksii,

Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 204,
Richardson; Supp. to Yarrell's

Br. Fishes, p. 27.
GuNTHER; Catalogue Br. Museum,

vol. iii, p. 309.
Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist., 2nd.

Series, July, 184-9.

The characteristic habits ot Banks's Oarfish in its native
haunts, and even the haunts themselves aie so little known,
that we find the amount of its history recognised by naturalists
to be limited to a mention of the places Avhere it has been
found, and the circumstances attending its capture; and even
as regards the last-named particulars there appears in some of
the instances no small degree of uncertainty in the accounts
that have been given concerning them.

The first example on record in England is said to have
been obtained at Whitby, in January of the year 1759, and
of which we learn the particulars from a paper by Albany
Hancock, Esq., and Dr. Embleton, in the "Annals and Magazine
of Natural History" for the year 1849, Avhere they quote the
"Annual Register" of the former date; but the species could
not have been recognised from the description there given.

252 BANKs's OARFISH.

until additional liglit Avas thrown on it from the examination
of other examples. There was one remarkable circumstance,
however, Avhich was noticed of this specimen, that has' stamped
an influence on the history of this fish as a sin;i;ularity in
itself, as well as that it offers an explanation of the reason
Avhy some of the published figures and descriptions are so
exceedingly u.nsatisfactory. When handled this fish broke into
pieces, as has been the case also more or less Avith the body
or fins in every instance to the latest date, thus shewing the
remarkable brittleness of its substance.

In the order of events the next example we have to notice
is one which was left by the tide on the beach at the little
town of NcAvlyn, near Penzance, on the 23rd. of February,
1788, and of which various figures have been given, with a
difference of dates; although from inquiry I have not been
able to satisfy myself that more than a single example has ever
been met with in Cornwall. It is said by Shaw, indeed, in
the remarks on the fish called Hawkins' Gymnetrus, which
he has borrowed from Bloch, that he has seen a printed
account in which a fish was described that he believed to be
of the same species as the Gymnetrus of Hawkins, and which
was also thrown on shore on the coast of Cornwall in February,
1798. This example was said to have been six feet and a
half long, and six .inches and a half in depth; in thickness
two inches and three fourths. The body was silvery and the
fins red. Our remarks from Bloch are as extracted from an
edition of his work in 18mo, kindly lent to me by the late
Lieutenant-Colonel C. Hamilton Smith, R..A., of Plymouth, the
well-known eminent naturalist; where it is said that this fish
was distinguished by a fin which is immediately over the front
of the head, and furnished with several distinct processes that
were formed on one extended membrane. It Avas also particu-
larly marked by the fin of the tail, which in the figure is
shaped as being forked. The body was sword-shaped; the
opening of the gills large; the rays soft. This fish, says he,
was sent to me by Mr. Hawken, (whom in another place he
calls Hawkins,) from Avhom also I received the figure; and in
his communication that gentleman informed him that the fish
had been taken near Goa, in the Indian Sea, on the 2.3rd. of
July, in the year 17'^8, a date which M. Valenciennes corrects

BANKs's OARFlSn. *J53

by giving it as 1783. From what is now knoAvn there is h'ttle
doubt that the specimen said to have been taken near Goa,
and which was in length only two feet six inches, with the
weight of ten pnui'ds, was of a different species from the Cornish
fish, although Bloch regarded them as being the same; and it
appears further that both of them differ from a fish of the
North Sea, known by the name of Ceil Coning, or King of
the lierrings, and which Dr. Gunther believes to be the Reyalecus
qJesne of authors, and different from Banks's Garfish.

But some portion of the original mistake concerning these
fishes must be imputed to the gentleman Avho made the com-
munication to Bloch, and whom there is no hesitation in
believing to have been John Hawkins, Esq., a Cornish gentleman,
brother of Sir Christopher Hawkins, Baronet, and himself a
competent naturalist, although not particularly skilled in the
knowledge of fishes, and in this opinion of the source of
Bloch's information I am supported by Shaw, who indeed gives
Mr. (iawkin's own authority for the fact. This gentleman had
accompanied Professor Sibthorp in his botanical travels through
Greece, from whence he returned with a large collection of
plants, of which however, it does not appear that he afterAvards
made any use. It is known also that Mr. Hawkins travelled
widely over the continent of Europe, and some fruit of his
inquiries in the north appeared in a communication which he
made to the Royal Cornwall Geological Society on the salt
mines of Poland. The pursuits and general character of Mr.
Hawkins would lead him to seek the acquaintance of such
persons as Bloch and Professor Pallas, to both of whom it is
probable that he made such communications as supplied them
with materials for their respective works.

M. Valenciennes has the following remarks: "Thus, Russel,
at the end of his account of the Gymnetre, which is named
after him, informs us that a fish of this kind was thrown on
shore on the coast of Cornwall in the year 1796, and that a
figure of it was sent to Sir Joseph Banks." This fish is described
as having long filaments in the place of ventral fins, and a plume
on the top of its head; but the tail had been lost. It is to
be observed, however, and in some respects not a little sus-
picious, that no allusion is here made to another specimen
said to have been obtained in Cornwall in the year 1791,

254 BANKS's OARFTSH.

which is the date inscribed on the drawing in the possession
of the late William E-ashleigh, Esq., F.E.,S., etc., and which
furnished the original of Mr. Yarrell's figure in the first and
second editions of his "History of British Fishes."

But the testimonies here given appear to point to the existence
of at least a second Cornish specimen; while on the other hand
we remark that at the request of Baron Cuvier, Mrs. Lee was
led to make search through the manuscripts and drawings which
formerly belonged to Sir Joseph Banks, and which at this time
are in the library of the British Museum; and the result was,
that no other drawing of a Gymnetrus could be found besides
a figure of that one which was left by the tide at Newlyn, in
February, 1778. Subsequently to this, on the occasion of the
exhibition in London of the example caught at Cullercoats, and
presently to be described, I myself made a search among the
papers and drawings of Sir Joseph Banks, Avith the aid of Robert
Brown, Esq., the distinguished botanist; and the result was the
same as Mrs. Lee had represented it. A tracing was made at
this time of the figure above referred to, and which is bound
up with a copy of the quarto edition of Pennant's "Natural
History." To this figure we shall again make particular reference;
but I feel little hesitation in supposing that in the accounts of
a second Cornish specimen by Shaw and Russel, their informa-
tion or memory had confounded together the fish obtained at
Newlyn, in 1788, with one which had been found by women
on the 18th. of March, 1796, at Filey Bay, in Yorkshire. In
the library of Sir Joseph Banks, there is a letter which gives
an account of this last-mentioned example, which measured
thirteen feet in length, and one foot in depth, its thickness
three inches, and the length of the head seven inches. Alona:
its under side behind there were rows of small tubercles of a
silvery whiteness. The dorsal fin began near the head, and
reached to the extremity of the body, and was of a red colour;
the number of rays two hundred and ninety-tliree, those of the
pectoral fin twelve. The vent was four feet iVom the snout.

It does not appear that a likeness of this cx.am])le Avas taken;
and it becomes a matter of some interest that as nr.i(;li as may
be of the particulars Avhich belong to the figures o( the untlouhtcd
Cornish example may be cleared up, while there remains a
possibility of accomplishing it: since it appears that some of

BANKS'S GARFISH, ZOO

these figures still exist which do not display a near likeness to
each other, and yet profess to bear a close resemblance to the
fish itself.

As the residence of Mr. Edward Chirgwin, a respectable fish-
merchant, was near the place where the first-mentioned Cornish
example was found, he was acquainted with the circumstances
attending the discovery; and it was his expressed belief that
the drawing of it in his possession was not only taken from
nature, but the only one tliat was so: in which opinion however
there is reason to conclude that he was mistaken. By the favour
of Mr. Chirgwin this drawing was copied for my use, but the
original has since come into my possession. It is somewhat
roughly executed, but expresses much of the known character
of the fish. Two prominent rays of the anterior portion of the
dorsal fin project forward over the snout, and have the extremities
expanded into an oval or fan-shaped membrane, after which the
fin runs in a much narrower form to the extremity of the body.
The ventral fins are formed of a pair of rays, which measure
about one third of the length of the whole fish; and the end
of each is expanded in the same manner as that of the first rays
of the dorsal fin. The pectoral is round. The posterior extremity
of the body is represented as defective, but to shew that the
supposed caudal is an addition made by the draftsman, it is
not closely joined to the body. The eyes large, and the jaws
are drawn out in an unusual manner. The lateral line begins
high on the neck, but soon descends and runs along nearer the
lower than the upper outline. All the fins are red, but the
body has a greenish tint, which is deeper near the border above
and below; with stripes of a deeper tinge of the same colour.
The inscription on this figure is, (marked with inverted commas,
as if copied from some other,) "This is a drawing of a fish
that came on shore at Newlyn, on Saturday, the 23rd. ot
February, 1788. Its length without the tail, (which it wanted)
was eight feet and a half, its extreme breadth ten inches and
a half, and its thickness bat two inches and three fourths. M.
Wright feet."

The figure, of which I was favoured with a copy, in the
possession of the late William Rashleigh, Esq., F.R.S., etc., was
said to represent a fish that was taken in the year 1791; and
was the original of the representation in Mr. Yarrell's own

Si56 BANKS's GARFISH.

erlitions of his "History of Biitisli Fishes;" but I agree with
Dr. J. E. Gray, in believing that the supposed date is a mistake.
The inscription on it says that the weight of the fish was forty
pounds, but it departs more than any other figure from the
most essential characters of other figures and of Nature. Thus
the lengthened rays on the top of the head are thrown aside,
or transferred to the ventral fins, which are made to possess
four instead of two. The jaws are unnaturally drawn out, as
in Mr. Chirgwin's drawing, and a depression of the outline is
represented behind the head. The added caudal fin is also
represented, although with some difference, and the figure on
the whole is so conducted as to shew that the imagination of
the draftsman has had a greater influence on the work than the
observance of Nature.

Notwithstanding Mr. Chirgwin's opinion to the contrary, there
cannot be a doubt that the drawing in the possession of Sir
Joseph Banks Avas carefully formed from the fish itself. It
especially represents the natural shape of the jaws and front of
the head. By an outline of the latter it will be seen that the
elevated rays of the front of the dorsal fin or plume is in some
degree more correctly represented than in the other drawing,
but they do not possess the wide-spread extremities which are
shewn in Mr. Chirwin's figure; and as experience in other
instances shews them to be brittle, they may have been broken
off by frequent handling.

It is a pleasure to be able to transfer our notice from these,
on the whole imperfect or erroneous materials, to the more
authentic account of a recent example which is given by
Mr. Hancock and Dr. Embleton, and which, as Ave shall presently
see, has also come under our own examination. The history of
the capture of this specimen is thus given: "On the 2Gth. of
March, 1849, a fine specimen of a species of Gymnetrus, or
Ribbonfish, was captured by Bartholomew Taylor and his two
sons, the crcAV of a fishing-coble belonging to CuUercoats. It
was found at about six miles from shore, and in from twenty
to thirty fathoms Avater. The men having started from their
fishing-ground to return homeAvards, observed at a little distance
Avhat appeared to be broken Avater; and on coming near the
spot they perceived a large fish lying on its side near the
surface. The fish as they drew near to it righted itself in tiie

BANKS 8 ()\RFISH. 257

\vater, and came with a gentle lateral undulating motion towards
them, shewing its crest and a small portion of the head above
water; they struck it with a rod, to which was attached a hook,
used for landing fish; on which it made off with a vigorous and
vertical undulating motion, and quickly disappeared. But in a
short time it again appeared, and they found it again lying on
its side. A second blow tore the tender flesh, and the fish
again escaped; but on coming to it a third time, the two young
men placed their arras round the fish, and lifted it into the
boat. When brought on shore, from rough handling, the fins
had become much torn. Irs colour was a uniform silvery grey,
resembling bright tinfoil, or white Dutch metal, except a few
irregular dark spots and streaks towards the anterior part of the
body. On closer inspection the remains of a bright iridescence
were seen about the pectoral fin and head, the blue tint pre-
dominating. In shape the fish presents somewhat the form of
a double-edged sword blade, being excessively compressed; its
greatest thickness is decidedly nearer the ventral than the dorsal
border; from the thickest part it slopes to each border, the dorsal
being the sharper. The length of the fish was twelve feet three
inches, the mouth not being projected forward; immediately behind
the gills it measures eight inches and a half in depth, and from
this point it gradually enlarges to a distance of upwards of two
feet further back, Avhere it attains its greatest depth of eleven
inches and a fourth, which dimension remains the same for a
foot and a half, and then diminishes to the end of the dorsal
fin, where the depth is three inches. At the part of greatest
depth the thickness measures two inches and three fourths.

The fishermen stated that when this fish was first taken it
was all over of a brilliant silvery iridescent hue, which soon
faded. The skin is covered with a silvery matter, in which no
scales were visible, but which is readily detached and adheres
to any thing that touches it. Round the posterior margin of
the preoperculuni Avas a broadish dusky mark, and near the
top of the head above the eye a crescentic mark of a dark
iridescent blue colour; besides which there were on the side
of the body several narrow dusky black slightly waved lines
distant from each other, and obliquely inclined from before
backward. Of these eight or nine were above the lateral line,
and of unequal length; and below this line they were more
VOL. 11. '^ L

25S BANKS's GARFISH.

numerous; diminishing in size on the whole until they ended
in mere spots at some distance behind the vent. This lower
series seemed to correspond in some measure with the upper.
Interspersed among the lines were a few irregular spots. The
lateral line could be traced from behind the head, gradually-
passing downward near the ventral border, until it became close
to it at the termination. Four longitudinal flattened ridges,
rather more than an inch in breadth, passed on from the head
to the tail immediately above the lateral line; the uppermost,
which is the longest, running forward almost to the eye. The
surface of the skin was studded with numerous tubercles of bone,
the smallest and most depressed being between the ridges and
towards the dorsal and ventral borders; the most prominent
being upon the ridges. On the ventral ridge were numerous
irregular and prominent tubercles, slightly hooked backwards;
and these tubercles were near the head replaced by irregular
depressed hardenings of the skin.

The head was small and short, measuring nine inches from
the snout to the posterior border of the gill-cover. The outline
of the lower jaw formed a wide arch, convex below, and
stretching forward and upward to the mouth, which was placed
in an elevated position, and opened upward and forward. The
mouth small, nearly circular, and capable of being thrust forward
two or three inches when the lower jaw was depressed. The
profile of the head from the front of the crest was at first
suddenly concave, the concavity facing forward and upward,
and close behind the anterior end of the concave is the small
nasal chamber. Beyond this concavity the premaxillary bones
projected almost horizontally to the mouth. The eye an inch
and a half in diameter, and flat; the iris beautifully white.
There were no teeth; the gill-covers large in proportion to the
size of the head, with well-marked radiating lines. The dorsal
fin extended from immediately behind the upper and posterior
end of the curved frontal profile to within three inches of the
tail. The anterior part of this fin was more prominent than
the rest, and had twelve rays, which were stated by the captors
to have been twelve or fourteen inches in length when the fish
was taken, and each to have been furnished with a membranous
expansion on its posterior edge, increasing in width upward
something like a peacock's feather. The first ray was a rather

BANKS S OARFISH. 259

Strong spine, rising close within the frontal curve, the three
next very slender and much the closest together, and when the
describers first saw the fish they were united in what remained
of their length by a membrane. The next was equally slender
with the preceding, but somewhat further apart, and the three
or four next in order were nearly as strong as the first. Those
which followed diminished in strength and length, so as to
become uniform with the rays of the dorsal fin. Exclusive of
the crest there were two hundred and sixty-eight rays in the
dorsal fin; the border of the membrane pale red. Pectoral fins
close behind the gill-covers, without colour, having eleven rays,
the longest measuring two inches. The ventral fins formed of
a pair of very strong and straight spines, having a border of
membrane; but they had been broken off at the end. No
mention is made of an air-bladder; and the stomach was scarcely
to be distinguished from the gullet. In it there appeared to
be grains of the spawn of fish."

To this lengthened account it may be of interest to add, that
when the fish thus described was exhibited in London, I accom-
panied my friend Mr. Yarrell in a privileged visit of insp'^iction
before it Avas laid open to the public; and that the figu/es I
prefer to give in illustration of its history were the result of
this examination; the bent form being adopted for the purpose
of including its larger dimensions Avithin the limited size of the
plate. In the likeness contained in Sir John Richardson's
supplement to his edition of Mr. Yarrell's '^History of Fishes,"
the rays of the plume, or anterior part of the dorsal fin, are
represented as they appeared at first to the fishermen, and as
also they are marked by Mr. Hancock and Dr. Embleton, but
they did not exist in the fish when exhibited; and it is preferred
to give in our representation on the plate only so much as
was seen by myself. The caudal extremity also is deserving
of notice; for not only is there not a vestige of a fin, but a
peculiar organization is found there, which appears to possess
a power of some peculiarity of action. Regarduig this, a note
made on the spot says that from a firm or bony fixed point
above, a bony curve with the concavity posterior passed to a
fixed point below; and from one of these fixed points to the
other was a thinner substance, which was more moveable than

gfiO BANKS's GARFISH.

fish, and appeared to represent some organization which might
serve as much for steering as urging forward.

Since the capture of the example of which we have thus given
an enlarged account, three or four others have been met with
along the north shores of the kingdom ; the largest of which
was obtained at Kiess, a few miles from Wick, and consequently
not far from the extreme north of Scotland. I am indebted for
the few particulars which are known of it to Mr. Peach, who
informs me that it measured fifteen feet and about a half in
length, and as being much injured about the head, probably
more. This is therefore the largest we have yet heard of; its
greatest depth one foot two inches, the thickness three inches
and a half, and the weight one hundred and eighty-two pounds,
falling very far short indeed of the famous Sea Serpent, but
conveying the impression that the latter is a species of the same
order of fishes.

Of the several examples which have thus been causht in
Britain, or driven on shore, there seems no reason to doubt that
all of them have been compelled to leave their native haunts
under the influence of disease; and from the facility with which
they become injured by rough handling, there is reason also
for believing that they commonly reside in some of the quiet
nooks or depths of the ocean, to which the violence of a storm
can rarely penetrate and where therefore the brittleness of their
texture cannot expose them to injury.

HANKS S GARFISH.

261

Head supposed as seen uninjured.

Caudal extremity'.

2G^

CEPOLA.

The body lenp;thened, compressed, of nearly uniform breadth until
dear the laii. Head slGping rapidly; angle of the jaw depressed; vent
ant far trom the throat. Dorsal and anal fins ionj^, running close to
the tail, which is continued in the same line with the body. Ventral
hnd thoracic.

RED BANDFISH.

RED SNAKEFISH. RED RTBBANDFISH.

This species appears to have been known to the older -writers
on Natural History; but the figures they give of Serpens
rubescens and Tcenia cannot be regarded as representing this
fish. If also our Red Bandfish be the Cepola Tcenia of Bloch,
the figure of this author is a poor representation of it.

Cepola rubescens, Turton; Linnjeus. Cuvier.

DCiNOVAN; pi. 105.
Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 204.
Jenyns; Manual, p. 374.
Yaerell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 224.
GunTHEK; Cat. Br. Museum, vol. iii. p. 486.

w

This fish was first made known as British by Colonel Montagu,
at the beginning of the present century, from two specimens
which he had obtained on the south coast of Devonshire; but
since his day, no doubt from an increase of observers, it has
been found far from rare, and'examples have come to hand on
almost every part of the shores of the Biitish Islands, even to
the extreme north of Scotland. Mr. Thompson records specimens
from different parts of Ireland. It has been taken near Ayr,
and Mr. Peach has seen it near Wick: but still it is more

2

< >i

<

KKD BANDFISH. 2{).3

common on tlie soutli and west of Enfjlnnd, although the oc-
currence anywhere of thirty specimens at one time, (Loudon's
Mag. Nat. Hist., N.S., vol. ii,) must be deemed remarkable. It
is also remarkable that the occurrence of this fish in numerous
instances has been owing to the accident of its having been
thrown on shore by stormy weather; from which it happens that,
although not liable to be broken in pieces, like the larger
members of the ribband-shaped iamily, it usually becomes dis-
figured with a variety of bruises. Some have been found on
opening the stomachs of the more voracious fishes, especially of
the Cod family; and in a few instances it has been known to
be caught with a hook. From circumstances attending its capture
with us, it appears that its habits are to keep in rocky ground
at a moderate depth of water; and that its food is the smaller
sorts of crustaceans and perhaps mollusks, which the relative
capacity of its gape enable it to seize with readiness, and which
the spreading direction of its teeth must assist to retain with
firmness. The stomach is of moderate size, but of a firm and
muscular texture; and it may be added, in reference to its
internal structure, that the air-bladder is large, with its chief
portion not situated in the common cavity of the body, but
behind it, and stretching along from the spine to the neigh-
bourhood of the anal fin.

The Red Bandfish is common in the IMediterranean, and
Lacepede gives a florid account of its motions when alive, as
if he had seen them; although when he informs us that there
are two species, now acknowledged by naturalists to be only
varieties of each other, he makes a principal distinction between
them to be, that the C. serpenfiformis^ which is the true C.
ruhescens of Gmelin's Linnaeus, is furnished with a forked tail,
which certainly is not the case. The short account by Risso of
the actions of this fish is more moderate in its tone. He says
that with its smooth and flexible body it is able to move in a
serpent-like manner with considerable activity; and in contrast
with the pale blue water, its own brilliant red colour has
procured for it the name of the. Flame and Ribband.

The greatest length of this fish has been about twenty inches;
but the example described measured fifteen inches, with a depth,
including the fins, of an inch and a quarter, gradually tapering
from the vent to the tail, and very thin. A specimen of small

264 RED BANDFISH.

size lias been seen nearly round, but anotber, only four incbes
and a half in length, was equally compressed with the larger
individuals. The head slopes in front from behind the eyes,
which are large and lateral. Angle of the mouth depressed,
the gape considerable, mystache wide; teeth scarcely regular,
long and sharp, expanding from the jaws. Lateral line obscurely
marked, but visible by the insertion of muscles; and along the
root of the dorsal fin a row of small bony processes. No scales
visible on the fore part of the body, but discernible near the
tail. The dor>:al fin begins from above the gill-covers, and
continues of about the same breadth until n.ear the tail, where
it becomes narrower, as does the anal fin from the vent; and
both are united to the caudal fin, the root of which is well
marked and distinct; the form of this fin long-lancet-shaped.
Pectorals round, reaching more than half-way to the vent; the
belly being but of short dimensions. The dorsal fin has seventy
rays, the anal sixty; tail with twenty rays, those of the middle
in this example two inches long, and on the side less than a
fourth of that length. Vcntrals thoracic, pointed, the rays
fastened down with a membrane through half their length.

The colour of this fish is usually a brilliant red or scarlet,
which is deepest on the back; the belly pale. In some instances
the dorsal, anal, and caudal fins are much more extended than
in others; and then they are marked with stripes of much
beauty, so that the appearance of the fish has countenanced the
opinion that there is more than one European species. Such
a one is described by Rafinesque, under the name of C. mar-
ginata, but the figure he gives is below contempt. The following
is a description of this variety of the Bandfish: the example
eleven inches in length, with the general form of the species;
the breadth of the dorsal and anal fins remarkable, and the
extremity of the caudal fin lengthened out into a thread. The
dorsal fin begins anterior to the border of the gill-covers, fourth
ray longer than the three anterior rays. Body covered along
its posterior portion with deeper purple-looking scales, Avhich
do not touch each other. Pectorals begin under the second
ray of the dorsal, broad and round. Upper portion of the head
and jaws red, on the sides pale yellow. Ventral fins and belly
pearly white; pectorals pale red. Membrane of the doasal and
anal fins pale yellow, with red rays, and a light purple border

RED BANDFISH. 265

Red tints also on the anterior portion of the dorsal, and a thread
of bright red runs from one ray to another, thus separating
the yellow portion of the membrane from the outer border;
middle rays of the tail bright yellow, outer rays red, bordered
again with a wide stripe of pale purple. In some instances
these lengthened stripes of yellow, red and blue, or purple, are
more strongly marked, and well defined; in some also the general
red colour of the dorsal is marked with deeper patches of red;
and a drawing was shewn to me by an eminent naturalist, and
marked with the name of C. Tamia, in which a wide separation
was shewn between the dorsal and caudal fins; but on exami-
nation of the original specimen, which had been preserved, it
was evident that the displacement had been caused by an
accident. There seems therefore no reason to doubt the
correctness of Cuvier's opinion, that there is only one European
species of Cepola.

END or VOT-. IT.

B' Fawcett, Engraver and Printer, East Lodge, Driffield,

June, 1882.

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Consisting of highly-finished Figures of Hardy Ornamental Flowering
Plants Cultivated in Great Britain, with their Names, Orders, History,
Qualities, Culture, and Physiological Observations. By B. Maund, F.L.S.
New Edition, edited by James C. Nivex, Curator of the Botanic Gardens,
Hull. With 250 Coloured Plates, giving 1247 figures. In Six Volumes,
super-royal 8vo., 12 12s.

BRITISH SEA-WEEDS.

Drawn from Professor Harvey's 'Phycologia Britannica.' "With Descriptions,
an Amateur's Synopsis, Rules for Laying on Sea-weeds, an Order for
Arranging them in the Herbarium, and an Appendix of New Species. By
Mrs. Alfred Gatxy. Illustrated with 80 coloured Plates, containing 384
figures. In Two Volumes, super-royal 8vo., price 2 10s.

'Those who are acquainted with Mrs. Gatty's "Parables from Nature," and especially with
her delightful Parable about "Red Snow," need not be told that the literary part has been
ably executed by a competent and loving observer. In her present work she has endeavoured,
and we think most successfully, to translate the terms and phrases of science into the language
of amateurs. Mrs. Gatty's familiarity with the plants themselves has enabled her to do this
oflB.ce without falling into the errors to which a mere compiler in separating from the beaten
track would be liable.' Gardeners' Chronicle.

ALPINE PLANTS.

Descriptions and 103 accurately-coloured Figures (drawn and engraved ex-
pressly for this Work) of some of the most striking and beautiful of the
Alpine Flowers. Edited by David Woostee, joint editor of the latest
editions of Loudon's 'Encyclopaedias of Gardening and Plants,' 'Hortus
Britannicus,' &c. In One Volume, super-royal 8vo., price 1 5s.

'The manner in which "Alpine Plants" is produced is creditable alike to author and artist.
The literary portion is not the mere dry botanical descriptions often found in such works, but
a popular description of the plant, instructions as to its culture and treatment, with any in-
teresting information in connexion with it that can be obtained. . . . We heartily commend
this work to all lovers of flowers.' Journal of Horticulture.

'Not least among the illustrated Christmas books should be reckoned this interesting work
with its beautifully coloured specimens.' Saturday Eeview.

'The letterpress is full, no doubt, of the most accurate botanical learning, but what we have to
speak of more particularly are the illustrations, and these strike us as among the best specimens of
wood-block printmg. There is about them none of that plastered gaudiness, that thick and sticky
style in which too often the wood-engraver endeavours to paint the lily. A crocus seems just to
have thrust itself through the brown soil which the thaw has softened.' Times.

( 5 )
ALPINE PLANTS.

Second Series. Containing Fifty-four Coloured Plates, with one or two
Figures on each Plate. Descriptions and accurately-coloured Figures
(drawn and engraved expressly for this Work) of the 'most striking and
beautiful of the Alpine Plants. Edited by David "Woostee. Price 1 5s.

BRITISH MOSSES.

Their Homes, Aspects, Structure, and Uses. Containing a Coloured Figure
of each species, etched from Nature. By F. E. Teipp. Illustrated with 39
beautifully-coloured Plates. In Two Volumes, super-royal 8vo., 2 10s,

'It is a book to read, to ponder, to mark, learn, and inwardly digest. . . . Let those who want to
know the "moral" of mosses enquire within the covers of the volume. He will there find that
these humble plants have their uses, theix' virtues, and their mission.' Morning Advertiser.

HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS.

By Jonathan Couch, F.L.S.. Illustrated with 256 carefully coloured
Plates. New Edition, in Four Volumes, super-royal 8vo., price 4 4s.

'The author, who is well known as one of the first practical authorities on British fishes,
has for fifty years been observing, noting, and drawing, with his own pencil, the various fish
which live in British waters a vast labour, in which he has been assisted by scientific frienda
living in various portions of the United Kingdom. The drawings are beautifully coloured to
life, and some of the portraits (especially of the dog-fish) are really marvellous, rendering
the recognition of a fish a work of the greatest ease.' T^e Field.

SOWERBY'S ENGLISH BOTANY:

Containing a Description and Life-size coloured Drawing of every British
Plant. Edited and brought up to the Present Standard of Scientific
Knowledge by T. Boswell, (formerly Stme,) LL.D. F.L.S. &c. With
Popular Descriptions of the Uses, History, and Traditions of each Plant, by
Mrs. Lankestee, Author of 'Wild Flowers Worth Notice,' 'The British
Ferns,' &c. The Figures by J. E. Soweebt, James Soweebt, F.L.S.,
J. De C. Soweebt, F.L.S., and J. W. Saltee, A.L.S. In Eleven Volumes,
with 1824 full-page coloured plates, super-royal 8vo. {For prices see p. 7.)

'Under the editorship of T. Boswell Syme, F.L S., assisted by Mrs. Lankester, "Sowerby's
English Botany," when finished, will be exhaustive of the subject, and worthy of the branch
of science it illustrates. ... In turning over the charmingly executed hand-coloured plates
of British plants which encumber these volumes with riches, the reader cannot help being
Btruck with the beauty of many of the humblest flowering weeds we tread on with careless
Btep. We cannot dwell upon many of the individuals grouped in the splendid bouquet of
flowers presented in these pages, and it will be sufiicient to state that the work is pledged to
contain a figure of every wild flower indigenous to these isles.' The Times.

'The most complete Flora of Great Britain ever brought out. This great work will find
a place wherever botanical science is cultivated, and the study of our native plants, with all
their fascinating associations, held dear.' Athenceum.

'Nothing can exceed the beauty and accuracy of the coloured figures. 'They are drawn
life-size an advantage which every young amateur will recognise who has vainly puzzled over
drawings in which a celandine is as big as a poppy they are enriched with delicate delinea-
tions of frait, petal, anther, and any organ which happens to be remarkable in its form and
not a few plates are altogether new. ... A clear, bold distinctive type enables the reader

( 6 )

to take in at a glance the arrangement and divisions of every page. And Mrs. Lankester
has added to the technical description by the editor an extremely interesting popular sketch,
which follows in smaller type. The English, French, and German popular names are given,
and, wherever that delicate and difficult step is at all practicable, their derivation also.
Medical properties, superstitions, and fancies, and poetic tributes and illusions, follow. In
short, there is nothing more left to be desired.' Guardian,

'Without question, this is the standard work on Botany, and indispensable to every
botanist. . . . The plates are most accurate and beautiful, and the entire work cannot be
too strongly recommended to all who are interested in Botany.' Illustrated Neius.

SOWERBY'S ENGLISH BOTANY, Vol. I. contains

All the Plants ranked under the orders Ranunculaeese, Berberidaceae,
Nymphseacese, Papaveracese, and Cruciferse.

SOWERBY'S ENGLISH BOTANY, Vol. II. contains

All the plants ranked under the orders Resedacese, Cistacese, Violaceae,
Droseraceas, Polygalacese, Frankeniacese, Carophjllaceae, Portulacacese,
TaniariscacesB, Elatinacese, Hypericacese, Malvaceae, Tiliaceae, Linacese,
Geraniaceae, Ilicineae, Celastraceae, Rhamnaceae, Sapindaceas.

SOWERBY'S ENGLISH BOTANY, Vol. III. contains

All the Plants ranked under the orders Leguminiferae and Rosaceae.

SOWERBY'S ENGLISH BOTANY, Vol. IV. contains

All the Plants ranked under the orders Lythraceae, Onagraceae, Cucur-
bitacese, Grossulariacese, Crassulaceae, Saxifragaceae, Umbilliferae, Araliaceae,
Cornaceae, Loranthaceae, Caprifoliaceae, Rubiaceae, Valerianacese, and Dip-
saceae.

SOWERBY'S ENGLISH BOTANY, Vol. V. contains

All the Plants ranked under the order Oompositae.

SOWERBY'S ENGLISH BOTANY, Vol. VI. contains

All the Plants ranked under the orders Campanulaceae, Ericaceae, Jas-
minaceae, Apocynaceae, Gentianaceae, Polemoniaceae, Convolvulaceae, Sola-
naceae, Scrophulariaceae, Orobanchaceae, and Verbenaceae.

SOWERBY'S ENGLISH BOTANY, Vol. VII. contains

All the Plants ranked under the orders Labiatse, Boraginaceae, Lentibu-
lariaceae, Primulaceae, Plumbaginaceae, Plantaginaceae, Paronychiaceae, and
Amarantaceae.

SOWERBY'S ENGLISH BOTANY, Vol. VIII. contains

All the Plants ranked under the orders Chenopodiaceae, Polygonaceae,
Eleganaceae, Thymelaceae, Santalaceae, Aristolochiaceae, Empetraceae, Eu-
phorbiaceae, Callitrichaceae, Ceratophyllaceae, Urticaceae, Amentiferse, and
Coniferse.

( 7 )
SOWERBT'S ENGLISH BOTANY, Vol. IX. contains

All the Plants ranked under the orders Typhaceae, Araceoe, Lemnacese,
Naiadaceae, Alismaceae, Hydrocharidaceoe, Orchidaceas, Iridsecese, Amarylli-
daceae, Diascoreaceae, and Liliaceae,

SOWERBY'S ENGLISH BOTANY, Vol. X. contains

All the Plants ranked under the orders Juncaceae and Cyperaceae.

SOWERBY'S ENGLISH BOTANY, Vol. XL contains

All the Plants ranked under the order Graniinaceae.

THE PRICES OF THE VOLUMES ARE

Vol. 1. (Seven Parts) ... ,

Vol. 2. ditto ... .

Vol. 3. (Eight Parts) ... .

Vol. 4. (Nine Parts) ... .

Vol. 5. (Eight Parts) ... .

Vol. 6. (Seven Parts)

Vol. 7. ditto ... .

Vol. 8. (Ten Parts) ... .

Vol. 9. (Seven Parts) ... .

Vol. 10. ditto ... .

Vol. 11. (Six Parts) ... ,

Or, the Eleven Volumes, 22 8s. in cloth; 24 12s. in half morocco; and
28 3s. 6d. whole morocco. Also in 83 Parts, 5s. each,
A Supplementary Volume, containing Ferns and other Cryptogami, in pre-
paration by Peofessoe Boswell (formerly Stme.)

Bound cloth.

Half

morocco.

Mor(

DCCO 1

eleg

s.

d.

s.

d.

S.

d.

1 18

2

2

2

8

6

1 18

2

2

2

8

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2 3

2

7

2

13

6

2 8

2

12

2

18

6

2 3

2

7

2

13

6

1 18

2

2

2

8

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2

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3

6

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2

3

6

THE COTTAGE-GARDENER'S DICTIONARY.

Describing the Plants, Fruits, and Vegetables desirable for the Garden,
and explaining the Terms and Operations employed in their cultivation.
With a Supplement containing all the new Plants and Varieties to the
year 1869. Edited by Geoege W. Johnson, Editor of the 'Journal of
Horticulture and Cottage Gardener.' Post 8vo., cloth, 6s. 6d. The Sup-
plement separately, sewed, Is. 6d.

'This is perhaps the most perfect work of its kind that has yet been published, and_ is
invaluable to professed gardeners and amateurs. It is scientific, and yet every purely scientific
or Latin term is explained, so that the less highly educated in botany may obtain an
intelligent knowledge of names and varieties. It is practical and full of directions as to the
growth of plants, fruits, and vegetables; and contains descriptions and illustrations of preda-
tory insects, which will be found interesting as well as useful. The editor has had the advantage
of having been able to engage the services of a number of practical and scientific gardeners
in different parts of England, so that his dictionarj' has a value which no mere compiler or
theorist could pretend to give.' Tablet.

'If copiousness be a lexicographical merit, then must this dictionary be said to rank high. It
is literally cramful of information. ... Its miscellaneous essays are numerous and the work
of skilful hands. Of its price we are ignorant, but we may believe the editor when he states
it to be the cheapest work of the kind ever issued from the press.' Zeacfer.

( 8 )

RAMBLES IN SEARCH OF WILD FLOWERS, and How to

Distinguish Them.

By Maegaeet Plties, Author of 'Rambles in Search of Flowerless Plants,'
'British Grrasses,' &c. With 96 coloured figures and numerous cuts. Third
Edition, large post 8vo., 7s. 6d.

' This little book has already, we are pleased to note, attained its third edition. We sincerely
wish it that continuance of public favour which it so well deserves.' Saturday Review,

MRS. LOUDON'S FIRST BOOK OF BOTANY.

Being a Plain and Brief Introduction to that Science for Schools and
Young People. New Edition, revised and enlarged, by David Wooster,
joint editor of Loudon's 'Encyclopaedia of Plants,' Loudon's 'Hortus
Britannicus,' &c., with numerous Engravings. Fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d.

Contents: Chap. I. On the Elementary Organs of Plants. Chap. II.
The Parts into which Plants are Divided by Botanists. Chap. III. The
Natural Divisions of Plants. Chap. IV. Botanical Classifications. Index and
Glossary.

THE BOTANIST'S POCKET-BOOK.

By W. R. Hatwaed. Containing, arranged in a tabulated form, the chiei
characteristics of British Plants, Fcap. 8vo. flexible binding for the
pocket, Second Edition Revised, 4s. 6d.

This Volume is intended as a handy Pocket Companion for the Botanist in the
field, and will enable him to identify on the spot the plants he may meet with
in his researches. Besides the characteristics of species and varieties, it contains
the Botanical name, Common name, Soil or Situation, Colour, Growth, and time
of Flowering of every plant, arranged under its own order.

'A book of modest pretensions and not without its value. . . . Occupying'not much over
two hundred pages of paper in limp cloth binding, it will be no great burden to the pocket
or knapsack, and may frequently be usefully resorted to by a young botanist on the tramp,
leaving more careful study till he gets home.' Nature.

'The diagnoses seem framed with considerable care and judgment, the characteristics having
been well selected and contrasted.' Journal of Botany.

MY GARDEN: ITS PLAN AND CULTURE.

Together with a General Description of its Geology, Botany, and Natural
History. By the late Aleeed Smee, F.R.S. Illustrated with more than
1500 Engravings on Wood. Second Edition, revised, imperial Svo. 21s.

'Mr. Smee seems to be a gardener of the true school. His tastes lead him to cultivate almost
every kind of hardy plants, and there are so many pretty figures of these in his pages as to

make the book worth having for their sakes alone As a sort of recital of the pure

pleasure and interest which even an otherwise busily occupied gentleman may derive from his
garden, the book is of much value.' /^jcW.

'As for the illustrations they are simi^ly perfect Lovers of gardens and lovers of art

will join in prizing this book and in gratitude to Mr. Smee and to those who have so ably
and faithfully seconded his aim.' Graphic.

'This book has the merit of careful observation and a love for the common objects ol

nature which are too often disregarded because they are common.' Pall Mall Gazette.

'Decidedly an interesting and u.seful work. It abounds in information on a variety of points
which the lover of a good garden finds it necessary to know, but for which he does not know
where to turn.' Lancet,

LONDON : GEOEGE BELL & SONS, YOEK STEEET, COVENT GAEDEN.

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