COMBER. 197 



some amusement to the reader, if there be introduced to him 

 a little sprinkling of what was known as science in the middle 

 ages, as handed down by one of the then shining lights of the 

 world. Speaking of the medical virtues of some creatures, 

 Albertus Magnus says of the Foca, which is the Fuka, Phykis, 

 or Phykos, (not Phokos or Phokee,) of Gesner, the Sea 

 Perch, that it is a well-known fish, called by the Chaldeans 

 Daulubur, and by the Greeks Labor. Take its tongue and a 

 small portion of its heart, and infuse them in water, and the 

 mixture thus made will cause a multitude of fishes to gather 

 together. Place the same under your arm, and if you have 

 a trial at law it will make the judge your friend. 



The largest size of this fish is about ten inches long; the 

 body compressed, deep. Gill-covers and body covered with 

 ciliated scales, which adhere firmly. Under jaw longest; teeth 

 in both, and in the palate, numerous, irregular, sharp, and 

 incurved; the tongue small and loose. Eyes high in the 

 head. First plate of the gill-covers with the border serrated, 

 the second with two (in the female one) obscure spines, 

 scarcely to be distinguished, except in shape, from the scales. 

 Gill membrane with seven rays, curved, the uppermost broad. 

 The dorsal fin begins opposite the ventrals, the first portion 

 having spinous rays, the second, which passes to near the tail, 

 expanded, with soft rays; anal fin opposite the second portion 

 of the dorsal. Pectoral fins longer and more pointed than in 

 most of this family of fishes. Tail a little concave. Lateral 

 line nearer the back. Colour of the back a rich brown, in 

 many examples throwing off bands which pass to the belly. 

 The sides a pale red, saffron-coloured, or yellow, usually 

 fainter below. Two or three waved parallel whitish or faint 

 blue lines pass along the sides from head to tail, except that 

 the lowest ends near the posterior border of the anal fin. On 

 the gill-cover are several faint blue stripes running obliquely 

 downward and backward. The fins are striped lengthwise, 

 with red and yellow; the tail often mottled or striped with 

 the same colours. Pectorals and ventrals yellow. 



Fin rays dorsal ten and fourteen, pectoral fifteen, ventral six, 

 anal two and seven, caudal seventeen. 



