244 GILTHEAD. 



Cocks, of Falmouth, has met with a couple of these fishes in 

 the fish-market of that town, and his remarks on them were, 

 that one was fat, and rich in colour, the length sixteen 

 inches and a half, the breadth six inches; the second appeared 

 sickly, the mouth small, lips pouting and livid, the colour like 

 tarnished silver. 



This fish is said to be highly sensible of the impressions 

 of much heat and cold, so that when these prevail it retires 

 to deeper water; and, according to Pliny, this retreat, in the 

 heat of summer, lasts for sixty days. 



^Elian represents it as amongst the most timid of fishes; and 

 he gives as a reason for this opinion, that they were stopped 

 and caught at the retreat of the tide by a circle of brushes 

 stuck upright in the sand, through which they were afraid to 

 urge their way. This, it seems, was a mode of fishing adopted 

 on the shores of Greece at such times as there was some 

 recess of the tide, so that when the sea again ebbed the fish 

 were left dry on the shore; and something similar to it is 

 practised at this time on shelving shores even in our own 

 country. 



The relative dimensions of a British example have already 

 been given, but sometimes it is found of a much larger size, 

 so as even to approach to the weight of ten pounds. In its 

 general outline it bears no distant resemblance to the Common 

 Sea Bream, but with a little more prominence of profile. 

 Willoughby has noticed that it is thin at the back, and 

 Linnaeus has copied this particular into his specific character. 

 But it is particularly distinguished by its colours, of which 

 Lacepede has afforded a glowing description. It shines, says 

 he, with the mild lustre of silver and sky blue, the latter, 

 which is the colour of its back, being more heightened by 

 the silvery tints which are spread over the rest of its body; 

 and both these colours are rendered the more conspicuous by 

 the black of the dorsal and caudal fins, as well as by the 

 longitudinal brown lines which pass along the sides. A golden 

 half circle appears above the eyes, with the concavity directed 

 backward; and a dash of black on the gill-cover and origin 

 of the tail, form a beautiful contrast with the silver of the 

 scales, while a third spot of a similar kind, but of lively and 

 variegated red rests a little above the root of the pectoral fins. 



