ACANTHOPTERYGII. 277 



venomous, as has been asserted by Pliny and a host of his 

 followers. Such, however, is the fear inspired by this fish, 

 that by a police regulation in France the fishermen are di- 

 rected to cut off these spines before they expose the fish for 

 sale. 



Mullus barbatus, Lin. The Red Mullet has for ages had 

 the misfortune, by its personal beauty and the savory quality 

 of its flesh, to excite some of the worst passions of man's 

 degenerate nature. It stands pre-eminent in the annals of 

 human luxury, cruelty, and folly. 



This fish has always been very abundant in the Mediter- 

 ranean, though it is found also on all the coasts of Europe, 

 and is, as every one knows, by no means uncommon in the 

 London market, especially about the mackerel season. It 

 feeds on Crustacea and on dead animals of almost all kinds, 

 and brings forth three times in the year. 



The great and rich among the Romans were in the habit, 

 according to Varro, of preserving the red mullet in artificial 

 waters, as one of the most convincing proofs of their indi- 

 vidual wealth. Cicero has ridiculed the senseless ostentation 

 with which they exhibited fine specimens of this fish, domi- 

 ciliated in their own ponds ; but Seneca and Pliny have ren- 

 dered their countrymen odious in the eyes of posterity, and 

 of other nations, by relating the cruelty with which in their 

 disgusting orgies they revelled over the dying mullet, while 

 the bright red colour of its healthy state passed through va- 

 rious shades of purple, violet, bluish, and white, as life gradu- 

 ally receded, till the convulsions of death put an end to the 

 pleasing spectacle. They had these devoted fish enclosed 

 in water in vessels with sides of crystal, over a slow fire on 

 their tables, and derived a fiend-like pleasure from the linger- 

 ing sufferings of their victims as the increasing heat of the 

 water gradually destroyed them, before the final operation of 

 boiling had rendered them fit to gratify the refined taste of 



