310 SUPPLEMENT ON 



the water flour steeped in goat broth, to attract and catch as 

 many of these fish as he pleased. He could even take them 

 with the hand, being only careful to rub down their spines 

 along the body. They also, however, used to employ more 

 simple means ; a salted anchovy put upon a hook would 

 attract them in great numbers. 



The rest of the history of the sargus was equally natural. 

 A littoral fish, it especially sojourned in the submarine grot- 

 tos, where the sun penetrated through small apertures. Its 

 address in fraying and breaking the line by which it was 

 taken was wonderful. It followed the mullet very closely, 

 and when this last had shaken up the mud the sargus used to 

 swallow the alimentary particles which were thus raised. It 

 laid eggs twice a year, at the period of the equinoxes. 



If all these facts be true, they prove to what a degree the 

 knowledge of the ancients respecting the manners of fish ex- 

 ceeded ours, for the moderns have done nothing but copy 

 them in the instance of the sargus. Neither Belon nor Ron- 

 delet say anything from themselves; still less Gesner and 

 Aldrovaudus : Willughby confines himself to external descrip- 

 tion ; and we almost descend as far as Duhamel before we 

 meet any original observations concerning these fish. 



That naturalist has published, under the name of Sar de 

 Toulon, a description and figure easy to be recognized as the 

 Sargus Eondeletii, only that the caudal spot has been for- 

 gotten. According to the information which he received from 

 Toulon, the sar feeds upon small fishes, small testacea, and 

 Crustacea; but its jaws not being strong it cannot break 

 shells which are somewhat thick, so as to get at the inha- 

 bitants. The sar precipitates itself with avidity on hooks 

 which are baited with little fish, and the fishermen attract it 

 with a paste, composed of cheese, damaged pilchards, and 

 flour; this will not attract fish of the next genus, the 

 Daurades. It is altogether a littoral fish, never remaining 



