ACANTHOPTERYGII. 327 



logy at the commencement of his labours. It is a fish of 

 large size, and very remarkable form, extremely common in 

 the Mediterranean, and renowned for its exquisite flavour. 

 There is no mention made of it among the ichthyologists of 

 the sixteenth century. Duhamel and Bloch, indeed, have 

 represented it ; but the first confines himself to telling us 

 that he brought it from Provence, and the second has paid 

 so little regard to this assertion, that resting the history of 

 the species only on that of an individual wandering in the 

 English Channel, and cast by chance, in 1681, on the coast of 

 Yorkshire, he supposes that it originally came from the re- 

 mote north. These two writers are not more fortunate in their 

 classification of this fish than in its history. They make it 

 a spams, though it presents none of the characters of that 

 genus, nor were other ichthyologists more successful. 



The individual taken in 1681, which partly caused all this 

 confusion, is mentioned by Ray in his Synopsis, under the 

 name of brama marina cauda forcipata. 



It is certain that this fish is a native of the Mediterranean ; 

 that it is very abundant upon certain coasts ; that it attains 

 to a considerable size, is in high estimation, and is conse- 

 quently very dear. The species known up to the present 

 time seems essentially peculiar to the Mediterranean. It is 

 but by accident that it has been occasionally found on the 

 coasts of the ocean. Besides the one we have mentioned, 

 and another subsequently taken at Swansea, one was caught 

 at Caen in Normandy, in 1828. 



M. Risso tells us that it sojourns in small troops at great 

 depths. In winter it appears to be more full and better 

 flavoured. It spawns in summer, and in that season is tor- 

 mented with intestinal worms, which cause it to become thin 

 and emaciated. 



M. Rudolphi indicates six species of these worms as living 

 in the flesh, or in the intestines of this fish, and M. Cuvier 



