366 SUPPLEMENT ON 



tells us that there is something ludicrous in the disposition of 

 the mullets, for if they are afraid they conceal their heads, 

 and thus imagine that they are entirely withdrawn from the 

 observation of their enemies. 



When towards the end of spring and the commencement 

 of summer the fishes of this species, excited by the necessity 

 of living in the fresh water, approach the shores and advance 

 towards the mouths of rivers, they form such numerous troops 

 that the water through which they are seen, without being 

 clearly distinguished, appears to be bluish : this particularly 

 happens in the Garonne and the Loire at these periods. 



The fishermen there adopt the plan of surrounding these 

 legions of mullets with nets, the inclosure of which they gra- 

 dually contract, taking care to make a noise to frighten the 

 fish, and oblige them to press together, and heap themselves 

 as it were one upon the other. 



Of the mullets thus taken some are eaten fresh, others are 

 salted and smoke-dried ; it is with their eggs salted, washed, 

 pressed, and dried, that the preparation called botarcha is 

 made, which is a condiment greatly in request in Italy and 

 the southern provinces of France. 



The flesh of this mullet is tender, delicate, and of an agree- 

 able flavour; it is fatter and more in estimation when it is 

 taken in the fresh water. The ancients, who from the time of 

 Aristotle were acquainted with this fish, had it in great re- 

 quest, and the consumption of it is still very considerable in 

 most of the southern countries of Europe. According to the 

 report of Athengeus, those mullets were formerly in very high 

 esteem which were taken in the neighbourhood of Sinope and 

 Abdera, while, as Paulus Jovius informs us, those were very 

 little prized which had lived in the salt marsh of Orbitello, in 

 Tuscany, in the Lagunes of Ferrara and Venice, in those of 

 Padua and Chiozza, and such as came from the neighbour- 

 hood of Commachio and Ravenna. 



