372 SUPPLEMENT ON 



have an odour of violets. This was the part more especially 

 in request among the ancients, and which, as Athenaeus in- 

 forms us, they considered a divine viand. 



Hie scarus, sequoreis qui venit obesus ab undis, 

 Visceribus bonus est, ceetera vile sapit. 



Mart. Ep. 84. Lib. XIII. 



This scarus lives in numerous troops in the holes of the 

 rocks which border the shores of the islands of the Archi- 

 pelago. It does not come out readily, and the Greek fisher- 

 men assert that at the head of each troop thei*e is constantly a 

 chief. It is taken only by the line. When one of these fishes 

 has bitten at the hook, it is attached to a thread and left in 

 the water. Its companions abandon their dark retreats to sur- 

 round it, and are finally taken themselves. 



It has been long remarked that this scarus, unlike most 

 other fishes, was not carnivorous, but fed upon the fuci and 

 algae, which grow on the rocks at the bottom of the sea. It 

 also seeks after ordinary vegetables, and the leaves of peas 

 and beans may be employed with success as a bait in fishing 

 for it. 



Many naturalists have accorded to it the faculty of ruminat- 

 ing, which is an error. Others assure us that it possesses a 

 voice, another mistake. It is possible that it may make some 

 noise by its movements. 



The Centriscus (scolopax) is an inhabitant of the Me- 

 diterranean, and sometimes to be seen in the markets of Rome 

 and other towns of Italy. Its general colour is a soft and 

 agreeable red. The considerable elongation of its muzzle 

 and its tubular form have caused it to be compared to a num- 

 ber of different objects, sometimes to a woodcock, sometimes 

 to an elephant, sometimes to a bellows, &c. Thus at Rome 



