8 GREY MULLET. 



which he mentions immediately after them, and against which they 

 were believed to feel a perpetual antipathy. The charge of 

 imbecility brought against this fish by Pliny, as shewn by the 

 fact that it hides its head for concealment when alarmed, and 

 then acts as if persuaded that its whole body was concealed, 

 is, as Cuvier has remarked the opposite to what we know of 

 the character of these fishes; of which the vigilance, when 

 exposed to observation, is very great, although this is accom- 

 panied with little appearance that might lead us to suspect its 

 existence. 



In the desire for food, which is a predominant appetite in 

 the generalitv of fishes, the Mullet appears to shew itself 

 fastidious; but this appearance arises from the fact that from 

 natural causes its range of choice is limited, and of no other 

 kind of fish can it be so safely affirmed that it rarely selects 

 anything for subsistence that is endued with life. Such also 

 was the opinion of Oppian: — 



"iliillets, unlike the rest, are just and mild, 

 ISTo fish they harm, by them no seas are spoil'd; 

 jSTot on their own nor diiferent kinds they prey, 

 But equal laws of common right obey. 

 Undreaded they with guiltless pleasure feed 

 On fattening slime, or bite the sea-grown weed. 

 Each licks his mate " 



It must be confessed, indeed, that this last particular is not 

 literallv true, for the ^Mullet will devour a worm when presented 

 to it, and it is even fished for successfully with a fly; but 

 from Mr. Thompson's account of the habits of the Mullet, as 

 he described them in his "Natural History of Ireland," vol. iv, 

 some doubts may be felt whether he speaks of the same species. 

 He savs! — "The contents of the stomachs I have examined at 

 various seasons, presented (from the minute size of the objects,) 

 many hundred-fold greater destruction of animal life than I have 

 ever witnessed on a similar inspection of the food of any bird 

 or fish. From a single stomach I have obtained what would fill 

 a large-sized breakfast- cup, of the following species of bivalve 

 and univalve mollusca, which had been taken alive, — Mytilus 

 edulis, Modiola ^;«/;z/«wa, fof these very small individuals,) 

 Kellia rubra, Skonea dej^ressa, LiUorina retusa, Hissoa lahiosa. 



