GREY MULLET. 9 



and R. parva, serjnda, and miliolce. Of these mollusca, specimens 

 of Rissoa labiosa three lines in length were the largest, and the 

 KeUia rubra, from the smallest size to its maximum of little 

 more than a line in diameter, the most abundant. In the 

 profusion of specimens it affords the stomach of one of these 

 Mullets is quite a storehouse to a conchologist. In addition to 

 these there were various species of minute Crustacea. The only 

 inanimate matter that appeared were fragments of Zoster a 

 marina and conferva;, -which were probably taken into the 

 stomach on account of the adhering mollusca. To this nutritious 

 food may perhaps be attributed the great size this fish attains 

 in Belfast Bay." ^Ir. Thompson adds, that in the "Animal 

 Kingdom" of Cuvicr, Pennant's figure of the Grey Mullet in 

 his "British Zoology," is referred to as M. capita, but in the 

 "History of Fishes," by Cuvier and Valenciennes, it is believed 

 to represent M. chelo. In this last work Donovan's figure of 

 the Mullet, pi. 15, is considered a very good representation of 

 M. chelo, although Yarrell and Jenyns refer to both figures as 

 M. cajnto. 



I -will here add that in the references I have made, as in 

 the history given, my opinion respecting the species is the same 

 as that of Yarrell and Jenyns, and that our history applies only 

 to the identical species we have described and represented. It 

 has been remarked by different observers that this fish is 

 sometimes, and perhaps often, seen to grope in the soft flooring 

 of the bottom, with the help of its very sensitive lips and 

 curiously-formed mouth, by which every particle is closely 

 examined, and to swallow a mixture of decaying vegetable and 

 animal substances, with sand, of the latter of which alone I 

 have obtained from a single stomach so much as would fill a 

 tablespoon ; but no one will suppose that the sand so swallowed 

 ■was a principal object of search. The very minute mollusks 

 mentioned by Mr. Thompson would at least be as acceptable 

 as the sand, and without doubt much more so; but that this 

 Mullet can live and thrive where such food is beyond its 

 reach is out of the question. 



No shell or substance beyond the size given by Mr. Thompson 



can pass into the stomach of the Mullet, for, after the close 



sensitive examination it has undergone at the entrance of the 



mouth, it has to be strained through a sifting apparatus in the 



VOL III. C 



