doree. 110 



opposite direction, it caused the Doree to be regarded as sacred 

 to Neptune, the deity of the ocean. An explanation, which 

 ascribes the names of Chalkeus and Faber to its sooty appearance, 

 and the numerous tools signified by the angular spines with 

 which the outline of its body is studded, was probably an 

 after-thought. Its common English name appears to have been 

 obtained from the French language, as signifying the yellow 

 or gilded appearance which this fish not seldom displays when 

 fresh from the ocean; but Janitore (the Doorkeeper) and Adoree 

 (the Worshipped) have also been claimed as affording the 

 proper etymology. 



This fish is common in the Mediterranean, and along the 

 south coasts of Europe, as also on the west and south of the 

 British Islands; but it becomes more scarce as we proceed 

 northward, and is accounted rare in Scotland and the north of 

 England and Ireland. It is not the least uncommon portion 

 of its history that it is met with also in the sea of Japan and 

 Australia, although not known in the ocean between us and 

 those distant regions. 



The motions of the Doree are in some degree influenced by 

 the seasons, so that it is more frequently and abundantly caught 

 in the summer and autumn; but its subordinate wanderings are 

 guided by the prey it follows after, in the pursuit of which its 

 appetite is eager and even ravenous. From the stomach of a 

 Doree that measured twelve inches and a half in length, I have 

 taken twenty-five Flounders, some of which were two inches 

 and a half long, three half-grown Father-lashers, and five stones 

 from the beach, one of which was an inch and a half in 

 length; the latter having been swallowed, as we may suppose, 

 in the eagerness of devouring the fish from the ground. So 

 gorged was this fish with its gluttony, as to have become 

 helpless and unable to escape being taken with the hand. 



Athough its ordinary motions are but slow, it also at times 

 shews itself capable of securing a prey possessed of nimbly 

 active powers; and this it effects by suddenly protruding its 

 capacious jaws, and as quickly swallowing what it obtains. The 

 Common Cuttle, ( Loligo vulgaris,) of a few inches in length, 

 has been found in the stomach of a Doree that measured only 

 four inches. Pilchards also are a favourite morsel which it 

 follows with perseverance, and thus it becomes often enclosed 



