ON THE ECONOMICAL USES OF FISHES. 205 



ancient Romans, and celebrated by their poets, are 

 now-a-days little tbouglit of, though still as abun- 

 dant as ever. Among these are the surmullet, or 

 red mullet, Mullus barlatus, taken also on our 

 southern coasts, and the murcena^ a fish nearly allied 

 to the conger, formerly treated of, but which is, even 

 to this day, an article of considerable importance in 

 various parts of the Mediterranean. 



Shagreen, of inferior quality, hoAvever, is obtained 

 from the skin of several species of rays and dog-fish, 

 but the best is obtained by subjecting the hides of 

 the horse and ass to a peculiar process, best under- 

 stood in Turkey, from which country it is exported 

 to most parts of the civilized globe, and used for 

 covering cases of difi'erent kinds, especially those for 

 mathematical instruments. From the skin of the 

 Raja sephen^ a native of the Red Sea, is procured a 

 beautiful kind of shagreen, the galluchat of the 

 French, which is often tinged with blue, green, or 

 red, and afterwards polished, when it is used for 

 covering telescope cases and other similar articles. 

 In China, another species of ray furnishes a mate- 

 rial which is employed for making scabbards. The 

 skin of many fishes, which have that texture suffi- 

 ciently rough for the purpose, is used in Britain 

 and abroad for polishing wood, and Pliny mentions, 

 that the Romans were in the habit of using a sub- 

 stance of this sort for the purpose of polishing both 

 wood and ivory. The angel-shark, perhaps, affords 

 the best, and this appears to have been the kind 

 used by the ancients. 



