SURMULLETS. 77 



Messengers were sent at great expense to the 

 most distant shores of the Mediterranean to pro- 

 cure these fishes, which, when brought home, were 

 kept ahve in vivaria or tanks of sea-water. By 

 a refinement of luxury, the Mullets were even 

 brought to table alive, that the guests might feast 

 their eyes upon the changes of hue which flit 

 over the bodies of these fishes in the agonies of 

 death. " The fishes," says Cicero, " swim under 

 the couches of the guests. A Mullet is not con- 

 sidered fresh unless it actually die before their 

 eyes ; they gaze upon it exposed to view in glass 

 bowls, and watch the various tints that play over 

 it one after another as it passes from life to death." 

 The species selected for this inhuman exhibition 

 appears to have been the smaller and more rare 

 M. barbatus, which is destitute of yellow stripes, 

 and does not exceed six inches in length. The 

 name of the genus Mullus is said to have been 

 given to these fishes from their hue resembling 

 that of the Malleus or scarlet sandal worn by the 

 Roman Consuls and Emperors. 



The curious organs called beards (cirri) that are 

 attached to the chin in these and some other fishes 

 are connected with the search after food. Mr. 

 Yarrell has some interesting observations on this 

 subject, which we shall here quote from his valu- 

 able volume on British Fishes, " These cirri are 

 generally placed near the mouth, and they are 

 mostly found in those fishes that are known to 

 feed very near the bottom. On dissecting these 

 appendages in the Mullet, the common Cod, and 

 others, I found them to consist of an elongated 

 and slender flexible cartilage, invested by nume- 

 rous longitudinal muscular and nervous fibres, and 



