GOBIES AND BLENNIES. 161 



Mullet swim in large shoals, roving from place 

 to place, near the surface of the sea. When the 

 fishermen perceive an unusual rippling of the 

 water, they recognise in it a shoal of fishes ; and if 

 it have a peculiar blue appearance, they know the 

 shoal to be Mullet. They are chiefly caught with 

 the seine. Large quantities are sometimes taken. 

 Mr. Thompson states that on the 1st of May 

 1 838, seven hundred weight of these fishes were 

 caught at a single draught, and on the same night, 

 nine hundred-weight were secured by the crew 

 of another boat. Mr. Couch has heard of two 

 tons' weight being taken at one time. All of 

 these statements refer to the Thick-lipped Mul- 

 let. A Mullet is considered large if it weigh 

 five or six pounds ; but ten or twelve pounds 

 are sometimes attained, and one is mentioned by 

 Mr. Thompson, which weighed fourteen pounds 

 and three-quarters. 



Family XIV. Gobiad^. 



{Gobies and Blennies.) 



This is a vast assemblage of small and unim- 

 portant fishes, scarcely any of which are of the least 

 value to man, and of which the great majority 

 possess little beauty to recommend them to no- 

 tice. Some of them, however, are distinguished 

 by peculiarities of instinct and of habit, of very 

 high interest to the philosophical student of 

 nature. The Prince of Canino, in his last con- 

 spectus, elevates this group into the rank of an 

 Order, including in it the Frog-fishes, which we 

 shall consider next after the present, as well 



M 



