GEN. MUGIL. THE TRUE MULLETS. 245 



which must not be confounded with the Surmullets, 

 already discussed. The members of this genus have 

 the two dorsal fins distinct and wide apart ; their 

 scales are large ; their mouth is small, cleft across 

 at the end of the muzzle with an angular elevation 

 in the middle of the upper lip, into which a protu- 

 berance of the lower one fits ; their teeth are very 

 small and delicate, often almost imperceptible ; tlieir 

 gill-covers are broad and projecting, because they 

 enclose a complicated pharyngeal apparatus which 

 prevents any food reaching the gullet which is not 

 liquid or very fine, the passage being very tortuous ; 

 and in their stomach there is a kind of gizzard like 

 that of birds, and the rudiments of which, we may 

 add, are common to nearly all animals, not except- 

 ing Man. They have thus scarcely any ofi"ensive 

 weapons, and hence, notwithstanding their great 

 size, they can scarcely attack any other fish, while 

 they have many enemies themselves, of which, ac- 

 cording to the Prince of Musignano, the Basse, 

 Perca lahrax^ is the most formidable. The species 

 are very numerous, upwards of thirty belonging to 

 the Indian seas alone, and nearly as many having 

 been discovered in Europe, Africa, and America : 

 several are found in fresh water; and hence the 

 establishment of their specific characters has not 

 been an easy task. 



These valuable fishes are not frequently captured 

 in the deep sea, but in shallow creeks, reaches, and 

 «alt-water ponds, whither their instinct leads them 

 in vast crowds, and where, from time immemorial. 



