nUAY MfM.ICTS. 



331 



fies, though it In liighh ]ir<>li;il)h> fh;i1 iiiiniy of them 

 iire species oiih in n.-mic 



I'lMiu nldcn tiiiics ihc uciius h;is hccii well kiKiwii 

 ill MediteiTMiiciiii coiintrics. Aims roi'i.i;, wlio calls the 

 gemis /{saTQtv^, gi\cs the names oi' |iei'liii|)S four or five 

 species, at least two or three. \iz. x''^-""' {npdayttoe), 

 uv'§u)>' (n8p«icig) and itHfaZnc;''. The Jtoiiiaiis called the 

 genus Mufl'iV', and it was under this name that it was 

 introduced li\- Aki'kih' iiild modern ichllunlogw 



Tile Gra\' Mullets lia\e gained great prdiiiiiieiice 

 from tile excellent tiavour of their flesh and their pecu- 

 liar manner of life. 'i"he\ are gregarious, and we lia\'e 

 many telling observations of their lo\c of societA . In 

 search of food thev a])proacli the coast in shoals, espe- 

 eialh' where the bottom is dead, i. e. full of decompos- 

 ing materials, for it is here they find food in greatest 

 abundance, or thev may even ascend the rivers. In the 

 River Loire tlicA have been caught above Saiimur', and 

 thev formerh' entered the River Somme in Ma^, says 

 ]^i>AN('HAi;i>', in such enormous shoals that the river for 

 days was full of them: but since tlie opening of the canal 

 between Abbeville and tlie sea, they have deserted this 

 river, according to Makcotfe. These migrations to 

 brackish or fresh water have given rise, in many places, 

 to important fisheries for the Gray Mullets. "Although 

 ^lullets," says Bkown-Goode'^, "are sibundant almost 

 everywhere, it is probable that no stretches of seacoast 

 in tlie world are so bountifulh- supjilied with them as 

 those of our own Southern Atlantic and (rulf states, 

 with tlieir broad margin of partially or entirely land- 

 locked brackish water and the numerous estuaries and 

 broad ri\er mouths." Without any other inea.ns of de- 

 fence, and pursued as they are, not only by man, but 

 by numbers of fishes of prey and seabirds, they escape 

 by the extraordinar\- (piiekness and strength of their 

 movements. They ha\e always been notorious for their 

 powers of leaping over or forcing their way under the 



nets and seines with which the lishei'men luive barred 

 their path or surroiin(ie<l them. The Neapolitan fisher- 

 men described to Cktti'' four kiinls of Gray Mullets: 

 ■The tii'st, Cefalo. is the largest and has the largest 

 head. The second, O.i.khic, with more pointed head, 

 takes only one jump when it leaps. Tlie third Tmnula 

 or Liza, forms a circle with its tail when it leajis, the 

 head being the centre of the circle. The fourth, Coii- 

 caditii, attains a weight of more than two pounds. \\ hen 

 it lea])S out of the water, it skims the surface like the 

 small tint stones thrown b\' children in tlie game ol 

 'ducks and drakes'." "At Mevagis.sey, says Day'', "a 

 shoal entered the harbour, and having been perceived, 

 the entrance was a1 once barred by nets. The fish first 

 tried to jump o^•er, but a net was raised so as to bar 

 that route. The water was ver^- clear, and the fish 

 were seen to swim round and round, to try to find an 

 exit. Next they attempted to get under the fV)Ot rope: 

 at last one made a push, but became meshed. When 

 this was done, another came and laid {sic) beside it, 

 and nothing could drive it away. In short, all e.scaped 

 but these two." 



The method resorted to by the Gray Mullets of 

 seeking escape \)\ jumping over the net is instinctive, 

 and this instinct, like others, is the outcome of here- 

 ditary and gro\ving habit. "Even Mullets of extremeh^ 

 small size,"' writes Couch', "have been seen to throw 

 themselves, head or tail foremost, over the head lim; 

 of a net, where it would have seemed much easier for 

 them to have passed through a mesh." 



There are many instances related of the co-opera- 

 tion of individuals in a shoal, in the attempt to escape 

 from their prison; and when only one tish has shoAvn 

 the way, the others instantly follow. The same remark 

 also applies, however, to other fishes when in shoals; 

 and it is hardly probable that the Mullets possess the 

 ixiwer of calculating or estimating the nature of the 



" The zoulogical system of Aristotle must naturally not be judged by the requirements of modem times. In some passages of his 

 writings /Mfalog is a species of /.eacqeiq, in other passages yElioi' and uviiov are species of yJqicJ.og. the former being rtQoayetoc, i. e. 

 a shore-fish, and the latter TtEQaiag, i. e. a form living outside the archipelago or far out at sea. 



*■ Chakleton derives this word from mHci/.« (for the fish, according to Aristotle, eats its own slime); Isidorus regards it as a con- 

 traction of mnltttm ngilis. 



<■ Gen. Pise. p. 32. In the Appendix to .Sijn. Pise. Artedi adopted a genus Clieloii, with species thelo and myj:o, but only on the 

 authority of Aristotle, Gaza, Rondelet and Gesneh. 



•' Duiiamel, Trnitc des peches. II part., VI sect., p. 144. 



' Poiss. d'eau doiive de la France, p. 251. 



■^ Fisher, a. Fisher. Ind. U. S.. Sect. I, p. 4.50. 



:' Natimj. r. Sardiiiien, Th. 3 (Transl., Leipsic 1784), p. 203. 



'' Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. I, p. 229. 



' Fish. Brit. Is!., vol. Ill, p. 12. 



