ICHTHYOLOGY. 



177 



Acnnthop- The same authors attribute to it a feeling still more ex- 

 terygii. traordinary, — a lively passion for goats, which it exhibits 

 Spariilaf. |,y always swimming with great rapidity towards those 

 '^^^ animals, and indulging in playful gambols before them. 

 So blind was this passion, that a fisherman (it was so al- 

 leged) might catch as many as he pleased by disguising 

 himself with the skin and horns of a goat, and scattering 

 in the water flour steeped in goats' broth. We have some- 

 where seen a doggrel rhyme in allusion to this strange 

 and foundationless fancy (it may have been an attempted 

 translation of an ancient epigram), in which it was ex- 

 pressed that the Sargus 



Went courting she-goats on the grassy shore, 

 Horning those husbands who had horns before. 



The best-known species inhabits the Mediterranean. 

 It is the S. Rondektiiot Cuv. (Plate CCC. fig. 12.) The 

 American shores produce several others, one of which 

 (S. ovis) is called the sheep s-1iead by the Americans. 

 Dr Mitchell speaks in the most eulogistic terms of the 

 superexcellence of its flesh, and of the high esteem in 

 which it is held at the tables of New York. It yields in 

 his opinion to fevi fishes, and is worthy of being served at 

 the most sumptuous entertainments. The price varies 

 from a dollar to a dollar and a half for a middle-sized in- 

 dividual, and above that size the price ranges even so 

 high as from four to seven pounds sterling. They some- 

 times weigh from fourteen to fifteen pounds. The fish- 

 ery of this species forms an object of importance along 

 the coasts of the state of New York. It approaches those 

 of Long Island in the hot season from the month of June 

 till the middle of September, after which it seems to seek 

 retirement iri the deep abysses of the ocean. As they 

 swim in troops, they may be advantageously fished for 

 with the net, and many hundreds are sometimes taken at 

 a single cast. With the great nets used at Rayner town, 

 and the two islands, thousands are drawn ashore. They 

 are immediately packed in ice, and despatched during the 

 cool of the night to the markets of New York. It is diffi- 

 cult tn take the sheep's-head with a line, because it con- 

 trives to snap the very hooks asunder with its cutting 

 teeth. 



Genus Chrysophris, Cuv. Round molars on the 

 sides of the jaw, forming at least three rows on the upper 

 one ; a few conical or blunted teeth in front. 



The species of this genus are numerous, and extended 

 through many seas. Those of the Mediterranean are 

 only two in number, and are called Daurades by the 

 French, no doubt from the Latin Aurata, a term applied 

 to them by ancient authors. The Greeks named them 

 Chrysophris, which signifies golden eye-brow, in allusion 

 to the brilliant spot of gold which the common species 

 bears between its eyes. That the Aurafa of the Latins 

 was identical with the Chrysophris of the Greeks, may be 

 inferred from a passage in Pliny, which is obviously bor- 

 rowed from Aristotle, and where the former word is used 

 as the translation of the latter. According to Columella, 

 the Aurata was among the number of the fishes brought 

 up by the Romans in their vivaria ; and the inventor of 

 these vivaria, one Sergius Grata, is supposed to have de- 

 rived his surname from the fish in question. jElian tells 

 us that the Chrysophris is the most timid of all fishes, 

 and that branches of poplars planted in the sand during 

 a reflux so terrified a party of these fishes which were 

 carried upwards by the flux, that in the succeeding re- 

 flux they did not dare to pass the poplars, but allowed 

 themselves to be taken by the hand. 



The only species wo shall here notice is the Chryso- Acanthop- 

 phris aurnta (Plate CCC. fig. 14), described under the terygii. 

 name of Gilt-head hy Pennant.' This fish seldom quits the Sj^ridae. 

 vicinity of the shore, and grows extremely fat in the salt ^'~>"*^ 

 ponds. We owe to Duhamel whatever information we 

 possess regarding its habits. The fishermen informed that 

 author that it agitates the sand forcibly with its tail, so 

 as to discover the shell- fish which may lie beneath con- 

 cealed. It is extremely fond of muscles, and its near 

 presence is sometimes ascertained by the noise which it 

 makes while breaking their shells with its teeth. It great- 

 ly dreads cold, and many were observed to perish during 

 the severe winter of 1766. The Gilt-head is a British 

 species, but of extremely rare occurrence. 



Genus Pagrus, Cuv. Differs from the preceding by 

 having only two rows of small rounded molar teeth in 

 each jaw; the front teeth are either like those of a wool 

 card, or small and crowded. 



We have figured the best-known species, Pagrus vul- 

 garis, C\jim. ( Sp. pagrus, Linn.), the braize or becker of 

 English authors, which appears to be confined chiefly to 

 the Mediterranean. (See Plate CCC. fig. 13.) Its sy- 

 nonyms seem confused and contradictory, and are great- 

 ly mingled in the works both of British and foreign au- 

 thors with those of certain Pagelli and other Sparidae. 

 Its history as a British species is obscure. Dr Fleming 

 no doubt records it in his British Animals, p. 211; but 

 as he indicates it by " a dark spot at the base of the pec- 

 torals," it is probable that his actual species was Pagellus 

 centrodontus, Cuv. synonymous with Sparus orphus of Linn. 

 Mr Couch, however, observes that it appears on the Cor- 

 nish coast in moderately deep water throughout the sum- 

 mer and autumn, and retires in winter and spring.'- 



Genus Pagellus, Cuv. Teeth nearly resembling 

 those of Pagrus, but the molars, equally in two rows, are 

 smaller ; the conical teeth in front are slender and more 

 numerous ; and the physiognomy is different in conse- 

 quence of a more elongated muzzle. 



Several species occur in the European seas. P. erythri- 

 nus, commonly called the Spanish Bream (Plate CCC. 

 fig. 15), is very abundant in the Mediterranean, and even 

 enters the Atlantic, advancing pretty far north. It is 

 very rare along the British shores. The fish figured by 

 Donovan {British Fishes, iv. pi. 89) as the Sparus aurata 

 of Linn. (Pennant's Gilt-head) belongs to our present ge- 

 nus. It is the Pagellus centrodontus just before referred 

 to, which Pennant also erroneously regarded as synony- 

 mous with Sparus pagrus of Linn. It is by no means a 

 rare British species, although usually concealed by our 

 modern authors under some other name. It is the sea- 

 hream of Couch and Montagu. 



Genus Dentex, Cuv. Conical teeth even on the sides 

 of the maxillae, usually in a single row, and of which some 

 of the anterior are lengthened into large hooks. 



The Dentex vulgaris, a fish of a silvery hue, shaded 

 into blue upon the back, with reddish pectoral fins, and 

 sometimes attaining to the weight of twenty pounds, has 

 occurred upon the Sussex coast. The specimen figured by 

 Donovan, pi. 73, was obtained in Billingsgate market. 



Genus Cantharis, Cuv. Teeth small and closely 

 set all round the jaws, the outer range being the strong- 

 est ; body elevated and thick ; muzzle short ; jaws not pro- 

 tractile. 



The species of this genus, of which four inhabit the 

 European seas, are very voracious, and easily taken by 

 hook and line. We may name as an example the fish 

 called the black bream by Montagu-' ( Cantharus griseus, 



' The Giluhead of Donovan and Turton is, however, another species, the Pagellus centrodontus. Cut. 

 ' Linn. Trans, vol Xiv. p. 79. 3 Mem. of Wernerian Society, vol. ii. p. 451. 



VOL. XII. Z 



