ICHTHYOLOGY. 



191 



Acanthop. other acantliopterygian fishes, is the absence of spines to developed, give an angular form to the oesophagus resem- Acanthop. 



terygii. fjjjj ^fjg^ except the single one to the ventrals, which itself, 

 \,^^^IJ^ though simple, is neither stiff nor pointed. The body is 

 elongated, and almost cylindrical ; the muzzle short and 

 obtuse ; the head depressed, and furnished with polygonal 

 scales, or rather plates, as in Aiuibas. It may be said, how- 

 ever, that it is by means of the solitary ventral spines alone 

 that they exhibit the normal character of the great division 

 of acanthopterygian fishes with which we have been hitherto 

 engaged. They thus, by such ambiguous combination of cha- 

 racter, almost break up the grand distinction of acanthop- 

 terygian and malacopterygian species, a distinction other- 

 wise so well grounded as to have hitherto produced no dis- 

 ruption of the relations of natural affinity. " If it were pos- 

 sible," says Cuvier, " to admit that anomalous beings exist- 

 ed in nature, there is certainly none to which the title is so 

 justly due as to the Ophicephali." Their watery reservoirs 

 enable them to journey from one marsh to another, and 

 they are moreover so tenacious of life that their bowels 

 may he torn out, and themselves cut to pieces, without pro- 

 ducing immediate death. They are often thus carried about 

 alive, or sold in the markets slice by slice ; and the con- 

 sumers refuse to give the best price when so much has 

 been cut away that the remainder ceases to move. This 

 seems a parallel case to that of the beef-steaks from the 

 oxen of Abyssinia. We here figure as an example of this 

 singular genus the Ophicephalus slriatus, a species which 

 seems spread over the whole of India. See Plate CCCIII. 

 fig. 12. Buchanan describes another species under the 

 name of Gachua ( Oph. marginalus, Cuv. ?), which some- 

 times grows to a foot in length. It is very common in the 

 l)onds and fosses of Bengal, and is one of the species most 

 generally believed to fall from the clouds in wet weather. 

 During the first heavy showers of the rainy season, they 

 are certainly seen crawling on the grass ; but their object 

 in so doing is doubtless to escape from the corrupted water 

 of the narrow dykes which they had previously inhabited, 

 and to go in search of a purer element, and a fresherand more 

 ample food. The species called Barca by Buchanan lives 

 in holes in the vertical banks of the Brahmapootra, with no- 

 thing visible but its head, that it may the more readily ob- 

 serve and seize its prey. It is a large fish, measuring three 

 feet in length, and is regarded as good eating. On the 

 W'hole, however, the species of this genus are consumed ra- 

 ther by natives than Europeans, — the latter probably re- 

 garding them too much in the light of reptiles. We may 

 add, that the Ophicephali are often exhibited by the Indian 

 jugglers, and that even the children amuse themselves by 

 forcing them to crawl upon the ground. 



FAMILY XI—MUGILID.E. 



The fishes which compose our present group (corre- 

 sponding to the genus MuGir, of Linn.) exhibit so many 

 peculiarities of organization, that Cuvier has deemed it ad- 

 visable to form them into a distinct family. The body is 

 almost cylindrical, covered with large scales, and furnished 

 with two distinct dorsal fins, the first of which has only 

 four spiny rays. The ventrals are attached somewhat be- 

 hind the pectorals. The gills have six rays. The head is 

 rather depressed, also covered with large scales or polygo- 

 nal plates. The muzzle is very short. The transverse 

 mouth forms an angle by means of a prominence of the 



biing that of the mouth, which permits only fluids or very ter.v{»ii. 

 small substances to enter the stomach, notwithstanding ^^"S''"'*- 

 which the latter terminates in a kind of fleshy gizzard, ana- *~'"V~' 

 logons to that of birds. The pyloric appendices are few 

 in number, but the intestine is long and folded. 



The species are excellent as articles of food. They re- 

 sort in vast troops to the mouths of large rivers, where 

 they may be observed continually springing out of the wa- 

 ter. 



The Mtigil cephalus, or Mediterranean gray mullet (the 

 English name must not mislead the unpractised reader to 

 confound it with the genus Mullus, formerly described), is 

 distinguished from all the other European species by its 

 eyes, which are half covered by two adipose veils adherent 

 to the anterior and posterior margin of the orbit, and by 

 the peculiar concealment of the maxillary bone, which, 

 when the mouth is closed, is completely hidden beneath 

 the sub-orbital. The base of the pectoral fin is surmount- 

 ed by a long carinated scale. See Plate CCCIII. fig. 13. 

 The species just referred to is the best and largest of the 

 Mediterranean kinds. It weighs about ten or twelve 

 pounds, and does not appear to have been yet detected 

 in the seas or estuaries of Britain, nor along the oceanic 

 shores of France. It is very common on the coast of Spain, 

 especially around the island of Ivica, where the fishermen 

 are said to recognise two varieties under the names of Mw 

 gil and Lissa. W^hen surrounded by a net, it endeavours, 

 and often successfully, to effect its escape, by leaping over 

 the edges into the unencumbered sea.' 



" Its hearing is very fine, as has been noticed by Aris- 

 totle, and it feeds on worms and small marine animals ; 

 but it is doubtful, though it has been advanced, that it can 

 live on vegetable substances. It appears to be of a stupid 

 character, a fact which was known in the time of Pliny, for 

 that author tells us that there is something ludicrous in the 

 disposition of the mullets ; for if they are afraid they con- 

 ceal their heads, and thus imagine they are entirely with- 

 drawn from the observation of their enemies. 



" When, towards the end of spring and the commence- 

 ment of summer, the fishes of this species, excited by the 

 necessity of living in the fresh water, approach the shores 

 and advance towards the mouths of the rivers, they form 

 such numerous troops that the water through which they 

 are seen, without being clearly distinguished, appears to 

 be bluish. This particularly happens in the Garonne and 

 the Loire at these periods. The fishermen there adopt the 

 plan of surrounding these legions of mullets with nets, the 

 enclosure of which they gradually contract, taking care to 

 make a noise to frighten the fish, and oblige them to press 

 together, and heap themselves as it were one upon the 

 other. 



" Of the mullets thus taken some are eaten fresh, others 

 are salted and smoke-dried ; it is with their eggs salted, 

 washed, pressed, and dried, that the preparation called io- 

 tarcha is made, which is a condiment greatly in request in 

 Italy and the southern provinces of France. The flesh of 

 this mullet is tender, delicate, and of an agreeable flavour ; 

 it is fatter and more in estimation when it is taken in the 

 fresh water. The ancients, who from the time of Aristotle 

 w ere acquainted with this fish, had it in great request ; and 

 the consumption of it is still very considerable in most of 

 the southern countries of Europe. According to the re- 

 port of Athenaeus, those mullets were formerly in very high 



middle of the lower jaw, corresponding to a depression of esteem which were taken in the neighbourhood of Sinope 

 the upper one ; and the teeth are excessively fine, indeed and Abdera ; while, as Paulus Jovius informs us, those were 

 in some cases imperceptible. The pharyngeal bones, greatly very little prized which had lived in the salt marsh of Or- 



' The Mngil salicni derives its specific name from the extraordinary velocity with which it springs into the air when it finds it- 

 self abuut to be enclosed. 



