Chap. 24.1 risHES. 393 



na,^ and the phagras.*^* When the winter has been very severe, 



chromis, has a still stronger resemblance to the maigre, and that, as Belon 

 informs us, the ombrine, or Sciaena cirrhosa, is still sometimes called at 

 Marseilles the "chro," or the ''cbrau," and that, as GyUius says, on the 

 coast of Genoa it has the name of "■ chro," it would not be improbable 

 that this is really the chromis of the Greeks, as Belon supposes. 



•'^ From tTKiii, the Greek for "shadow;" which name, as Cuvier says, 

 has been translated by the moderns by the word " ombre," or "umbra." 

 But this name has been given at tbe present day to so many fish of various 

 kinds, from the " ombra " of the Italians and the " maigre " of the French, 

 the Scisena umbra of the naturalists, the ombrine or Sciaena cirrhosa of 

 Linnaeus, to the ombre of Auvergue, the Salmo thymallus of Linnaeus, and 

 the ombre chevalier, the Salmo umbra of Linnaeus, that this synonyme does 

 not aid us in discovering its identity. Ai-istotle says nothing relative to his 

 sciaena, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 19, except that it has stones in the head, a 

 thing that is common to this with many other fish. Pliny, in copying this 

 passage, preserves the Greek name ; but 0^'id, Columella, and Ausonius 

 give it the name of " umbra :" the one, however, described by the first two 

 is a sea-fish, while that of Ausonius is a fresh- water fish. Yarro, who cites 

 the name of umbra among those given to fish, adds that the species which 

 bears it owes its name to its peculiar colour ; and as Ovid calls it " liveus," 

 or " livid," it may be presumed to have been of a dark colour. It is very 

 possible, then, that it may have been the corvus marinus, or sea-crow, the 

 Sciaena nigra of Linnasus. 



^^ Or pagrus. This passage is from Aristotle, Hist. Nat. B. viii. c. 19. 

 Cuvier says that there are several names of fish, known in the Mediteranean 

 at the present day, as being from the <pdypog of Aristotle, such as the 

 pagri or pageau, the fragolino, &c. names of a fish of a red silvery hue, the 

 Sparus erythrinus of Linnaeus, his Sparus pagrus being another species. 

 The modern Greeks also call it <puypog, the best proof of its identity with 

 the phagros of Aristotle, or pager or phagrus of Pliny. This phagrus, Cu- 

 vier says, was not improbably the same as the modern pagre, as their cha- 

 racteristics quite agree, so far as those of the ancient phagrus are described. 

 It is of red colour, and we find Ovid (Halieut. 1. 108,) speaking of the 

 "rutilus pagur," and it was, according to Aristotle, B. viii. c. 13, caught 

 equally out at sea and near the shore, and had stones in the head, B. viii. c. 

 19, or, in other words, stony bodies of lai'ge size in the labp'inthine cavities 

 of the ear. Oppian, Halieut. B. iii. 1. 185, says that the channe forms a 

 delicate morsel for the pagrus, which shows that it was of considerable size ; 

 and several authors quoted by Athenaeus, B. vii., give it the epithet of 

 " great." Hicesius says, in the same place, that it resembles the erythrus, 

 the chromis, the anthias, and other fish of very different character among 

 themselves ; but it is only in relation to the flesh that he makes these com- 

 parisons, so that we are unable to come to any conclusion as to the form. 

 But we find Numenius, also quoted by Athenaeus, speaking of the (pdypov 

 \o(pirii', the " crested phagrus," possibly in allusion to the height of the 

 neck. The properties of its flesh are, if possible, still less characteristic. He- 

 cesius says that it is of sweet flavour and nourishing, but rather astringent, 

 Galen, however, says that it is hard, and difficult of digestion, when old. 



