1.51 



chin, are sufficient lo dislinjiuisli this species from any one 

 hitherto recognized as British. At the same time it so 

 nearly agrees with the figure and description of the Orpho 

 of Rondeletius, that I have little hesitation in believing it (o 

 he the same fish. His account is this; " Of)0t ou OpcpwQ. 

 Les Latins ont relenu ce nom horsniis Gaze du quel est 

 appelle Cernua. II est poisson niarin de rivage, aucunement 

 seniblable an Pagie rougeastre. II ha les jeux grands, les 

 dens qui entrenl les unes entres les aulres. De uomlire, de 

 situation daelles, deuuillons seniblable au Pagre. II ha le 

 trou de excremens fort petit; car il ha seulenient une petite 

 fente laquela vous ne verres sans presser le ventre; il n'ha 

 point de vaisseaux spermatiques, (certainly an error of the 

 observer). Tel est noster orphe, au quel convient tout ccque 

 Aristote e Athenee ont attribue. En peu de terns il devieut 

 grand, il est mangechaire, solitaire, il ha des dens qui se 

 serrent les urns entre les autres, il est cach^ en hyver," 

 p. 139, of the French edition. 



It is intimated by Rondeletius that among the Greeks 

 more than one fish was known by the name of Orphus ; 

 and we further learn that the word, Cernua, by which sonie 

 Latin writers have rendered the Greek Op(poc has been 

 applied to a still greater number of species, all of them dis- 

 tinct from this, and even from the River Rud : the true 

 Cernua of the Moderns. Alter stating this, Gesner, who 

 copies the figure of Rondeletius, adds : nos (inquit Ronde- 

 letius) orphum hie non depingimus eum, qui a Graecis qui- 

 busdam hodie vulgari lingua orphi nomine dicitnr. Est 

 enini nostro longe major, utpole qui pondere viginti li- 

 bras aequet, nee sit litoralis. Sad orphum dipingictius ex 

 Aristotle, Athenaeo, Piinio. Is Piscis est litoralis magis 

 quam pelagius, Pagro quodanunodo simiiis colore ex purpureo 

 rubescente, idea rubentem appellavit Ovidius ; (verum haec 

 apud Plinium ex Ovidio non recte citata?! eguntur.) Ovidius 

 pehigium facit, Aristoteles vero iElianus litoraiem. Oppiano 

 degit in peiris cavernosis, quae plenas sunt chamis et patellis 

 (quibus nimirum vestitur.) Graeci hodie, ut dictum est 

 alium Piscem vulgo oiphum vel Rophum appellant ; quern 

 Bellonius orphum facit. Ray (Synopsis, p. Ili3,) who 

 limits the name Orphus to the Rud, describes the (isb 

 which he terms Orpheus veierum, Irom Rondeletius, in a 

 manner lo show that he was altogether unacquainted with it; 

 and as the species termed Orphus by Beilonius is the other 

 and more common one known by this name among the 

 Greeks, we need not wonder at finding Ruysch (Theatruui 

 Aninialium, vol. 1, p. 24,) resigning all hope of extricating 

 from such utter contusioa what he saw might still be a well 

 defined species, ]Sor does it appear that even the must 



