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Anchovies in the English Channel. 



By 

 J. T. Cuuuiughaiu, 9I.A., F.R.IS.E. 



I. Natural History op the Anchovt. 



The anchovy belongs to the same family of fishes as the herring, 

 pilchard, and sprat, the family Clupeidse. But whereas the herring, 

 pilchard, and sprat have so many structural features in common that 

 they are placed in a single genus, namely Clwpea, the anchovy is in 

 many respects so peculiar that it is placed in the distinct genus 

 Engraulis. There are many species of Engraulis in various parts of 

 the world, but only one on the coasts of Europe, and that one, 

 commonly known as the anchovy, is called by zoologists Engraulis 

 encrasicholus. The origin of these names dates back to a very early 

 period. Both are used by ancient classical Greek authors. The 

 derivation of eyy^avXig is not known ; e-y/cpaa/^oXoc is derived from 

 -^oXog, bile, and tyKpatfig, infusion, and Avas given to the fish on 

 account of its bitter flavour ; the name means infused with bile, the 

 taste of the fish suggesting to the ancients that its flesh was infused 

 with bile. It is stated in Yan'ell's British Fishes, and in Day^s more 

 recent work on the same subject, that the anchovy was in old 

 times said to have its gall in its head. This statement is evidently 

 derived from erroneous interpretations by mediseval zoologists of the 

 name encrasicholus. In the French translation of Rondelet's work 

 Des Poissons, published at Lyons in 1558, livre vii, chap, iii, it is 

 stated that anchovies " sont nommes Encrasicholi a cause qu'ils ont 

 le fiel en la teste." This shows that Eondelet derived the word from 

 Ev and Kpag, the head ; the dative singular of K^ag is k^uti, and the 

 dative plural Kpaai : the root is Kpar, and the word if thus derived 

 would have been ayKpari-^oXog. The derivation I have previously 

 given from iyK^aaig is that given in Liddell and Scott^s Greek 

 Lexicon, and is doubtless correct. 



The derivation of the modern word anchovy, which under various 

 forms occurs in a number of modern European languages, has not 

 been satisfactorily traced. In the most recent philological English 



