ICHTHYOLOGY. 



291 



terous 

 Fishes. 



Oassifica- and advance towards the mouths of the rivers, they form 

 tion— such nxmierous troops tliat the water, through which they 



Acanthop- j,^g ggg^, xvjthout 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 

 inclosure 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 bo- 

 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 

 were 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 report 

 of Athenaeus, those Mullets were formerly in very high 

 esteem which were taken in the neighbouriiood of Sinope 

 and Abdera ; while, as Paulus Jovius informs us, they 

 were very little prized which had lived in the salt marsh 

 of Orbitello in Tuscany, in the lagoons of Ferrara and 

 Venice, in those of Padua and Chiozza, and such as came 

 from the neighbourhood of Commachio and Ravenna. All 

 these places, in fact, are marshy, and the streams by which 

 they are watered are brackish, and communicate to the fish 

 which they support the odour and the flavour of the nmd." 

 A common mode of fishing in the sea for Mullet, practised 

 at the present time on the shores of the Mediterranean, is to 

 select a point of rock overhanging a considerable depth of 

 clear still water. The fish are attracted to this place by 

 being fed for some time with granulated macaroni, and then 

 the fisherman in the gentlest manner lets down a small hook 

 concealed in a pellet of paste and attached to a very fine 

 line. Skill is exerted in withdrawing the fish, which is 

 speedily hooked, without disturbing the others, but a prac- 

 tised fisher will soon obtain a good load. He must neither 

 show liimself nor permit his shadow to appear on the water. 

 In the Histoire des Poissons, Telragonurus is placed at 

 the end of the Mugilidrs, with an intimation that the true 

 place of the genus in the ichthyic scale has not yet been 

 ascertained. We shall mention it again when we come to 

 speak of the NotacanthidcB. 



Family XIII.— MUGILID^-E. 



MUGILOIDES, Cuv. {Mugil, Linn.) Body cylindrical ; back broad. 

 Scales large, and extending to the head like those of the Ophice- 

 phali. Two dorsals widely separated, the first one having only 

 four stiff, acute spines; ventrals in general abdominal. Teeth, 

 when present, so fine as to be almost invisible j niaxillaries small, 

 and mostly concealed by the thick premaxillary lip that presses 

 against the preorbitar when the mouth is shut. Mandible shelving 

 with a small symphysial cutaneous tubercle that fits a notch be- 

 tween the premaxillaries. Pharyngeals greatly developed, and 

 closing the gullet so that only soft and thin matters can enter the 

 narrow angular opening of the oesophagus, liranchiostegals four, 

 five, or six, as in the Pharyngobranchs. .Stomach ca;cal like a giz- 

 zard, with a thick muscular ascending branch. 



Genus I. Mugil, Cuv. Abdominal Acanthopteri, with two 

 widely separated dorsals. External aspect somewhat like that of 

 a Dace or Chub. Mouth small, with a transverse opening and a 

 mesial fold or crest on the under lip which fits a corresponding 

 notch in the upper one. Teeth excessively slender, often scarcely 

 to be seen. Preorbitar on the side of the snout finely pectinated, 

 and receiving a slender maxillary more or less completely be- 

 neath it. Gill-covers large and convex, covering a complicated 

 pharyngeal apparatus, which prevents any coarse matters from 

 reaching the oesophagus, through the tortuous channel. Stomach 

 gizzard-like ; gut long and folded ; pancreatic ca!ca few. Sixty 

 species. 



Genus II. Cestr^us, Cuv. Snout pointed. Mouth cleft longi- 

 tudinally. Mandible short, without a mesial tubercle, and toothless ; 



rudimentary teeth concealed in the thick lip of the upper j.aw ; no Classifica- 

 teeth on the roof of the mouth. General form of il/»;7i7, with four tion — 

 spinous rays in the first dorsal, but with the last ray of the second Acantliop- 

 dorsal elongated. Teeth in a narrow band on the upper jaw only. terous 

 Stomach caecal, large, not muscular like that of Mugil ; two pan- Fishes, 

 creatic caeca ; air-bladder simple, with very thin coats. Two v,,,,^^ ^_/ 

 species. Celebes. 



Genus III. Dajaus, Cuv. Snout projecting. Mouth a little 

 more longitudinal than that of Mugil. No symphysial tubercle 

 on the mandible. Villiform teeth on both jaws, the vomer, and 

 palatines. Stninach less muscular than that of Mugil, the ascending 

 branch being reduced to a tube, but little more fleshy than the 

 cascal portion ; intestinal canal doubled five times ; two pancrea- 

 tic CcBca. One species, Jamaica and St Domingo. 



Tasmania possesses a species intermediate between Dajaus and 

 Mugil, liaving the longitudinal mouth of the former, but the rough 

 plates on the palate and tongue, which most of the Mugils have, 

 very little coarser than in that genus, and scarcely deserving the 

 name of teeth. It is the Dajaus iJiemensis (Rich.) 



Genus IV. Nestis, Cuv. Form of a Cyprinoid Barbel. Head 

 more compressed than that of Mugil ; gill-covers flatter. Preorbi- 

 tar not covering tlie whole maxillary, which is not decurved so as 

 to show itself below the mandible. Teeth on the two jaws, front 

 of the vomer, and pharyngeals; none on the palatine bones. Lower 

 lip very thick, doubled back, callous and trenchant. Stomach 

 differing from that of Mugil in being wholly membranous and no- 

 wise fleshy ; intestine long, six times folded ; pancreatic caeca two ; 

 air-bladder simple with thin coats. Two species. 



ATHERINE FAMILY. 



We are obliged, say the authors of the Histoire des Pois- 

 sons, to leave isolated among the fishes a group composed of 

 a single genus, which it is impossible to divide otherwise than 

 into small tribes, and which does not associate closely with any 

 other genus or family. Some species have teeth clearly visible 

 on the jaws, vomer, and palatines, such as Atherina Boieri, 

 and its allies, which have a large flat head ; others, like 

 A. sauclet have the teeth on the palatines so minute that 

 they are barely perceptible ; thirdly, there is a large num- 

 ber of extra-European species which have the roof of the 

 mouth perfectly smooth and toothless ; these are mostly 

 American, and have a peculiai- physiognomy resulting from 

 the singular position of the pedicels of the premaxillaries 

 and the curvature of the maxillaries. The latter bones are 

 slender, and have a structure very uncommon among fishes, 

 but which exists usually in the Mugil family, that is, to have 

 the posterior end of the maxillary more slender than its 

 anterior or articidar end. Another affinity to Mugil may 

 be found in the small number of rays in the spinous first 

 dorsal, and in the abdominal position of the ventrals. We 

 cannot, however, unite them to the Mugil family as Pallas 

 advises, since none of the anatomical details which distin- 

 guish the Mullets from other fishes are found in the Athe- 

 rines. They have neither the notch between the upper 

 lips, nor the symphysial ]irominence of the lower jaw ; nor 

 the pectinated denticulations of the preorbitar ; nor the un- 

 usual pharyngeal apjiaratus ; nor the gizzard stomach. The 

 premaxillary is much more |)rotractile than with the Mullets, 

 almost as much as in the Menoid Sinaris. The teeth re- 

 quire to be examined through a lens to be properly seen, 

 and the pharyngeals, which have the usual form of those of 

 other fishes, are crowded with minute teeth. 



The Atherines live in large shoals in all the localities 

 that they frequent ; and notwithstanding their small size, 

 rarely more than si.x inches, they are esteemed as a delicate 

 food. The young, for some time after they are hatched, 

 cling together in dense masses, and in numbers almost in- 

 credible. These are taken and prepared in the lump by 

 frying or by boiling in milk. The inhabitants of the Me- 

 diterranean coasts of France call these newly hatched 

 Atherines nomial (miborn). In some places the adult fish 

 is so abundant that they are employed to feed animals ; at 

 Venice for instance, where they swarm by myriads in the 

 canals that traverse that city, and are sold in the streets 



