ICHTHYOLOGY. 



295 



■ rapidly forwards or sidewards, as if looking for something, 

 and constantly went back again to tlie Sliark. When we 

 tlire^v overboard a piece of bacon fastened on a great hook, 

 the Shark was about twenty paces from the ship. With the 

 quickness of lightning the Pilot came up, smelt at the dainty, 

 and instantlv swam back again to the Shark, swimming many 

 times round his snout, and splashing, as if to give him exact 

 information as to tlie bacon. The Siiark now began to put 

 himself in motion, the Pilot showing liim the way, and in a 

 moment he was fast upon the hook. Once we watched a 

 Pilot for many days, who kept constantly swimming close 

 before the keel of the ship. The Siiilors say, as of a thing 

 well known and familiar, that such a fish so situated has 

 lost his Shark, and is seeking another. Upon a later occa- 

 sion, we observed two Pilots in sedulous attendance on a 

 Blue Shark, which we caught in the Chinese Sea. It seems 

 probable that the Pilot feeds on the Shark's excrements, 

 keeps his company for that purpose, and directs his opera- 

 tions solely from this selfish view." The reviser of this 

 article has seen many Sharks caught in the Bight of Benin. 

 They were frequently accompanied by one or two Pilot-fish, 

 pretty objects with their light-blue bands, more often by 

 troops of the disgusting-looking Echeneis, and not seldom 

 without either of these fishes. The Pilot-fish swam grace- 

 fully roimd the head of the fish, but quickly struck ofl" on 

 one side when the monster, urged by his voracious appetite, 

 tm-ned up to take the bait. This bait was approached both 

 by the Pilot-fish and Kemora — by the one with an easy and 

 elegant motion, by the other with a wriggling of the taper 

 tail that conveyed the notion of swimming with difficulty. 

 It seemed to \is that both these attendants had no other 

 object than that of procuring food for themselves. The 

 Remoree very coinmonly deserted the Shark, even when it 

 was not caught, and attached themselves to the ship's 

 bottom, darting off when any greasy water was thrown over- 

 board by the cook, to pick up the morsels of fat from the clear 

 blue water, returning again to their resting-place to be borne 

 through the water without trotibie. 



The generic term Corijphctna is derived from /copix^j;, 

 vertex, or top of the head, in reference to the height of the 

 crest of the cranium. This division contains the famous 

 Dolphin of the Mediterranean [Cor. hippiirus, Linn.), so 

 celebrated for the beauty of its versatile tints. 



" Parting day 



Dies like the Dolphin, whom each pang imbues 



With a new colour as it ^asps away, 



The last still loveliest, till — 'tis gone — and all is gray." 



The species are still in some measure indistinctly cha- 

 racterized. They occur in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, 

 and the Mediterranean Sea, and are remarkable, among 

 other things, for their keen pursuit of Flying-fish, which, in 

 the first place, they force to leave their native element, 

 and then following swiftly in a corresponding track, receive 

 with open mouth the moment they descend exhausted to 

 the surface. The Corypha?na; may be regarded as among 

 the most brilliant inhabitants of the sea. It is necessary, 

 according to Bosc, to have seen them following a vessel in 

 troops, before we can form a proper estimate of their beauty. 

 When they swim embodied near the sm-(ijce, and beneath 

 the light of a cloudless sky, they seem effulgent with tlie rich- 

 est gold, combined with the sparkling lustre of the topaz, 

 the emerald, and the sapphire, — and every brilliant hue iii 

 perpetual change, accordant with the vivacity and varied 

 grace of their movements. It is indeed a sjiectacle suffi- 

 cient anywhere to excite our unfeigned admiration ; and 

 when seen suddenly amid the waves of the lonely and 

 monotonous ocean, it comes upon us like a glad surprise. 

 The beauty of these fisiies has in every age attracted the 

 wonder 



" Of all who on the wide deep wandering are ; " 

 and it is so far to be regretted, that their fugitive colours 



terous 

 Fishes. 



have been the chief object of attention, — their more precise Classifica- 

 description and specific discrimination having been greatly *''°" — 

 disregarded. Acanthop- 



The Coryphaenas are strong, active, and voracious fishes. 

 While swimming rapidly, they seem rather as if impelled ' 

 or projected forwards by some exterior force, than by any 

 exertion of their own. But, on attentive examination, a 

 strong and rapid muscular movement may be detected by 

 the constant undulation of the long dorsal fin, a movement 

 which greatly contributes to the throwing off of those lus- 

 trous metallic reflections for which they have so long been 

 noted. The Mediterranean species. Cor. hippurus, if not the 

 most beautiful, is the largest known. It sometimes attains 

 to the length of five feet. Its colours, so far as they are ca- 

 pable of description, are silvery blue above, with markings 

 of a deeper azure, and reflections of pure gold — the lower 

 parts citron yellow, marked with pale blue. The pectoral 

 fins are partly lead colour, partly yellow ; the ventrals are 

 yellow on their \mder surface, and black above ; the anal 

 fin is yellow. The iris of the eye is made of apparent gold. 

 This description is from the recorded observation of the 

 living fish by M. Biberon. Another eye-witness. Colonel 

 Bory St Vincent, describes the back as being of a sea-green 

 colour, sprinkled with orange spots ; the abdomen silvery ; 

 the lateral line yellow ; the dorsal fin celestial blue, with 

 golden -coloured rays; the caudal fin surrounded by a green 

 hue; the other fins yellow. 



One or two other kinds, not so distinctly known, occur 

 in the Mediterranean, and many others in more distant seas. 

 The Portuguese name more than one species Dorade, a term 

 which, from its similarity to Daurade (a frequent appella- 

 tion of our Gilt-head, C/in/sop/iris auraia), has produced 

 some confusion. Not less ambiguous is the name of Dol- 

 phin, which appears to have been first misapplied to the 

 Coryphsence by the Dutch. It is scarcely necessary to ob- 

 serve, that the English word Dolphin, as synonymous with 

 the Greek AeX<^ts, the Latin Delphinus, and the French 

 Dauphin, was originally, and is still correctly, applied only 

 to designate a group of cetaceous animals (allied in struc- 

 tiu'e to the Whales), to which the classical Dolphin of anti- 

 quity assuredly belonged. But by some conversion, into 

 the history of which it is not worth while to inquire, the 

 term has been applied by most modern writers, particularly 

 poets, to a creature of another class, a genuine fish, of the 

 genus Corypluena. No fault, therefbre, can be imputed to 

 the naturalist, if the general misapplication of the term is 

 now found to occasion any misconception. There is no 

 doubt, however, that the animal beloved by gods and men, 

 the Hieros Ichthys of the heroic Greeks, and the revered 

 symbol of the Delphic Apollo, was nothing more than a 

 Pollock or Porpoise. 



Xiphias (Sword-fish), though by no means uncommon, 

 are seldom captured, owing to their extreme vigilance. Cap- 



Fiu-. 113. 

 Xiphas Qladius,yovin^. 



tain Beechy informs us, that while in the Pacific Ocean, 

 near Easter Island, " as the line was hauling in, a large 

 Sword-fish bit at the tin case which contained our thermo- 

 meter, but fortunately fiiiled in carrying it off." Their mode 

 of capture in the Mediterranean may be likened to Whale- 

 fishing in miniature, and is said to be a very amusing and 

 exciting sport. A watchman placed \x\m\\ a mast, or 



