218 RED MULLET. 



each usually may be red, we gather from the words of Ovid 

 that its hue is not commonly the same. That of the Surmullet 

 we know to be lively in a high degree, but of the plain red 

 species the poet says, — 



"Squalus tenui sufFusus sanguine Mullus;" 

 "The dull-coloured Mullet that has a slight tint of blood shed over it:" 



an observation supported by Willoughby, who says the colour 

 is a dull olive yellow, except when the scales are lost, when 

 it becomes more decidedly red. It should be added, however, 

 that in the edition of Aldus the word 'squamus' is substituted 

 for 'squalus,' as if the scales were suffused with the tint of 

 blood. 



But a more positive evidence of their being distinct is 

 found in the general characters of form and relative situation 

 of the fins. By reference to figures, and especially to that 

 of Willoughby, which, for want of an opportunity to draw 

 from a fresh example, we have thought it best to copy, — as 

 well as to his description, — we find the head descending 

 much more abruptly from before the eyes to the jaws. The 

 first dorsal fin also is further in advance of the pectorals, 

 while the ventrals are placed further behind. At full growth 

 it is smaller than the Surmullet, and, while more abrupt in 

 front, the hinder part of the body grows sensibly more slender. 



Fin rays — first dorsal seven, (the first very high,) second 

 dorsal nine, caudal seventeen, anal seven, pectoral sixteen, 

 ventral six. 



This species anciently received the designation of Barhatus, 

 or the Bearded, in contrast with another fish, supposed to be 

 nearly allied to it, and which by way of further distinction, 

 received the name of Mullus itnherhis, or the Unbearded 

 Mullet, as being destitute of those appendages to the jaws. 

 Modern natviralists have judged more correctly of the natural 

 affinities of these fishes, and in consequence have placed the 

 latter in another genus; which, however diSerent in many 

 respects from the true Mullets, they have, with some incon- 

 sistency, agreed to call by the name of Trigla, which anciently, 

 and for an assigned reason, was only applied to the former 

 fishes. But it is proper we should add that the error of re- 



