220 



TNTEOBtrCTIOJI TO ZOOLOGY. 



feet, and has been occasionally taken on the British shores, were 

 supposed to possess medicinal vu-tues. " According to Belon, 

 they were called cholic-stones, and were worn on the neck, 

 mounted in gold, to secure the possessor against this painful 

 malady : to be quite effectual, it was pretended that the wearer 

 must have received them as a gift — if they had been purchased, 

 they had neither their preventive nor curative power. 

 _ The Opah, or Kmg-fish (Lampris guitatus), a beautiful spe- 

 cies of rare occurrence in the British seas, is by the Chinese 

 termed Tai, and is esteemed as the pecuhar emblem of happi- 

 ness, because it is sacred to Jebis or Neptune. The John 

 Dory {Zeus faber, Fig. 191*) belongs to the same family. 



Fig. 191*.— John Dort. 



and contends with the Haddock {Morrhua (Bglejlnus) for the 

 honour of bearing the marks of St. Peter's lingers— each being 

 supposed to have been the fish out of whose mouth the Apostle 

 took the tribute mone}', leaving on its sides, in proof of the 

 identity, the marks of his finger and thumb. 



In many of the ports of the Mediterranean, the Dory is 

 hence called "St. Peter's FLsh."* The fishermen of the 

 Adriatic term it il Janitore, "the gatekeeper," a word which 



* Cuvier efc Valenciennes. Histdire Naturelle des Poissons, vol. x. p. 6. 



