138 ACANTHOPTERYGII. PERCH FAMILY. 



term Barbatus for our ninth species is also unfortu- 

 nate, as its congener is no less liberally endowed 

 with barbules or cirri ; not uncommon in other 

 fishes, though their structure and uses differ more 

 widely than is generally stated. In the instance 

 before us, Mr. Yarrell informs us that he had 

 found these appendages to consist of an elon- 

 gated and slender flexible cartilage, inserted with 

 numerous longitudinal, muscular, and nervous fibres, 

 and covered with an extension of the common skin. 

 These cirri he considers as delicate organs of touch r 

 by which the species provided with them, and 

 which are known mostly to feed near the bottom, 

 are enabled to ascertain, to a certain extent, the 

 qualities of the various substances with which they 

 are brought into contact, being thus in formation 

 analogous to the beak of birds. " It is to be con- 

 sidered as another instance, among the many pro- 

 visions of Nature, by which, in the case of fishes 

 feeding at great depths, where light is deficient, 

 compensation is made for consequently imperfect 

 vision/' 



In identifying the species with those which have 

 been long known in the Mediterranean, we have not 

 reached all the certainty that is desirable. It was 

 one of these Surmullets which was so celebrated 

 among the Romans for the excellency of its flesh, 

 its extreme beauty, and the extravagant prices it 

 brought. The epicures, in Horace's day, valued it 

 in proportion to its size; not because the larger 

 were better, but because they were procured with 



