Chap. 24.] FISHES. 395 



are never taken during the winter, except only on a few stated 

 days, which are always the same. The same with the nru- 

 raena 89 also, and the orphus, 80 the conger, 91 the perch, 92 and all 



and when held on the side, would appear almost circular in shape. Its 

 colour appears white in comparison with that of another little fish of the 

 same genus, the Sparus chromis of Linnaeus, the Chromis castanea of Cuvier, 

 which is of a brownish colour, and is found on the coast of France, where 

 it has never been held in high esteem, except for the purposes of salting 

 or making bait for other fish. He concludes, then, that this last was the 

 sea coracinus, and the " bolty " of the present day that of the Nile. 



89 Cuvier says, that it has been doubted, upon the authority of Paulus 

 Jovius, whether by this name was signified the muraena of the present day, 

 the Muraena helena of Linnaeus, or the Petromizon marinus of Linnaeus, 

 the modern lamprey. These two fishes, he says, have in common a long 

 smooth body, and are devoid of the symmetrical fins, and the flesh of both 

 is of a delicate flavour. There are, however, several other characteristics 

 mentioned, he says, from which it can be easily proved that in most of the 

 passages of Pliny, Aristotle, and JElian, where the muraeua is mentioned, 

 it is the Muraena helena that is meant. Ovid says, Halieut. 11. 114, 115, 

 "the muraena burning with its spots of gold" but the lamprey has no 

 yellow spots whatever : and in 1. 27, he speaks of it as " ferox," or " fierce," 

 a characteristic which also belongs to the muraena, but not to the lamprey. 

 JElian also states, B. x. c. 40, that the muraena defends itself with its teeth, 

 which form a double row, and Aristotle says, B. viii. c. 2, that it lives upon 

 flesh ; while Pliny says, in c. 88 of the present Book, that it bites off the 

 tail of the conger. It was the Muraena helena only, and not the lamprey, 

 that could have devoured the slaves whom Vedius Pollio ordered to be 

 thrown into their preserves, as is mentioned by our author in the present 

 Book, and by Seneca and Tertullian. Finally, a thing that he considers 

 quite decisive on the point, Aristotle says, B, ii. c. 13, that the muraena 

 has four gills on each side, like the eel ; while the fact is that the lamprey 

 has only seven in all. Where we find Pliny speaking of the seven spots 

 upon the muraena found in Northern Gaul, it appears most likely, Cuvier 

 says, that he speaks after some traveller, who had observed the seven 

 branchial orifices on the lamprey, and had taken them for spots. 



90 This fish, Cuvier says, was of a reddish colour, had rough scales, 

 sharp teeth, large eyes, and a tough flesh. It lived a solitary life in the 

 sea, near rocks which were the resort of shell-fish, which formed its prin- 

 cipal nutriment. It passed the winter in the crevices of rocks under water. 

 Its growth was rapid, and the length of its life two years ; when cut in * 

 pieces, its muscles, were still seen to palpitate. Eondelet, having gathered 

 these characteristics, looks upon the orphus as belonging to the genus 

 Pagrus. Cuvier says, however, that it would not be easy to prove that 

 this is a warranted conclusion, and that it is not justified by tradition, as 

 the name has utterly disappeared from the coasts of France and Italy ; 

 though, according to Gillius and Belon, it is found among the modern 

 Greeks, in the shape of the "ropho." Cuvier suggests that it may have 

 been the Anthias sacer of Bloch, the "barbier" of the French. It is 

 supposed by some that it is our " gilt-head." 



91 The Muraena conger of Linnaeus. 



93 " Percae." Cuvier says that it is most probable that he is here speaking 



