Chap. 30.] FISHES. 401 



districts of Campania. During five years, the greatest care / 

 was taken that those which were caught should be returned to 

 the sea ; but since then they have been always found in great ' 

 abundance oif the shores of Italy, where formerly there were 

 none to be taken. Thus has gluttony introduced these fish, to 

 be a dainty within its reach, and added a new inhabitant to 

 the seas ; so that we ought to feel no surprise that foreign 

 birds breed at Kome. 



The fish that is next in estimation for the table is the mus- 

 tela, 12 but that is valued only for its liver. A singular thing 

 to tell of the lake of Erigantia, 13 in Rhaetia, lying in the 

 midst of the Alps, produces them to rival even those of the 

 sea. 14 



CHAP. 30. THE VARIOUS KINDS OF MULLETS, AND THE SABGUS 

 THAT ATTENDS THEM. 



Of the remaining fish that are held in any degree of esteem, 

 the mullet 15 is the most highly valued, as well as the most 

 abundant of all ; it is of only a moderate size, rarely exceeds 

 two pounds in weight, and will never grow beyond that weight 

 in preserves or fish-ponds. These fish are only to be found in 

 the Northern Ocean, 16 exceeding two pounds in weight, and 

 even there in none but the more westerly parts. As for the 

 other kinds, the various species ara numerous ; some 17 live 

 upon sea- weed, while others feed on the oyster, slirne, and the 

 flesh of other fish. The more distinctive mark is a forked 



12 Or weasel-fish. Cuvier is of opinion that Hardouin is right in his 

 conjecture, that this is the Lote, or Gadus lota of Linnaeus, which is still 

 called motelle in some of the provinces of France. Its liver, he says, is one 

 of the greatest delicacies that can be eaten. 



13 The present Boden See, or Lake of Constance. 



14 Instead of "marinis," Sillig adopts the reading " muraenis," making 

 them to rival the muraena even. The other, however, seems to he the pre- 

 ferable reading. 



15 Cuvier says that this is the rpiyXa of the Greeks, the triglia of mo- 

 dern Italy, the rouget of Provence, and the Mullus barbatus of Linnaeus. 



16 The coasts of La Manche, Cuvier says, and the Gulf of Gascony pro- 

 duce a kind of mullet of larger size than usual, varied with stripes of a 

 yellow colour. This, the Mullus surmuletus of Linnaeus^ is also to be found 

 in the Mediterranean, but much more rarely than the smaller kind, which 

 is red all over. 



17 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B.viii. c. 5; JElian, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 41 ; 

 and Oppian, Halieut. B. iii. 1. 435. 



VOL. II. D D 



