428 Fishes. 



no longer maintaining its ancient repute, is still con- 

 sidered a delicacy ; those taken in the Severn being pre- 

 ferred to all others. Henry the First, as is well known, 

 died of a surfeit of them ; and in the reign of Henry the 

 Fourth their importation was encouraged by immunities. 

 The Eoman epicures prized this fish so highly, that they 

 bestowed the utmost care, and expended enormous sums 

 in rearing them. Pliny tells us that Lucullus formed 

 a fish-pond of such extent, that the fish it contained 

 were, at his death, sold for four million sesterces. These 

 polished barbarians sometimes threw a slave into the 

 ponds where they kept their Muroence, or Lampreys, and 

 considered that by this means they fattened the fish and 

 gave them a superior flavour. 



THE HAG-FISH, (Myxine glutinosa,) 



A CARTILAGINOUS FISH, which in its general appearance 

 bears a near resemblance to the Lamprey. Its colour is 

 dusky bluish above, and reddish towards the head and 

 tail ; its length from four to six inches. The Hag-fish is 

 remarkable for its total want of eyes ; its mouth is of an 

 oblong form, with two beards or cirri on each side, and 

 on the upper part four. On the top of the head is a 

 small spout-hole, furnished with a valve, by which it can 

 be closed at pleasure. A double row of pores extends! 

 beneath the body, from one extremity to the other, which 

 on pressure exude a quantity of viscid fluid, which, when 

 attacked by large fish, the Hag throws out, so as to cloud 

 the surrounding element in such a manner as to render 

 itself invisible to its assailants. " The habits of this 

 fish are highly singular : it will enter the bodies of sucb 



