446 Fishes. 



THE JOHN DORY. (Zeusfaler.} 



IT would be an inexcusable neglect to pass this fish 

 unnoticed, not on account of its disputing with the had- 

 dock the honour of having been pressed by the fingers 

 of the apostle, nor of its having been trodden upon by 

 the gigantic foot of St. Christopher, when he carried on 

 his shoulders a divine burden across an arm of the sea, 

 but for the excellence of its flesh. It has been for some 

 years in such favour with our epicures, that one of 

 them, a comedian of high repute (Quin), took a journey 

 to Plymouth merely to eat this fish in perfection. Its 

 body presents the shape of a rhomboid, but the sides are 

 much compressed ; the mouth is large, and the snout 

 long, composed of several cartilaginous plates, which 

 wrap and fold one over another, in order to enable the 

 fish to catch its prey. The colour is a dark green, 

 marked with black spots, with a golden gloss, whence 

 the name originated. They inhabit the coasts of Eng- 

 land, and particularly Torbay, whence they are sent to 

 the fish-markets of London. 



When the Dory is taken alive out of the water, it is 

 able to compress its internal organs so rapidly that the 

 air, in rushing through the openings of the gills, pro- 

 duces a kind of noise somewhat like that which, on 

 similar occasions, is emitted by the gurnards. 



