FISH. 157 



FISH. The Pythagoreans are said to have abstained 

 from fish, out of respect to their taciturnity. Moderns, how- 

 ever, with an inquisitiveness that annihilates reverence, have 

 found out that some, if not all fish, have a weakness for colors ; 

 that perch can be decoyed into drum-nets by daffodils, or 

 any bright-yellow flowers. It is also said, that by rubbing 

 your hands with assafoetida, fish will allow themselves to be 

 taken from the water, as readily as by the exquisite artificial 

 flies of the hook-ahd-line fisherman. 



All Greeks not having equal forbearance with the follow- 

 ers of Pythagoras, we find the Thunny, which is to the South 

 of Europe what the Mackerel is to the North, in great favor 

 as an article of food among the early Greeks. 



From the Romans, the famous pickle, Garum or Garus, 

 has come down to us ; it derived its name from a crustaceous 

 animal so called, from which it was sometimes made ; but 

 Pliny says a fish called Scomber, which some think may 

 have been our mackerel, was also employed to make this 

 pickle, and remarks further, that Apicius used the liver of 

 the mullet for this purpose. 



The classification of fish according to some natural and 

 clearly defined orders has been acknowledged by the acutest 

 intellects to be extremely difficult ; for the successful perform- 

 ance of the task, the great Cuvier found himself not prepared, 

 and it is to our illustrious citizen, M. Agassiz, that this ex- 

 tensive branch of natural history owes a debt, which should 

 be discharged in the immediate gratitude of the present gen- 

 eration, and the accumulated admiration of succeeding ones. 

 Long as America can appreciate genius may such names be 

 gathered under her stars and stripes. 



Fishes are naturally long-lived. Their age has been de- 

 monstrated by fastening a ring, with the date inscribed, to the 

 gill-covers. One of the most celebrated fish-stories is that 

 of the pike of Frederic the Second. This monarch had a 

 14 



