286 ; "'"K.!. /) NATURAL HISTORY. 



Singular custom of making an offering of bread to the fish Melanuros. 



May 2. — We weighed anchor in the port of Cephalonia ; as our 

 sailors rowed by Cape Capro, they made hbations of bread, using 

 the following words ; Ttda-ov, Kxtto K.a.(2po, ^we ttjv, KaVo, KxTr^eva. (tov, 

 Kai f/,s Tx, KocTTO Kae,(3po, '7Tov'Ka,(rov. Na Koil3po, va, KXTrgevoc, vol toc, Kcctto 

 x.!X7rpo7rovXa.' (peers to Tra^ii^iciSi, S(n7(;, 4/«f»a MeXuvm^ia. " Health, Cape 



Capro to your wife, to your children ; to you Cape Capro, to your 

 wife, (making the first libation). To your children, (making a 

 second). You fish, Melanouros, eat the cake (making a third)." 

 This is probably the relic of some ancient custom * ; the passage by 

 the rock was a dangerous navigation, and the fish Melanouros abounds 

 here, -f • 



.': ,; The liver of the Scarus. 



" The liver of the Scarus was not forgotten in the entertainments 

 of the Zantiotes ; the flavour and delicacy of it are mentioned in the 

 following Romaic couplet. 



'Lxocpo |M.£ Xevs, T^jyjTo jtte Tpuvi, 



90Cyi TO (TKUTO fJLOV, VOt, K31JJ TO (puytlTO (JLOV. 



" They call me scarus ; they eat me roasted ; taste my liver that 

 you may see what my flavour is. :j: 



• This extract from Sibthorp's journal reminds us of a passage in Pliny, lib. xxxii. c. 2. 

 " In Stabiano Campanias ad Herculis petram, Melaimriin mari pancm abjectum rapiunt." 



f Aldrovande croit, que c'est ce nienaepoisson qu'on appelle a Rome, ochiata, en Sicile, 

 ochiada, a Venise, ochia. — Memoires de I'lnstit. 1805. 



X The roasted Scarus was anciently esteemed, xai (7x.a.fiov h TiapaKw Kapj(;>]8ovf tov jw-syav 

 oirra ITXuvaf . Arehestrat. in Allien, lib. vii., and the liver of it was particularly commended. 

 Unde in Vitellii patina, apud Tranquillum legimus, fuisse Scarorum jecbwra. Imo Mar- 

 tialis, visceribus solum reservatis, carnemcoquo reddi jubet. Vossi. de Idolo. lib. iv. 505. 

 The fish was one of those, according to Epicharmus, t«jv mis to a-xaJp SsfxiTov ex^aKsiv fleoij. 

 We give from Salmasius (Plin. Exer. p. 743.), the following explanation of o-xaTo, or 

 ouxtoTo'v. Grfficia infima o-oxoiTov pro jecore dixit, quum antiqua jecur anseris aut porculi 

 ficis pasti in deliciis haberet, et sic vocaret ; inde recentiores a-uxturov, quodlibet jecur appel- 

 larunt, et eos imitati Latini^ca^wm. 



