FAMILY OF THE SPARID^. 277 



SPARID^. 



THE SHEEFS-HEAD. 



Saryus Ovis — Auctorum. 



This fine aud delicate fish must on no account be confounded 

 with the fresh-water Corvince, two of which pass by the same 

 synonyme in the vernacular, and are peculiar to the great lakes. 

 This is, on the contrary, a purely salt-water species, never as- 

 cending rivers, although it enters all the shallow bays on the 

 coast, so far as Cape Cod. It is a southern fish in its natural 

 state, although during the heat of the summer it wanders to the 

 northward, where it is taken along the shores from June to 

 October. Its southern limit is the Mississippi, and the coasts 

 of Florida and the Carolinas are its breeding-grounds. 



As a delicacy, it holds " the same rank with American gas- 

 tronomers,^^ says Dr. Dekay, " that the Turbot holds in Europe. 

 I have frequently eaten of both, under equalty favourable circum- 

 stances, that is to say, within an hour after being taken out of 

 the water, and can assert that the Sheep^s-head is the more 

 deUcate aud savoury fish. The Turbot, I may here state — though 

 I have heard the contrary frequently asserted — does not occur 

 on the shores of America.'' 



