316 A STRANGE FISH. 



so much in vogue among fond parents. With an air 

 at once childish and strongly tinctured with bon- 

 homie, right and left he interchanged jokes, and 

 looked at the mammoth attraction, but never a word 

 did he say as to its name. At length some one with 

 more brass than discretion asked this would-be great 

 naturalist what was the name of the great unknown 

 monster before us. The heretofore suave, courteous, 

 and rubicund features now assumed a look of severe 

 displeasure, the speaker was disconcerted, and if he 

 did not disappear into mother earth, it was the fault 

 of the hardness of her surface, not of his wishes. 



Amontillado was produced, a beverage to which 

 more than myself are partial. It acted like applying 

 oil to machinery, for the cog-wheels and checks upon 

 the company's tongues became loosened, and the 

 heretofore most taciturn became voluble. Still, to 

 my surprise, no one pronounced the name of the fish. 

 Although a copy of Couch's admirable work was 

 constantly alluded to, all spectators seemed ashamed 

 to ask the question, What is it ?' for each believed 

 his neighbour not only conversant with its name, 

 but also with its haunts and habits, and therefore 

 feared to show his own ignorance. 



Although not bright, 'I commenced to smell a 

 mice/ as the Dutchman says, so I determined to 

 have some fun ; for the fish I knew, very well, I 

 might say, having resided for years in lands where 

 the neighbouring seas were its principal habitat. 



The great naturalist had chin-chinned every one. 



