250 LUMP-FISH. 



Much confusion prevails respecting the history of the 

 sun-fish, the name having been applied to two animals of 

 a different genus. One of these fishes, which weighed 

 five hundred pounds, was taken about the beginning of 

 the present century near Plymouth ; and, on boiling a 

 piece of it, to try how it would taste, it was found in a 

 few minutes to be wholly converted into a jelly ; which 

 had very little of a fishy flavour, and proved extremely 

 glutinous when applied to leather or paper. It is probable 

 that the ancients made their glue from this fish. 



THE LUMP-FISH. 



This singular animal, which belongs to the family of 

 sucking-fish, sometimes measures nineteen inches in 

 length, and weighs about seven pounds. The body is 

 very thick and deep, the back sharp and elevated, and 

 the belly flat and broad. Along the ridge of the back is 

 a row of large bony tubercles ; from above the eye almost 

 to the rise of the tail is another row, and below it a third ; 

 and on each side of the belly is another, consisting of 

 five tubercles like the rest. The whole skin is rough, 

 and beset with small tubercles. The belly is of a vivid 

 crimson. The pectoral fins, which almost unite at their 

 bases, are large and broad ; and beneath these is situated 

 a member, by which the fish adheres to the rocks, a 

 faculty which it possesses in an extraordinary degree. 

 This member consists of an oval aperture, surrounded by 

 a fleshy, muscular, and obtuse, spongeous substance ; 

 fimbriated with small filiform appendages, which concur 

 like so many clasps to fix it to any object. Indeed, such 

 is the tenacity of this fish, that one of them has been 

 known to be thrown into a pail of water, and to unite 

 itself so closely to the bottom, that it was not forced 

 away, even when lifted by the tail with the pail and its 

 contents. 



The lump-fish is caught in many parts of the British 

 seas, and is sometimes eaten ; but the flesh is flabby and 

 insipid. During spring, it is very common on the northern 



