MULLETS AND MACKEREL. 273 



quite sufficient to raise a commotion amongst the sargi, who rush- 

 ed eagerly towards the object, and like young men of the present 

 clay, showing off the presence of young ladies, so did these fishes 

 after their manner try to show off before the object of their ad- 

 miration ; leaping out of the water, and exhibiting such other 

 graceful feats and attitudes as they were capable of, and in their 

 minds considered would set them off to the greatest advantage. 

 So blind indeed was this propensity, that according to the above 

 authorities, a fisherman by merely attiring himself in goat skin* 

 of course not forgetting the horns might catch as many as he 

 pleased ; or should these fishes entertain any scruples about the 

 honesty of his intensions, a little flour steeped in goat broth was 

 sure to remove them. 



The only precaution required on this part of the fisherman then 

 was to smooth them down gently, so as to place the spines even 

 with the body before venturing to grasp them with his hands. In 

 case any of my readers should be desirous of knowing what man- 

 ner of fish this sargus is, all the further information I am able to 

 afford on the subject is, that he is a spinous fish, with firm flesh, 

 and having a black spot on the tail, and a body marked with seve- 

 ral black lines. It is an inhabitant of the Mediterranean, and the 

 Bay of Biscay, but it seems never known to approach on the coasts 

 of our own country. 



MM 



