THE GREY MULLET. 81 



numerous teeth, and capable of great protrusion. 

 The general colour of the body is olive brown, 

 tinged with golden yellow, and with reflexions 

 of blue and silvery on each side ; a little behind 

 each gill- cover is a circular mark of black. 



To a family termed Mugilidce belongs the 

 grey mullet, (Mugil capita,) a common fish on 

 our coasts, and on those of the adjacent conti- 

 nent. Along the shores of Essex, Kent, and 

 Sussex this fish abounds, extending to Cornwall 

 and Devonshire. It prefers shallows near the 

 shore to the deep, and is extremely active and 

 vigorous, leaping with great address ; it thus 

 often throws itself over the head-line of the 

 sweep-net which surrounds it, and so makes its 

 escape. It is not, however, to the salt water 

 that the grey mullet confines itself ; it enters the 

 mouths of rivers, advancing above the tideway 

 into the fresh stream, and has been found up 

 the Arun twenty miles from the sea. An 

 Arundel mullet is celebrated. This fish will 

 indeed not only live, but thrive in purely fresh 

 .water ; we learn from Mr. Yarrell that Mr. 

 Arnold put a number of the fry of the grey 

 mullet into his pond at Guernsey, which covers 

 an area ot about three acres, and that, after a 

 few years, fish weighing four pounds were 

 taken, which proved to be fatter, deeper, and 



