210 NATURAL HISTORY [Fishes. 



" golden hue, much resembling the splendour of the peacock's 

 " feathers ; this, by degrees, vanishes into a bright silver, and 

 " near the belly the gold begins again to predominate in a 

 " lighter ground than on the back/' 



1 have only to add, that this fish seems to be very rare, 

 and never caught with a hook, and but seldom thrown 

 ashore, as in seven years I have never heard of a specimen 

 of it got in the Orkneys, so am obliged to others for the above, 

 and even the knowledge of its being an Orkney fish. There 

 are, indeed, very many curious fishes thrown ashore in the 

 winter storms, and many of these, I believe, little known, but 

 scarce ever taken notice of by our people, except they are 

 such as they know to be fit for eating ; the others are left for 

 the gulls. 



Mr Wallace adds to his description of the Opah, that 

 " the flesh of the half next the head was like beef, and of the 

 " other half like salmon/' He has a figure which is the same 

 with Sibbald's, and, for the time in which it was made, tole- 

 rably well. 



Mr Pennant, Vol. IV. says, it ought to be removed from the 

 genus he had placed it in, in his Zoology, into that of Doree, 

 where I suppose he will place it in the next edition of his va- 

 luable work. 



