

FISHES IN ARTS AND SCIENCES. 47 



the sturgeon is a royal fish, and in the Sandwich Islands,* 

 the bonito, albicore, and squid, are among the monopolies 

 of the king's table. That any one should quarrel over the 

 privilege of eating squids may seem strange to us who reject 

 them except as bait, but they were esteemed by the ancients, 

 notably the Greeks, and are at this day eaten by all the 

 races on the Eastern seas, as well as the nations of Southern 

 Europe and the Mediterranean f generally. Odious as the 

 idea of eating an octopus may be, it is not, after all, so 

 strange as the Japanese mania for the poisonous furuke, by 

 eating which, in defiance of imperial edict, they are enabled 

 to obtain, at one and the same time, the carnal pleasure of 

 a tasty dish and the posthumous honours of the Happy 

 Despatch. 



As properly leading out from my note preceding on the 

 Patron Saints of fishes, their place in legendary art may be 

 here briefly referred to. Notable among the paintings in 

 which fish, in connection with their patrons, are con- 

 spicuous, are Raphael's noble piece, the Madonna della 

 Pesce, in which the child Tobias, with the fish in his 

 hand, is being brought by St. Raphael to the Virgin ; 



* There the " lords of the manor " have also the right to specify 

 one kind of fish as exclusively for their own eating, whenever caught 

 in their waters. 



f " Along the western coast of France, and in the countries border- 

 ing on the Mediterranean and Adriatic, they form a portion of the 

 habitual sustenance of the people, and are regularly exposed for sale 

 in the markets, both in a fresh and dried condition. Salted cuttles 

 and octopus are there eaten during Lent as commonly as salted cod 

 are brought to table in England ; and, thus prepared, generally form a 

 portion of the provisions supplied to the Greek fishing-boats and 

 coasters. This strange diet is chiefly obtained from Tunis, and in the 

 Levant and Greek markets its trade name is octopodia or polypi." 

 Prof. Martin Duncan (CasseWs Nat. Hist.}. 



