22 BRITISn FISH AND FISHERIES. 



kept and fed with great care, and at consider- 

 able cost. Amongst these was the mursena, a 

 species which often attains to five feet in length, 

 and is armed with horrible jaws ; it is said that 

 refractory slaves were often thrown alive to these 

 fishes to be devoured. They were kept in vast 

 numbers ; for Cassar, on the celebration of one 

 of his triumphs, is reported to have distributed 

 six thousand specimens among his friends. 



Another celebrated fish was the scarus, 

 (Scarus creticus aldrovand.) This is a native of 

 the Greek sea, and was sent to Rome at great 

 cost, while expensive attempts were made to 

 naturalize it along the shores of Italy. " Nunc 

 scaro datiir principatus''' — Now the pre-eminence 

 is given to the scarus, says Pliny ; but whe- 

 ther it deserved so high a reputation is question- 

 able. At the present day, Cuvier informs us, 

 it is eaten in Greece with a sauce of its own 

 intestines. The turbot {Rhombus) was valued 

 both by the Greeks and Eomans, as it is still 

 among ourselves ; though we must say, in 

 our humble opinion, more highly than it 

 really merits. The flesh is white, and re- 

 markably firm and close. It was a monstrous 

 fish of this species, which from its size asto- 

 nished the emperor Domitian, who ordered a 

 consultation of the senate, in order to devise 

 the best way of bringing it to the table. The 



