166 



SCOMBEBID.E. 



tied behind his carriage. Unfortunately, the weather had 

 been stormy, and no fish of note could be procured. Every 

 apology was made by the host, who assured him that an 

 excellent dinner was provided, which, he had no doubt, 

 would be to his taste ; but no fish. The disappointment, 

 however, was too great to be borne with patience ; after 

 having made a water-cart of his carriage, and the appetite 

 having been set for John Dory boiled in sea-water, no 

 excuse, no apology, would satisfy Quin ; and he declared he 

 would not eat in his house, but, like a ship in distress, threw 

 his water-cask overboard, and pursued his journey not a little 

 sulky, till some fortunate stroke of wit, or some palatable 

 viand roused him to good humour. 



" This western tour of Quin's did not appear to have given 

 him much satisfaction, as may readily be imagined by his 

 reply to a friend on his return to Bath. Being asked if 

 he did not think Devonshire a sweet county, " Sir," 



said Quin, " I found nothing sweet in Devonshire 



but the vinegar." Montagu's MS. 



The body of the Dory is oval, very much compressed ; 

 the head large ; the mouth capable of great protrusion, so 

 much so, that from the point of the lower jaw when extend- 

 ed, to the posterior angle of the operculum, is as long as 

 from that angle to the base of the caudal rays. The length 

 of the head when the mouth is not projected is nearly as 

 long as the body is in depth. The mouth large ; the teeth 

 small and numerous, placed in a single row in each jaw, and 

 curving inwards ; the eyes large, situated laterally, and high 

 up on the head ; irides yellow ; a spine behind and over each 

 orbit about halfway between the eye and the first ray of the 

 spinous portion of the dorsal fin ; the spines of the first 

 dorsal fin very long, the longest half as long as the body is 

 deep ; the membrane between the spines ending in a filament 



