STRIPED RED MULLET, ETC. 81 



STRIPED BED MULLET, &c. 



Mvllus sunnuletus, Linnaeus, Cuvier, &c. 



The characters which distinguish the two species 

 of red mullet have been long known. One species, 

 the well-known striped red mullet, is of frequent 

 occurrence along the extended line of our south- 

 ern coast from Cornwall to Sussex, but becomes 

 more rare in proceeding from thence northward 

 by the eastern coast, with some exceptions. The 

 red mullet was well known to the ancients, and 

 held in such estimation that one of large size seems 

 to have been an object of particular admiration, 

 and sometimes even of contention ; a mullet of six 

 pounds is recorded to have produced a sum equal to 

 ;48 ; one still larger, .64 ; and 240 were given 

 for three of extraordinary size, caught on the day 

 of some repast of great magnificence. The striped 

 red mullet is the species which occasionally only 

 attains to so enviable a size in the Mediterranean ; 

 the second species, which on our own coast is very 

 rare, is much smaller, but more beautiful in colour, 

 and is the species which, on that account, the 



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