346 SPINY-FIJYNED GROUP. 



seldom met with in the British seas, although abundant in the Mediterranean. 

 Mullets live chiefly on small crustaceans, frequenting coasts where the bottom is 

 more or less muddy. Occasionally they visit the British coasts in vast shoals, 

 upwards of five thousand having been taken during a single night, in August 

 1819, in Weymouth Bay; while in May 1851 no less than ten thousand were 

 captured at Yarmouth in the course of a week. Whereas by the ancient Romans 

 these fish were known by the name of rnidlus, the Greeks termed them trigle. " A 

 singular circumstance," writes Badham, " about this latter synonym is, that it not 

 only obtains in modern Greece (where indeed, if anywhere, we might expect to 

 find it), but has also entirely supplanted the old Latin word in Italy ; so that no 

 one now ever hears Mugli ! mugli ! hawked about the streets of Rome or Naples ; 

 but the constant cry is ' Trigle vive ! trigle ! ' The inordinate love for these same 

 trigle, in the city and times of the Caesars, would surpass belief ; not only cash, but 

 time too, was profusely lavished upon this one object; quite betimes, and long 

 before office-hours, the mullet-millionaire was at the pond ere the stars were 

 extinguished, feeding or caressing his fish. It took time, skill, and patience to 

 teach creatures so obtuse to heed the voice that called, or the hand that fondled 

 and fed them ; but to warm such cold-blooded animals as these into a reciprocity 

 of regard, was a work of yet greater difficulty." After much trouble and pains, the 

 inhabitants of the pond would, however, at length learn to know and acknowledge 

 their master ; at his whistle flock emulously together, at his sight leap joyously 

 into the air ; and as he plunged his arm into the agitated basin, each individual of 

 the serried shoal strove who should first present fins, and rub scales against the 

 well-known fingers ! " 



The Sea-Breams, — Family Sparidje. 



The sixth family of the present section is especially characterised by the 

 peculiarity of the dentition, the palate being generally devoid of teeth, while either 

 cutting or conical incisor-like teeth are developed in the front of the jaws, or 

 crushing molars on their sides ; in some cases both these types being coexistent. 

 In the sea-breams, as these fish are commonly called, the oblong body is markedly 

 compressed; and the investing scales are either but very slightly serrated, or 

 smooth. The terminal mouth has a distinct lateral cleft ; and the eyes, which are 

 of medium size, are likewise lateral. The single dorsal fin is composed in about 

 equal moieties of a spinous and a soft portion ; the anal is three-spined ; as a rule 

 the lower rays of the pectorals are branched ; and the pelvics, which are ventral in 

 position, are furnished with one spine and five rays. The number of branchio- 

 stegal rays varies from five to seven. Sea-breams are coast-fishes, distributed over 

 all temperate and tropical seas, and sometimes entering brackish, and even fresh 

 waters ; they include a large number of genera, and are of sombre coloration and 

 medium size ; the flesh of the majority being used for food. In a fossil state the 

 family is first known by the extinct Pagellus from the Chalk of the Lebanon; 

 while they are numerous in Tertiary formations, where both the living and extinct 

 genera are met with, the existing Sargus dating from the Miocene of the 

 Continent. 



