MAILED GURNARD. 11 



figure : it was caught on the fishing ground between Ply- 

 mouth and the Eddystone in the autumn of 1836. It will 

 be observed by the synonymes quoted, which are arranged 

 chronologically, that this fish has been known from the time 

 of Belon, who published in 1553, and has given a figure 

 from an engraving on wood, which is easily recognised. 

 This fish is also figured and described in the work of Ron- 

 delet, who from a resemblance which it bears to Trigla lyra^ 

 the systematic name of our English Piper Gurnard, British 

 Fishes, vol. i. p. 44, called this fish Lyra altera, and also 

 Forchato, from its elongated and bifurcated nasal bones. 

 Brunnich, after Rondelet, called it cataphracta, in reference 

 to the armour-like scales with which the body is defended. 

 The term Malarmat applied to a fish so well armed, at least 

 defensively, could only have been bestowed in joke by way 

 of antiphrase. > 



M. Risso, who has briefly described some of its habits, 

 says, it frequents deep water over rocky ground, approaching 

 the shallows only at the period of spawning. It swims with 

 rapidity, occasionally breaking off portions of the extended 

 nasal bones against the rocks among which it harbours. It 

 is said to be solitary in its habits, and feeds upon such ani- 

 mals as the medusEe, the beroe, and the thinner skinned 

 Crustacea. This fish inhabits all the western parts of the 

 Mediterranean, and is rather common on most of the shores, 

 where it attains the length of two feet. The British speci- 

 men recorded by Dr. E. Moore was about eleven inches 

 long. It is said to be a rare species in the Adriatic, but has 

 been taken at Venice. Duhamel, in his Traite des Peches, 

 says, that this fish, though so rare on the coasts of the 

 Channel as to be almost unknown, is common on the coasts 

 of Spain and Provence, where it is caught in deep water. 

 It is fished for all the year ; but as an article of food it is 

 in the greatest estimation in Lent. As there is but little 



