THE SURMULLET. 33^ 



It was cuftomary to put the mullets into glafs vafes, 

 that the company might be entertained with the various 

 changes of their rich colours as they lay expiring *. It 

 was Apicius^ that prince of gluttonsf , that firfl hit upon 

 the ingenious invention of fufFocating them in the exqui- 

 fite Carthaginian pickle, and afterwards procuring a rich 

 fauce from their livers* 



The Striped Surmullet %. 



JL HERE are three fpecies of this genus, the red and the 

 ftriped, which arc fometimes found in the Britijh feas, 

 and the king of the furmullets, a fifli peculiar to the 

 Mediterranean, and deilitute of the two cirri which hang 

 from the chin of the other fpecies. The ftriped furmuUet 

 is about fourteen inches in length, and weighs about two 

 pounds and an half. The body is thick; the fnout blunt, 

 and from the lower fide of it hang^s two beards, about an 

 inch and an half long. The fins are of a beautiful red, 

 and yellow ; the colours of the body vary in their hues, 

 into a thoufand difFerent fliades, while the animal is dying. 



* Vitriis oilis inclufi offeruntur, ct obfervatur raorientium color, qucn* 

 J9 multas mutationes ludante fpiritu vertit. Seneca, Nat. Quxft. lib, 3, 

 •j- Ncpotum omnium altiffimus gurgcs. PHny, lib. x. c. 48. 

 \ MuUhs major, Will, Mulhu Surmuletus, I>in. Syft. 



