12 THE DISCOBOLI. 



Cychpterus and Lumpiis. — " De Orbe scutato," the third chapter in 

 book fifteen of Rondelet's work, De Piscibus, 1554, may possibly have 

 been intended for the Lump-fish. The figure is a caricature. Dorsal and 

 anal fins are absent, and the ventrals are doubtfully indicated by faint 

 lines on the thorax that with the aid of some imagination may represent 

 a disk. The fish was a stout-bodied one, with four rows of tubercles on 

 each flank ; these, with the statement of its occurrence on the coast of 

 Holland, and the remote resemblance of the given vulgar names with 

 those there used, increase the probability of identity. Gesner, 1556, under 

 Schnottholf refers to Rondelet. His reference to Albertus Magnus is of 

 very questionable application. Though he was not dealing with the speci- 

 mens, his text leaves no doubt that he included the Lump with the Dio- 

 dons and Tetrodons. This is more evident in the Historia Animalium, 

 Liber IV., 1558, page 747. On page 745 Gesner copies Orbis of Ron- 

 delet, but is not misled by it. In the same volume, Paralipomena N 

 and O, page 1284, he gives figures of Lumpus anglorum and Orbis gibbosus, 

 which, with the text, fix their identity with the Lump. Both are copied 

 by Aldrovandi, 1613. Schonevelde, 1624, under the name Lepus marims, 

 gives a better idea of the fish and the uses of the disk. Philemon Hol- 

 land, 1635, in his translation of Pliny's Natural History, for Orbis and 

 Orthragoriscus of the original, has " The Lompe, Paddle, or Sea Owle, and 

 the grunting Molebout." Jonston, 1649, copies from Gesner. A third 

 figure, Leo marinis, Plate XL. Fig. 8, is given, which also bears resem- 

 blance to one of the Discoboles, Cyclopterichthys ventricosus, but the 

 lack of text leaves the matter undecided. Merrett, 1667, makes refer- 

 ence to the Lump. Willughby, 1686, copies Rondelet's Orbis from Gesner. 

 With Lumpus anglorum of the latter, he has a better description than 

 any previous one ; the ventral fins are said to coalesce in the disk, 

 which is likened to that of the Gobies. In the Appendix to this work 

 Tyson makes an attempt at the anatomy. Ray, 1713, treats of Lumpus 

 anglorum, from Gesner, as also Dale, 1732, and others. Duhamel, 1782, 

 adds very good figures under the same name. 



Cgcioplcrus, as applied to this fish, appears first in the earliest edition, 

 1735, of Linne's Systema. It was placed in all the editions previous to 

 the tenth as one of the Branchiostegi, with Lophius, Ostracion, and Ba- 

 listes. In the tenth, 1758, another species was added, C. nudus (not now 

 included), and the genus was made the first in the extensive Group VII., 



