Class IV. RED SURMULLET. S67 



they put the mullets in transparent vases, that 

 they might be entertained with the various 

 changes of its rich color while it lay expiring. * 

 Apicius,-\ a wonderful genius for luxurious in- 

 ventions, first hit upon the method of suffocating 

 them in the exquisite Carthaginian^ pickle, 

 and afterwards procured a rich sauce from their 

 livers. This is the same gentleman whom Pliny, 

 in another place, honors with the title of Nepo- 

 tum omnium altissimus gurges,\ an expression 

 too forcible to be rendered in our language. 



We have heard of this species being taken on 

 the coast of Scotland, but had no opportunity of 

 examining it ; and whether it is found in the west 

 of England with the other species, or variety, we 

 are not at this time informed. Sahnanus makes 

 it a distinct species, and says, that it is of a 

 purple color, striped with golden lines, and that 

 it did not commonly exceed a palm in length : 

 no wonder then that such a prodigy as one of 

 six pounds should so captivate the fancy of the 

 Roman epicure. Mr. Ray establishes some 



* In culili natant pisccs : etsul ipsamensa capitar, qui statim 

 transferatur in mensam: parum videtur recens mullus nisi qui in 

 convivce manu moritur. Vitreis ollis inclusi offeruntur, et ohser- 

 vatur morientium color, quern in multas mutationes mors luctante 

 spiritu vertit. Seneca Nat. Ouaest. Lih. ill. c. 17- 



f Ad omne luxus ingenium mints. 



X Garum Sociorum, vide p. 358. § Lib. x. c. 48. 





