Class IV. GREY MULLET. 459 



taken by the exasperated spouse, describes it as 

 very various : 



Necat hicferro, secat Me cruentis 

 Ferberibus, quosdam moechos et Mdgilis intrat.* 



The passage in Horace seems not to have 

 been attended to by the critics ; but when he 

 mentions the distresses that the invader of an- 

 other's bed underwent, he most certainly alludes 

 to this penalty : 



Discinctd tunica fugiendum est, ac pede nudo; 



Ne nummi pereant, aut Pyga, aut denique fama. \ 



The mullet is an excellent fish for the table, 

 but at present not a fashionable one. 



The head is almost square, and is flat on the Descrip- 

 top j the nose blunt ; lips thick ; it has no teeth, 

 only in the upper lip is a small roughness ; be- 

 tween the eyes and the mouth is a hard callus. 

 The pupil of the eye is black, encircled with a 

 small silvery line ; the upper part of the iris is 

 hazel, the lower silvery ; the form of the body 

 is pretty thick, but the back not greatly elevat- 

 ed; the scales are large and deciduous. The 

 first dorsal fin is placed near the middle of the 

 back, and consists of four strong spines ; the 

 second of nine soft branching rays ; the pectoral 

 has sixteen, the ventral six ; the first a strong 



* Satyr, x. 316. f Satyr, ii. lib. i. 132. 



