40 NOTES ON CERTAIN FISHES, ETC., 



\_Fol. 27.] Beside the comon muUus"' or mullet there 

 is another not vnfrequent wch some call a cunny fish 

 butt rather a red muellett of a flosculous redde & some- 

 what rough on the scales answering the discription of 

 [Rond crossed out] Icon of Rondeletius vnder the name 

 of mullus ruber asper [no crossed out] butt not the tast 

 of the vsually knowne mullet as [being butt crossed 

 out] affording butt a drye & leane bitt. 



Seuerall sorts of fishes"* there are wch [bear crossed 

 out] do [written above] or may beare the names of 

 seawoodcocks as the Acus maior scolopax & saurus. 

 the saurus wee sometimes meet with yonge. Rondeletius 

 confesseth it a very rare fish somewhat resembling the 

 Acus or needlefish before & a makerell behind, wee 

 have kept one dryed many yeares agoe. 



The Acus maior calld by some a garfish & greenback 

 answering ye figure of Rondeletius under the name of 



'^^ The Common Mullet I take to be the Grey Mullet {Mugil capita), 

 which is at times plentiful on our coast, coming into Breydon and the 

 mouths of the rivers, but the Red Mullet (Mullus barbatus) is far less 

 frequently met with. In his third letter to Merrett, Browne says, 

 " There is of them maior and minor" the latter probably being the 

 variety known as the Surmullet, by far the most frequently met with here. 



^ The Saurus of Rondeletius appears to be the Skipper or Saury-pike 

 (Scombresox saurus) of modern authors. Acus major is the Gar-fish or 

 Greenback (Belone vulgaris) ; this is the Acus primus of Rondeletius. 

 Dr. Harmer has been good enough to send me the following note 

 on Rondeletius's figures: — "Z>« Acus secunda specie'' (lib. viii. p. 229). 

 "Two species are figured; the upper figure appears to represent Sipho- 

 rtosloma typhle, and the lower one .S. acus. Giinther ( ' Brit. Mus. Cat. ,' 

 viii. p. 157) gives a reference to Rondeletius in his synonyms of .S. acer 

 without indicating that the latter figures two species. Under .S. typhle 

 (p. 154) he gives the synonym Syngnathus rondeletii, De la Roche. A 

 reference to Delaroche ('Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat., Paris,' xiii. 1809 p. 324, 

 PI. xxi. fig. 5) shows that S. rondeletii is identified with the first figure 

 on p. 229 of Rondeletius ; and it may thus be concluded that Gunther 

 agrees with this conclusion. It seems therefore probable that Browne's 

 Acus of Aristotle refers to S. typhle," 



