THE MULLET AND SILTEK MULLET. 349 



generally broiled or fried in butter, although when large is 

 stuffed and baked, and occasionally boiled. 



THE MULLET, 



The reputation of the mullet as a table-fish dates back 

 to the time of the Romans, at which era a fish of four 

 pounds' weight was said to hare been sold for five thousand 

 sesterces, and presented to the Emperor Tiberius— a sum 

 equal to two hundred dollars in American gold ; and one was 

 afterward sold for eight thousand sesterces, being three 

 hundred and twenty dollars of our money. Juvenal re- 

 marks on this enormous outlay for these delicacies : 



" Six scanty pounds the mullet weighed, 

 Six thousand sesterces the wise men paid." 



At the South are found three descriptions of the mullet 

 family, called by the names of the gray or silver mullet, the 

 black mullet, a,nd the golden mullet. 



THE SILVER MULLET 



Is well named, for nothing, not even the polished metal 

 itself, can exceed the brilliant white of the sides of this dainty 

 little fish, that is taken along the coast of the Carolinas, 

 Virginia, and Maryland. 



There is but one dorsal fin, situated in the centre of the 

 back, of this beautiful little gem of the salt-water, and di- 

 rectly opposite on the belly are the ventral fins. The head 

 is nearly black, and the tail forked. The back is dark as far 

 as the lateral line, and shades down to the most beautiful 

 white, and the delicate little scales shine with a brilliancy 

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