170 PROSE HALIEUTICS. 



cruciarentur si cum consanguinea vel sacerdote res niis- 

 set/ 



As food, the scorpsena is not altogether despicahle. 

 Archestratus, however, recommeiids none longer than a 

 pygo, a measure of twenty finger-breadths ; and as the 

 flesh is rather too firm when fresh, it is usually kept 

 awhile before dressing ; with a like view Apicius has be- 

 queathed to posterity the recipe of a rich sauce, com- 

 posed, inter alia, of oil, vinegar, liquamen, honey, carda- 

 moms, carrots, mustard, pepper, and a confection of va- 

 rious fruits. 



Sci^NID^. 



The next, or fourth family of the Acanthopterygii — 

 the Scisenidse — ofier many points of resemblance with 

 the Percidse, but difier in not having teeth on either vo- 

 mer or palate; they are moreover remarkable for the 

 size of their ' ear-stones/* The Mediterranean possesses 

 several species : the S. nigra, which is the ' cuorvu,' or 

 crow, of the Neapolitan market; the S. cirrhosa, a mag- 

 nificent fish, shining in golden scales, and obliquely barred 

 with transverse bands of silver and steely blue ; and 

 the S. aquila, the ' boca d^oro' of Naples, fegaro of Ge- 

 noa, umbrina of modem Rome, an undoubted descen- 

 dant of those Ulustrious ancestral cricUuvai, and umbras 

 of Greek and Latin renown. The Hellenic word aKiaiva 

 has been variously interpreted : Varro supposes this ety- 

 mon to allude to the dusky or cloudy hue of the body ; 

 which Ovid however pronounces livid, ' corporis umbra 

 liventis.' Salvianus explains it difierently, and thinks 

 the fish is called scisena, from a-iaa, a shade or shadow, 

 to denote the swiftness with which, like a shadow, it flits 



* Hence one genus is designated Otolithus, i. c. ' Stone-i-th'- 

 ears.' 



