233 PROSE HALIEUTICS. 



out of the chaise in high melodramatic dudgeon, refused 

 to alight, slammed the chaise door, and ordered the won- 

 dering post-boys to drive on ! 



The Cobyph^na, or Dorado. 



One ancient name for the coryphsena was hippurus ; 

 the motive for which designation, as applied to this fish, 

 is beyond safe conjecture : that of coryphaena, occurring 

 in Athenseus, seems to be derived from Kopv(pr], the head ; 

 this fish being remarkable for the elevation and trenchant 

 summit of that organ. Linnaeus has incorporated these 

 two ancient names (supposed for the same fish), making 

 the first generic, the second specific. ' The coryphsena 

 hippurus swims with great rapidity, is of large size, sil- 

 very blue above, with spots of deep blue and citron-yellow 

 underneath.'* There are several species. It is only as 

 the enemy of the flying-fish that this chasseur has at- 

 ta;ined any celebrity, the flesh of the dorado being of no 

 value. It inhabits the Pacific, the Atlantic, and the 

 Mediterranean . 



T^NioiDEs, Riband FisH.f 



Leaving the Mackerel family, we come next to that 

 of the Tsenioides, or riband-fish, a small group, which, 

 though it presents two or three individuals remarkable 

 for their beauty, is not found recorded in the extant wri- 

 tings of any ancient author. The cepola rubescens, or 

 onion-fish, whose body peels into flakes like that bulb, 

 and who zigzags through the waves like a leech ; the de- 

 licate soft trachypteris,— ^e«ce bannera, or banner-fish, of 

 the Neapolitan markets ; and that beautiful creature, the 

 lepidopus argyreus, all belong to this family. The last- 

 mentioned has been excellently described, in one of their 



* Cuvier. f Family VIII. 



