444 PBOSE HALIEUTICS. 



they proceed up the river to spawn ; afterwards they re- 

 main lean and ill-favoured with the new brood tiU au- 

 tumn, when all repair together to the sea ; but neither 

 then nor later is lamprey flesh so delicate in quality as 

 early in the year, at which period accordingly Galen pre- 

 scribes it to his patients. 



The finest came from Sicily, and, in this respect, Taor- 

 mini was to the court of Rome what Gloucester used to be 

 to that of London ; the best lampreys, but not the largest, 

 were procured thence as ' presents to the reigning Csesar' 

 or the high functionaries of state. It is not hence how- 

 ever to be inferred that Tiber lampreys were bad ; the 

 contrary seems the fact, but they were probably scarce ; 

 and greedy competitors, in Jovius' day, would, he teUs 

 us, give five, six, or seven pieces of the then gold cur- 

 rency apiece, and he mentions one instance where a 

 hundred pieces were paid : thus the high pricBj while it 

 establishes the excellence of the fish, also proves it scarce ; 

 and hence no doubt the necessity of ' scouring foreign 

 creeks' to obtain it. The same Jovius, who was a bit 

 of a cook as well as a naturalist, advises to drown lam- 

 preys in fine wine ; and after letting them soak awhile, 

 stuflBng the mouth with nutmeg, and the fourteen flute- 

 holes with as many cloves, to simmer over a very slow 

 fire in a sauce of Cretan wine, oil, bread-crumbs, bruised 

 hazel-nuts, and plenty of spice, and to serve hot. They 

 are salted at Hamburg, and smoked at Dantzic; the 

 liver, in great vogue as a delicacy, yields a beautifial per- 

 manent green pigment. The fat, besides gratifying the 

 epicure's palate, was applied over the skin to prevent 

 the spreading of the scars in small-pox. Much as this 

 fish has been in general esteem, it has had its detractors, 

 on which Lacepede makes the following sprightly re- 

 marks : — ' II est arrive en cette occasion ce qui arrive 

 presque toujours en pareille circonstance, pendant que 

 les docteurs ecriverent sur les boimes ou mauvaises 



