MUGILIDiE. 229 



while the existence of M. auratus in the British seas, as asserted by Dr. Giinther, 

 may be due to some error, for Dr. Mpreau, in his interesting work on the Fishes 

 of France, remarks, "il a confondn oette espSce avec un autre, ainsi que le prouve 

 la figure jointe au texte. M. Giinther donne I'esquisse d'une tete, qui assurement 

 n'a jamais appartenu a un Muge dor6." (Vol. iii, p. 186.) 



As regards the breeding of the British forms it has been observed by Mr. 

 Dunn, that off Cornwall, mullets spawn twice a year, in May and in November, 

 but it does not seem improbable that the two species, M. capita and M. chelo, do so 

 at different seasons, the latter appearing to deposit its ova in May and June, 

 as the young which I obtained in August are all of the thick lipped-form : 

 whereas M. capita appears in shoals ofi Gomwall during the latter end of the 

 year, and perhaps breeds in November. 



Mullets have frequently been kept in large salt and even fresh water aquaria. 

 In 1831, Mr. Arnold of Guernsey communicated to the Zoological Society of 

 London some experiments which he had personally carried out. on this subject, in 

 a five-acre lake of varying depths, having a muddy, gravelly or rocky bottom, 

 and which was principally filled with fresh water. Here for nine months in the 

 year cattle came to drink, but in summer the water was too salt, due to a supply 

 from the sea being received through a tunnel. Among the introduced fish were 

 mullets, which it was remarked bred as freely as if they remained in the sea. 

 M. Leon Vidal, in Bull. Soc. Zool. d'Accliraat. 1867, p. 190-200, observes upon 

 how mullets may be semi-domesticated, and brought to a marketable size. In 

 August, 1881, being at Devonport, I was shown a most beautiful piece of water, 

 on the three sides of which trees came down to its edge ; a small stream flowed 

 in from the high lands above, while at its lower end a tunnel communicated with 

 the backwater, and through which saline water obtained an entrance. A long 

 weir prevented entrance of fish into, or exit from, this really beautiful lake. 

 Here were many mullets which the owner had netted and introduced during the 

 last few years, and they are, I am informed, of the thick-lipped species, M. chela. 

 On the other hand, Mr. W. Lloyd having received at Hamburgh a mullet (M. 

 capita ?) from the Bay of Kiel in the Baltic, where the water contained only 

 twelve per mil. of saline matter, transferred it to North Sea water, in which the 

 salts were from thirty-six to thirty-eight per mil. The fish could not but float, it 

 made ineffectnal efforts to descend under and keep below the surface, and died 

 in about three hours. 



' They are found to be hardy and long-lived in an aquarium, which has been 

 attributed to their passing most of their time near the top of the tank, where the 

 water is most aerated, while their vivacity likewise keeps it in motion. 



These fish are very active, and as soon as a shoal is enclosed by a net they 

 at first lose all order, but this soon becomes re-established, and a leader seeks for 

 a hole or way beneath the obstruction, or failing this they essay to spring over. 

 At Mevagissey a shoal entered the harbour, and having been perceived, the 

 entrance was at once barred by nets. The fish first tried to jump over, but a 

 net was raised so as to bar that route. The water was very clear, and the fish 

 were seen to swim round and round, to try to find an exit. Next they attera.pted 

 to get under the foot rope : at last one made a push, but became meshed. When 

 this was done, another came and laid beside it, and nothing could drive it away. 

 In short, all escaped but these two. Carew had a pond of salt water in Cornwall, 

 in which mullets were kept, and having been accustomed to feed them at a certain 

 place every evening, they became so tame that a knocking like that of chopping 

 caused them to assemble. 



There are two points of great interest in the internal anatomy of these fishes, 

 which must not be passed over in silence : the first being how they feed, and the 

 second the conformation of their stomachs. In an aquarium it is most interesting 

 to observe them suck in the sand, the coarser portion of which they almost 

 immediately afterwards expel from their mouths. A sifting or filtering apparatus 

 exists in the pharynx, which precludes large and hard substances from passing 

 into the stomach, or sand from obtaining access to tlie gills. 



In these fishes the sBSophagus passes into the cardiac portion of the stomach, 



