Fishes. 4171 



Origin of the Opinion that there is some Virtue in the Tench, which renders it the 

 Physician of Fishes. — Some correspondents of the ' Zoologist' have succeeded in show- 

 ing that the healing virtues believed to reside in the tench (Tinea vulgaris of Cuvier), 

 are founded in popular error ; but it becomes a question, how an opinion so widely- 

 spread, and so generally adopted, even by eminent naturalists, should have started into 

 existence, and have received such general countenance. Abundant as are the super- 

 stitions and follies collected together in the writings of very ancient naturalists, such 

 as Pliny, and the Magi of Greece and Home, this supposition concerning the tench is 

 not to be found in them ; and I strongly suspect that it has no better or more ancient 

 support, than is afforded by the following passage, extracted from the ' Chronicle ' of 

 Hollinshead, who, when advancing the pretensions of this fish to be the leech of its 

 fellow-inhabitants of the waters, goes on to give the following instance in proof of the 

 fact; — " For when the fish-monger hath opened his — the pike's — side, and laid out 

 his rivet unto the buier, for the better utterance of his ware, and cannot make him 

 away at that present, he laieth the same againe into the proper place, and sowing up 

 the wound, he restoreth him to the pond where tenches are, who never cease to sucke 

 and licke his greeved place, till they have restored him in healthe, and made him rea- 

 die to come againe to the stall when his turne shall come about." And so, this nib- 

 bling of the fat of a wound that would have healed as well without it, has given rise to 

 an opinion which naturalists have been content to copy from each other to the present 

 moment. — Jonathan Couch ; Polperro, December, 1853. 



Capture of the Three-spotted Wrasse (Labrus trimaculatus) in the Moray Firth. — 

 On the 26th of October last, two specimens of that very rare British fish, Labrus tri- 

 maculatus, were caught on the small haddock-line by Donald Main, a very observant 

 fisherman of Burghead. They at once struck his eye as something rare, and with 

 much commendable zeal he brought them carefully ashore, and preserved them alike 

 from the gridiron and the dunghill, in order that they might be identified, and their 

 capture recorded. They were forwarded to me by the Rev. Alexander Leslie, of Burg- 

 head, who has since kindly ascertained the following particulars regarding these fish, 

 which seem to be entire novelties to the fishermen of that part of the coast, none of the 

 same species having been met with by any who examined them. They were hooked 

 near each other on the line, which was set in 14 or 18 fathoms, on very rough ground 

 about six miles north of Burghead, a part of the Firth known as the " Kail-pots," 

 but very seldom resorted to by the fishermen on account of the injury which their lines 

 are apt to sustain by getting foul of the rocks. The two fish were alive when taken 

 into the boat, and at that time their colours were vivid and beautiful, ranging in dif- 

 ferent parts of the body, from bright green through many a golden tint to a deep 

 orange. They had been dead for nearly two days before I had the opportunity of 

 examining them. The entire length of one was 11 inches, and of the other 10 inches. 

 The colours were still beautiful and distinct, but of a deeper and darker tint upon the 

 larger one, which had its dorsal fin 18 — 13, while the lesser one had its dorsal 17 — 14 ; 

 thus each bore on its back evidence, the one for Yarrell, the other for Jenyns, that 

 these distinguished authors were correct, although their descriptions differ as to the 

 number of the spinous rays. The profile was more on a line with the back than the 

 figure in Yarrell represents it. Neither Yarrell nor Jenyns notices a singular and 

 striking mark, which, if not common to other species of the genus, may readily distin- 

 guish this one, namely, two beautiful blue lines or bands, one of which passes directly 

 across the head from eye to eye, and the other runs from the front of the eyes obliquely 



