151 



chin, are sufficient to distinguish ibis species from any one 

 hitherto recognized as British. At the same time if so 

 nearly agrees with the figure and description of the Orphe 

 of Rondeletius, that I have little hesitation in believing it to 

 be the same fish. His account is this; " Opcpe ou Op0we. 

 Les Latins ont retenu ce nom horsmis Gaze du quel est 

 appelle Cernua. II est poisson marin de rivage, aucunement 

 semblable an Pagre rougeastre. II ha les jenx grands, les 

 dens qui entrent les unes entres les autres. De nombre, de 

 situation daelles, deguillons semblable au Pagre. 11 ha le 

 trou de excreniens fort petit ; car il ha seulement une petite 

 fente laquela vous ne verres sans presser le ventre ; il u'iia 

 point de vaisseaux spermatiques, (certainly an error of the 

 observer). Tel est noster orphe, au quel convient tout ceque 

 Aristote e Alhenee ont atlribue. En peu de terns il devient 

 grand, il est mangechaire, solitaire, il ha des dens qui se 

 serrent les unes eutre les autres, il est cache en hyver," 

 p. 139, of the French edition. 



It is intimated by Rondeletius that among the Greeks 

 more than one fish was known by the name of Orphus ; 

 aud we further learn that the word, Cernua, by which some 

 Latin writers have rendered the Greek Op<poc has been 

 applied to a still greater number of species, all of them dis- 

 tinct from this, and even from the River Rud : the true 

 Cernua of the Moderns. Alter stating this, Gesner, who 

 copies the figure of Rondeletius, adds : nos (inquit Ronde- 

 letius) orphum hie non depingimus eum, qui a Gtaeeis qui- 

 busdam hodie vulgari lingua orphi nomine dicitur. Est 

 enim nostro louge major, utpote qui pondere viginti 1U 

 bras aequet, nee sit liloralis. Sed orphum dipiugimus ex 

 Aristotle, Athenaeo, Piinio. Is Piscis est litoralis magis 

 quam pelagius, Pagro quodauimodo similis colore ex purpureo 

 rubescente, idea rubenlem appeilavit Ovidius ; (verum hasc 

 apud Plinium ex Ovidio non recte citatael eguntur.) Ovidius 

 pelagium facit, Arisloteles vero iElianus liloralem. Oppiano 

 degit in pelris cavernosis, quae plena? sunt chamis et patellis 

 (quibus nimirum vescitur.) Grasci hodie, ut dictum est 

 alium Piscem vulgo orphum vel Rouhum appellant; quem 

 Bedonius orphum facit. Ray (Synopsis, p. 1133,) who 

 limits the name Orphus to the Rud, describes the fish 

 which he terms Orpheus veterum, from Rondelelius, in a 

 manner to show thai he was altogether unacquainted with it; 

 and as the species termed Orphus by Bellonius is the other 

 and more common one known by this name among the 

 Greeks, we need not wonder at finding Ruysch (Theutrum 

 Animalium, vol. 1, p. 24,) resigning all hope of extricating 

 Ironi such utter contusion what he saw might still be a well 

 defined species, JNor does it appear that e\en the most 



