FISHES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN. 91 



dinners, — feasts which would have made the 

 ichthyophagous epicures of old die of envy. 



During the researches of the Beacon on the 

 Lycian coast, and among the islands of the 

 iEgean, above seventy species of marine fish were 

 observed, examined, and drawn, being more than 

 twice the number recorded from the Grecian 

 seas, in the great French work on the Morea. It 

 is much to be regretted that as yet no competent 

 ichthyologist has devoted his attention to the 

 composition in monographic form of a history 

 of the Mediterranean fishes. A first step to it 

 would be the preparation of a collated catalogue 

 of the described species with synonyma and refer- 

 ences to the best figures. The exposition of 

 every department of Mediterranean zoology is 

 of the deepest interest, as well on account of its 

 connection with the researches of the earliest 

 naturalists as the light it must throw on the 

 origin and development of the fauna of a great 

 inland sea. If one section more than another 

 has a claim for early attention it is that of ich- 

 thyology, since the working out of the natural 

 history of the Mediterranean fishes would clear 

 up much in the writings of the classic authors. 

 The traveller who, when treading the shores 



