151 



chin, are sufficient to distinguish this species from any one 

 hitherto recognized as British. At the same time it so 

 nearly agrees with the figure and description of the Orphe 

 of Rondelctius, that I hare little hesitation in believing it to 

 he the same Gsh. 1 1 is account is this; " Op0« on Oo^wf. 

 Les Latins ont retcnu ce nom horsmis Gaze du quel est 

 appelle Cernua. II est poisson marin de rivage, aucunement 

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

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

 situation daellcs, deguillons semhlable au Pagre. 11 ha le 

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

 fente laquela vous ne verres sans presser le ventre ; il n'lia 

 point de vaisseaux spermatiques, (certainly an error of the 

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

 Aristote e Athenee ont attribue. En pen de terns il devient 

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

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

 p. 139, of the French edition. 



It is intimated by Rondelctius that among the Greeks 

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

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

 Latin writers have rendered the Greek Op(]>or 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 ot Rondelctius, adds : nos (inquit Ronde- 

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

 busdam hodie vulgari lingua orpbi nomine dicitur. Est 

 enim nostro longe major, utpotc qui pondere viginti li- 

 bras sequel, nec sit lit oralis. Sed orphum dipingimus ex 

 Aristotle, Athenaeo, Plinio. Is Piscis est liloralis magis 

 quam pelagius, Pagro quodammodo si in i 1 is colore ex purpureo 

 rubesccnte, idea rubentem appellavit Ovidius ; (verum haec 

 apud Plinium ex Ovidio non recte chattel eguntur.) Ovidius 

 pelagium facit, Aristoteles vero iElianus litoralem. Oppiano 

 degit in petris cavernosis, qua) plenae sunt chamis et patellis 

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

 aliuui Piscem vulgo orphum vel Rophum appellant; que in 

 Bellonius orphum facit. R;»y (Synopsis, p. 183,) who 

 limits the name Orphus to the Rud, describes tin' fish 

 which he terms Orpheus veterum, from Rondelctius, in ;i 

 manner to show that he. was altogether unacquainted with it; 

 and as the species termed Orphus by Bellonius is the oth< r 

 and more common one known by this name among ilu> 

 Greeks, we need not wonder at finding Ruyseh (Thcatrum 

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

 horn such utter contusion what he saw might Mill hi- a v\tll 

 defined species, >'or does it appear that even the most 



