Ciiap. 24.] 
FISHES. 
395 
are never taken during the winter, except only on a few stated 
days, which are always the same. The same with the mu- 
raena^^ also, and the orphus,*^ the conger, the perch,^^ and all 
and when held on the side, would appear almost circular in shape. Its 
colour appears white in comparison with that of another little fish of the 
same genus, the Sparus chromis of Linnseus, the Chromis castanea of Cuvier, 
which is of a brownish colour, and is found on the coast of France, where 
it has never been held in high esteem, except for the purposes of salting 
or making bait for other fish. He concludes, then, that this last was the 
sea coracinus, and the " bolty " of the present day that of the Mle. 
Cuvier says, that it has been doubted, upon the authority of Paulus 
Jovius, whether by this name was signified the muraena of the present day, 
the Muraena helena of Linna3us, or the Petromizon marinus of Linnaeus, 
the modern lamprey. These two fishes, he says, have in common a long 
smooth body, and are devoid of the symmetrical fins, and the flesh of both 
is of a delicate flavour. There are, however, several other characteristics 
mentioned, he says, from which it can be easily proved that in most of the 
passages of Pliny, Aristotle, and ^lian, where the muraena is mentioned, 
it is the Muraena helena that is meant. Ovid says, Halieut. 11. 114, 115, 
" the muraena burning with its spots of gold" — but the lamprey has no 
yellow spots whatever : and in 1. 27, he speaks of it as "ferox," or ''fierce," 
a characteristic which also belongs to the muraena, but not to the lamprey. 
TRIiflu also states, B. x. c. 40, that the muraena defends itself with its teeth, 
which form a double row, and Aristotle says, B. viii. c. 2, that it lives upon 
flesh ; while Pliny says, in c. 88 of the present Book, that it bites off the 
tail of the conger. It was the Muraena helena only, and not the lamprey, 
that coiM have devoured the slaves whom Vedius Pollio ordered to be 
thrown into their preserves, as is mentioned by our author in the present 
Book, and by Seneca and Tertullian. Finally, a thing that he considers 
quite decisive on the point, Aristotle says, B, ii. c. 13, that the muraena 
has four gills on each side, like the eel ; while the fact is that the lamprey 
has only seven in all. Where we find Pliny speaking of the seven spots 
upon the muraena found in Northern Gaul, it appears most likely, Cuvier 
says, that he speaks after some traveller, who had observed the seven 
branchial orifices on the lamprey, and had taken them for spots. 
This fish, Cuvier says, was of a reddish colour, had rough scales, 
sharp teeth, large eyes, and a tough flesh. It lived a solitary life in the 
sea, near rocks which were the resort of shell-fish, which formed its prin- 
cipal nutriment. It passed the winter in the crevices of rocks under water. 
Its growth was rapid, and the length of its life two years ; when cut in 
pieces, its muscles, were still seen to palpitate. Rondelet, having gathered 
these characteristics, looks upon the orphus as belonging to the genus 
Pagrus. Cuvier says, however, that it would not be easy to prove that 
this is a warranted conclusion, and that it is not justified by tradition, as 
the name has utterly disappeared from the coasts of France and Italy ; 
though, according to Gillius and Belon, it is found among the modern 
Greeks, in the shape of the "ropho." Cuvier suggests that it may have 
been the Anthias sacer of Bloch, the "barbier" of the French. — It is 
supposed by some that it is our " gilt-head.'* 
9' The Muraena conger of Linnaeus. 
92 f Percae." Cuvier says that it is most probable that he is here speaking 
