578 
THE OCEAN WORLD. 
1850. Allowing two thousand four hundred fish only to each hogs- 
head (three thousand would be the highest calculation), we have a 
result of one million four hundred and forty pilchards caught by the 
inhabitants of one little village alone, on the Cornish coast, at the 
commencement of the season’s fishing.” 
The Anchovy ( Engraulis ) is chiefly taken in the Mediterranean, 
and is much sought after for its delicate flavour when salted and 
cured. It is a small, slender fish, about four to four and a half inches 
in length ; head pointed, mouth very wide, gill-openings large, ab- 
domen smooth ; when living, it is greenish on the back, silvery 
beneath ; after death it changes to a bluish black. The fishery which 
gives the most abundant results takes place on the shores of the 
Mediterranean, principally on the coast of Sicily, the isles of Elba, 
Corsica, Antibes, Frejus, Saint-Tropez, and Cannes. They are also 
taken on the Dalmatian coast, and in the neighbourhood of Ragusa. 
The anchovy is only fit for food after being preserved and salted. 
The process of curing commences by throwing it into a strong brine ; 
then, the head and entrails being removed, they are arranged in rows • 
in barrels or boxes of tin, hr alternate layers of salt and fish ; finally, 
after some days of exposure, they are hermetically closed and despatched 
to market. Those prepared on the Provencal coast were formerly 
carried to the fair of Beaucaire, whence they found their way all over- 
France, and to many parts of Europe. Now, the anchovies cured at 
Marseilles, and other Provencal ports, are sent direct to the various 
markets of Europe. 
T in- Acanthopterygeans 
Include the Perch family, which is altogether a fresh- water fish, and, 
however interesting in itself, foreign to our present purpose. It 
includes also the cat-fish, which is also known as the bar, and more 
commonly the wolf-fish, in Bas-Languedoc and Provence. It is 
common in the Mediterranean, and in many of the great rivers which 
empty themselves into it. The Cat-fish (Fig. 385) has the appearance 
of an elongated perch : its colour, in the adult state, is of a uniform 
silvery hue, marked with brown and yellow spots in the young. 
The Weevers ( Traehinus ), forming another division of this family, 
are characterised by their very compressed head and the strong spines of 
