268 NATURAL HISTORY 
is called by Ray and others the fun-fifh, as being round, and emit- 
ting a kind of fplendour in a dark room ; by others (with Ronde- 
letius) the moon-fifh, becaufe not only round and fhining by night, 
but having the fhape of the crefcent (fee Plate xxvi. Fig. vn. page 
263, a) betwixt its little pecftoral fin and eye ; but what is more 
remarkable in this creature is, that fo large a fifh fhould have fuch 
little fins, and thofe moftly at its hinder parts: this fifh is one 
confpicuous inftance how artfully nature adapts the inftruments of 
motion to the form of the body which is to be moved ; it is fo thin, 
long, and flexile, that a large fin in the former part would hinder 
its fwiftnefs ; being itfelf but one thicker fin, it wafts itfelf forward 
in a great meafure by the meer bending of its back from fide to 
fide, whilft its wedge-like form, and fharp-pointed head, eafily cut 
their way ; but the chief momentum is from behind, where the 
tail-fin, b b , is fixed as a rudder and an oar too, reaching from top 
to bottom, to keep the whole body on its edge the more fteadily, 
as well as further and guide its progrefs : at each end of this Angular 
appendix is a fin, the upper one, c , railing itfelf above the body, 
and the under one, d , tending below it, both by their fpread en- 
creafing the force in thefe parts, co-operating with the wavy flexures 
of the body, and accelerating its progrefs in the fame manner as an 
oar working at the ftern of a boat, drives forward and dire&s the 
whole machine. 
sect. vi. Of fpinous or bony-fifh, the rays of their back foft and flexible, 
n ifh ’ bon ( ca ^ e< ^ from their afinine colour) we have the cod or keel- 
&c. ’ y ’ ing, and of that two forts, the one whitifh afinine, the other ruddy- 
brown fpotted with yellow fpecks ; the firfl: has the tinea, or fide- 
ftreak, from the gills to the tail quite white, the other of a browner 
caft. The firfl: is the Afellus major vulgaris , Ran , page 53, &c. 
(Gadus tyus Artedi gen. Pifc. 16, 4), between three and four feet 
long, a fifh, for the delicacy and firmnefs of its flefh, equal to moft; 
the other we call commonly the Tamlin Cod, Red or Rock-Cod, 
about two feet long ; the Afellus major faxatilis feu rubens , Jago, 
in Ray, page 165. 
Befides others mentioned by Mr. Ray “ , we have the poor or 
power, Afellus mollis minimus of Jago (Ray, page 163, N. 6) 
bearded as the Afellus major. 
Of two-finned fpinous Afelti (befides the ufeful hake and ling), 
the great forked-beard is to be noted ; it is eighteen inches and a 
half long, Barbus major Cornubienfs cirris bifur catis (Jago, Ray, 
page 163), and the lefler forked-beard about five inches long, Bar- 
bus minor Cornubienfs cirris bifurcis, ibid. Ray, page 154. Thefe 
11 The whiting pollack — Rawlin pollack, bib or blind-hadoc — Whiting. Ray, page 53, 54, 55 * 
two 
