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 Rondeletius, that I hare little hesitation in believing it to 
he the same fish. Ilis account is this; “O n<f,t on Optpios. 
Les Latins ont rctenu ce noin horsrnis Gaze du quel est 
a ppell6 Cernua. II est poisson marin de rivage, auounement 
semhlable an Pagre rongeastre. 11 ha les jeox grands, les 
dens qui enlrenl les ones enlres les autres. De noinbre, de 
situation daelles, dfe«uillons semblable au Pagre. II ha le 
Irou de excremens foil petit; car il ha seulcment line petite 
fente laquela vous ne verres sans pressor le venire ; il n ha 
point de vaisseaux spcrmatiques, (certainly an error of the 
observer). Tel est noster orphe, au quel convient tout ceque 
Aristote e Athenee ont attrihue. Hu peu dc terns il devieut 
grand, il est tnangechaire, solitaire, il ha des dens qui se 
serrent les unes entre les autres, il est cache cn hyver, 
P- 139, of the French edition. 
It is intimated by Rondeletius that among the Greeks 
•nore than one fish was known by the name ol Orphus ; 
snd we further learn that the word, Cernua, by which some 
Latin writers have rendered the Greek Opi|>oc has been 
a Pplied to a still greater number of species, all ot them dis- 
li uct from this, and even from the River Rud : the true 
Cernua of the Moderns. Alter stating this, Gesncr, who 
®°pies the figure of Rondeletius, adds: nos (inquit Ronde- 
j e tius) orpliutn hie non depingimus eum, qui a Graacis qui- 
a,| sdam hodie vulgari lingua or phi nouiino dicitnr. Est 
atl >nt nostro louge major, utpote qui pondero viginti li- 
bras eequet, tec sit liioralis. Sed orphum dipingimus ex 
■Aristotle, Athenseo, Plinio. Is Piscis est liioralis magis 
<lUatn pelagius, Pagro quodammodo similis colore ex purpureo 
^abescente, idea rubentem appellavit Ovidius ; (verum lime 
a Pud Pliriium ex Ovidio non recte citataal eguntur.) Ovidius 
Plagium facit, Arisloteles vero ^Elianus liloralem. Oppiano 
J*«git in petris cavcrnosis, quae plen® sunt chamis et patellis 
'■liibus ni mirum vcscitur.) Grasci liodie, ut dictum est 
pjiutn Piscem vtdgo orplium vel Ropbum appellant ; quern 
..ellonius orpbuui facit. Ray (Synopsis, p. 133,) who 
1,11 its the name Orphus to the ltud, describes the fish 
''die h he terms Orpheus veteruni, irom Ronucletius, in a 
_ ,lla nner to show that he was altogether unacquainted with it; 
as the species termed Orphus by Bellonius is the other 
tnore common one known bj' this name among the 
r eeks, we need not wonder at finding lluy sell (lueatrum 
j 'nialium, vol. 1, p. 24,) resigning all hope of extricating 
such utter confusion what he saw might still he a well 
e ‘tied species, ISor docs it appear that eien the most 
