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POMPILUS. 
characteristic; but the colour described by Jago differs so 
■widely from what is ascribed by other authors to the fish now 
known to be the same species, and the error committed by 
Borlase in regard to the proportions of its measurement, arising, 
as we judge, by copying the writing of Jago wrongly, is so 
great, that naturalists remained long at a loss to decide which 
was the true species. No doubt could be felt that the examples 
described were different from every other known as English 
fish, and therefore Pennant did not hesitate to include it in 
his work on British natural history, where he called it the 
Black Ruffe, a name which is changed into Black Perch in 
the last edition. Turton copies this (or is copied by it) when 
he names it Perea nigra in his translation of the “System of 
Nature” of Linnaeus. Fleming ventures to guess that it resembles 
the Ruffe in form, and Stewart, in his “Introduction to the 
Study of Natural History,” goes so far as to suppose it a 
variety of the last-named species; forgetting that it is not 
probable the Ruffe should be taken in the open sea, and that, 
even in fresh water, it has never been found in Cornwall. 
It is probable, however, that the difference of colour was the 
chief cause of the mistakes committed by British authors in 
regard to this fish, and in which Lacepede was prevailed on to 
follow them; for it was not then so well known as it is now, 
that fishes which wander to our seas from warmer or brighter 
climates are liable to suffer this change in a remarkable degree. 
Linnseus, who, in regard to fishes, is usually led by the 
authority of former writers, defines the specific character of 
Coryplicena pompiliis by the colours only; the back being 
painted with small bands above the arched lateral line, which, 
as a mark of distinction, would scarcely point out a species 
that, when found in our waters, was as black all over as if it 
had been dipped in ink. Nor would the little note he adds 
at the end be of great service in further identifying the 
species. The circumstance which had the effect of dispelling 
the obscurity which had so long rested on the history of this 
fish, may be termed an accident. I had been examining the 
figure given of it by Borlase, as compared with one by Gesner 
of the Pompilus of ancient writers, when an example was 
brought to me of a fish that was unknown to the fisherman 
who had caught it; and its resemblance to these figures in 
