140 
DEKBIO. 
Blueling; but near the end of the same book he clearly applies 
the name to a different fish, which cannot be any other than 
the Blue Shark, (line 749.) Nor can it be an objection to 
this, that he represents this latter species as depositing its eggs 
before they are hatched. The alleged love of the parent to 
its young, and its habit of giving them shelter in its mouth — 
whatever may be judged of the truth of this trait of character 
— is decisive on this point, and it was from a persuasion of 
this that the translator in this instance renders the name of 
Glaucus by that of the Blue Shark. 
This fish is common through the whole extent of the 
Mediterranean, and was much esteemed for the table by the 
people of Greece and Rome. Southward from thence, we are 
informed that it is also found at the Cape of Good Hope, 
and across the Atlantic Ocean on the coasts of Brazil; but it 
is only in a single instance that it has been met with in our 
own country. This example was caught by a fisherman of 
Mount’s Bay, in October, 1857, and from it several photographs 
were taken, one of which is in my possession; but our figure 
and description are from the fish itself, shortly after its capture. 
Its peculiar habits are but partially known; but there is no 
doubt this is the fish of which Pliny expresses the popular 
belief that, in order to escape the heat of summer, it ceases 
to be seen for the space of sixty days. Ovid refers to the 
same habit, in saying of it, — 
“Et nnnquam sestivo conspectus sidere Glaucus;” 
“The Glaucus, never seen in summer’s heat.” 
The extreme length of the specimen was thirteen inches and 
a half, and to the fork of the tail eleven inches and a fourth; 
depth, immediately under the dorsal spines, three inches and 
seven eighths. The body compressed, slender near the tail. 
The under jaw a little the longest. Eye large, low on the 
cheek; nostril midway between the eye and the snout. Vent 
about an equal distance between the ventral fins and the 
separate abdominal spines, or a little nearer the latter. The * 
lateral line at first slopes downward, and then passes with a 
slight undulation to the tail. Seven elevated dorsal spines, 
the hindmost united to the dorsal fin, and another in front, 
