370 
FII.EFISH. 
and therefore it is witli the greatest satisfaction that I am able 
to record the capture of a third example, now in my possession, 
at Port Loe, on the south coast of Cornwall i where it was 
entrapped in a crab-pot in the first week of August, of the 
present year, 1865. There can be no doubt that it had forced 
an entrance into this fatal prison for the purpose of feeding 
on the bait prepared to entiee the Crabs and Lobsters; and the 
fortunate possession of this example fresh from the oeean has 
enabled us not only to produce a more correct resemblance 
than has hitherto been within our reach, but also in my 
description to furnish a larger number of particulars than as 
I believe are elsewhere to be met with. 
This fish appears to have been well known to the ancient 
Greeks and Eomans, by whom it is represented as being 
singularly and pcrtinaceously bold and pugnacious; and as such 
it is described by Oppian under the name of Mus, or the 
Mouse: — 
“The Mns’s hm-tful race, of bulk not largo, 
And bold to an extreme, e’en man to charge 
With hostile front. On his firm teeth he trusts. 
And horny skin, to guard from hostile thrusts.” 
The length of this example to the middle border of the tail 
was twelve inches, its greatest depth (both in a straight line) 
six inches and a half, the greatest extent in that direction 
being at the last ray of the first dorsal fin; the body and head 
compressed, covered with plates of rather small size, which 
have the appearance of scales, but do not overlap each other. 
They are firmly attached to the body, and are scarcely per- 
ceptibly rough. A lateral line scarcely perceptible proceeds 
forward from the tail, but cannot be discerned for more than 
a third of the length of the body. The head possesses a little 
breadth before the eyes, and slopes downward from the front 
of the first dorsal fin, the outline slightly waved; and it even 
rises a little from the first ray of this fin to the last. Eye of 
moderate size, high on the side of the head, round with a 
defined firm border; the pupil small. Nostrils slight, in a 
small depression not far from the eye; and a small separate 
ehannel forward from the anterior border of the eye. The 
gape limited, the lips not covering the teeth, which project; a 
pair in front of both jaws longer than the others, those behind 
