78 
ACANTHOPTERYGII. — MULLID^. 
covered by an extension of the common skin. The 
muscular apparatus is most apparent in the Mul- 
let, the nervous portion most conspicuous in the 
Cod. These appendages are to them, I have no 
doubt, delicate organs of touch, by which all the 
species provided with them are enabled to ascer- 
tain, to a certain extent, the qualities of the 
various substances with which they are brought 
in contact; and are analogous in function to the 
beak, with its distribution of nerves, among cer- 
tain wading and swimming birds, which probe for 
food beyond their sight ; and may be considered 
another instance, among the many beautiful pro- 
visions of Nature, by wdiich, in the case of fishes 
feeding at great depths, where light is deficient, 
compensation is made for consequent imperfect 
vision.”* 
The Striped Surmullet is occasionally taken in 
great abundance : the eminent zoologist just cited 
mentions five thousand taken in one night in 
Weymouth Bay, in August, 1819; and ten thou- 
sand sent from Yarmouth to the London market 
in one week, in May 1831. Their presence, how- 
ever, is precarious ; sometimes they become quite 
rare, where a day or two before they were abun- 
dant ; other spots at the same time becoming the 
favoured scenes of their resort. They are prin- 
cipally taken with the trawl-net, which drags along 
the bottom of the sea. 
^ Brit. Fishes, i. 34. 
