213 
HILL — POISONOUS PISHES. 
lent pain. A fisherman, who had been struck by one, told 
Mr. Bishop that he was not able to reach his home without 
assistance (p. 667). It is only the Scorpcena grandicornis 
that has a bad reputation in our seas. The S. bufo, Parra 
says, is a fish of very savoury flesh, excellent for soups ; and 
Plee expresses himself precisely in the same way with re- 
gard to the fish of Martinique. It attains a large size,- 
individuals being got sometimes eighteen inches in length— 
(C. & Y. Hist. Natur. des Poissons, liv. iv., ch. ix., vol. iv.) 
Pagellus calamus. 
The Pagellus calamus (pagel & plume) and the Pagellus 
penna (pagel a tuyau) are the fishes known among us by 
the name of porgee, and have proved at times deleterious. 
They are readily distinguishable at table by the quill-like 
process by which the spine of the anal fin is inserted into 
the abdominal muscle. It is from this organisation they 
receive the names of calamus and penna. Porgee is a name 
they have in common with Mesoprion pagrus, and pargo of 
Porto Pico. In both instances the appellation is derived 
from the pagrus vulgaris of the Mediterranean, to which 
the pagellus is closely allied. Both pagrus and pagellus 
are sparoid fishes, of which the sparus of Artidi is the type. 
Mesoprion pagrus , however, ranks among the perches. The 
xnesoprions are the fishes known in our market as snappers 
— (0. & Y. Hist. Natur. des Poissons, liv. vi., ch. iii. & iv., 
vol. ii.) 
Yalenciennes, who wrote portions, conjointly with Cuvier, 
of the Natural History we have been citing, and was the 
author of that portion in which is described the u serrans” 
assigns to two of these fishes a pernicious character ; we 
quote what he says of them. 
