428 Fishes. 
no longer maintaining its ancient repute, is still con- 
sidered a delicacy ; those taken in the Severn being pre- 
ferred to all others. Henry the First, as is well known, 
died of a surfeit of them ; and in the reign of Henry the 
Fourth their importation was encouraged by immunities. 
The Koman epicures prized this fish so highly, that they 
bestowed the utmost care, and expended enormous sums 
in rearing them. Pliny tells us that Lucullus formed 
a fish-pond of such extent, that the fish it contained 
were, at his death, sold for four million sesterces. These 
polished barbarians sometimes threw a slave into the 
ponds where they kept their Muroence, or Lampreys, and 
considered that by this means they fattened the fish and 
gave them a superior flavour. 
THE HAG-FISH, (Myxine glutinosa,) 
A cartilaginous fish, which in its general appearance 
bears a near resemblance to the Lamprey. Its colour is 
dusky bluish above, and reddish towards the head and 
tail ; its length from four to six inches. The Hag-fish is 
remarkable for its total want of eyes ; its mouth is of an 
oblong form, with two beards or cirri on each side, and 
on the upper part four. On the top of the head is a 
small spout-hole, furnished with a valve, by which it can 
be closed at pleasure. A double row of pores extends 
beneath the body, from one extremity to the other, which 
on pressure exude a quantity of viscid fluid, which, when 
attacked by large fish, the Hag throws out, so as to cloud 
the surrounding element in such a manner as to render 
itself invisible to its assailants. " The habits of this 
fish are highly singular : it will enter the bodies of such 
