446 Fishes. 
THE JOHN DORY. (Zeusfaber.) 
It would be an inexcusable neglect to pass this fish 
unnoticed, not on account of its disputing with the had- 
dock the honour of having been pressed by the fingers 
of the apostle, nor of its having been trodden upon by 
the gigantic foot of St. Christopher, when he carried on 
his shoulders a divine burden across an arm of the sea, 
but for the excellence of its flesh. It has been for some 
years in such favour with our epicures, that one of 
them, a comedian of high repute (Quin), took a journey 
to Plymouth merely to eat this fish in perfection. Its 
body presents the shape of a rhomboid, but the sides are 
much compressed ; the mouth is large, and the snout 
long, composed of several cartilaginous plates, which 
wrap and fold one over another, in order to enable the 
fish to catch its prey. The colour is a dark green, 
marked with black spots, with a golden gloss, whence 
the name originated. They inhabit the coasts of Eng- 
land, and particularly Torbay, whence they are sent to 
the fish-markets of London. 
When the Dory is taken alive out of the water, it is 
able to compress its internal organs so rapidly that the 
air, in rushing through the openings of the gills, pro- 
duces a kind of noise somewhat like that which, on 
similar occasions, is emitted by the gurnards. 
