tribes, hatches them instinctively in her mouth. But she is supposed at times to emit them from her mouth, when in search of food to appease her appetite, and when satisfied, to take them into her mouth again.

Of the Silure tribe, there are nearly thirty different species, most of them natives of the Indian and American seas, One of them, the SILURIS CLARIAS, of Linnæus, is called Scheilan by the Arabians. Hasselquist relates, that he saw the cook of a Swedish merchant ship die of the poison communicated by a prick from the bone of the breast fin of this fish.

THE PORCELLUS, OR SEA-SCORPION. THE mouth of this curious fish is wide, but toothless; the head is flattish in the middle, and over each eye there appears a serrated ridge rising from it. The gills on each side have sharp horny spurs on their edges tending backwards, from which it derives its latter name. The body is almost as wide as it is deep; the under side is of a silverish colour, tinged with red; the upper is of a dusky brown, sprinkled with small black spots, with some large clouds of black. It has a lateral line from head to tail, and also two fins on the back, and one on the belly behind the vent, and tail fin. Two narrow fins or feelers are placed under the fore part of the belly, of a whitish colour, each having only three spines.

This fish is found in the Mediterranean sea, and in several parts of the ocean. It keeps near the shores, and lies concealed among sea-weed, to prey on small strayed fish.

THE STAR GAZER.

THE head is large, quadrangular, and covered with a rough helmet, ending in two spines above, and five smaller ones below. The mouth opens upwards; and,

when the lower jaw is removed, the tongue appears, which is thick, short, and strong, and full of small teeth. Inside the lower jaw, there is a membrane terminating by a long filament; the fish, opening its mouth, sets this in motion, which attracts little fish, who endeavour to seize it, and are instantly devoured: there are two barbles from each lip, which serve for the same purpose; and this fish often conceals itself among the sea-weed, leaving only the barbles visible, when it is watching for prey. In the upper jaw there are two oval apertures, and several little barbles at the lower; and near each eye is a round aperture. The eyes lie quite at the top of the head, very close together, and prominent, as if starting upwards; the pupil is black, the iris yellow.

The Star Gazer inhabits the Mediterranean, lying in deep places near the shore. It seldom exceeds a foot in length, and lives on small fish and worms.

THE body is long and banded, with four loose spines on the back; the head compressed, rounded off in front, without scales as far as the gills. The mouth is small; the jaws are of an equal length, and furnished with small teeth; the palate has a curved row of similar teeth in front, and the tongue has teeth all along; it is short, fleshy, and hardly moveable. The nostrils are double, nearer the muzzle than the eyes. The lateral line is curved first upwards and then

downwards, and is lost at the end of the tail; which is raised similar to many of the mackerel kind.

This species is found in the Mediterranean, Southern Ocean, East Indies, and at the Cape of Good Hope. It grows to a foot and a half in length; and is well tasted. It derives its name from being commonly seen with the shark, to which it appears to point out its prey. The circumstance of its guiding the shark was long a matter of doubt, but appears now to be an ascertained fact. M. Geoffroy, Professor of Natural History in the Museum at Paris, when near Malta, in March 1798, saw two of the Pilot Fish lead a shark to a piece of bacon which a seaman had let down by a line and hook.

THE John Doree was known to the ancients, and is mentioned in the writings of Ovid and Pliny. Some of the Catholics, in consequence of its having a dark spot, like a finger mark, on each side of the head, believe it, and not the haddock, to have been the fish from which the apostle Peter took the tribute money, by order of our Saviour. The modern Greeks deno

minate it the fish of St. Christopher, from a legend which relates that it was trodden on by that saint when he was carrying his divine burthen across an arm of the sea. In modern times, however, it derives its fame from the delicacy of its flesh, which renders it a great favourite with epicures. The celebrated Quin is said to have taken a journey to Plymouth, merely that he might eat it in all its perfection. Tradition relates him to have exclaimed that if his Satanic majesty, in angling for him, were to bait his hook with a Doree, he could not avoid biting.

The Doree is a very voracious fish. It is found in the North Sea, the British Channel, the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic. Its shape is rhomboidal, with the sides much compressed. The mouth is large, and the snout long, composed of several cartilaginous plates, which fold over each other, to enable the fish to seize its prey. Its teeth are strong and numerous, and it has a longitudinal range of strong spires on each side of the dorsal fins, and also from the mouth all the way to the second anal fin. In colour it is of a dark green, marked with black spots, and having a golden gloss, whence originates its name.

THE Common Mackerel, while alive, is one of the most beautiful fish that frequents our shores. It has a thick, round, fleshy body, but tapering towards the tail, which is bifurcated. Its body is of a very ele

gant form, and beautifully variegated with the brightest hues of blue, green, and a silvery whiteness. Death in some measure impairs the colours, but it by no means obliterates them. Several varieties of this fish inhabit the ocean: they belong to the voracious class, and some of them grow to a very great size. It is said that they are fond of human flesh, and Pontoppidan tells a story of a man whom they fastened upon and destroyed, while he was bathing. As they are found in the German ocean, the Baltic, and Mediterranean, it is not surprising that the ancient naturalists were acquainted with them. Subsequent naturalists have reckoned about twenty-five varieties, but of these, only three are found upon our coasts; these are the COMMON MACKEREL, the BASTARD or HORSE MACKEREL, and the THUNNY.

the sea.

This fish emits a phosphoric light when fresh from When taken out of the water it soon dies, and even in the water, if it advance with too much impetuosity against the net. It is caught with that instrument, or with a hook baited with bits of red cloth, or small herrings and pieces of other kinds of fish or flesh. In some places it is taken by lines from boats, as during a fresh gale of wind it readily seizes a bait: it is necessary that the boat should be in motion, in order to drag the bait along near the surface of the water. The great fishery for Mackerel is on some parts of the west coast of England. This is of such an extent, as to employ in the whole a capital of nearly two hundred thousand pounds. The fishermen go out to the distance of several leagues from the shore, and stretch their nets, which are sometimes several miles in extent, across the tide, during the night. The meshes of these nets are just large enough to admit the heads of tolerable large fish, and catch them by the gills. A single boat has been known to bring in, after one night's fishing, a cargo that has sold for nearly seventy pounds.

VOL. II.

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