hering to other fishes by a peculiar sucker-shaped organ on the top of its head, is found in the Mediterranean and other saline waters which wash the African shores. The olive-green remora (Echeneis cauda rotundata of Bloch) is common on the coasts of Mozambique. A species of Labrus (L. Niloticus) inhabits the Nile; and the star-eyed Bodian (Bodianus stellifer) is native to the seas about the Cape. The silvery mackarel (Scomber crumenophthalmus) is found in considerable plenty about the coasts of Guinea, and the Scomber chloris is also an African species.

The surmullet (Mullus ruber) so famous as an epicurean delicacy among the Romans, and so highly, though not very humanely admired for the splendour of its dying hues, is found both along the African and European shores of the Mediterranean.

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Vide," says Seneca, " quomodo exarserit rubor omni acrior minio! vide quas per latera venas agat! Ecce! sanguinem putes ventrem! quàm lucidum quiddam cœruleumque sub ipso tempore effulsit! jam porrigitur et pallet, et in unum colorem componitur!" The flying gurnard (Trigla volitans) may likewise be mentioned as a Mediterranean species of singular habits and great beauty. It swims in shoals, and delights the voyager by its short and frequent flights.

The electric silure (Silurus electricus) dwells in the rivers of Africa. It was observed by Forskall in the Nile, by whom, however, in his Fauna Arabica, it is improperly named Raja torpedo. Another species of Silurus called platte-kop, or flat-head, occurs in the fresh waters of Southern Africa. Mr Burchell observed two boys of the Bushmen tribe fishing for this species. They stood

by the water-side, motionless as herons. After waiting patiently for half an hour, a fish came within their reach, and was instantly pierced through with their spears or assagays. It was nearly three feet long, entirely of a lead colour, but approaching to white underneath. The head was very broad and flat, the eyes pale yellow, and extremely small, and the mouth was bearded with several very long strings. The flesh was white, rich, and nutritious. This fish seems to occur only in those rivers which run to the western coast (that is, to the northward of the Cape of Good Hope), while, on the other hand, eels have never been seen in any but those which fall into the ocean eastward of that cape.

Of the salmon genus, the Salmo fulvus, a fierce and hungry fish, is much esteemed as an article of food by the inhabitants of Guinea. The notable genus Polypterus was first scientifically distinguished by M. Geoffroy. Its shape is long, cylindrical, and serpentiform; the head is defended by large bony plates; and the body is covered by strong scales, resembling those of a coat of mail. This fish is called bichin by the Egyptians, and is considered as very rare. It is said to dwell in the soft mud of the Nile, and is the finest flavoured of all the Nilotic fishes; but as it is hardly possible to open the skin with a knife, the fish is first boiled, and the skin afterwards drawn off almost entire. The toothtongued argentine (A. Glossodonta) is a beautiful species, native to the Red Sea; and the pearl-bladdered argentine (A. Sphyrœna) is a Mediterranean fish of the same genus. The air-bladder of this species is equally bright and beautiful with its external parts, and, along with these, is much used in the preparation of artificial pearls.

The flying-fish (Exocatus exiliens) is remarkable for the great length of its pectoral fins, which enable it to sustain itself above the waves for several hundred yards. The silvery polyneme (P. Niloticus) is a very elegant fish, of great excellence as an article of food. Its mode of capture in the Nile is described by Bruce. The ten-fingered polyneme (P. decadactylus), likewise esteemed a very wholesome and agreeable fish, occurs along the coasts of Guinea, and occasionally enters the rivers of that country. Of fishes allied to the herring, Africa produces several species. The Clupea Africana is said to be extremely plentiful during the summer months in the last-named district; and the dorab herring (C. dorab) is described by Forskall as native to the Red Sea. Among the carp tribe we shall merely mention the Cyprinus gonorhynchus, mentioned by Gronovius as an inhabitant of the Cape seas. We may observe in passing, that a great variety of fish are caught in the salt waters which environ the Cape; but fresh fish are there so rare, that Mr Burchell "does not recollect having seen any at table except eels, and these were regarded as a curiosity."* The genus Mormyrus seems almost entirely peculiar to the Nile.

Of the cartilaginous fishes, several species of ray inhabit the African seas. For example, the Raja guttata was seen by Commerson along the coasts of Madagascar, and the lymna and pearled rays (R. lymna and sephen) both occur in the Red Sea. It is from the skin of the last-named species that the beautiful substance, called Galluchat by the

French, is prepared. It is tinted with blue, green, or red, according to the taste of the artist, and being afterwards polished, is used in the manufacture of different kinds of cases, telescope-tubes, &c. The younger specimens, according to La Cépède, are preferred, the tubercular coat of the full-grown individuals being rather too rough for the desired purpose. Several species of shark inhabit the African seas. They are disagreeable to bathers.

Of

The extraordinary genus Ostracion, or trunkfish, distinguished by the peculiar bony crust or covering in which it is enveloped, is widely distributed over the Indian and American oceans. the African species we may name the tuberculated trunk-fish (C. tuberculatus), by some regarded as a mere variety of Ostracion triqueter, a kind much esteemed for the uses of the table in the East Indies. The not less remarkable tribe included in the genus Tetrodon, are represented in Africa by the lineated species (T. lineatus) which sometimes occurs in the Nile, where Hasselquist was assured by the fishermen, that on seizing this fish in the water their hands were frequently stung as if by nettles.

The last genus to which we shall allude is that called Syngnathus, or pipe-fish. Some of these are found in the northern seas, others in the equatorial; while the most remarkable of all is the foliated pipe-fish (Hippocampus foliatus, Cuvier), which has hitherto occurred only along the shores of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land. The pelagic pipefish (S. pelagicus) is found in the African seas.

We shall close our ichthyological department by two short extracts. "I was present," says M. Adanson, "at a very extraordinary capture of fish,

1

made the same month (March 1750) on the coast of Ben, within a league of the island Goree, by the company belonging to one of the East India ships, which had anchored in the road. They had only a net of about sixty fathoms, which they threw at a venture into the sea; for they were not so lucky as to espy any of those shoals of fishes: yet they had such surprising success, that the shore was covered, the whole length of the net, with the fish they caught, though the net was in a bad condition. I reckoned part of them, and judged that they might in all be upwards of 6000, the least of them as large as a fine carp. There you might see pilchards, rock-fish, mullets, or gull-fish, of different sorts; molebats, with other fishes very little known. The negroes of the neighbouring village took each their load, and the ship's crew filled their boat till it was ready to sink, leaving the rest on the seashore. In any other country, such a capture of fish would, without all doubt, pass for a miracle."*

The fossil fish of Africa are scarcely known. The following passage, in illustration of that curious branch, is from Lichtenstein's Travels:-"In the slate-stone from which the spring rose were the impressions of an innumerable multitude of fishes. We perceived this extraordinary appearance first upon the surface; but the impressions were larger, more distinct, and finer in proportion as we broke deeper and deeper into the stone. The form of the fish resembled that of the eel, and the length of the largest was about three feet. The brittleness of the slate made it impossible for us to get out a single specimen entire; and the fragments which we preserved,

* Voyage to Senegal, p. 178.