it from the little pot, hanging by the chain about a foot below. On the 14th of May, 1664, a very rare bird was sent me, killed about Crostwick, which seemed to be some kind of jay. The bill was black, strong, and bigger than a jay's; somewhat yellow claws, tipped black; three before and one claw behind. The whole bird not so big as a jay. The head, neck, and throat, of a violet colour; the back and upper parts of the wing, of a russet yellow; the fore part of the wing, azure; succeeded downward by a greenish. blue; then on the flying feathers, bright blue; the lower parts of the wing outwardly, of a brown; inwardly, of a merry blue; the belly, a light faint blue; the back, toward the tail, of a purple blue; the tail, eleven feathers of a greenish colour; the extremities of the outward feathers thereof, white with an eye of green.-Garrulus argentoratensis.6 JAN ACCOUNT OF FISHES, &c. FOUND IN [MS. SLOAN. 1830, fol. 23—30, & 32-38; & 1882,1 fol. 145, 6.] IT may well seem no easy matter to give any considerable account of fishes and animals of the sea; wherein, 'tis said, that there are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts, because they live in an element wherein they are not so easily discoverable. Notwithstanding, probable it is that after this long navigation, search of the ocean, bays, creeks, estuaries, and rivers, that there is scarce any fish but 6 garrulus argentoratensis.] Coracias garrula, L. The roller. 11882] The first paragraph of this paper I met with in 1882 MS. Sloan. preceded by the words "I willingly obey your co.. which were left unfinished, and struck through with the pen. The author probably at one time intended the account of fishes, &c., to be distinct from that of birds, and wrote this as an introductory paragraph. I have therefore so preserved it; though both subjects are mentioned in the first paragraph of the tract on birds. hath been seen by some man; for the large and breathing sort thereof do sometimes discover themselves above water, and the other are in such numbers that at one time or other they are discovered and taken, even the most barbarous nations being much addicted to fishing: and in America and the new discovered world the people were well acquainted with fishes of sea and rivers, and the fishes thereof have been since described by industrious writers. Pliny seems too short in the estimate of their number in the ocean, who reckons up but one hundred and seventy-six species: but the seas being now farther known and searched, Bellonius much enlargeth; and in his book of birds thus delivereth himself:-"Although I think it impossible to reduce the same unto a certain number, yet I may freely say, that 'tis beyond the power of man to find out more than five hundred species of fishes, three hundred sorts of birds, more than three hundred sorts of four-footed animals, and forty diversities of serpents."2 Of fishes sometimes the larger sort are taken or come ashore. A spermaceti whale, of sixty-two feet long, near Wells; another of the same kind, twenty years before, at Hunstanton; and, not far off, eight or nine came ashore, and two had young ones after they were forsaken by the water.3 2 serpents.] Naturalists now enumerate 800 species of beasts; and at least 50,000 of insects.-Gray. 3 sometimes, &c.] A whale, 58 feet long, was cast ashore at Overstrand, in the spring of 1822 (I think); and another went spouting past Cromer, in the autumn of the same year. Towards the end of 1829, a whale, only 24 feet long, was cast ashore and killed at Runton. He was of the Balana division, with a whalebone mouth, and no teeth; and as far as I could make out, I think it was one of the boops balana species-as the man who made the capture told me, the nose was very sharp pointed-but it was much hacked before I saw it. I found the extreme width of the tail was 3 feet 11 inches. It was dark, nearly black on the back, and white below in folds. There were two spout-holes close together in the middle of the head. Almost an inch and half thickness of blubber; and the oil which has been made from it is remarkably fine. The Whale-bone fringe in its mouth was nearly white: the length of the jaw-bones, 3 feet 7 inches. It did not look tempting enough to make me bring any of the meat away; but at Northrepps hall, a steak was cooked, and tasted like tender beef.-G. A grampus, above sixteen feet long, taken at Yarmouth, four years ago.4 The tursio, or porpoise,5 is common. The dolphinR more rare, though sometimes taken, which many confound with the porpoise; but it hath a more waved line along the skin; sharper toward the tail; the head longer, and nose more extended; which maketh good the figure of Rondeletius; the flesh more red, and well cooked, of very good taste to most palates, and exceedeth that of porpoise. The vitulus marinus,7 sea-calf, or seal, which is often taken sleeping on the shore. Five years ago, one was shot in the river of Norwich, about Surlingham ferry, having continued in the river for divers months before. Being an amphibious animal, it may be carried about alive, and kept long if it can be brought to feed. Some have been kept for many months in ponds. The pizzell, the bladder, the cartilago ensiformis, the figure of the throttle, the clustered and racemose form of the kidneys, the flat and compressed heart, are remarkable in it. In stomachs of all that I have opened, I have found many worms. I have also observed a scolopendra cetacea of about ten [inches] long, answering the figure in Rondeletius, which the mariners told me was taken in these seas. A pristis serra, or saw-fish, taken about Lynn, commonly mistaken for a sword-fish, and answers the figure in Rondeletius. A sword-fish (iphias, or gladius 9), entangled in the herring-nets at Yarmouth, agreeable unto the icon in Johnstonus, with a smooth sword, not unlike the gladius of Rondeletius, about a yard and a half long; no teeth; eyes very remarkable; enclosed in a hard cartilaginous covercle, about the bigness of a good apple; the vitreous humour plentiful; the crystalline larger thau a nutmeg, remaining clear, sweet, 4 grampus, &c.] Oct. 1827, the fishermen saw a fish which they called a grampus.-G. 5 tursio or porpoise.] Delphinus phocœna, L. 6 dolphin.] D. Delphis, L. 7 vitulus marinus.] Phoca vitulina, L. 8 pristis serra.] Squalus pristis, L. 9 iphias or gladius.] Xiphias gladius, L. and untainted, when the rest of the eye was under a deep corruption, which we kept clear and limpid many months, until an hard frost split it, and manifested the foliations thereof. It is not unusual to take several sorts of canis, or dog-fish, great and small, which pursue the shoal of herrings and other fish; but this year [1662] one was taken entangled in the herring-nets, about nine feet in length, answering the last figure of Johnstonus, lib. vii. under the name of canis carcharias alter; and was, by the teeth and five gills, one kind of shark, particularly remarkable in the vastness of the optic nerves and three conical hard pillars, which supported the extraordinary elevated nose, which we have reserved with the skull. The seamen called this kind, a scrape. Sturio, or sturgeon, so common on the other side of the sea, about the mouth of the Elbe, come seldom into our creeks, though some have been taken at Yarmouth, and more in the great Ouse, by Lynn; but their heads not so sharp as represented in the icons of Rondeletius and Johnstonus. Sometimes we meet with a mola, or moon-fish,1 so called from some resemblance it hath of a crescent in the extreme part of the body from one fin unto another. One being taken near the shore at Yarmouth, before break of day, seemed to shiver and grunt like a hog, as authors deliver of it. The flesh being hard and nervous, it is not like to afford a good dish; but from the liver, which is large, white, and tender, somewhat may be expected. The gills of these fish we found thick beset with a kind of sea-louse. In the year 1667, a mola was taken at Monsley, which weighed 200 pounds. The rana piscatrix, or frog-fish,2 is sometimes found in a very large magnitude, and we have taken the care to have them cleaned and stuffed, wherein we observed all the appendices whereby they catch fishes, but much larger than are described in the icons of Johnstonus, lib. xi. fig. 8. The sea-wolf, or lupus nostras, of Schoneveldus, remarkable for its spotted skin and notable teeth,-incisores, dogteeth and grinders. The dog-teeth, both in the jaws and 1 mola or mom-fish] Tetraodon mola, L. Sun-fish. 2 frog-fish.] Lophius piscatorius, L. 3 sea-wolf] Anarhicas lupus, L. palates, scarce answerable by any fish of that bulk, for the like disposure, strength, and solidity. Mustela marina;4 called by some a weazel ling, which, salted and dried, becomes a good Lenten dish. A lump, or lumpus anglorum,5 so named by Aldrovandus, by some esteemed a festival-fish, though it affordeth but a glutinous jelly, and the skin is beset with stony knobs, after no certain order. Ours most answereth the first figure in the 13th table of Johnstonus, but seems more round and arcuated than that figure makes it. Before the herrings, there commonly cometh a fish, about a foot long, by fishermen called a horse, resembling, in all points, the trachurus of Rondeletius, of a mixed shape, between a mackerel and a herring; observable from its green eyes, rarely sky-coloured back, after it is kept a day, and an oblique bony line running on the outside from the gills unto the tail; a dry and hard dish, but makes a handsome picture. The rubelliones, or rochets, but thinly met with on this coast. The gornart cuculus, or lyca species, more often; which they seldom eat, but bending the back and spreading the fins into a large posture, do hang them up in their houses. Beside the common mullus, or mullet, there is another not unfrequent, which some call a cunny-fish, but rather a red mullet, of a flosculous red, and somewhat rough on the scales, answering the description and icon of Rondeletius, under the name of mullus, ruber asper; but not the taste of the usually-known mullet, as affording but a dry and lean bit. Several sorts of fishes there are which do or may bear the names of sea-woodcocks; as the acus major scolopax, and 4 mustela marini.] Perhaps gadus mustela, L. or petromyzon marinus, L. The lamprey. 5 lumpus anglorum.] Cyclopterus lumpus, L. The lump-fish or lumpsucker. 6 trachurus.] Scomber Trachurus, L. The scad or horse-mackerel : caught with the mackerel.-G. 7 lyca species.] Trigla cuculus, L. The red-gurnard. 8 mullet.] Mugil cephalus, L. 9 red mullet.] Mullus barbatus, L. Sur-mullet. Sometimes caught at Cromer.-G. |