Notes and Letters on the Natural History of Norfolk Part 5

Mustela marina[60] called by some a wesell ling wch salted & dryed becomes a good Lenten dish.

[60] Some member of the family _Gadidae_ is here referred to, probably the five-bearded Rockling, _Motella mustela_, or Brown Whistle-fish of Pennant, which is occasionally taken by our fishermen, but is by no means common.

A Lump or Lumpus Anglorum so named by Aldrouandus by some esteemed a festiuall dish though it affordeth b.u.t.t a glutinous jellie & the skinne is beset with stony k.n.o.bs after no certaine order ours most answereth the first figure in the xiii table of Johnstonus b.u.t.t seemes more round & arcuated then that figure makes it.

Before the herrings there co[=m]only cometh a fish about a foot long by the fish man called an horse[61] resembling in all poynts the Trachurus of Rondeletius of a mixed shape between a mackerell & an herring.

obseruable from [an oblique bo _crossed out_] its greene eyes rarely skye colored back after it is kept a day & an oblique bony line running on ye outside from the gills vnto ye tayle. a drye & hard dish b.u.t.t makes an handsome picture.

[61] This is the Horse Mackerel, or Scad, _Caranx trachurus_; a handsome fish and common enough, especially off Sheringham, but not much esteemed for the table.

The Rubelliones or Rochets[62] b.u.t.t thinly met with on this coast. the gornart cuculus or Lyrae species more often wch they seldome eat b.u.t.t bending the back & sprdding the finnes into a liuely posture do hang them up in their howses.

[62] Fish of the Gurnard kind are here referred to. The Rochet of Pennant is the Red Gurnard, _Trigla cuculus_; he calls _T. lyra_ the Piper. Large numbers of various species of Gurnard are brought in by our trawlers and sell readily, especially the Sapphirine Gurnard, or Tub-fish (_T. hirundo_), which is known as the "Lachet"

on our coast; it reaches a large size, and seems to be much in demand for the table. In spring the colours are very brilliant, and they are frequently seen on the fish stalls with their pectoral fins extended as Browne describes.

[_Fol. 27._] Beside the co[=m]on mullus[63] or mullet there is another not vnfrequent wch some call a cunny fish b.u.t.t rather a red muellett of a flosculous redde & somewhat rough on the scales answering the discription of [Rond _crossed out_] Icon of Rondeletius vnder the name of mullus ruber asper [no _crossed out_] b.u.t.t not the tast of the vsually knowne mullet as [being b.u.t.t _crossed out_] affording b.u.t.t a drye & leane bitt.

[63] The Common Mullet I take to be the Grey Mullet (_Mugil capito_), which is at times plentiful on our coast, coming into Breydon and the mouths of the rivers, but the Red Mullet (_Mullus barbatus_) is far less frequently met with. In his third letter to Merrett, Browne says, "There is of them _maior_ and _minor_," the latter probably being the variety known as the Surmullet, by far the most frequently met with here.

Seuerall sorts of fishes[64] there are wch [bear _crossed out_] do [_written above_] or may beare the names of seawoodc.o.c.ks as the Acus maior scolopax & saurus. the saurus wee sometimes meet with yonge.

Rondeletius confesseth it a very rare fish somewhat resembling the Acus or needlefish before & a makerell behind. wee have kept one dryed many yeares agoe.

[64] The Saurus of Rondeletius appears to be the Skipper or Saury-pike (_s...o...b..esox saurus_) of modern authors. _Acus major_ is the Gar-fish or Greenback (_Belone vulgaris_); this is the _Acus primus_ of Rondeletius, Dr. Harmer has been good enough to send me the following note on Rondeletius's figures:--"_De Acus secunda specie_" (lib. viii. p. 229). "Two species are figured; the upper figure appears to represent _Siphonostoma typhle_, and the lower one _S. acus_. Gunther ('Brit. Mus. Cat.,' viii. p. 157) gives a reference to Rondeletius in his synonyms of _S. acer_ without indicating that the latter figures two species. Under _S. typhle_ (p. 154) he gives the synonym _Syngnathus rondeletii_, De la Roche.

A reference to Delaroche ('Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat., Paris,' xiii, 1809 p. 324, Pl. xxi. fig. 5) shows that _S. rondeletii_ is identified with the first figure on p. 229 of Rondeletius; and it may thus be concluded that Gunther agrees with this conclusion. It seems therefore probable that Browne's Acus of Aristotle refers to _S.

typhle_."

The Acus maior calld by some a garfish & greenback answering ye figure of Rondeletius under the name of Acus prima species remarkable for its quadrangular figure and verdigreece green back bone.

[L] A lesser sort of Acus [wee _crossed out_] maior or primae specaeei wee meet with [answering the saurus of Rondeletius _crossed out_] much shorter then the co[=m]on garfish & in taking out the spine wee found it not green as in the greater & much answering the saurus of Rondeletius.

[L] This and the next paragraph on the back of Fol. 26 are in different ink and smaller writing though in the same hand, and appear to have been added subsequently. The first paragraph is omitted by Wilkin.

A scolopax[65] or sea woodc.o.c.k of Rondeletius was giuen mee by a seaman of these seas. about 3 inches long & seemes to bee one kind of Acus or needlefish answering the discription of Rondeletius.

[65] The Scolopax, or Sea Woodc.o.c.k, is clearly _Centriscus scolopax_, a very rare fish in the British seas, and it would have been well had Browne given a more precise account of the origin of his specimen.

The Acus of Aristotle [_see Note 64_] lesser thinner corticated & s.e.xangular by diuers calld an adderc.o.c.k & somewhat resembling a snake ours more plainly finned then Rondeletius discribeth it.

A little corticated fish[66] about [4 inches _crossed out_] 3 or 4 inches long [_several words smeared out_] ours answering that wch is named piscis octangularis by wormius, cataphractus by Schoneueldeus.

octagonius versus caput, versus caudam hexagonius.

[66] Doubtless the Armed Bull-head, or Pogge, _Agonus cataphractus_. A MS. note in Berkenhout says it was called at Lowestoft a Beetle-head (1769).

[_Fol. 28._] The faber marinus[67] sometimes found very large answering ye figure of Rondeletius. which though hee mentioneth as a rare fish & to be found in the Atlantick & Gaditane ocean yet wee often meet with it in these seas co[=m]only calld a peterfish hauing [a _crossed out_] one [_written above_] black spot on ether side the body conceued the perpetuall signature from the impression of St Peters fingers or to resemble the 2 peeces of money wch St Peter tooke out of this fish remarkable also from its disproportionable mouth & many hard p.r.i.c.kles about other parts.

[67] _Zeus faber_, the Dory. Many, usually small ones, are brought in by our fishermen.

A kind of scorpius marinus[68] a rough p.r.i.c.kly & monstrous headed fish 6 8 or 12 inches long answerable vnto the figure of Schoneueldeus.

[68] _Cottus scorpius_, Father Lasher, commonly taken by the shrimpers.

A sting fish[69] wiuer or kind of ophidion or Araneus slender, narrowe headed about 4 inches long wth a sharpe small p.r.i.c.kly finne along the back which often venemously p.r.i.c.keth the hands of fishermen.

[69] Probably from its size the Lesser Weever, _Trachinus vipera_, as also the _Draco minor_ of Jonstoni. A common fish in our waters.

Large numbers of the Greater Weever, _T. draco_, are brought in by the trawlers.

Aphia cobites marina[70] or sea Loche.

[70] One of the Gobies. Day, "Brit. Fishes," i., p. 169, supposes the _Aphya cobites_ of Rondeletius (p. 20) to be the White Goby, _A. pellucida_; Pennant has _A. cobites_ as a synonym for the Spotted Goby (_G. minutus_) and the Sea Gudgeons, Black Gobies (_G.

niger_), but at that time there was no very nice distinction of the members of this genus. The Sea Miller's Thumb is probably the Shanny (_Blennius pholis_). _Alosa_, is the Allis Shad (_Culpea alosa_, L.), not uncommon (_see Note 74_).

Blennus a sea millars thumb.

Funduli marini sea gogions.

Alosae or chads to bee met with about Lynne.

Spinachus or smelt[71] in greatest plentie about Lynne b.u.t.t [co[=m]on on yarmouth coast _crossed out_] where they haue also a small fish calld a primme answering in [all _crossed out_] tast & shape a smelt & perhaps are b.u.t.t the yonger sort thereof.

[71] The Smelt, _Osmerus eperla.n.u.s_, is abundant in the shallow waters and estuaries on the Norfolk coast in spring, ascending the fresh-water rivers to sp.a.w.n. The small fish called a Primme by Browne, may be the Atherine (_Atherina presbyter_), which is also found in our waters, where it is often mistaken for the Smelt, but I have not heard it called by the former name.

[_Fol 29._] Aselli or cods of seuerall sorts. Asellus albus or whitings in great plentie. Asellus niger carbonarius or [col _crossed out_] coale fish. Asellus minor Schoneueldei callarias pliny or Haydocks with many more also a weed fish somewhat like an haydock b.u.t.t larger & dryer meat.

A Ba.s.se also much resembling a flatter kind of Cod.[72]

[72] The first three fishes named in this paragraph need no comment; the Weed-fish is doubtless a local name, but for what species I cannot discover. The Ba.s.s, _Labrax lupus_ (Cuv.), is, as might be expected from the nature of our coast, by no means common here.

s...o...b..i are makerells[73] in greate plentie a dish much desired b.u.t.t if as Rondeletius affirmeth they feed upon sea starres & squalders (_see Note 90_) there may bee some doubt whether their flesh bee without some ill qualitie sometimes they are of a very large size & one was taken this yeare 1668 wch was by measure an ell long and of ye length of a good salmon, at Lestoffe.

[73] The latter part of this paragraph, beginning, "Sometimes they are of a very large size," is written on the left-hand side of the opening, and is evidently a subsequent addition. One would be inclined to think from the great size of the fish here recorded (3 ft. 9 in.), that it may have been a species of Tunny, or even a Bonito, both of which have been taken on the Norfolk coast.

Seventeen inches is a large mackerel.

Herrings departed sprats or sardae not long after succeed in great plentie wch are taken with smaller nets [& dryed _crossed out_] & smoakd & dryed like herrings become a [daint _crossed out_] sapid bitt & vendible abroad.

Among these are found Bleakes or bliccae[74] a thinne herring like fishe wch some will also think to bee young herrings. And though the sea aboundeth not with pilchards, yet they are co[=m]only taken among herrings. b.u.t.t few esteeme thereof or eat them.

[74] It is quite evident that the fish referred to here, and again in the sixth letter to Merrett, is not the true Bleak (_Alburnus lucideus_) of our freshwaters. It seems that the young of some species of Clupeoid was thus known, for I find it stated in a MS.

note in a copy of Berkenhout's "Outlines of the Natural History of Great Britain," (1769), in the possession of Mr. T. E. Gunn, that the Bleak and the Sprat are often caught together in the sea at Aldeburgh (Suffolk) in November, and the writer of the note adds, "the Bleak is larger than the Sprat, its eyes are larger, and the upper part of its belly serrated." I think from this description and from Browne's remarks, that the young of a species of Shad must have been mistaken for the Bleak, which although found low down in our rivers almost to where the salt tide mingles with the fresh, does not I believe enter the salt water.

Congers are not so co[=m]on on these coasts as on many seas about England, b.u.t.t are often found upon the north coast of Norfolk, & in frostie wether left in pulks & plashes upon the ebbe of the sea.

[_Fol. 30._] The sand eels Anglorum of Aldrouandus, or Tobia.n.u.s of Schoneueldeus co[=m]only called smoulds taken out of the sea sands with forks & rakes about Blakeney and Burnham a small round slender fish about 3 or 4 inches long as bigge as a small Tobacco pipe a very dayntie dish.

Pungitius marinus[75] or sea bansticle hauing a p.r.i.c.kle one each side the smallest fish of the sea about an inch long sometimes drawne ash.o.a.re with netts together with weeds & pargaments[M] of the sea.

[75] The smallest of the genus _Gasterosteus_, or Stanstickles, is _G. pungitius_, the ten-spined Stickleback, but this fish is two inches long when full grown. All the species seem to be more or less indifferent to the salinity of the water. The fifteen-spined Stickleback, _G. spinachia_, is also sometimes taken by the shrimpers, and is the most truly marine species, but is by no means "the smallest fish of the sea."

[M] This word which Wilkin renders "fragments," is doubtless from the Latin _pergamentum_, and it seems likely that Browne had in view certain sea-weeds, possibly _Laminaria_ or _Ulva_ which, especially when dry, present somewhat the appearance and texture of parchment.

Many sorts of flat fishes[76] The pastinaca oxyrinchus with a long & strong aculeus in the tayle conceuud of speciall venome & virtues.