The merle (labrus merula) is mentioned among the rock fishes by Galen. Diocles in Athenæus says it is of easy digestion and highly nutritive. The iülis, called donzella by the Italians, a fish of the same genus, is mentioned by Galen and Xenocrates as having soft flesh.
The fish called serran in French (serranus anthius Cuv.), and its congener the labrus hepatus L. are briefly noticed by the dietetical authorities as wholesome fishes.
On the salmon the Greek authors are entirely silent. It is briefly noticed by Pliny (H. N. ix, 32); but the first and only satisfactory account of it which is to be found in any Latin classic is contained in the Mosella of Ausonius. We shall give an extract from the lines in which it is first described:
“Teque inter species geminas, neutrumque et utrumque,
Qui necdum Salmo, nec jam Salar, ambiguusque
Amborum medio Fario intercepte sub ævo.”
Here we find marked the three progressive stages in the growth of the fish. The salar is the sea-trout, the fario is what in the north of Scotland is called the grilse, and the salmo is the full-grown salmon. Of the salmon he says:
“Tu loricato squamosus pectore, frontem
Lubricus, et dubiæ facturus fercula cænæ,
Tempora longarum fers incorrupte morarum,