THE JOHN DORY. (Zeus faber.)
It would be an inexcusable neglect to pass this fish unnoticed, not on account of its disputing with the haddock the honour of having been pressed by the fingers of the apostle, nor of its having been trodden upon by the gigantic foot of St. Christopher, when he carried on his shoulders a divine burden across an arm of the sea, but for the excellence of its flesh. It has been for some years in such favour with our epicures, that one of them, a comedian of high repute (Quin), took a journey to Plymouth merely to eat this fish in perfection. Its body presents the shape of a rhomboid, but the sides are much compressed; the mouth is large, and the snout long, composed of several cartilaginous plates, which wrap and fold one over another, in order to enable the fish to catch its prey. The colour is a dark green, marked with black spots, with a golden gloss, whence the name originated. They inhabit the coasts of England, and particularly Torbay, whence they are sent to the fish-markets of London.
When the Dory is taken alive out of the water, it is able to compress its internal organs so rapidly that the air, in rushing through the openings of the gills, produces a kind of noise somewhat like that which, on similar occasions, is emitted by the gurnards.