[94] Merrett calls the Ruff _Cernua fluviatilis_, and mentions its abundance in the River Yare at Norwich, which he (no doubt inadvertently) assigns to the County of "Essex"; from this locality Caius obtained the specimen, a drawing of which he sent to Gesner under the name of _Aspredo_. Camden assigns this fish also to Norwich, and Spencer, in his "Marriage of the Thames and Medway," writes of the Ruff:--
"Next cometh Yar, soft washing Norwich walls, And with him bringeth to their festival Fish whose like none else can show, The which men Ruffins call."
This county seems to have been assigned an exclusive proprietorship in the Ruff, to which, as Browne rightly points out, it had no just claim.
Lampetra Lampries great & small[95] found plentifully in norwich riuer & euen in the Citty about may [some _crossed out_] whereof some are very large & well cooked are counted a dayntie bitt collard up butt especially in pyes.
[95] Both the Sea Lamprey (_Petromyzon marinus_) and the Lampern (_P. fluviatilis_) are found in the Norfolk rivers.
Mustela fluuiatilis or eele poult[96] to bee had in norwich riuer & [in thalso _crossed out_] between it & yarmouth as also in the riuers of marshland resembling an eele & a cod. a very good dish & the Liuer thereof well answers the commendations of the Ancients.
[96] The Burbot, or Eel Pout (_Lola vulgaris_), called by Merrett a Coney-fish, from its habit of concealing itself in holes in the river banks. It is not sufficiently numerous now to form an article of diet, and I imagine there are few living who could bear testimony as to the esculent qualities of its "Liuer."
[_Fol 37._] Godgions or funduli fluuiatiles, many whereof may bee taken within the [citty _crossed out_] Riuer in the citty:
Capitones fluuiatilis or millers thumbs, pungitius fluuiatilis or stanticles. Aphia cobites fluuiatilis or Loches. in norwich riuers in the runnes about Heueningham heath in the north riuer & streames thereof.
Of eeles[97] the co[=m]on eele & the glot wch hath somewhat a different shape in the bignesse of the head & is affirmed to have yong ones often found within it. & wee haue found a vterus in the same somewhat answering the icon thereof in Senesinus.