SMOOTH SERRANUS. 13 



from head to tail ; a third, more imperfect, on the belly. 

 On the gill-plates are several faintish blue stripes, running 

 obliquely downward. The fins are striped longitudinally with 

 red and yellow ; pectorals wholly yellow."" The description 

 is from Mr. Couch ; the figure, from the work of Cuvier. 



One peculiarity of the Serrani must not be passed over. 

 Cavolini and Cuvier have, after repeated examinations, de- 

 scribed the Smooth Serranus, and some other species of this 

 genus, as true hermaphrodites, one portion of each lobe of roe 

 consisting of true ova, the other part having all the appear- 

 ance of a perfect milt, and both advancing to maturity simul- 

 taneously. A structure of a different kind, which must be 

 considered as accidental, has been observed by others in the 

 Perch, Mackerel, Carp, Cod, Whiting, and Sole. This oc- 

 casional malformation, to speak in a popular phrase, consists 

 of a lobe of hard female roe on one side, and of soft male roe 

 on the other side, of the same fish. Observations are still 

 wanting to prove whether such fishes have the power of im- 

 pregnating their own ova. 



Cavolini believed that the Serrani had this power ; and the 

 probability is that in the other cases the fish are also prolific, 

 since the two sides are observed to be of equal growth. 



Since the publication of the first edition of this work, Mr. 

 Couch has been kind enough to send me the roes of two spe- 

 cimens of this Serranus. These, on examination, contained 

 true ova only ; and Mr. Owen, of the College of Surgeons, 

 whose microscope was used on this occasion, agreed with me 

 that although these organs were of small size, there was no- 

 thing equivocal either in the structure or appearance. 



