CLASS PISCES. 253 



sixteen to eighteen spines. The last one is only ob- 

 tained from the Mediterranean l . 



Cheilinus, Lacep., 



Differs from labrus, properly so called, in the inter- 

 ruption of the lateral line, opposite the end of the 

 dorsal ; it recommences a little lower down. The 

 scales on the end of the tail are large and somewhat 

 envelope the base of the caudal. They are beautiful 

 fishes from the Indian Ocean 2 . 



1 Add Lab. Americanus, Bl. Schn. ; or Tautoga, Mitch, pi. iii. 1. 

 L. herisse, Lacep. III. xx. 1. L. large queue, id. III. ix. 3. L. 

 deux croissants, id. III. xxxii. 2. L. diane, id. iii. 1. 



N.B. The Ckeil. auratus, Commers. Lacep. iv. 433 ; or the 

 Labrus inermis of Forsk. (L. hassec, Lacep.) and Voy. Freycin. 

 Zool. pi. liv. No. 2, is merely a very slender labrus, with flexible 

 dorsal spines. 



2 The Cheiline trilobe, Lacep. III. xxxi. 3, the same as the 

 Sparus chlorurus, Bl. 260. Spams radiatus, Bl., Schn. 56 Sparus 

 fasciatus, Bl. 257, which is also the Labre enneacantke, Lacep. iii. 

 p. 490. Labrus. fasciatus, Bl. 290, which is also the Labre mala- 

 pteronote, Lacep. III. xxxi. i. ; the figure to which should be re- 

 ferred the description of the Labre fuligineux, id. iii. p. 493, but 

 not the fig., which is that of the Mesoprion uninotatus. Labrus me- 

 lagaster, Bl. 296. 1. L. diagramme, Lacep. III. i. 2. L. lunula, 

 Forsk. N.B. The Labrus scarus, L. (Cheiline scare, Lacep.) was 

 merely established by Artedi and Linnaeus, on an equivocal de- 

 scription of Belon. Aquat. lat. ed. p. 239, and Obs. p. 21, where it 

 is impossible to ascertain even the genus of the fish of which he 

 speaks. The fig. and description of Rondelet, lib. vi. cap. ii. p. 164, 

 usually quoted with those of Belon, refer to a totally different fish of 

 the genus sparus. The true scarus of the Greeks is another fish, as 

 we shall soon see. 



