194 PISCES. 



Plesiops, Cuv. 



A Chromis with a compressed head, approximated eyes, and ex- 

 tremely long ventrals. 



Malacanthus, Cuv. 



The general characters of a Labrus, and similar maxillary teeth, 

 but the pharyngeal teeth are like those of a card, as in Chromis, Sec; 

 the body is elongated, the lateral line continuous, and the opercu- 

 lum terminated by a small spine; the long dorsal has but a small 

 number of spines; the anterior ones thin and flexible. 



A species is found in the French Antilles, called by the inha- 

 bitants Vive; it is the Coryphxne Plumier, Lacep., IV, viii, Ij 

 yellowish, irregularly and transversely streaked with violet;(l) 

 a crescent-shaped tail. 



ScARus, Lin. 



A genus of fishes with remarkable jaws (that is, their intermaxil- 

 lary and premandibular bones), which are convex, rounded, and fur- 

 nished with teeth, arranged like scales upon their edge, and upon 

 their anterior surface; these teeth succeed each other from behind* 

 forwards, so that those of the base are the newest, and in time form 

 a row on the edge. Naturalists have erroneously thought that the 

 bone itself was naked; besides, during the life of the fish, its jaws 

 are covered by fleshy lips, but there is no double one adhering to 

 the suborbital. They have the oblong form of a Labrus, large scales, 

 and an interrupted lateral line; they have three pharyngeal plates, 

 two above and one below, furnished with teeth as in a Labrus; but 

 these teeth are transverse blades, and not like rounded paving stones. 

 A species, blue or red, according to the season, is found in 

 the Archipelago, which is the Scarus creticus, Aldrov., Pise, p. 

 8; and which late researches have convinced me is the Scarus, 

 so highly celebrated among the ancients; the same that Eli- 



is quoted, (from Carolina,) and that merely from a note by Garden, which requires 

 confirmation {Labrus hiatula, L.). It is not easy to imagine why Bloch, Schn., 

 p. 481, placed it in Trachypterus. 



(1) N.B. This fig. taken from Plumier, was altered by Bloch to represent his 

 Coryphdsna Plumieri, pi. 175. Lacepede gives a more exact one. It is also the 

 Matejuelo bianco of PaiTa, XIII, 1, or the Sparus obhngus, Bl., Schn., 283. 



Add the Tubleu of the Isle of France, or Labre large rate, Lacep. Ill, xxviii, 2, 

 the description of which is found, tome IV, p. 204, under the name of Txnianote 

 large rate. 



