RED BAKDFISH, 263 



common on the south and west of England, although the oc- 

 currence anywhere of thirty specimens at one tune, (Loudon's 

 Mag. Nat. Hist., N.S., vol. ii,) must be deemed remarkable. It 

 is also remarkable that the occurrence of this fish in numerous 

 instances has been owing to the accident of its having been 

 thrown on shore by stormy weather; from which it happens that, 

 although not liable to be broken in pieces, like the larger 

 members of the ribband-shaped lamily, it usually becomes dis- 

 figured with a variety of bruises. Some have been found on 

 opening the stomachs of the more voracious fishes, especially of 

 the Cod family; and in a few instances it has been known to 

 be caught with a hook. From circumstances attending its capture 

 with us, it appears that its habits are to keep in rocky ground 

 at a moderate depth of water; and that its food is the smaller 

 sorts of crustaceans and perhaps mollusks, which the relative 

 capacity of its gape enable it to seize with readiness, and which 

 the spreading direction of its teeth must assist to retain with 

 firmness. The stomach is of moderate size, but of a firm and 

 muscular texture; and it may be added, in reference to its 

 internal structure, that the air-bladder is large, with its chief 

 portion not situated in the common cavity of the body, but 

 behind it, and stretching along from the spine to the neigh- 

 bourhood of the anal fin. 



The Red Bandfish is common in the Mediterranean, and 

 Lacepede gives a florid account of its motions when alive, as 

 if he had seen them; although when he informs us that there 

 are two species, now acknowledged by naturalists to be only 

 varieties of each other, he makes a principal distinction between 

 them to be, that the C. serpentiformis, which is the true C. 

 ruhescens of Gmelin's Linnaeus, is furnished with a forked tail, 

 which certainly is not the case. The short account by Risso of 

 the actions of this fish is more moderate in its tone. He says 

 that with its smooth and flexible body it is able to move in a 

 serpent-like manner with considerable activity; and in contrast 

 with the pale blue water, its own brilliant red colour has 

 procured for it the name of the Flame and Ribband. 



The greatest length of this fish has been about twenty inches; 

 but the example described measured fifteen inches, with a depth, 

 including the fins, of an inch and a quarter, gradually tapering 

 from the vent to the tail, and very thin. A specimen of small 



