THE CHIKUS. 135 



spines behind the orbit. The fourth and fifth 

 dorsal spines are the largest, longer than those 

 of the anal, and nearly half the length of the 

 head. Colour, uniform brownish. 



THE CHIRUS. On the fish-stalls in Victoria 

 and San Francisco markets the visitor may 

 generally see, lying by the side of the dingy, 

 spiny rock cod, a handsome, shapely fish, about 

 eighteen inches in length. Its sides, though 

 somewhat rough, rival in. beauty many a tropi- 

 cal flower : clad in scales, adorned with colours 

 not only conspicuous for their brilliancy, but 

 grouped and blended in a manner one sees only 

 represented in the plumage of a bird, the wing 

 of a butterfly, or the petals of an orchid, this 

 ' ocean swell ' is known to the ichthyologist as 

 the Chirus the Terpugh (a file) of the Rus- 

 sians the Idyajuk of the Aleutian Islanders 

 the Tath-le-oest of the Vancouver Islanders. 



t/ 



Quite as delicious to the palate as pleasant 

 to the eye, the chirus is altogether a most 

 estimable fish. Its habit is to frequent rocky 

 places, particularly where long ledges of rocks 

 are left bare at low-water, and sheltered at the 

 same time from the surge of the sea in rough 

 weather. Here the chirus loves to disport his 

 gaily-dressed person, amidst the gardens of sea 



