24 



LABRUS. 



The body oblong, and, with the gill-covers, covered with scales; lips 

 fleshy; teeth prominent; a single dorsal fin, having two orders of rays, 

 the first portion spinous, of which each one is tipped with a free 

 membranous appendage. Ventral fins thoracic; the tail round or straight. 

 The evenness of the border of the first gill- cover distinguishes this 

 genus from Cremlabnis. 



The name ancientlj'- applied to this class or family of fishes was 

 Tardus, but, as a generic terra this is now appropriated to the thrushes 

 among birds; and in both instances, as well as in the English name 

 of the latter, it holds the same meaning, the best known amongst 

 them in each instance being mottled over with light-coloured spots. 

 A disease of the mouth is also called thrush for the same reason. 

 But the name of Lahrus was also in use at a remote date, and is 

 characteristic of their prominent and fleshj^ lips, which are the prin- 

 cipal organs of acute sensation; but in English these fish bear the 

 general name of Wrass, which is pronounced Wrath or Rath by 

 fishermen of the West of England. The Rev. Mr. Johns, in his 

 description of the Lizard Point in Cornwall, informs us that by the 

 fishermen there they are called Raagh;' which may be the ancient 

 British term, as in pronunciation it approaches very near to the Welsh 

 name Gwrach, which signifies an old woman; the Latin form of 

 which, in the word vetula, we find to have been applied to more than 

 one fish of a kindred shape. According to Rondeletius and Gesner, a 

 name of the same signification, Vielle and Yieille, is applied to some 

 of the same sorts of fishes in different parts of Erance. 



BALLAN WKASS. 



RATH. RAAGH. BERGLE, in the Orkneys. Pre-eminently 



the WRASS. 



Turdus, JoNSTON. Willoughby; p. 320, X. 1, but it is not 



easy to assign the proper synonyms of this species 

 as of some others, because both these writers 

 speak more of the colours of these fishes, which 

 vary greatly in different examples, than of their 

 distinguishing forms; as is the case also with Risso. 



