COMBER WRASS, 33 



moderately deep, Rays of the dorsal fin thirty, of which the 

 soft portion has only four, which are suddenly lengthened, the 

 first of these soft rays the longest; pectoral fin fourteen rays; 

 anal three firm and nine soft; ventral six; caudal fourteen. The 

 colour was beautiful, and with all the variety to which they 

 are liable, such as I have never witnessed in the Ballan Wrass. 

 The groundwork a rich deep mahogany red; on the cheeks a 

 broad pale defined straight line backward from the border of 

 the eye; between this and the angle of the mouth a broken 

 pale line; all the lines bordered with a darker margin of the 

 ground-colour; a similar narrow line, almost like a ridge, along 

 the upper portion of the hindmost gill-cover. A more obscure 

 wide interrupted line running back from the border of the 

 gill-cover along the side of the body. Belly a little paler than 

 the sides, approaching to reddish. Tail having broad transpa- 

 rent patches, six in all, somewhat regularly arranged, with dots 

 of very dark brown at the base of the rays, and one larger 

 and darker, but not exceeding the size of a large pin's head, 

 at the end of the fin. Iris of the eye bright crimson ; pectoral 

 and ventral fins of the colour of the body. A few hours after 

 death these spots generally vanished, and the colour became 

 uniform. The drawing of this fish was made when it was 

 alive in water, when it displayed marks of much activity. 

 Another example with similar colours, but of considerably 

 larger size, was afterwards caught. 



In a communication with which I have been favoured from 

 the west of Cornwall, the Comber Wrass is described as known 

 to the fishermen of Mount's Bay, and as being '^the most 

 slender and most graceful of the Wrasses; the head smaller, 

 lips thinner, jaws more lengthened and pointed:" but of this I 

 have not examined a specimen. 



VOL. III. 



