/ 



129 



BEAMA. 



The body compressed, deep; head blunt and round above the moutb; 

 clefts of the jaws opening downward. Dorsal and anal fins single and 

 long; tail forked. Gill-covers entire. Ventral fins thoracic. 



RAY'S BREAM. 



Willoughby ; Appendix, p. 17, Tab. v. 12. 

 Rat; Synopsis, p. 116. 

 Donovan; pi. 37. 

 Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 201. 

 Jenyns; Manual, p. 359. 

 Yarrell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 133. 

 Spare Gastagnole, Lacepede. Bisso. 



" Beport of the Penzance Nat. Hist. Soc, 



for 1818, copied in Zoologist for 1819, 

 xxvi. 

 " Gunther; Cat. Br. M., vol. ii, p. 408. 



Cuvier expresses his opinion that it was Eay's Bream which Bafinesque 

 had in view in describing his Lejpodus saragus, and which in Sicily is 

 called Saragu im/periaU. 



This fish was first made known to science by Ray, who 

 obtained a figure and description from his friend, D. J. Johnson, 

 of an example which had been left by the tide at the mouth 

 of the Tees, in Yorkshire. This was in the month of September, 

 1681, and although since that time many specimens have come 

 into the hands of naturalists, it is worthy of notice that a 

 large proportion of them have only been met with dead on 

 the shore after a storm, or ready to expire, as if they had 

 been exposed to some uncongenial influence of weather or 

 temperature after having wandered from a depth or district 

 which was better fitted to their natural habits. One, however, 

 that came into my possession, was taken with a hook by a 

 Cornish fisherman; and a remark of Risso implies that it is 

 also caught with some regularity in the Mediterranean in May, 

 June, and December. The comparative rarity of its capture 

 VOL. II. S 



