SEA-BREAMS. 95 



fins are always pointed, and the caudal forked; 

 characters which indicate the power of swift pro- 

 gression through the water. 



The colours of the Marine Breams are gene- 

 rally elegant without being showy; silvery grey 

 or pearly white, varied occasionally with gilded 

 or brassy reflections, and flushed with iridescent 

 hues of rose-red, pale blue, green, and yellow, 

 may be considered as characteristic of the Family. 

 The fins, however, are destitute of colour, or are 

 tinged only with dusky-brown. 



From the structure of their teeth, it might be 

 inferred that these fishes were predatory, and that 

 their food often presented itself in a form which 

 required great crushing and grinding force. And 

 this is indeed the case, Crustacea and mollusca, 

 but especially the latter, afibrding them the main 

 part of their sustenance ; both of these classes 

 comprising animals encased in crusts or shells, 

 often of stone-like hardness. The common Gilt- 

 head {Chrysophrys aurata, Cuv.), for example, is. 

 able to crush and grind to powder, wdth its power- 

 ful millstone-like teeth, the thick stony shells of 

 the genera Turbo, Buccinum, and Trochus, the 

 Periwinkles, Whelks, and Tops, of our rocky 

 shores. 



The Family is extensive, comprising, according 

 to the latest estimate, two hundred and forty spe- 

 cies, of which number nearly one-tenth belong to 

 the European coasts ; the rest are distributed over 

 the shores of both hemispheres, their prevalence 

 increasing as we approach the tropics. 



In the larger Families of animals it is desirable 

 to have subdivisions of a rank higher than that 

 of genera ; and there are always found on exami- 



