188 ACANTHOPTERYGII. LABRID^. 



enamelled jaws, resembling the mandibles of a 

 Parrof s beak, and partly perhaps on account of 

 their vivid colours, in w^hich respect they are in 

 no wise inferior to the Wrasses proper. The flesh 

 of these is eaten. 



There is one species in the Mediterranean 

 (Scarus creticus, Aldr.), which, after much in- 

 vestigation, Cuvier has concluded to be the Scarus 

 so celebrated among the ancients, that, during 

 the reign of Claudius, Elipertus Optatus, the 

 Roman admiral, undertook an expedition to 

 Greece, in order to procure it for distribution, with 

 a view to its naturalization in the Italian seas. 

 It is of a blue or a red colour, according to the 

 season ; and still inhabits the waters of the 

 Grecian Archipelago, where it is eaten in its trail, 

 like Surmullet with us. In the West Indies 

 there are numerous species of great beauty ; the 

 flesh of these is eaten, though it is reputed to 

 be peculiarly liable, at certain seasons, to assume 

 that poisonous quality which we have described 

 in a previous page, as characterizing the flesh of 

 the Barracoota. 



Genus Labrus. (Linn,) 



In this extensive genus the operculum is scaled, 

 the pre-operculum naked ; both are destitute of 

 spines or notches. The outline of the dorsal fin 

 is nearly straight, or only slightly hollowed, be- 

 tween the spinous and the soft rays ; the former 

 are more numerous than the latter, and are fur- 

 nished each with a short membranous filament 

 behind its points ; the caudal and the pectorals 

 are rounded ; the jaws are but shghtly protrusile. 



