190 ACANTHOPTERYGII. — LABRID^. 



by some naturalists, considered as the young. 

 It attains the length of eighteen inches, and is 

 rather thick in proportion. The colours are sub- 

 ject to some variation, but in general may be 

 thus described. The ground-colour of the body 

 is blue-green, darker on the upper parts, and 

 paler on the lower ; the scales, which are of large 

 size, have orange-coloured margins, more or less 

 wide : the head and cheeks are green with irre- 

 gular lines of orange, and the thick lips are flesh- 

 coloured. All the fins have red rays, and the in- 

 tervening membranes spotted with fine greenish 

 blue. 



Such were the colours carefully noted down by 

 Mr. Yarrell, of a fine specimen sent to him from 

 Berwick; but one equally large from Swansea, 

 described by Mr. Dillwyn, had a very different 

 appearance. " The colour was red, becoming 

 pale orange on the body; the body ornamented 

 wdth bluish-green oval spots ; the fins and tail 

 green, with a few red spots ; the dorsal-fin had 

 spots along the base only." This discrepancy 

 would depend on the greater or less width of 

 the orange margins of the scales, in the former 

 case the green hues, in the latter the red, pre- 

 dominating ; while it serves to give a notion of 

 the difficulty experienced by naturalists in de- 

 termining the species of this charming Family, 

 arising from the variableness of their coloration. 



The habits of the European Wrasses appear 

 to agree with those of their congeners in sunnier 

 seas. The vast reefs and marine shrubberies of 

 coral, with their innumerable animalcules, are in- 

 deed wanting in our northern latitudes, but still 

 our rocks are inhabited by multitudes of soft- 



