JULIS TURCICA. 3 



and headlands of the southern coast. It does not owe its peculiarity of colour to 

 the seasons ; for I have notes of individuals taken during all, both in association 

 with the other variety and with /. unimaculata. 



The food of all these fishes seems to be the smaller Shell-fish, Crustacea, and 

 Mollusks. Like their associate, J. unimaculata^ they are captured with the 

 greatest ease ; biting as quickly and as greedily as Perch or Gudgeons at a hook, 

 which their narrow mouth or gape requires to be small, baited with a crushed 

 periwinkle (^Littorina vulgaris, Fer; Trochus edulis, nob. or Tr. maderensis, nob.) 

 They are not usually themselves employed as food : but their beauty and variety 

 of colouring render their capture an amusement of some interest. 



The general form of J. turcica is compressed, more oblong than elliptic, and 

 deeper than usual in the genus ; the depth, which is greatest in the middle, being 

 one-fourth of the entire length to the tips of the forks of the caudal fin : in this 

 particular it approaches the Crenilabri. The greatest breadth or thickness is less 

 than half the depth. The head is pointed; the curvature of the profile down- 

 wards, from the origin of the dorsal fin, is regular and gradual ; and it is equal 

 and symmetric with that of the throat upwards, from the base of the ventral fins. 

 The length of the head, from the tip of the closed jaws to the extreme hinder angle 

 of the opercle, is equal to the gi'eatest depth of the body : its height, in a vertical 

 line passing through the centre of the pupil, is equal to three-fifths of its length. 

 The eye is round and rather small ; its diameter is contained five and a half times 

 in the length of the head. It is placed high up the cheeks, at the distance of half 

 its own diameter from the top of the head, and that of two diameters from the 

 outline of the throat below : whilst the distance from its anterior canthus to the 

 tip of the muzzle is something less than twice its own diameter. The nostrils are 

 two small simple holes, placed one before the other, in a line from the upper edge 

 of the eye to the tip of the muzzle : the foremost being halfway. There are no 

 prominent bones, ridges, or sculpture of any sort, about the head or cheeks, which 

 are quite plain and flat ; and the line of the pre-opercle itself is scarcely visible ; 

 the whole being covered with a perfectly smooth and even skin, free both from 

 scales and pores. The opercle ends posteriorly in two salient membranous flat 

 points or angles, separated by a sinus : the lower is the most prominent, con'e- 

 sponding with the upper axil of the pectoral fin. 



The mouth and gape are small, the latter reaching only halfway backwards 

 towards the eye. The lips are fleshy and distinct. 



In either jaw is an outer row of from eighteen to twenty conic pointed teeth, 

 increasing in size forwards ; the front pair largest and approximate : all pointing 

 forwards, but more and more projecting towards the front, where they are also 

 doubled by an internal row of five or six smaller ones. There is no large tooth, or 

 tusk, at the corners of the mouth behind, in this species. The teeth are often 

 very irregular, from loss or accident, in old or adult individuals. 



The whole body is extremely viscous or slimy, and covered with large smooth 

 scales, overlapping or sheathhig the base of the dorsal and anal fins, and running 

 up between the outer rays only of the caudal fin. When dry, their exposed part 

 appears finely and regularly striate longitudinally in parallel lines. The lateral 



vaginato-squamatis ; caiidali lunata, lobis abbreviatis, purpureo vittatis : operculo postice biangulato : 

 squamis magiiis. 



D. 8 -f- 1 3, &c. ut in J. turcica. 



a. tceniata : lateribus viridi-fasciatis : f'asciis perpendiculatis, angustis. 



Vulgatiss. 



jS. litieolula : f'asciis nullis. 



Rariss. 



