ACANTHOPTERYGII. PERCIDM 



TAB. III. 



CALLANTHIAS PARADISJiUS, Nob. 



Castanhita s. Imperador do alto s. da moda. 



Bird of Paradise-fish. 



Chae. Gen. 



Caput squamosum : rosiro brevissimo, utrinque ante oculos s. sitborbiiarium extremo antico tantum, 

 nudo ; maxilla utraque squamosa ; dentibus minutis, scobinato-fasciatis ; quibusdam anticis majoribus, 

 caninis, instructa. PrcB-operculum integerrimum. Operculum bispinosum. Lima lateralis dorso 

 proxima, ad extremum pinnce dorsalis continuae evanescens. Membrana hrancliiostega sexradiata. 



Oculi magiii. Pinna dorsalis analisque nudae, spinis exappendiculatis : caudalis squamosa, lunato- 

 forcipata, lobis in fila productis. Squamae asperae, limbo echinulato, ciliato. 



Obs. — Genus AnthicB, Bl. simillimum, affine. Species adhuc unica, Maderensi- Atlantica, parva, roseo 

 luteoque laete colorata. 



C. paradisceus, nob., Suppl. Syn. Mad. Fish in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1839, p. 76. 



2 V. 3 + VIII. 



2—4 + VII. 

 M. B. 6 ; Squamte lin. lat. 2-2—24 ; Vert?e. 11 abd. + 13 caud. = 24. 



D. n + 10 ; A. 3 + 10 ; P. 20 V. 21 ; V. 1 + 5 ; C. 



Longit. = 6 — -11 poll. = 5 — 7 X alt. fere. 



Tempus, vere, aestate. 



Locus, in rupibus minus profundis ; rariss. 



The new generic name affixed to this no less rare and interesting than 

 elegant little fish, is meant to indicate its most obvious relation of affinity 

 to Anthias sacer, Bl. ; whilst the specific appellation will recall a curious 

 analogical resemblance which it bears in its bright hues of rose and yellow, 

 and in the lengthened filaments of its tail, to certain of a very different race, 

 the Birds of Paradise, Paradisira, L. 



A less remote or fanciful analogy remains to be assigned amongst its 

 own legitimate and proximate allies, the fishes. Callanthias and Anthias 

 in the Percido' bear so precise an analogy of parallelism to the Labrid genera 

 of Lahrus and Crenilabrus, that, except by the common characters which 

 mark respectively the family of each pair, they would scarcely be distin- 

 guished. And this explains why several Percido-Serranidous fishes have 

 been, like Anthias sacer, Bl. itself, by some naturalists actually referred to 

 the Linnsean genus Labrus. 



Indeed, wherever this last-mentioned fish be placed by systematic writers, 

 Callanthias might reasonably be sought for in its near vicinity. By Bloch 

 himself, it must, however, have been included, had he been disposed to 



