A CA NTHOPTER YGII. SCORP^ENIDJE. 



TAB. XXIV. 



SEBASTES IMPERIALIS, Cuv. 



JHoca negra, or Pai de Gato. 



The CatVeye, or Black-mouthed Hou-fisu. 



Char. Gen. ; vide supra, tab. xvii. 



Char. Spec. 



S. suboblongus, laciniis nullis, raber ; corpore fasciis subquinis latis dorsalibus, perpendiculatis, 



saturatioribiis, fiisco nebulosis ; operculo gulaque intus nigricante : rostro breviusculo, acuto : sub- 



orbitario antice subsinuato, obsolete bidentato ; carina subocularia subinermi : praeoperculi spinis 



subaequalibus, validis, horizonti snbparallelis : pinnarum pectoraliixm axilla inermi, radiis octo in- 



ferioribiis simplicibus ; dorsulis parte posteriore basi maxillaribusque squamatis. 



7 V. 8 + VI. 

 D. 12 + 12 ; A. 3 + 5 ; P. -2 + IX. + 8 ; V. 1 + 5 ; C. ^_^-^r^ 



M. B. 7 ; Sq. lin. lat. 29 v. 30 ; Vertas. 10 abd. + 15 caud. = 25. 



S. imperialis, Cuv. R. An. ii. 167.— Cuv. and Val. iv. 336.— Syn. Fish. Mad. p. 175. 



ScorpcBna dacti/loptera, (Laroclie) Risso, iii. 369. 



" Malaharka, Bloch," fide Cuv. and Val. 1. c. 340. 



Longtt. = 10 — 15 poll. = 3^ X alt. 



Tempus, vera, autiunno ; sed per totum fere annum. 



Locus, in nipibus profundissimis : rara. 



CuviER has expressly stated,* tliat he derived the generic name *S'e- 

 bastcs from the Greek form {pz^ccarog) of the Majorcan epithet impe- 

 rial, by which this particular species of the genus is distinguished at 

 Ivi^a. His writing it Sebastes, instead of Sebastus in conformity with 

 the established form of termination in the Latin tongue for all words 

 ending like az^aarog in the Greek, is however perfectly defensible, if 

 it be considered as immediately or independently derived from gz^oc- 



It seems extraordinary -f- that so distinct and remarkable a species 

 should have escaped the notice of all the older Mediterranean ichthy- 

 ologists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ; being, as M. Risso 



* Cuv. and Val. Hist. iv. p. 327. 



t The solution suggested by MM. Cuv. and Val. that it was possibly confounded with the 

 Cotlus Massilicnsis of Forskal (Scorpana parens, L.) or with the Perm marina of authors, does 

 not apply to Rondelet, Salviani, and Willughby, &c. 



VOL. r. 



