172 SCORP^NID^. 



asserts, a very common fisli at Nice ; and, according to MM. Cuvier 

 and Valenciennes, not rare in any part of the Mediterranean. M. de 

 Laroche, who first observed it at Ivi^a early in the present century, 

 speaks of it, however, according to MM. Cuvier and Valenciennes, as 

 very rare wherever fishing is not carried on at great depths : and though 

 this last condition can be scarcely anywhere more perfectly fulfilled than 

 in Madeira, this fish, though generally well known by the fishermen, is 

 certainly of but occasional and somewhat rare occurrence ; and that prin- 

 cipally in the spring and autumn. Its breeding season I have only ne- 

 gatively ascertained to be at neither of these periods : which serves, 

 however, to confirm M. Risso's observation, corroborated by the analogy 

 of its cognate species, that the female is in spawn in summer. 



From its rarity, the Boca negra is but as it were by accident 

 brought to the table. Its flesh is much inferior in quality to that of 

 even the Carndro ; being generally both insipid and soft, without being 

 flaky. 



Besides the name of Serran imperial, by which Laroche informs us that 

 this fish is designated in Majorca, he also mentions that at Barcelona 

 it is called Panegal. At Nice, Risso relates that it is called Cardoii- 

 niero ; in probable allusion to its spines. Its Madeiran name of Boca 

 negra, or Black-mouth, is highly characteristic : that of Pai de Galo, or, 

 perhaps, more properly Pai de Gatas, seems equivalent to Tom-cat in 

 the English idiom ; and, according to the fishermen, is given in allu- 

 sion to the eyes, which glisten strongly in the dark. 



In a list of the popular names of fishes in Teneriffe, I find a " Boci- 

 negro,'''' which is perhaps this fish. But proper evidence is wanting to 

 establish its existence further south : Bloch's references of his Scorpana 

 Malaharica to the coasts alike of Coromandel and of South America 

 being, as MM. Cuv. and Val. justly observe, equally suspicious. 



The black mouth serves immediately to distinguish the subject of 

 this chapter from the Requeime and Rocaz, with which it is generically 

 allied ; and the entire absence of lacinise on the head or body serves 

 further to prevent its being taken for a large state of the latter fish, to 

 which it has in coloured markings some resemblance. From the Car- 

 neiro it is further distinguished by the generic character of the scaly 

 head. 



The shape of Boca negra is like that of the Requeime, though the back is 

 usually less gibbous at the nape, in which case it approaches more to the form 

 of the Carneiro. The gi'eatest depth at the nape or shoulders is contained about 

 three and a half times in the whole length : and the thickness, which is greatest 

 behind the eyes, is about half the depth. The length of the head is one tliivd 

 of that of th(; whole fish : and the diameter of the eyes is contained from rather 

 more than three to not quite four times in the length of the head ; they are very 



