222 THE CAPP: KLIP-FISHES 



pools, especially those in which the green " sea grass" occurs; 

 it rarely exceeds 6 to 7 inches in length. The contour of the body 

 is more oval than in other species, and the scales are very dis- 

 tinct, rather cblong in shape and readily discernible to the naked 

 eye ; the head and snout are somewhat pointed, the mouth small, 

 and there are no tentacles over the eyes. The first three spines of 

 the dorsal, whilst not forming a crest, are erect, strong, a little 

 higher than the succeeding ones and further apart individually, 

 and from the fourth spine generally of a bronze or light green ; it is 

 met with in various shades of brown, and one specimen procured 

 was of a deep maroon colour ; a row of irregular spots occurs 

 below the dorsal fm and sometimes below the medium line also, 

 or there may be longitudinal bands with white specks here and 

 there, or a row of small white spots. 



The ""Mouse Klip-fish " (C. mus) is a pretty little fish, 4 

 to 5 inches long, occasionally to be found in weed-grown stretches 

 on the tidal margin, and may readily be identified by the long 

 blender stalk or peduncle of the tail and the transparent mem- 

 brane between each group of two or three spines in the dorsal fin ; 

 the nearly straight upper profile of the snout, with its slightly 

 retroxisse upper lip and the beady eye are not unlike that of a 

 mouse. The crest formed by the first three spines of the dorsal fin 

 seems at first sight to be quite separate from the succeeding 

 spines, as the connecting membrane is transparent ; the body is 

 compressed and deep in proportion to its length. The colouring 

 is very pleasing, generally of a uniform shade of crimson, green, 

 yellow or brown ; there may be a row of dark spots below the 

 dorsal fin, or wavy lines of light yellow from head to caudal 

 peduncle, or the body may be crossed by wavy single or double 

 bands of chocolate brown, etc. 



Another rather uncommon species, found in the same locali- 

 ties with the preceding, and about the same size, but of more 

 slender make, is C. pavo. Its body is deepest at the shoulder, 

 the head is long and vertically compressed, and the sniall mouth 

 has protruding lips with a small flap on the chin. There are 

 many more spines in the dorsal fin than in C. mus; the crest is 

 low and the three soft rays of the fin are higher than the spines, 

 the last rav being a little apart from the others and connected 

 M ith them and with the peduncle of the caudal by transparent 

 membranes. The fish gets its name from the row of dark, eye- 

 like spots, like those on a peacock feather, at the base of the 

 dorsal fin in the type specimens ; in some cases, however, these 

 spots only appear as faint dark patches. The body is often 

 imiform in colour — shades of dark or purple brown, pale lake, 

 flesh colour, etc. — and may have wavv bands of silvery white 

 from snout to tail, or dark cross bands from the dorsal fin alter- 

 nating with similar bands from the anal fin to above the lateral 

 line. 



Amongst the rocks on the fore-shore at Fish Hoek, near Kalk 

 Bay, a beautiful little Klip-fish, C. venustris, is found ; it is a 

 shapely fish, apparently not exceeding 5 or 6 inches in length, 

 the upper jaw seems very protractible and there is a membranous 



