196 



ICHTHYOLOGY. 



Acanthop- bands formed by dots of vermillion ; the pectorals yellow, 

 tervgii. gpij [i^g ventrals blue. Many likewise occur in tropical 

 v^_™*^ countries, of which we may mention Lut. verres{V>\. 255), 

 ~ 1^ Ijiii. notatus, L. virescens, and L. chrysops. 



To the characters of the Cretiilabri, the genus CoRi- 

 cus of Cuvier joins that of a mouth nearly as protractile 

 as in the Epihuli. The latter group are very remarkable 

 for this property, being capable of extending it to a great 

 length, and suddenly forming it into a kind of tube by a 

 peculiar movement of the maxillaries. They practise this 

 artifice to seize small fishes as they swim within reach of 

 this singular instrument. Several allied genera avail 

 themselves of the greater or less protractility of their 

 jaws to procure their food in a similar manner. 



The whole bod}', and the head of the Epihuli, are covered 

 with large scales, the hinder row of which encroaches even 

 on the anal and caudal fins, as likewise takes place among 

 the Cheilini. Tlie lateral line is interrupted in a similar 

 manner, and, in common with these last-named fishes, and 

 the Lahri. they have two long conical teeth in front of each 

 jaw, and behind them small blunt ones. Those of the 

 pharynx have not been observed. The Sparus insidiutor 

 of Pallas is the only species hitherto discovered. It is of 

 a reddish colour, and found in the Indian Ocean. 



Genus Clepticus. Furnished with a small cylindrical 

 muzzle, which rises suddenly like that of the Epibuli, but 

 is not so long as the head, and scarcely permits the view 

 of a few small teeth ; the body is oblong, the head obtuse, 

 the lateral line continuous, and the scales envelope the 

 dorsal and anal fins, almost as far as the summit of the 

 spines. The only ascertained species {C. geiiizara) is of 

 a reddish purple colour, and inhabits the Antilles. 



Genus Elops, Commers. Gomphosis, Lacep. Has the 

 head entirely smooth, as in Julis, but the muzzle is in the 

 form of a long and slender tube, formed by the prolonga- 

 tion of their inter-maxillaries and mandibularies, which the 

 integuments bind together as far as the small opening of 

 the mouth. Of these fishes, the Gomphosis cceruleus, and 

 G. raWe^ra^!^, Lacep., may serve as examples. They are 

 taken in the Indian seas, and many of them are said to 

 form a delicious article of food. The preceding genera, 

 from Labrus properly so called inclusive, may be all re- 

 garded as Linnaean Labri. We now come to 



Genus Xirichtiivs, Cuv. Which comprehends fishes 

 resembling the Labri in form, but they are very much 

 compressed, and the ibrehead descends suddenly towards 

 the mouth by a deep and nearly vertical line, formed by 

 the ethmoid and the ascending branches of the inter-max- 

 illaries. The body is covered with large scales ; the late- 

 ral line interrupted ; the jaws armed with a row of coni- 

 cal teeth, of which the medial ones are longest, and the 

 pharynx paved with hemispherical teeth; the intestinal 

 canal is continuous, with two convolutions, and no caeca, 

 nor is the stomach in the form of a cul-de-sac. They pos- 

 sess a pretty large air-bladder. 



Naturalists, anterior to the time of Cuvier, ranged the 

 species with the Coryphccna, from which they greatly dif- 

 fer in their structure, internal as well as external. They 

 approximate to the Labri, to which, however, they are dis- 

 similar in the profile of the head. 



Genus Chromis, Cuv. Has the lips and protractile in- 

 ter-maxillaries, the pharyngeal bones, and dorsal filaments, 

 of the Labri ; but the teeth are en carde upon the jaws and 

 pharynx, with an anterior range of a conical shape. The 

 vertical fins are filamentous, and even those of the abdo- 

 men are often prolonged into long filets, and the lateral 

 line is interrupted. The stomach is a cul-de-sac, but 

 there are no ca;ca. One small species, of a chestnut- 

 brown colour (S/)ari<« chromis). is found in immense num- 

 bers in the Mediterranean. The Nile produces another, 

 which attains the length of two feet, and is regarded as 



the best fish occurring in Egypt. It is the Labrus Nilotictts Aanihop. 

 of Hasselq.and Sonnini. The genus Cych la differs from ^erygii. 

 the preceding by having all the teeth crowded, and placed 

 in a broad band, and by the body being more elongated. 

 Plesiops, Cuv., has the head compressed, the eyes near 

 each other, and the ventrals very long. Malacanthus 

 possesses the general characters of the Labri, and the 

 maxillary teeth are also similar to theirs, but those of the 

 pharyngeals are e?i carde ; the body is lengthened, the 

 lateral line continuous, the opercle terminated by a small 

 spine, and the long dorsal has only a small number of 

 slender, flexible, anterior spines. One species is found 

 in the Antilles, of a yellowish colour, irregularly rayed 

 across with violet ; it is the Coryphena plumieri, Lacep. 

 iv. viii. 1. 



Genus Scarus, Linn. Comprehends fishes very re- 

 markable on account of the form of the jaws (that is, their 

 inter-maxillary and pre-mandibularybones), which are con- 

 vex, rounded, and garnished with teeth like scales upon 

 their edges and anterior surface ; these teeth succeed 

 each other from behind forwards, so that those of the base 

 are the newest, and in time come to form a range upon 

 the cutting edge. Naturalists have erroneously thought 

 that the jaw-bones themselves were naked or exposed. 

 These jaws are, besides, covered while the fish is alive by 

 fleshy lips, but there is no double lip adherent to the sub- 

 orbitaries. The species have the oblong form of Labrus, 

 with large scales, and the lateral line interrupted ; they 

 bear on their pharynx two plates above and one below, 

 garnished with teeth like the pharyngeal plates of the 

 Labri, but these teeth are in the form of transverse lamina;, 

 and not e» jMve. 



Cuvier is of opinion that the Scarus crelicus of Aldro- 

 vandus is the species so celebrated under the name of 

 Scarus by the ancients, and in search of which (in the 

 time of Claudius) Elipertius Optatus, the commander of 

 the Roman fleet, went to Greece, with a view to effect its 

 introduction to the Italian seas. It is still used in our 

 da3'S as an article of food in Greece. The species are nu- 

 merous in the seas of warm climates, and are vulgarly 

 known, on account of the peculiar form of the jaws, and 

 the splendour of their colours, under the name of parrot 

 fishes. 



FAMILY XV._FISTULAKID^. 



Characterised by a long tube formed in front of the cra- 

 nium, by the prolongation of the ethmoid, the vomer, the 

 pre-opercles, inter-opercles, &c. at the end of which the 

 mouth is placed, composed, as usual, of inter-maxillaries, 

 maxillaries, palatines, and mandibularies. The intestine 

 is without any considerable inequalities, or many convo- 

 lutions, and their ribs are either short or wanting. Some 

 of them (the Fistularice) have the body cylindrical, others 

 (the Centnsci) have it oval and compressed. 



Genus Fistularia, Linn. Acquires its name from 

 the long tube common to all the family. The jaws are at 

 the extremity, opening but little, and nearly in a horizon- 

 tal direction. The head, thus elongated, composes a third 

 or fourth part of the whole body, which is itself long and 

 slender. There are six or seven rays in the gills ; the 

 osseous appendages likewise extend behind the head to 

 the anterior part of the body, which they tend more or less 

 to strengthen. The dorsal corresponds to the position of 

 the anal, and the stomach, in the form of a fleshy tube, is 

 continuous with a narrow canal, w ithout folds, at the com- 

 mencement of which there are two CEeca. In Fistu- 

 laria properly so called, there is only one dorsal, which, 

 as well as the anal, is composed chiefly of simple rays ; the 

 inter-maxillaries and lower jaw are armed with small teeth ; 



