150 



from Iho fart, common indeed to species of other families 

 in nalnie, that soveral llslies hear dillercnt names in diflerent 

 places; and, still worse, in some instances tiie same name 

 is applied hy the same people to separate species : not from 

 supposinif them the same, bnt from some characters which 

 fhev possess in common, of which this name is descriptive, 

 tliotigli in other respects the species widely dilTer. Many 

 curious instances might be given in illustration of these 

 remarks, but scarcely any one has leil to a greater extent of 

 confusion than this species; which appears to have been 

 known to some ancient Naturalists, but which hitherto does 

 not seem to have fallen into the hands of any recent en- 

 quirer. 



The specimen here descri!)cd was taken November 8lh, 

 1842, with a baited hook, at a place termed the Edges, a 

 margin of rocky ground running parallel with the land at 

 the distance of three miles south of Polperro. 'I'he weight 

 ■was six pounds: the body in figure and thickness not unliko 

 that of the common Sea Bream f Pagellus ccntrodontusj 

 but rather deeper and more stoiU. Tiie head thick, the 

 muzzle remarkably so, and rounded, the line of the front 

 sloping suddenly from the forehead to the mouth ; the eyes 

 of moderate size, elevated, and near the front, iris yellow ; 

 nostrils in a slight depression, the superior large and pa- 

 tulous; jaws equal, in a line with the front, the lower with 

 a well marked chin ; the teeth in front r?.ther stout, some- 

 what separate, those of the upper and lower jaws inter- 

 locking. The scales large, and conspicuous on the posterior 

 plate of the gillcovers; the middle plate has none, and there 

 are but few vestiges on the anterior plate. Tiie head being 

 short, the back rises high above it. The latei al line very 

 dark, less curved than in the more common Sparoid fishes, 

 and scarcely continued full to the tail ; the body terminating 

 in a dt fined form at the caudal iin, with an incision opposite 

 the direction of the lateral line ; it is also somewhat con- 

 tracted at the vent. Colour of the front and summit of the 

 Lead a brownish red; of the back and lins much like that 

 of the Becker (Pagrus vulf^aris), such as would be formed 

 by a mixture of lake and vermillion ; fins the same, except 

 the anal, which is pale yellow; sides pale red, belly whitish. 

 As the colours faded, at the angles where the scales meet 

 there was a yellow margin. 



Fin rays; D. 12, 10. P. 13. V. 4. A. 38. C— 



The third ray of the pectoral fin longest, the second and 



first regularly beeomii g shorter. The remarkable shortness 



of the head, the roundness and perpendicularity of the front, 



equality of the jaws, interlocking of the teeth, and singular 



