!52 



industrious ami attentive Nidiralists of the present f!:iy have 

 been more tortiinale than their predecessors in obtaining a 

 knowledge of this species. Risso makes no mention of it in 

 hi'^ Ic-hlhyolo<^ie de Nice ; and Cuvier is equally ignorant of 

 it, for his Pagius Orphus is a very diflTerent fish, and he sup- 

 poses the Orphe of Rondeleiius, to which I have referred the 

 fi>h now described, to be no other than our common Sea 

 Bream : the Pagellns centrodontus of his own work, Tlie 

 Dorade Orphe of Risso is pronounced by Cuvier to be his 

 own Pagellus Orphus. We see that it is represented by 

 Rondeletiiis as solitary and rare, and by Oppian as only 

 locally common; while even Pliny's remark, that it had only 

 been described by Ovid, thoiigli erroneous in itself, yet leads 

 to the inference that according to his information it was not 

 often caught : these are ciicumstances which, taken together, 

 will assist us in understanding tiie reasons of the doubts 

 which have liitherto hung over this species. 



The specimen above retwrred to is deposited in the national 

 collection in the British Museum. 



SHORT SEx\ BREAM. Pagellus curlus. C. Zoologist, 

 vol. 2, p. 393. 



On the second of September 1813, a fisherman took with 

 one of his ordinary baits a Sea Bream, which lie presently 

 discerned to have never bt^fore fallen under his notice ; and 

 in consequence it was transferred to my possession as soon 

 as he rcacheci the land, which was before suilicient time had 

 elapsed to allow it to undergo any change. Its length was 

 one foot two inches, the greatest depth nine inches and a 

 half, and, in proportion to the kindred species, it was of 

 considerable tluckncss. The under jaw was slightly the 

 longest, the teeth in front and forward on the sides slight, 

 conical, and soniewhat scattered ; gape moderate. Eye very 

 large, being one inch and three eighths across; nostrils in a 

 depression before the eyes, in this respect and in the checks 

 for the most part resembling the common Sea Bream, 

 (Pagellus centrodontus ) but sliglilly did'ering in the mark- 

 ings of the head. The body thick and plump; scales on 

 the cheeks and body large, those on the hinder part of the 

 body, especially above the lateral line, having well marked 

 feslouued edges ; those on the anterior part less regularly 

 so. Lateral line at lirst mounting, arched, sinking opposite 

 the endiiig of the dorsal and anul fins, waved in its course, 

 and mounting again as it approaches the caudal lin ; at its 

 origin a large black spot. Pectoral fins very long, reaching 

 to within a short distance of the termination of the anal fin, 

 being in length four inches and three quarters, and passing 

 two inches beyond the vent. Comuicnccmcut of the dorsal 



