266 



ICHTHYOLOGY. 



Olassifica- accounts of this fish shooting drops of water at its insect 

 tion— Pha- prey, like the Chelmons, does not appear to be based on cor- 

 ryngo- ^g^t observation. Scarus was the name given by Forskal 

 gnaths. jij ^ group of fishes resembling the Labri in all tlieir cha- 

 ^— "''"^ racters except in dentition, their teeth being incorporated 

 with the substance of their jaws to form convex bones like 

 those of the Tetraodons. 'I'he researches of Cuvier prove 

 fully that the fish so named by the ancients was truly of 

 this genus. It was held in high repute either for the ad- 

 dress attributed to it of skilfully withdrawing other fishes 

 from tlie nets in which they were inclosed, or because 

 the epicures greatly esteemed its intestines, or on account 

 of the vast expense incurred in endeavouring to multiply 

 it on the Italian coasts, that it might administer to the 

 extravagant luxury of the world's capital. Aristotle has 

 several passages respecting its rumination. His assertions 

 have been repeated by Pliny, /Elian, and others, without 

 examination ; and Ovid and Oppian have spoken of it as 

 a matter beyond doubt, yet no one has verified the obser- 

 vation of Aristotle. It passed also among the ancients as 

 a fish that had a voice ; and Suidas says that it produced 

 sounds by ejecting water in blowing, and that it could not 

 make itself heard when it was deep in the water. Athe- 

 naeus, quoting Seleucus as his authority, states that the 

 Scarus is the only fish that sleeps and is never taken in 

 the night. iElian says that it is the most anient in love of 

 all fishes, and that many males may be enticed into the 

 nets by tlie pursuit of a female attached to a line. But 

 still it was the most prudent of fishes, and the most active 

 in showing friendship for its companions. If one was caught 

 by a hook, the others endeavoured to cut the line ; or if en- 

 trapped in the meshes of a net, they tried to drag it out by 

 the tail ! 



" Sic et Scarus arte sub undis, 

 Contextam si forte levi de vimine nassam, 

 Incidit, assumtamque dolo tandem pavet escam. 

 Non audet radiis obnixa occurere fronte, 

 Aversus crebro veniens sed verbere caudae, 

 Laxans subsequetur, tutumque evadit in a;quor." 



OVID. 



It was most plentiful and of the best quality in the Car- 

 pathian Sea, between Crete and Asia Minor, but was not 

 unknown even in early times on the Italian coast, though 

 Columella says that it seldom passed beyond Sicily in his 

 day. But in the reign of Claudius, according to Pliny, 

 Optatus Elipertius brought it from the Troad, and intro- 

 duced it into the sea between Ostium and Campagna. For 

 five years all tjiat were caught in tlie nets were thrown into 

 the sea again, and from that time it was an abundant fisli in 

 that locality. In the time of Pliny it was considered to be 

 the first of fislies (A ««c Scaro daliir principrifus) ; and the 

 expense incurred by Elipertius was justified, in the opinion 

 of the Roman gourmands, by the extreme delicacy of the fish. 

 It was a fish, said the poets, whose very excrements the 

 gods themselves were unwilling to reject. Its flesh was 

 tender, agreeable, sweet, easy of digestion, and quickly as- 

 similated ; yet, if it hajipened to have eaten an A])lysia, it 

 produced cholera morbus. In short, there is no fish of 

 which so much lias been said by ancient writers. In the 

 present day the Scarxs of the Archipelago is considered to 

 be a fish of exquisite flavour; and the Greeks still name it 

 Scaro, and eat it with a sauce made of its liver and uites- 

 tines. It feeds on fucus ; and M. Valenciennes thinks that 

 the necessity for masticating its vegetable diet thoroughly, 

 and the working of it with that intent backwards and for- 

 wards in the mouth, may have given rise to the notion of 

 its being a nmiinant ; and it is certain that its aliment is 

 very finely divided when it reaches the stomach. The 

 adjoining woodcut represents Calli/odon chlorolepis, a fish 

 of the Australian seas, and number 56, gives views of the 

 teeth of the same species. Woodcut 86 is a representation 



of Odax lineatus ; and figures 25, 38, and 39, are views of Classifica- 

 tion — Pha- 

 rjDgo- 

 gnaths. 



Fig. 87. 

 Calli/odon chlorolepis, 



Labroid scales. The family of Ambiofocidce was constituted 

 by Agassiz for the reception of a single genus of fishes that 

 frequent the western coasts of North America. 



Family III.— CYCLO-LABRID^, Miill. 



Oval, elliptical, or oblong scaly fishes, more or less compressed, 

 generally with a proportionally high parallel-sided tail between the 

 vertical fins. Scales cycloid. A single dorsal supported in front 

 by spinous raj's, which have frequently membranous processes 

 behind their points. Jaws covered by fleshy lips; palate smooth, 

 toothless. Three pharyngeal bones, viz., two above and one below, 

 armed with teeth, which are in some species pavement-like, in 

 others lamellated, and in others pointed. No pancreatic caeca ; a 

 closed, simple air-bladder; shut ovisacs, with an efferent tube 

 behind the anus. 



ANALYTICAL TABLE OP THE CYCLO-LABBIDjE (Dam.) 



Cheeks scaly ; preoperculum crenulated. 

 Dorsal scaly at the base. 



Mouth protactile ; teeth even Clepticus 7. 



Mouth not protractile; teeth unequal ....CossvPHUS 2. 



Dorsal not scaly. 

 Mouth protractile. 



Dorsal ivith short soft rays. 



Scales very large Epibulcs 21. 



Scales of ordinary size COKICUS 6. 



Dorsal ivith long filaments Lachnolaimus 8. 



Mouth not protractile. 



Teeth equal to one another Crenil.\BRUS 3. 



Teeth unequal. 



Dorsal scaly AcANTHOLABRUS 5. 



Dorsal not scaly Ctenolabrus 4. 



Cheeks scaly ; preoperculum not crenulated. 

 Dorsal very hng. 



Scales very large ; teeth uniserial Cheilinus 18. 



Scales of ordinary size. 



Sitboperculum denticulated Malapterus 12. 



Sulopemihtm very entire Malacanthus 10. 



Dorsal of ordinary length ; rays taaselled Labrcs 1. 



Cheeks scaleless. 



Snout abnormal. liJce a beak GoMPHOStJS 15. 



Teeth unequal, reclining, diverging Anampses 14. 



Teeth equally curved Cheilio 11. 



Snout ordinary, pointed. 



Preorbitar denticulated Tactoga 9. 



Preorbitar smooth-edged JcLIS 13. 



Snout ordinary, smooth and blunt. 



Profile curved, convex Xyrichthys 16. 



Profile descending, trenchant Novacula 17. 



Gf.ncs I. Labrus, Linn., Artedi. Lips large, thick, and as if 

 double. Six branchiostegals. Upper jaw generally considerably 

 protractile ; teeth on the jaws simple, conical in one or more rows. 

 Pharyngeals cylindrical, smooth, and rounded on the crowns. No 

 spines on the opercular bones. Lateral line almost straight, con- 

 tinuous. Cheek and operculum scaly. Thirty species. 



Genus 11. Cossvphus, Cuv. and Valenc. Maxillaries wide and 

 thick. Behind the exterior row of pointed teeth, small, round, granular 

 tetth. crowded together. Opercular pieces scaly. Vertical fins sheathed 

 in scales which rise and fall with the rays, but do not form so deep 

 a sheath as those of the Percoids or Sparoids. Almost all have dis- 

 tinct crenatures on the ascending border of the preoperculum, but 

 in some these appear at the angle of the bone only, and are very 

 feeble. Fifteen species. 



