i30i' SIXTH REPORT 1836. 



cited by the noises which certain fishes havetlie power of making, 

 and some facts are stated in tlie Histoire des Poissons relating 

 to this subject in the chapters devoted to the cottoidece, scice- 

 iKjidecc, &c. Several kinds of fisli vulgarly named "grunts " in 

 America, possess this faculty in an extraordinary degree, and the 

 purpose it is intended to serve, and the manner in which the 

 sound is produced, are worthy of investigation by naturalists re- 

 siding where these fish abound*. Every mariner who has anchored 

 early in the spring on the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, 

 or Florida, must have been annoyed by a drumming noise, pro- 

 duced in the night, apparently on the bottom of the ship, and 

 loud enough to deprive a stranger of rest, until habit has ren- 

 dered the sound familiar. This noise is said to be caused by ii 

 fish of about six pounds weight beating its tail against the vessel 

 to relieve itself from the pain caused by multitudes of parasitic 

 worms which infest it at that season. 



In dinding the ocean into zoological districts to suit our 

 present knowledge of species of fish and their distribution, wc 

 have found the nine following divisions to be convenient. 

 European seas, — North American Atlantic and Arctic sea, — ■ 

 Caribbean sea and South American Atlantic, —African Atlantic, 

 — Indian Ocean, Red Sea, and Polynesian Sea, — Australian 

 seas, — Seas of China and Japan, — Sea of Kamtschatka and 

 North-west America, — Pacific coast of South America. In a 

 preceding part of the Report we stated that Mr. Swainson had 

 justly included the North of Africa in the European zoological 

 province, as far as birds were concerned, but the case is dift'erent 

 with the fish. The whole of the Mediterranean fish indeed are 

 European, but the fish of the Nile have very little resemblance 

 to those of the European rivers, while the same species often 

 occur on the coast of Senegal and in the Red Sea. The ana- 

 dromous fish of the Mississippi and its tributaries are very dif- 

 ferent from those which enter the North American rivers falling 

 into the Atlantic, in the same parallels of latitude. 



As in the preceding lists, the species whose names or history 

 are doubtful are printed in italics, as are likewise the Mexican 

 fish which do not range further northwards. 



AC ANTHOPTERYGII . 

 Fam. Pbrcoide^. 



Perca flavescens, Cuv. NnvY. — L.Huron. 

 „ seiTato-grauulata, Cuv. N. York. 

 „ grauulata, Cuv. N. York. 

 „ acuta, Cuv. L. Ontario. 



Perca gracilis, Cuv. X. Yori. 



,, Plumieri, Cuv. Bahamas. 

 Labrax liueatus, Cuv. N. York. 



„ notalus, F. B. A. St Laior. 



* Vide AuDUB. Orn. Biogr. 3, p. 199. 



