GENERA ACERINA AND POLYPRION. 133 



arid keeping the deepest part of the water ; accord- 

 ing to Mr. Yarrell, its favourite haunts are slow 

 shaded streams, with a gravelly bottom. 



Gen. V. Polyprion. (Sp.6.) P. cernium. Couch's 

 Polyprion. (PL II.) This fish, the only ascertained 

 species of the genus, was first introduced to notice, 

 as belonging to the British Fauna, by Mr. Couch; 

 Mr. Low T e, the well-known Ichthyologist of Madeira, 

 recognized it as the P. cernium of Cuvier and Valen- 

 ciennes, and Mr. Yarrell has assigned to it the trivial 

 name of Couch's Polyprion. On the Devonshire 

 coast it is called the Stone-basse, and the Wreck- 

 fish ; it is the Chernotte and Cherne of Madeira, the 

 Jew-fish of the English residents. It is readily dis- 

 tinguished by being entirely covered, from snout 

 to tail, with small rigid scales, which are serrated 

 at the free margin ; all the opercular bones are den- 

 ticulated, and strong bony ridges run above and 

 behind the eyes. It has been long known in the 

 Mediterranean; is very common at Madeira, ex- 

 tends to the Cape of Good Hope, and, it is be- 

 lieved, to North America; nor is it very rare on 

 the southern shores of Britain. It is a very beau- 

 tiful fish, as will be seen by a reference to our 

 Plate. In the Mediterranean it acquires the size of 

 five or six feet, and weighs 100 lbs. ; in the British 

 Channel it has been caught as long as three feet. 

 It feeds on Mollusca and the smaller fishes, and 

 constitutes excellent food, its flesh being white, 

 tender, and well-flavoured. 



As implied in some of its synonymes, this fish 



