308 ACANTHOPT. FAMILY OF WRASSES. 



hibits many varieties, which some Zoologists have 

 attempted to distinguish as so many species. They 

 are the ornament, he remarks, of the markets on 

 the coast ; for their various colours do not yield in 

 their brilliancy and beauty to the most lovely fishes 

 of tropical seas. Our author then supplies a minute 

 description of that variety which was the type of 

 the Julis of Artedi. Its body was elongated, the 

 interval between the eyes prominent, the margin of 

 the pre-opercle descending vertically : the mouth is 

 not widely cleft, and but little protractile : the teeth 

 are simple, and conical in the external row, the 

 four anterior being long and curved, like true canines, 

 the others are shorter, and those of the two jaws are 

 very much alike, there being additional teeth further 

 back. The dorsal fin commences at the termination 

 of the first-fourth of the total length of the fish, and 

 extends to the half of that of the body ; its rays are 

 fine and flexible, the first being larger than the 

 second, and the second than the third. The anal 

 commences beneath the first soft ray of the dorsal, 

 and its three spines are not strong. The caudal 

 terminates blunt and nearly straight. The ray for- 

 mulary is as under. : — 



B. 6— D. 9/12— A. 3/12— C. 14— P. 13— V. 1/5. 



The scales are small, and about twenty-four may 

 be counted between the gill-cover and the tail. 

 The lateral line first mounts upwards, then forms 

 a straight line parallel to the back, and afterwards 

 suddenly bends down to the level of the middle of 



