494 THE WRASSES. 



dinavian coast. This was taken in a hoop-net amongst a 

 quantity oi Loclda {Osmerus arcticus) in 1826, hy M. Broclt- 

 korb, near Vardoehuus in Finmark, and forwarded from 

 thence to the Bergen Museum. But as iishes of the 

 geuus to which this one belongs are generally supposed to 

 confine themselves exclusively to tropical seas, where they 

 for the most part live in mid-ocean, amongst Sargassum, 

 and other large floating sea- weeds, the presumption is that 

 the specimen in question had been carried to the coast 

 of Norway by that branch of the Gulf Stream which 

 runs across the Atlantic towards Iceland and Norway. 

 Dr. Giinther is, indeed, of opinion that this fish is nothing 

 but a stray example of Antennarius marmoratus, indi- 

 genous to tropical seas. 



We now come to the genus Lahrus, of which that dis- 

 tinguished naturalist, Ekstrom, truly says : — " Amongst 

 the sea fishes none can compete with them in regard to 

 beauty. They are in this respect a marked exception to 

 the general rule, that the farther one proceeds to the 

 North the more uniform and dull are the colours. He 

 that rows out to fish on the western coast, and for the 

 first time sees a Wrasse recently taken out of the water, 

 may therefore readily imagine himself transported as if 

 by magic to a tropical climate, and waits with impatience 

 for the next nibble, that he may behold another of the 

 paradoxical beings that abound in these seas. But the 

 illusion is of short duration, for when the line is again 

 hauled in, instead of a fish with colours of the rainbow, 

 a codfish or a flounder is brought to the surface." 



Of this genus, the six following species are all that are 



at present acknowledged by Scandinavian ichthyologists. • 



The Ballan Wrasse {Berg-gyltu* Sw. and Norw. ; 



* The Swedish name gylta, and the Norwegian gylte, are derived fron\ 

 the word gait, i. e. hoar ; and the Norwegian fishei-meu ai'c supposed first 



