FOUR-HORNED ASPIDOPHORUS. 151 



These facts naturally lead to the expectation, which 

 experience verifies, that the fishes of intertropical 

 seas, on which a more intense light falls, should 

 exhibit more vivid colours. Not a few of our fishes, 

 even in northern regions, exhibit very bright tints, 

 as the gilt-head (Sparus auratus), the common 

 salmon (Salmo salar)^ the mackerel (Scomber 

 scomber); but for the most vivid colours we must 

 look to more genial climates. The golden-carp 

 (Cyprinus auratus), so much prized, is thought 

 to be a native of China, where it is kept in porce- 

 lain vessels in the houses of the rich for ornament. 



The genus Coryphena^ which contains numerous 

 species, is distinguished by the beauty and varying 

 p.!ay of its colours. The 



