GEN. CANTHARUS. THE BLACK BREAM. 181 



and mangle them dreadfully. Being a swift swim- 

 mer, it finds abundant prey, and soon attains a con- 

 siderable size. 



Gen. XX. CANTHARUS. This genus is charac- 

 terised by the teeth being card- like and close set, 

 those of the anterior row being a trifle larger than 

 the others ; their dorsal and anal rays are somewhat 

 more numerous; the mouth is but slightly cleft, 

 and not protractile. The species belonging to it 

 frequent muddy coasts, are voracious, and take the 

 hook greedily. Four species are known as Euro- 

 pean, a great number inhabit tropical seas, whilst 

 the American seem to have none. One species is 

 British. 



(Sp. 41.) C.grlseus. (PI. X.) The Black Bream 

 appears especially to inhabit the British Channel, 

 Cuvier and Valenciennes intimating they have never 

 procured a specimen from the Mediterranean. It was 

 first described by Colonel Montague, in 1815, under 

 the name of Scarus lineatus, having been noticed 

 on the coast of Devonshire, where it is by no means 

 uncommon. Duhamel had previously figured it, 

 and it is minutely described in the sixth volume of 

 L'Histoire Nat. des Poissons. The colour of the 

 body is bluish grey, shaded with longitudinal bands, 

 alternately dark and light; the dorsal fin is pale 

 brown, the others of a dusky red colour. Its com- 

 mon size is about fifteen inches, although M. F. 

 Cuvier presented one to the Paris Museum which 

 reached to twenty inches. Mr. Couch remarks, 

 that it takes the baits common for other fish, but 



