2792 THE BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS 



and opercular bones are covered with imbricating scales, which are, however, want- 

 ing or but few in number on the interopercular; and the conical teeth are arranged 

 in a single row in the jaws. The spines of the dorsal fin are numerous, varying 

 from thirteen to twenty-one, and are all of approximately equal height; there are 

 three spines in the anal fin; and the lateral line is continuous. In the young, the 

 edge of the preopercular bone is serrated. These wrasses are chiefly characteristic 

 of the Mediterranean area, gradually diminishing in the more northern seas of 

 Europe, and being quite unknown in those of India. The striped wrasse exhibits 

 a remarkable sexual variation of color; the males usually having the body marked 

 with blue streaks or a blackish band, while in the females the back of the tail shows 

 two or three blackish blotches. The other British species is the Ballan wrasse (L. 

 maculatus), in which the general color is bluish green, the scales being margined 

 with reddish orange, and the fin rays also of the latter tint. Couch writes that the 

 Ballan wrasse ' ' frequents deep gullies among rocks, where it shelters itself among 

 the larger kinds of seaweeds, and feeds on crabs and other crustaceous animals. It 

 takes a bait freely, and fishermen remark that when they first fish in the place they 

 take but few, and those of large size; but on trying the same spot a few days after, 

 they catch a great number, and those smaller, from which they conclude that the 

 large fish assume the dominion of a district, and keep the younger at a distance." 

 The gold sinny ( Crenilabrus melops) is a British example of a second genus, distin- 

 guished by the serrated edge of the preopercular. Another well-known member of 

 the family is the blackfish ( Tautoga onitis) of the Atlantic coast of North America, 

 so named on account of its blackish-brown color, and the sole representative of a 

 genus characterized by the naked opercular, the rudimental scales on the cheek, 

 and the double row of teeth in the jaws. 



Since their Mediterranean representative (Scarus cretensis) was a 

 arr fish held in high estimation among the ancients, brief mention must 



be made of the parrot wrasses, of which the other species are inhab- 

 itants of the tropical parts of the Atlantic. These fishes are easily recognized by 

 their sharp beak, caused by the coalescence of the teeth; and also by the lower jaw 

 projecting in front of the upper. Of the splendidly-colored Mediterranean species 

 Dr. Gunther writes that " it was most plentiful and of the best quality in the Car- 

 pathian Sea, between Crete and Asia Minor, but was not unknown, even in early 

 times, on the Italian coasts, though Columella says it seldom passed beyond Sicily 

 in his day. But in the reign of Claudius, according to Pliny, Optalus Elipentius 

 brought it from the Troad, and introduced it into the sea between Ostium and Cam- 

 pania. For five years all that were caught in the nets were thrown into the sea 

 again, and from that time it was an abundant fish in that locality. In the time 

 of Pliny it was considered to be the first of fishes; and the expense incurred by 

 Elipentius was justified, in the opinion of the Roman gourmands, by the ex- 

 treme delicacy of the flesh." This fish feeds on seaweed; and the mastication 

 required to reduce this to a pulp probably gave rise to the old idea that it was 

 a ruminant. 



For the want of a better one, the members of the small family Ditrematidte 

 may be termed, on account of their peculiar reproductive arrangements, viviparous 



