494 THE WRASSES. 



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

 quantity of Lochla (Osnierus arclimx) in 1820, by M. Brodt- 

 korb, near Vardb'ehuus in Finmark, and forwarded from 

 thence to the Bergen Museum. But ;i* tishes of the 

 genus 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 Suri/n.^niii, 

 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 not him; 

 but a stray example of Antcnnarius Murmorattas, indi- 

 genous to tropical seas. 



We now come to the genus Ldbnis, 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 those 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 Wri^se ( />V;y/-//////, Sw. and Nor\\.; 



iiiiin.- yi/ff-i. :md 111.- \..i-w.-L.'i:in -Ji/'l''. :ir.' drrixr.l from 

 word </"'/, i. '' I'o.-ir; :md tin- Norxx r^mn ti>hrniirii ;nv .-n|>]>"-> il fust 



