TIII-: run -K /:/,-/:/> * \vi.\K-Fisir 



marine r--.-iimv- tli:it -warm aUnii sudi localities. In Madeira it is called Cm i:\ \, 

 ln-n full grown, and ( 'M i liNi'ii i \\ In -ii \ .11 ing. 



Ilurnat 'If laden timU'i -e.-m- t<i li:iv< great attraction!! for the Stone Baas, and it ia 



riifiili..M- .1 l.\ Mi Vm.'ll tin! ., i- . .i.n,. ! ..". I was -n i n .nii.l--d f..r:i f. .1 1 ni.-lit with tli.-,- 



li-li. pi..l-a!'i\ <>ii account i.f ili.- trailing barnacles with which her ]>lnnking was covered. 

 Their pi-e-.-nce ua- nio-t valuable, a- tl raught in great numlters, and the men fed 



almoM wholly ii|ni them for I welve or fourteen days. 



Fnun examination of the >toma<-h. the Stone Baas seems to f.-.-. I m..-il\ mi -mall li-h of 

 \arioiis kind-, -ardine- having INH-H found in it.s interior in large quantities. Mollusk- also 

 form part of its fmd. It live.- mostly in the <!. -\T water-, preferring a rocky Ixittom, and 

 generally remaining deeply immersed, unless attracted to the Hurface by the presence of its 

 food. 



U'hen following floating timbers, it is a remarkably bold fish. Mr. Couch remarks thus 

 upon its habita: " When a piece of timber, covered with burnacles, is brought by the current* 

 from tin- more southern regions which these tishes inhabit, considerable numbers of them 

 sometime* accompany it. In the alacrity of their exertions. tlie\ JLSS over the wreck in pur- 

 suit of each other, and sometimes fur a short space an- left dry on the top, until a succeeding 

 \\a\-- U-ai^ ill- -in '!! :i_ain. I'l.'in the . in Illlistalice .'f lli-'ir l--in- u-il.-ill\ I'iiiind li'-:ir ll-irililii: 



wood covered with baniacles, it might In- .siipi>os4>d that this shell-fish forms their food; but 

 this does not appear to be the case, since, in many that were opened, nothing was found but 

 small fishes. Perhaps the young fishes follow the floating wood for the sake of the insecte 

 that accompany it, and thus draw the Stone Mass after them." 



The color of the Stone Bass is dark purple-brown above, and silvery-white below. The 

 tin membranes are brown, and the tail is tip|ed with white. When young, it is mottled with 

 darker and lighter brown. The lower jaw is larger than the upier, and over the operculum 

 runs horizontally a bold, bony ridge, ending in a sharp point directed backwards. There is 

 also a row of short, sharp spines over the eye, and the first ray of the vent nil fins and the first 

 three rays of the anal fin are furnished with strung, thorny spines, so that the fish is armed at 

 all points, and when struggling violently is likely to inflict rather severe wounds on the hand 

 that grasps it incautiously. 



THE great and important family of the Labridje, or Lip-fishes, so called in allusion to the 

 thick and fleshy lip with which their mouths are furnished, are spread over the greater i>ortion 

 of the globe, few coasts being without several representatives of the group. 



These fishes are not only remarkable for the full fleshiness of their evidently sensitive lips, 

 but for the endless variety of rich and vivid tints with which their bodies are decorated ; hues 

 pure as the bright pattern- of cathedral windows, and often arranged with a symmetrical 

 regularity of outline and a daring harmony of contrasting colors that, when seen on the healthy 

 and living fish, appear as if flung on its scales direct from the kaleidoscope. Of the three 

 primary colors, red seems to retain its purity of tone more perfectly than either the blue or 

 the yellow, the former usually beini: mingled with yellow, and forming greens of varying 

 qualities, while the latter frequently takes a slight tinge of red. and Itecomes warm orange. 

 These tints are extremely variable, ranging through every tone of the secondary colors, and 

 even in different individuals of the same species the color is so uncertain that no dependence 

 can be placed upon it as a means of determining the particular species. 



The Lnbridie are most lovely creatures, but it is in the tropical and wanner seas of the 

 world that they are to be seen in their full brilliancy. No artist can transfer to paper the 

 radiant hues that glow on these favored members of the finny race, and no |>en can do justice 

 t<> their \\ondrous splendor, as they dart through the crystalline water like living meteors, or 

 lei-urely tra verse the forests of moving alga?, balancing themselves among the submarine foliage 

 like humming-birds of the sea. 



THE CHECKERED SWINE-FISH is one of the singular species which are so frequent in the 

 hotter seas, and which exhibit a surface at once colored with the brightest hues, and decorated 



