338 PISCES (OSSEI) ACANTHOPT [MULLUS. 



Number of vertebrae twenty-four. (Colours.) General colour of the back 

 and sides vermilion-red, with three longitudinal lines of golden yellow : 

 throat, breast, belly, and beneath the tail, white, tinged with rose-colour r 

 fins pale red, inclining in some places to yellow. When the scales are 

 rubbed off, the skin appears crimson. 



Met with principally on the southern coast. Mr. Couch states that 

 it * is a migratory fish, and usually reaches the Cornish shores about 

 Midsummer. Its common habit is to keep close to the ground, but the 

 migration is performed near the surface." Has no air-bladder. Food, 

 according to Bloch, Crustacea, small fish, and shelled mollusca. Spawns, 

 in Spring. 



9. M. barbatus, Linn. (Red Surmullet.) Plain red ; 

 the sides without any longitudinal yellow lines : profile 

 nearly vertical. 



M. barbatus, Linn. Syst. Nat. torn. i. p. 495. Block, Ichth. pi. 348. 

 f. 2. Mullus, Will. Hist. Pise. p. 285. tab. S. 7. f. 2. Red Sur- 

 mullet, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. in. p. 271. Id. (Edit. 1812.) vol. IIL 

 p. 365. Plain Red Mullet, Yarr. Brit. Pish. vol. i. p. 32. Vrai 

 Rouget, ou Rouget-Barbet, Cuv. et Vol. Poiss. torn. in. p. 325. 

 pi. 70. 



LENGTH. Rarely exceeds six inches. 



DESCRIPT. (Form.) Readily distinguished from the last species by 

 the form of the head, the fall of the profile approaching more nearly 

 to vertical : the pores of the infra-orbitals are also larger and more nume- 

 rous ; the scales narrower, with fewer indentations on their basal margin, 

 and with the striae more strongly marked. In other respects the two 

 species are similar. (Colours.) Of a deeper red, and of a more uniform 

 colour than the M. Surmuletus, without any longitudinal yellow lines* : 

 beneath the body silvery : fins yellow. Cuv. 



This species, which resides principally in the Mediterranean, appears 

 to be extremely rare in the British seas. Pennant mentions having 

 heard of its being taken on the coast of Scotland. More recently two 

 specimens have been obtained by Mr. Couch on the coast of Cornwall. 

 There is no other recorded instance in which it has been noticed. Habits 

 said to resemble those of the M. Surmuletus. 



GEN. 4. TRIGLA, Cuv. 

 Body marked withjtne transverse thread-like ridges. 



10. T. Piniy Bl. (Pine-leaved Gurnard.) Transverse 

 lines not reaching below the middle of the sides : lateral 

 line smooth : profile oblique. 



According to Mr. Couch, there is one yellow line, a little below the lateral line, 



