DENTEX.] PISCES (OSSEI) ACANTHOPT. 357 



height, being a little longer than the last of the spinous : anal answering 

 to this soft portion : caudal moderately forked ; lobes equal ; the base of 

 the fin scaly : pectorals long and pointed, about the length of the head : 

 ventrals immediately under them; the spinous ray strong, and shorter 

 than the others: 



B. 6 ; D. 12 or 13/ 13 or 12 ; A. 3/12 ; C. 17 ; P. 16 or 17 ; V. 1/5. 



Number of vertebrae twenty-three. {Colours.) Flesh-colour, with a bright 

 golden-yellow lustre; the red tint most conspicuous from the ridge of 

 the back to the lateral line; belly very pale reddish yellow: fins flesh- 

 red : the ventrals palest : upper part of the head deep purplish flesh-red, 

 with a faint golden lunulated mark above the eyes : infra-orbitals, upper 

 and lateral portions of the snout, preopercle, and margin of the opercle, 

 bright silvery : at the commencement of the lateral line, above the pec- 

 torals, a black patch. 



Common on many parts of the southern and western coasts : off Hast- 

 ings and Weymouth in great abundance. Small specimens taken at the 

 former place in the month of September, of the length of eight inches, 

 were observed to be without the black spot on the shoulder, which is said 

 not to be acquired till during the second year. This species is probably 

 the Bream of Mr. Couch.* Its habits are similar to those of the last. 



GEN. 11. DENTEX, Cuv. 



31. D. vulgaris, Cuv. (Toothed Gilt-head.) Silvery; 

 back tinged with sky-blue : dorsal bluish yellow ; pectorals 

 and caudal reddish. 



D. vulgaris, Cuv. et Vol. Poiss. torn. vi. p. 163. pi. 153. Flem. 

 Brit. An. p. 212. Sparus Dentex, Block, Ichth. pi. 268. Don. 

 Brit. Fish. vol. iv. pi. 73. Dentex, Will. Hist. Pise. p. 312. 

 tab. V. 3. Toothed Gilt-head, Penn. Brit. Zool. (Edit. 1812.) 

 vol. in. p. 331. but not pi. 54. Four-toothed Sparus, Yarr. Brit. 

 Fish. vol. i. p. 111. Le Dente vulgaire, Cuv. Reg. An. torn. n. 

 p. 184. 



LENGTH. From two to three feet. 



DESCRIPT. (Form.) Body oval, elongated; dorsal line more convex 

 than the ventral: depth contained three times and three-quarters in 

 the length ; thickness twice and a half in the depth : head large ; its 

 length equalling the depth of the body : profile from the forehead con- 

 vex ; the snout, however, somewhat pointed : eyes moderate, high on the 

 cheeks, nearly at equal distances from the end of the snout and the point 

 of the opercle : infra-orbitals very large, occupying nearly half the cheeks ; 

 preopercle occupying nearly the other half, pitted in front, and covered 

 with small smooth scales: scales on the opercle and subopercle rather 

 larger than those on the preopercle: jaws but little protractile; in each 

 four strong hooked canine teeth, behind which are others much smaller, 

 like velvet; beyond, on the edges of the jaws, a row of strong large 

 teeth, which are short and straight : palate and tongue smooth : lateral 

 line parallel to the curve of the back ; its course at one-fourth of the 

 depth : about fifty scales in a longitudinal line, and twenty-four in the 

 depth : length of the dorsal rather more than one-third that of the body : 

 spinous rays moderate: vent nearly in the middle: anal short, com- 



* Linn. Trans, vol. xiv. p. 79. 



