358 PISCES (OSSEI) ACANTHOPT. [CANTHARUS. 



mencing a little behind it; first spinous ray in this fin shorter than 

 the second; second shorter than the third; this last equal to the soft 

 rays : caudal forked ; upper lobe a little the longest : pectorals long and 

 narrow : ventrals triangular, placed a little behind them : 



B. 6; D. 11/11; A. 3/7; C. 17; P. 14; V. 1/5. 



Number of vertebrae twenty-four. Cuv. 



An individual of this species, taken off" the coast of Hastings in Sussex, 

 was obtained by Donovan in the Billingsgate market, April 9, 1805, 

 There is no other recorded instance of its having occurred in the Bri- 

 tish seas. Not uncommon in the Mediterranean, where it attains a 

 weight of twenty pounds and upwards. 



GEN. 12. CANTHARUS, Cuv. 



32. C. griseus, Cuv. (Black Sea Bream.) Silvery 

 gray, with bluish reflections; on each flank twenty-four 

 dark longitudinal lines. 



C. griseus, Cuv. et Vol. Pom. torn. vi. p. 249. Sparus lineatus, 



Mont, in Wern. Mem. vol. 11. p. 451. pi. 23. Pagrus lineatus, 



Flem. Brit. An. p. 211. Black Bream, Yarr. Brit. Fish. vol. i. 

 p. 114. 



LENGTH. Fifteen to eighteen, rarely twenty, inches. 



DESCRIPT. (Form.) Deeper in proportion to its length than the 

 Sparus centrodontus ; the back more arched ; the dorsal line falling more 

 abruptly : length of the head, and depth at the nape, equal, each con- 

 tained about four times and a half in the total length : jaws equal : teeth 

 card-like, somewhat crowded in front, in several rows, the outer row long- 

 est; no molars, but on each side of the jaws above and below, one single 

 row of small card-like teeth: eyes moderate, their diameter contained 

 four tunes and a half in the length of the head ; the space between them 

 a little convex : infraorbital broad, and deeply notched on that part of the 

 margin which answers to the extremity of the maxillary : scales on the 

 cheeks in six rows : lateral line broad and strongly marked ; its course 

 parallel to the curvature of the back at one-third of the depth : dorsal 

 commencing in a line with the pectorals ; the spinous portion of the fin 

 twice the length of the soft ; fourth ray longest, exactly equalling the 

 depth to the lateral line ; succeeding rays nearly of the same length : 

 caudal much forked; the upper lobe a little the longest: anal com- 

 mencing nearly in a line with the soft portion of the dorsal, and ter- 

 minating at the same distance from the caudal; spinous rays stronger 

 than those of the dorsal, shorter than the soft ones ; these last branched, 

 the last two springing from one root: pectorals reaching to the vent, 

 one-fourth of the whole length, narrow and pointed ; fifth ray longest : 

 ventrals a little behind the pectorals ; in the axilla of each a long narrow 

 pointed scale, and on the belly between the two, another similar but 

 broader scale, of a triangular form, not present in the Sparus cen- 

 trodontus : 



B. 5; D. 12/11; A. 3/11 ; C. 17; P. 16; V. 1/5. 



Number of vertebrsa twenty -two. (Colours.) Lead-gray, with a very 

 faint tinge of golden yellow ; becoming paler on the belly : sides marked 

 with twenty-four or twenty-five longitudinal lines, darker than the 

 ground colour, but narrower and less conspicuous than the lateral line, 



