FISHES. 503 



American skipper. But this, as Nilsson observes, is scarcely 

 probable, for the specimen, when [he described it, was so 

 fresh that the natural colours remained. Moreover, in the 

 stomach, which he preserved in spirits, were found remains 

 of cancer depurator and buccinum reticulatum, both of which 

 are common off Kullen, where this fish was taken. 



This fish, as Nilsson observes, stands very near to, if it 

 is not identical with, the Gadus Tan., Bloch 57. 



Gen. Chironectes, Cuv. 



Small fish, principally confined to the warmer seas. 

 Head and body both compressed ; skin naked, full of round 

 slimy openings ; three spinous rays above the head ; dorsal 

 supported by soft rays. 



60. CHIEONECTES ARCTICUS, Dub. and Kor. 



The only specimen of this fish that has been met with 

 in the Scandinavian seas was taken off Vardoehus, near 

 the North Cape, in 1826. Most probably, like the other 

 tropical fish which are taken in the northern seas, it had 

 been carried on to these shores by the agency of the 

 Gulf Stream. It was 1-Z- in. long, % in. high. D. 12 ; 

 P. 10; V. 5; A. 7; C. 10. Colour grey-brown, 

 marbled ; eye bright yellow. 



Fam. 11. LABEID^E, Cuv. 



Body oblong, scaly ; one long dorsal ; the spines invested 

 in a membrane; lips fleshy and projecting; tail broad, 

 rounded on the margin. 



"These fishes/' as Wood so truly and prettily observes, in 

 his "Illustrated Natural History," " 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 patterns 

 of cathedral windows, and often arranged with a symmetri- 

 cal regularity of outline and a daring harmony of contrast- 

 ing colours. Even on our own coasts the labridce are most 



