120 PISHES. 



The CHii:ToooNS, jiroperly so called, 



Have the body more or less elliptical ; the spinous and soft rays continuing 

 in a pretty uniform curve ; the snout projecting more or less, and some- 

 times a very small indentation in the preoperculum. They have a mutual 

 resemblance in some respects, as in the distribution of colours, and most 

 of them, for instance, are marked with a vertical black band, in which is 

 placed the eye. 



In some there are several other vertical bands parallel to the former*, 

 hi others they are oblique or longitudinal f. 



The flanks of some are sprinkled with brown spots];. 



Others again are merely marked with lines of reflections in various di- 

 rections; in this it is merely the ocular band§; and in that, in addition, 

 are ribands on the vertical fins||. 



One or two ocellated spots are observed in some^. 



Some of these Chastodons, properly so styled, are distinguished from 

 the others by a fllament formed by the prolongation of one, or several of 

 the soft rays of the dorsal**. 



Finally, some are remarkable for the very small number of the spines 

 of their dorsals ff (a). 



Chelmon, Cuv. 



Separated from Chsetodon on account of the extraordinary form of the 

 snout, which is long and slender, only open at the extremity, and formed 

 by a most excessive prolongation of the intermaxillary and lower jaw. 

 Their teeth are very fine, and dense as the pile on velvet, rather than like 

 hairs. 



One species, Chcet. rostratus, L., Bl. 202, has the faculty of 

 spurting drops of water on the insects it perceives on the shore, and 



« Chat, striatus, L., Bl. 205, f. \;—Ch. octofasciatus, Gm., Bl. 215;— H. collare, 

 Bl. 216. 



f ChiZt. Meyeri, BL, Schn., improperly called Holocanthe jaiine et noir by Lacep. 

 IV, xiii, 2. 



X Chat, miliarjs, Cuv. Zool. Voy. Freycin., pi. 62, f. 5. 



§ Chat. Klrinii, Bl. 218, 2;—Ch. Seba, Cuv., Seb. Ill, xxvi, 36. 



II Chat, vitlalns, BL, Schn., Seb. Ill, xxix, lS;—Ch.vagabimdus, BL 204;— C/(. de- 

 aissatus, Cuv., Russ. 83; and Klein, Misc. IV, ix, 2; — Ch. bifascialis, Cuv., Voy. de 

 Freycin., pi. 62, f. 5; — Ch. striganguhis, Gm.; — Ch. baronessa, Cuv., Renard, I, xliii, 

 218; — Ch.frontalis, Cuv.. or Pomacentre croissant, Lacep.; — Ch. Jasciatus, Forsk., or 

 Ch.ftavus^ Bl., Schn., No. 37. 



^ Ch. tiesogallicus, Cuv., Ren. I, v, 37; and Will. App. V, 4; — Ch. capistratus, L., 

 Seb. Ill, XXV, 16, Mus. ad Fred. XXXIII, 4;— Klein. Misc. IV, xi, 5\—Ch. bimacu- 

 lafus, Bl. 219, 1; — Ch. plebeius, Gm.; — Ch. unimactilatus, Bl. 201, 1; — Ch. sebanus, 

 Cuv., Seb. Ill, XXV, 11;— CA. ocellatus, Bl. 211, 2. 



•* Chat, selifer, Bl. 426, 1; — Ch. auriga, Forsk.; — Ch. principalis, Cuv. Ren., part 

 II, Ivi. 231), Valent., No. 407. 



f f These species are new, as well as many others which belong to preceding sub- 

 divisions — they will be described in our Icthyology. 



KgF (a) Freycinet relates, in his Voyage round the World, that in wading through 

 the coral reefs at the island of Guam, in search of Mollusca, he was assailed by a very 

 small Chsetodon, not bigger than his hand: the animal butted the hand, and obsti- 

 nately resisted eveiy attempt to drive it away. The Naturalists, from this circum- 

 stance, gave it the name of Ch. bellicosus. — Eng. Ed. 



