ACANTHOPTKRYGIANS. 1(55 



They are taken in the Indian Ocean, and the flesh of certain spe- 

 cies is held in the highest estimation*. 



XlRICIlTHYS, Cl/V., 



Are fishes resembling a Labrus as to form, but are much compressed; the 

 front descends suddenly towards the mouth in a trenchant and almost ver- 

 tical line, formed by the jethmoid and the ascending branches of the inter- 

 maxillaries. Their body is covered with large scales ; the lateral line is 

 interrupted; the jaws are armed with a range of conical teeth, the central 

 ones longest; the pharynx is paved M'ith hemispherical teeth; the intes- 

 tinal canal is continuous with two flexures without caeca; no cul-de-sac to 

 the stomach; a tolerably long natatory bladder. Until we arranged them 

 otherwise, they were always placed by naturalists among the Coryphisna-, 

 from which they greatly differ, both internally and externally. They ap- 

 proximate most to Labrus, only differing in the profile of the headi". TJio 

 greater number have a naked head. Such is 



X. novaeula; Coryflicsna novacula, L. ; Rondel. 146; Salv. 117. 



(The Razor Fish of the Mediterranean). Red, variously striped 



with blue. The flesh is esteemed J. 

 Some of them have a scaly cheek §, and others are distinguished by 

 small scales [1. 



ClIROMIS^, CuV:, 



Have the lips, protractile intermaxillaries, pharyngeal bones, dorsal fila- 

 ments, and port, of a Labrus ; but the teeth of the pharynx and jaws re- 

 semble those of a card, and there is a range of conical ones in front. The 

 vertical fins are filamentous, those of the belly being even frequently ex- 

 tended into long threads; the lateral line is interrupted; the stomach 

 forms a cul-de-sac, but has no caeca. 



C. vulgaris ; Spams chromis., L. ; Petit Castagneau, Rondel. 152. 

 (The Common or Black Coracinus of the antients). A small clies- 

 nut-brown fish, taken by thousands in the Mediterranean. 



C. nilotieus ; Lab. niloticus, the Bolti, Hasselq. 316; Sonuiui, 



pi. Iv, f. 2; — G. coeruleus, Lacep. Ill, pi. v, f. 1, or Acarauna loiigirostris, Sevastianof, 

 Nov. Act. Petrop. xiii, t. XI; — G. variegatus, Lacep. lb. f. 2. 



Gomphosus, from the Greek gomphos , a wedge. 



* Renard, Poissons de la mer des Indes, part II, pi. xii, f. 109. Commerson, 

 however, says that the cceruleiis is but indifferent food. 



f The sharp edge of the head of the Coryphsense is owing to the interparietiil 

 crest; their scales are small and soft; their caeca numerous. See Mem. du Mus. II, 

 324. 



X The Coryph. lineolala, Rafin., Caratt. 33, does not differ from the novacula; but 

 the Novacula coryphcena, of Risso, is nothing more than the Centrolophus. The 

 Coryph. ccerulea, Bl. 17G, is a Scarus. — Add, Cvr. psittacus, L., and some new species. 



§ Coryphcena pcniadaclyla, Bl. 173, or Blcnniiis mncul/s, 5, &c. Ankarstrom, 

 Stockh. Mem. pi. iii, f. 2. Linnaeus has confounded it with the five-toed fish of 

 Nieuhof, Willoughb. App. pi. viii, f. 2, which is a mere Pilot-fish, thereby inducing 

 M. de Lacepede to make his genus Hemipieronotus of it, whose characters by no 

 means correspond to this Xirichthys. 



II Rason Vecluse, Quoy and Gaym. Voy. Freycin. Zool. pi. Ixv, f. 1. 



^ Chromis, Chretnis, Chreme, Greek names of an unascertained fish. 



