CHROMIS. FISHES. 449 



and blue ; on the middle of the body towards the back a rhomboid 

 purple spot; dorsal and anal fins linear; tail even. Inhabits Ame- 

 rican seas. Sham, iv. 221. 



N. lineata, Cuv. Head, dorsal and anal fins marked by coloured 

 streaks ; tail round. Inhabits American seas. Shaw, iv. 224. 



Gen. 33. CHIIOMIS, Cuv. 



Body oblong ; lips thick and fleshy ; mouth protractile ; teeth 

 numerous, crowded, equal in both jaws and larynx,* vertical 

 fins filamentous, those of the ventral fin often prolonged into 

 filaments ; lateral line interrupted. 



C. castaneus, (Sparus Ckromis, Lin.) Body chestnut brown, with 

 longitudinal streaks of a lighter colour ; a black spot at the base 

 of the ventral fins. Inhabits Mediterranean sea. Shaw, iv. 446. 



C. Niloticus, Cuv. (Lttbrus, Gmel.) Body whitish, with the dorsal, 

 anal, and caudal fins clouded. Inhabits the Nile. Shaw, iv. 506. 



C. saxatilis, Cuv. (Sparus, Lin. Perca, Bloch.) Head broad behind, 

 and narrow before ; body elongated, brown above, paler on the 

 sides, and whitish below ; two black spots with white borders at 

 the pectoral and caudal fins. S. American seas. Block, pi. 309. 



C. punctatus, Cuv. Head small and sloping ; body broad, thin, and 

 covered with round scales, brown above, paler below ; the sides 

 marked with nine longitudinal yellow lines and spotted with 

 brown points ; dorsal, anal, and caudal fins with black lines ; anal 

 fin with four spines. Rivers of Surinam Bloch, pi. 295, fig. 1. 



C. Surinamensis, Cuv. Body yellowish, with transverse red spots; 



three large black spots on each side; fifteen spinous rays in the 



dorsal and three in the anal fin ; tail crescent-shaped. Inhabits 



seas of South America. 'Block, pi. 277* fig- 2. 



The species with the head compressed and eyes approximated, and with very long 

 ventral fins, form the genus Pleslops of Cuvier. 



Gen. 34. SCARUS, Lin. 



Body oblong, with large scales ; jaws convex, rounded, furnish- 

 ed with teeth disposed like scales on their margin and ante- 

 rior surface ; two pharyngeal plates above and one below, 

 furnished with laminar teeth ; lips fleshy ; lateral line inter- 

 rupted ; one dorsal fin. 



Cuvier, in his Regne Animal, doubted the existence of the fish in the Mediterra- 

 nean Sea, known to the ancient Romans by the name of Scarus ; but later investiga- 

 tion has ascertained not only its existence, but that it is known by the name otScaros 

 among the modern Greeks. The fish, which M. Cuvier has procured from the coast 

 of Greece, possesses all the characters attributed to it by the ancient naturalists ; the 

 same colour, the same form, and the same delicate flesh which made it to be so much 

 prized among the epicures of Rome. This fish, it is said, was transported in the 

 reign of Claudius from the coasts of Greece to those of Tuscany by Elipertius Op- 

 tatus. 



S. rivulatus, Lin. Body bluish, spotted with black, with longitu- 

 dinal yellow undulations ; thirteen spinous rays in the dorsal fin. 

 Inhabits the Red Sea Shaw, iv. 395. 



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