FAMILY SPARIDiE — SARGCS. 8i 



Length, 13-0. Depth, 5-0. 



Fin rays, D. 12.15; P. 17; V. 1.5; A. 3.11; C. 17. 



This is a rare species in our waters. According to Dr. Mitchill, they are sometimes found 

 weighing four or five pounds. It is sometimes called Black Grunts. Among the drawings 

 of Dr. Holbrook is the figure of a Lohotes, which appears to differ from the above in the fol- 

 lowing particulars : It is of a general inky blackness, with a yellow suffusion along the back, 

 and at the base of the caudal and anal fins ; the first dorsal ray is half the length of the 

 second, and the tenth nearly equal to the first. It may possibly prove to be a new species. 



The Black Triple-tail occurs from the coast of Brazil, and through the tropical seas, to 

 New- York, which forms the limit of its most northerly range. 



FAMILY V. SPARID^. 



No spines nor denticulations on the opercular hones. No teeth in the palate. Mouth not 

 protractile. Scales large. 



Obs. This family was founded on many of the characters assigned by Artedi to his genus 

 Sparus. It is divided into thirteen genera, comprising about one hundred and seventy species. 

 On the coast of New- York, we have as yet but three representatives of this family. 



GENUS SARGUS. Klein, Cuvier. 



Cheeks scaly. With cutting incisors. Large rounded teeth ; molars in several rows. Bran- 

 chial rays five. 



THE SHEEPSHEAD. 



Sarohs oyis. 



PLA.TE Vni. FIG. 23. 



Sparus, Sheepthead at New-York. ScHCEPFF, Description of N. A. Fishes, Vol.8, p. 152. 

 Sparus ovis, Sheepshead. MiTCH. Tr. Lit. and Phil. Soc. Vol. 1, p. 392, pi. 2, fig. 14. 

 Lc Sargue, Tile de Mautm. Cdv. et ViL. Hist, des Poiss. Vol. P, p. 53. 

 S. ovis, the Sheepshead. Stokek, Massachusetts Report, p. 36. 



Characteristics. Large ; banded. Form elliptical. Tail abruptly diminished from the body. 

 Anal black, with ten soft rays. Length one to three feet. 



Description. Body much compressed. Head sloping, and enlarged by the projection of 

 the orbits ; the curves formed by the facial line, and that of the chin and throat, equal ; breast 

 anterior to the ventrals, flattened. Scales adherent ; on the sides large, subquadrate, with 

 radiating strias, and with more than two-thirds of their surface concealed. On the opercles, 

 the scales are moderate ; on the abdomen, tail, and base of the fins, small. A band of small 



Fauna — Part 4. 12 



