57O THE OCEAN WORLD. 



the Wrasse (Labrtts), a genus of fishes decked in the most lively 

 colours; for the yellow, green, blue, and red, forming bands of 

 spots, give the body the appearance of being enriched with brilliant 

 metallic reflections. 



We represent here, as a type of the genus, the adult Green and 

 Red Labrus (Fig. 374), varieties of the commonest species, called 

 the sea-parrot, the body being oblong, clothed with large scales ; a 

 dorsal fin, frequently with membranous appendages, thick fleshy lips, 

 and large conical teeth ; cheeks and gill-covers clothed with scales ; 

 gill-covers smooth at the edges ; three spines in the anal fin. 



IV. PHYSOSTOM ATA. 



The principal character of the fishes of this order is that the rays 

 of the fins are soft, except sometimes the first ray of the dorsal or 

 pectoral. They inhabit either sea or fresh water, and include fishes 

 of the utmost importance as human food, such as the herring, the 

 cod, the salmon, carp, pike, and many others. Modern naturalists, 

 following Miiller, divide them into two sub-orders : i. Apoda, with- 

 out ventral fins \ 2. Abdominalia, having ventral fins. 



i. Apoda, There are but three families in this sub-order, which 

 comprehends great numbers both of genera and species ; they are 

 anguilliform or snake-like, elongated in form, the skin thick and soft, 

 and have no ventral fins. 



In the Gymnotidoe the dorsal fin is entirely wanting ; the body is 

 long, nearly cylindrical, and also serpent-like, the tail being long in 

 comparison to the other parts of the body ; beneath the tail is a long 

 anal fin, the tail is the only locomotive organ ; it is the nakedness of 

 the back which confers its designation of yv^s, naked, VWTOS, back. 



The species of the genus Gymnotus are fresh-water fishes of South 

 America, where they attain a great size. There are several species, 

 but the most remarkable, from its singular physical properties, is the 

 Electrical Eel, Gymnotus electricus (Fig. 375 ). These properties 

 enable the Electrical Eel to arrest suddenly the pursuit of an enemy, 

 or the flight of its prey, to suspend on the instant every movement of 

 its victim, and subdue it by an invisible power. Even the fishermen 

 themselves are suddenly struck and rendered torpid at the moment of 

 seizing it, while nothing external betrays the mysterious power 

 possessed by the animal. 



The electrical properties of the Gymnotus were reported for the 

 first time by Van Berkal. The astronomer Richer, who had been 

 sent to Cayenne in 1671 by the Academy of Sciences, of Paris, on 



