514 SAGACITY OF FISHES. 



Among others, I noticed Pomfret, Rock-cod, a species of 

 Gadus, of a splendid red, covered with round ultramarine 

 spots; the handsome_Z)zj0/0^n0^ bifasciatum, a small species 

 of Tunny, a Pelamis with transverse green bands, several 

 kinds of Sharks, the Serranus Jiexagonatus, and a splendid 

 Serranus of a chrome yellow, with broad blackish bands. 

 Snappers, marked with blue and yellow, and with silvery 

 bodies, and several species of Pelamis, Poropsis, Leth- 

 rinus, Chcetodon, Batistes, CkrysopJiris, and Mugil. 



Saint Pierre, after alluding to the cunning of certain 

 flat fish which bury their large fins in the sand, and show 

 only their cheating side when the tide has receded, and left 

 them to await patiently its flowing, and thus elude the 

 notice of the fishermen, makes the following remark with 

 much glee : " C'est ce que je leur ai vu faire plus d'une 

 fois, encore plus emerveille de la ruse de ces poissons, 

 que de celle des pecheurs." The large Ray, which 

 was captured on the Saint Brandon Shoals after a hard 

 struggle, was of a bluish sand colour, and its back studded 

 with white tubercles, thus resembling very much in appear- 

 ance the bottom of the sandy coral patch on which it lived; 

 and a Skate pursued by a boat's crew over a muddy flat in 

 very shallow water at Basilau, was of a dirty yellow brown, 

 precisely the same colour as the place it was accustomed 

 to inhabit. I have noticed that among low coral reefs 

 where Pleuronectes are frequently found, their tails are 

 often ornamented with rather vivid colours, and their upper 

 sides marked with somewhat striking patterns, whereas 

 those that are half buried, as for instance in Manilla Bay, 

 are as dull and dingy, as the surface in which they are 

 found. 



