129 



BKAMA. 



The body compressed, deep; head blunt and round above tlie moutli ; 

 clefts of the jaws oponino; downward. Dorsal and anal fins single and 

 long; tail forked. Gill-covers entire. Ventral fins thoracic. 



RAY'S BREAM. 



WiLLOUGHBY; Appendix, p. 17, Tab. v. 12. 

 Ray; Synop.sis, p. 116. 

 Donovan ; pi. 37. 

 Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 201. 

 " " Jenyns; Manual, p. 359. 



Yarrell; Br. Fishes, vol. i, p. 133. 

 Spare Castagnole, Lacepede. Risso. 



" " Report of the Penzance !N"at. Hist. Soc, 



for 1848, copied iu Zoologist for 1819, 

 xxvi. 

 GuNTHER; Cat. Br. M., vol. ii, p. 408. 



Cuvier expresses his opinion that it was Ray's Bream which Rafinesque 

 had in view in describing his Lepodus saragiis, and which in Sicily is 

 called Saragu imperiali. 



This fisli was first made known to science by Ray, who 

 obtained a figure and description from his friend, D. J. Johnson, 

 of an example which had been left by the tide at the mouth 

 of the Tees, in Yorkshire. This was in the month of September, 

 1681, and although since that time many specimens have come 

 into the hands of naturalists, it is worthy of notice that a 

 large proportion of them have only been met with dead on 

 the shore after a storm, or ready to expire, as if they had 

 been exposed to some uncongenial influence of weather or 

 temperature after having wandered from a depth or district 

 which was better fitted to their natural habits. One, however, 

 that came into my possession, was taken with a hook by a 

 Cornish fisherman; and a remark of Hisso implies that it is 

 also caught with some regularity in the Mediterranean in May, 

 June, and December. The comparative rarity of its capture 

 VOL. II. S 



