BALLAN WRASSE 275 



ACANTHOPTERYGIL LABRID&* 



THE BALLAN WRASSE. 



Labrus maculatus, BLOCH, pt. ix. pi. 294. 



,, ,, ttiillitii Wrasse, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 334, pi. 55. 



,, tinea, Ancient Wrasse, or Old Wife, DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 83. 



Balanus, Ballan Wrasse, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 209, sp. 130. 



,, ,, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 255. 



Generic Characters. Body elongated, covered with large thin scales : a 

 single dorsal fin, extending nearly the whole length of the back, part of the rays 

 spinous, the others flexible ; behind the point of each spinous ray a short mem- 

 branous filament : lips large and fleshy ; teeth conspicuous, conical, sharp ; 

 cheek and operculum covered with scales ; preoperculum and operculum with- 

 out serrations or spines. 



THE species of this family are numerous even on our 

 own shores alone, and from the variations in colour to 

 which they seem liable, they have not been very well deter- 

 mined : the more permanent characters of the proportions 

 of the head and body, the form of the different parts of 

 the gill-covers, the structure and relative position of the 

 fins and fin-rays, afford the best points for specific distinc- 

 tion. The Wrasses, or Rock-fish, as they are also called, 



* The family of the Wrasses, or Rock-fishes. 



