SEMIJjUNAR HOLOCANTHUS. Holocanthus semicireulMus. 



All these fish are notable for the strange fashion of their colouring, and the present 

 species affords a good example of the infinite variety with which the inhabitants of the 

 warmer seas are tinted. There are no brilliant colours in this fish, the striking effects 

 being produced by the bold contrasts of black and white, toned down with a little blue. 

 The ground colour of the body is jetty black, upon which are drawn a number of curved 

 concentric lines, alternately pure white and pale blue, the blue lines being narrower than 

 the white. The tail fin is also black, and is marked with cross lines of white. The scales 

 of this species are small, and the spine is smooth. 



Nearly forty species of this genus are now known, all of which possess some remark- 

 able peculiarity in colouring. There is, for example, the RINGED HOLOCANTHUS (Holocan- 

 thus annularis), where the shoulder is decorated with a blue ring, and the body is marked 

 with six or seven arched blue stripes, all radiating from the base of the pectoral fin. The 

 SPOTTED HOLOCANTHUS (Holocanthus maculosus) has a number of black semilunar spots 

 on the fore part of the body ; the CILIATED HOLOCANTHUS (Holocanthus ciliaris) is marked 

 with an azure ring on the nape of the neck, and a number of blue spots and streaks about 

 the head; the EMPEEOE HOLOCANTHUS (Holocanthus Imperator) has a number of blue 

 lines upon the head, chest, and anal fin, a large black spot on the shoulder, and the body 

 decorated with many waved orange-coloured streaks ; and lastly the ARCHED HOLOCAN- 

 THUS (Holocanthus arcuatus), though not so brightly clad, is quite as striking a species as 

 any that has been mentioned, simply on account of the single arched stripe that is drawn 

 along the body, from the eye to the end of the dorsal fin, taking a slight upward curve 

 like a bent bow. 



It is said of one of the species LAMAKCK'S HOLOCANTHUS (Holocanthus Lamarckii), 

 that the attachment between the sexes is very strongly developed, and that if one 

 individual be captured, its mate will haunt the fatal spot and even fling itself ashore or 

 into the net in the eagerness of its search. 



OF another group or sub-family of the scale-finned fishes, the AECHEE FISH is a good 

 example. 



This curious species is a native of the East Indian and Polynesian seas, and possesses 

 the power of shooting water at its prey with even more force than the beaked chsetodon 



