FAMILY SPARID-E — SARGUS. 89 



Length, 13-(). Depth, 5-0. 



Fiiiniys, D. 12.15; P. 17; V. l.o; A. '.iAl; C. 17. 



This is a rare species in our waters. According to Dr. Mitrliill, ihey are sometimes found 

 weighing four or five pounds. It is sometimes called Black Grunts. Among the drawings 

 of Dr. Holbrook is the figure of a Lohotes, which appears to differ from the above in the fol- 

 lowing particulars : It is of a general inky blackness, with a yellow suffusion along the back, 

 and at the base of the caudal and anal fins ; tlic first dorsal ray is half the length of the 

 second, and the tenth nearly equal to the first. It may possibly prove to be a new species. 



The Black Triple-tail occurs from the coast of Brazil, and through the tropical seas, to 

 New- York, which forms the limit of its most norllierly range. 



FAMILY V. SPARID.^. 



No spines nor dcntici/Iations on tlic opercular bones. No teclh in the piakife. Mouth not 

 protractile. Scales large. 



Obs. This family was founded on many of the characters assigned by Artcdi to his genus 

 S2}arus. It is divided into thirteen genera, comprising about one hundred and seventy species. 

 On the coast of New- York, we have as yet but three representatives of this family. 



GENUS SARGUS. Kleiti, Cuvier. 



Cheeks seal I/. With cutting incisors. Large rounded teeth ; molars in several rows. Bran- 

 chial rays five. 



THE SHEEPSHEAD. 



Sargus ovis. 



PLATE Vnl. FIG. 23. 



Spants, SIteepshcad (If Nttp-York. ScjlfKVFV, Description of N. A. Fishes, Vol. H, p. 152. 

 Spanis ovis, Sheepshmd. MiTCH. Tr. Lit. and Phil. Soc. Vol. 1, p. 332, pi. 2, lig. U. 

 Le Sargiie, THe de Moulon. Cnv. et Val. Hist, dcs Poiss. Vol. 0, ji. 53. 

 *S'. ovis, the Sfieepshcad. Stokek, Massachusetts Report, p. 36. 



Characteristics. Large ; banded. Form elliptical. Tail abruptly diminished from the body. 

 Anal black, with ten soft rays. Length one to three feet. 



Description. Body much compressed. Head sloping, and enlarged by the projection of 

 the orbits ; the curves formed by the facial line, and that of the chin and throat, equal ; breast 

 anterior to the ventrals, flattened. Scales adherent ; on the sides large, subtpiadrate, with 

 radiating stria-, and with more than two-thirds of their surface concealed. On the ojierclcs, 

 the scales are moderate ; on the abdomen, tail, and base of the fins, small. A band of small 



Fauna — Part 4. 12 



