operculum and operculum, below the line of the pectoral fin, denticulated ; 

 operculum, above the line of the pectoral fin traversed by a single strong, 

 horizontal bony ridge, ending in a point directed backwards ; over the eye, 

 over the operculum, and over the origin of the pectoral fin, a semicircular 

 row of short spines ; the first ray of the ventral fin, and the first three rays of tiie 

 anal fin, furnislied also with small short spines. 



In the first edition of the History of British Fishes, I 

 ventured to consider the Stone Basse of Mr. Couch, of whicli 

 that gentleman had favoured me with a draAving, as an unde- 

 scribed species of the genus Serranus of Cuvier. At that 

 time I had not seen a specimen of the fish. The Rev. 

 R. T. Lowe, who has devoted great attention to fishes, par- 

 ticularly those taken at Madeira, where he has resided many 

 years, first intimated to me that this, my supposed new 

 Serranus, — which I had called Couch''s Serranus, in reference 

 to a naturalist and a friend, from whom I had received so 

 much valuable assistance, — was in fact the Polyprion cer- 

 nium of Cuv. and Val. Hist des Poiss. i. iii. p. 1^1, a spe- 

 cies well known to him, being a common fish at Madeira, 

 and which is now known to range as far to the south as the 

 Cape of Good Hope. Since that time Mr. Lowe has sent 

 me from Madeira a fine and perfect specimen of this fish, 

 which I have shown to several good observers on our southern 

 coast, where Mr. Couch's Stone Basse occurs, who have no 

 doubt that this fish is the same as the Stone Basse of Mr. 

 Couch, and it therefore now appears in its place among the 

 British Fishes under its most recent systematic appellation. 

 I am still, however, anxious to identify this species with the 

 name of Mr. Couch, who first made it known as a British 

 fish, and have therefore now called it Couch's Polyprion. 



This species was the subject of a particular memoir by 

 M. A. Valenciennes, published in the Mem. du Mus. t. xi. 

 as already quoted, and is remarkable in having escaped the 

 observation and record of all the early Schthyological writers, 

 although the fish is common in the Mediterranean, attains a 

 large size, — sometimes weighing one hundred pounds, — and 



