128 



Ctenoid Acantiioptkres.- 



-FISHES.- 



-Sparoids. 



Family XII.— SPAROIDS.— (Plate 8, fig. 41, 42.) 



In this family the dorsal is single, with the spinous 

 part scaleli'ss or nearly so, falling into a furrow when 

 not in action, and equal to or surpassing the articulated 

 portion in extent. The pectorals and ventrals are 

 acute, and the caudal, which is not connected with the 

 other vertical fins, is crescentic on its distal edge. 

 The mouth is terminal, and when it is in the act of 

 closing, the maxillary glides beneath the edge of the 

 generally high preorhitar. The jaws are but little 

 protractile, and the snout does not project beyond 

 them. The family diflers from the Scianoids in the 

 ■ bones of the skull not being cellular externally, and 

 from the fciaenoids, Percoids, and Sclerogenids, in 

 having neither armature nor strong serratures on the 

 gill-covers. The branchiostegals are generally six in 

 number, sometimes five, and more rarely seven. 

 There are no palatine teeth. The scales are peculiar, 

 being described by Agassiz as thin, broader than they 

 are long, with the lines of structure parallel to the 

 posterior or free border ; and circulating round a centre 

 of growth whii-h is situated near that edge, they 

 become longitudinal and parallel to the sides as they 

 proceed towards the base. 



Several genera are remarkable for their flatly-rounJeil posterior 

 teeth or molars, of which are — Sargus; Charax; Chrysoph-ys ; 

 Pagrus ; Payellus; Sphmrodon {\ivL]^^ei\') } and Let /irhiu3. 



The other genera are — Dejitex; Synagris (Gunther) ; Pentapvs; 

 Caiitharus; Box; Ohlaia; Boxaodon (Guichenot) ; <ycaMrt7*w.s ; 

 Crenidens ; Glrella (Gray); TephrcEops {Gunihev) ; Pachyme- 

 iopon (id.) ; ProterocaiHhus (id.) ; Dtpterodon ; Doydixodo7i 

 (Valenc.) ; and G ymnocrotaphus (Giinther). 



The following species are British — the Gilt-head 

 {Chrysophrys auraia), the Braize or Becker {Pagrus 

 vidyaris), the Orphus (P. orphus), the Pagel or Saro- 

 fino {Pagellus erytltrinus), the Bezugo (Pagetlus 

 acarne), the Sea Bream, {Payclbts ccnlrodontiis), the 

 Sparus {Sjxiriis dentex), the Choupa {Cantharus gri- 

 seus), the Bogue {Box vulgaris). None of them are 

 much prized for the table.' According to jElian and 

 Opi)ian, the Sar {Sargus RondcMii) is a polygamist, 

 and fights desperately to protect his harem from 

 other males. He constructs, they say, a bower of the 

 leaves of marine plants, into which he compels his 

 females to enter, and goes in last himself. Modern 

 observation has neither proved nor disproved these 

 reports. The Sparuhi.s of the Romans, a fish held in 

 small esteem, was, according to Cuvier, a Sparoid. 

 Martial, comparing his own diet with that of a more 

 luxurious feeder, says, " You eat oysters from the 

 Lucrino ponds, I merely suck in a mussel ; you dine 

 on turbot, I on a Sparidiis only." What the Spants 

 of the ancients was has not been as yet ascertained, 

 but it was said to be more nourishing than most other 

 fishes, and to be, like the Scams, such delicious food, 

 that the gods themselves did not throw away its excre- 

 ments. Such praise does not belong to any of the 

 family found in the British seas ; but Dr. Mitchill, 

 speaking of an American Sparoid called the Sheep's- 

 head {Sargiis ovis), says, that it is the most highly 

 esteemed of New York fishes, and fetches the highest 



price, with the exception of fresh salmon and trout. 

 Nothing, he says, can exceed boiled Sheep's-head in 

 the opinion of a New-Yorker, This fish attains a 

 weight of eighteen pounds. It is in season from the 

 beginning of June till the middle of September ; and 

 is taken with the seine. As it also bites at a baited 

 hook, fishing parties are elaborately got up for the 

 capture of this desirable fish ; and the incidents of 

 the sport furnish the successful fishermen with topics 

 of conversation to a distant date, much skill being 

 required to allure and secure a Sheep's-head. Dr. 

 Mitchill laments sorely that the want of a sufficient 

 supply of ice often allows this valuable fish to spoil ; 

 but, as in the half century that has elapsed since Dr. 

 Mitchill wrote ice has become more abundant in the 

 New York markets, the Sheep's-head is not only 

 brought cool and fresh to the hotels of that city, but 

 is transported also to Philadelphia and more distant 

 quarters. The fisheries established on the coasts of 

 Long Island for its capture, are of considerable im- 

 portance in an economical point of view. 



The Porgee {Sargus rliomhokles) is no less esteemed 

 at the Bermudas, than the Sheep's-head is at New 

 York. Fishing for Porgee is the chief amusement of 

 the Bermudians, and parties go out to the coral reef of 

 North Rock, forty miles from the shore, to enjoy it. The 

 same species frequents the coasts of the United States, 

 and the name of Porgee is extended to other Sparoids 

 of America, such as the Pagrus ai'gyrnjys, which is 

 esteemed to be a most excellent fish, and is termed by 

 Dr. Mitchill, the Big Porgee. The Chryscqiln-ys of the 

 Greeks, and Aurata of the Latins, is the Gilt-head of 

 English fishermen. The most esteemed Gilt-heads 

 were. Martial says, those which had fed on the shell- 

 fish of the Lucrine Lake. Sergius Grata is said by 

 Pliny to have invented Oyster-nurseries at Baia before 

 the ]\Iarsian war ; not to pamper his own appetite, but 

 as a mercantile speculation. The same inventive genius 

 found out hanging baths, and furbished up villas for 

 sale. He first also pronounced the Lucrine oysters to 

 be the best, and extolled the Basse taken between the 

 two bridges of the Tiber, the Turbots of Ravenna, and 

 the Murries of Sicily. His surname of Orata arose 

 from his cultivation of the Gilt-head in ponils. The 

 British shores were not yet subdued, saj's Pliny, when 

 Sergius rendered the Lucrine Lake famous. The Sand- 

 wich oysters were consequently then unknown. 



Family XIII.— JI^NOIDS {Manoidw). 

 Plato 8, fig. 43, 44. 



This gi'oup was considered by Cuvier to be merely a 

 subdivision of the Sparoid family, from wljieh its 

 members differ chiefly in the protractility of the month. 

 They have short villiform teeth on the jaws. Their 

 preraaxillary pedicels are long, and permit these bonci 

 to be thrust directly forwards when there is a corre- 

 sponding length of mandible; but when the latter bone 

 is abbreviated, then the premaxillaries incline down- 

 wards as the mouth opens, being bridled by the soft 

 parts, and compelled to move in that direction. Some 

 genera have no teeth on the palate, others have small 

 ones on the vomer. The ventrals are situated under 



