192 PISCES. 



barely perceptible to the touch; the body oblong, head obtuse, and 

 the lateral line continuous; the dorsal and anal enveloped by scales 

 nearly to the summit of the spines. 



C. genizara, Cuv. ; Parra. pi. xxi, f. 1. The only species 

 known; of a purple red. From the Antilles. 



GoMPHOsus, Lacep. — Elops, Commers. 



Labroides, with an entirely smooth head, as in Julis; but owing 

 to the prolongation of the intermaxillaries and maxillaries, which 

 are united by the teguments as far as the small opening of the 

 mouth, the muzzle is made to resemble a long thin tube.(l) 



They are taken in the Indian Ocean, and the flesh of certain 

 species is held in the highest estimation. (2) 



XiRICHTHYS, Cuv. 



These fishes resemble a Labrus as to form, but are much com- 

 pressed; the front descends suddenly towards the mouth in a tren- 

 chant and almost vertical line, formed by the aethmoid and the ascend- 

 ing branches of the intermaxillaries. Their body is covered with large 

 scales; the lateral line is interrupted; the jaws are armed with a range 

 of conical teeth, the central ones longest; the pharynx is paved with 

 hemispherical teeth; the intestinal canal is continuous with two flex- 

 ures without caeca; no cul-de-sac to the stomach; a tolerably long 

 natatory bladder. Until we arranged them otherwise, they were 

 always placed by naturalists among the Coryphaenae, from which 

 they greatly differ, both internally and externally. They approxi- 

 mate most to Labrus, only diftering in the profile of the head. (3) 

 The greater number have a naked head. Such is 



X. novacula; Cory phaena novacula, L..', Rondel.; 146,Salv. 117. 

 Red, variously striped with blue. The flesh is esteemed.(4) 



(1) Gomphosus viridis, Cuv., or G. Lacepede, Quoy and Gaym. Voy. Freycin. 

 Zool. pi. Iv, f. 2; — G. caruleus, Lacep. Ill, pi. v, f. 1, or Jcarauna longirostris, 

 Sevastianof, Nov. Act. Petrop. xiii, t. XI;— G. variegatus, Lacep., lb. f. 2. 



Gomphosus, from yof^i^og, cuneus, clavus. 



(2) Renard, Poissons de la mer des Indes, part II, pi. xii, f- 109. Commerson, 

 however, says that the coeruleus is but indifferent food. 



(3) The sharp edge of the head of the Coryphjenae is owing to the interparietal 

 crest; their scales are small and soft; their caeca numerous. See Mem. du Mus., 

 II, 324. 



(4) The Coryph. lineolata, llafin., Caratt., 33, does not differ from the nomcw/a; 

 but the Novacula cm-yphxna, of Risso, is nothing more than the Centrolophus. 

 The Coryph. cceruka, BL, 176, is a Scarus.— Add, Cor. psittacus, L, and some new 

 species. 



