ACANTHOPTERYGII. 195 



pertius Optatus, commander of a Roman fleet, during the 



reign of Claudius, went to Greece in search of, for the purpose 



of distributing it through the sea of Italy. It is an article of 



food in Greece at the present day.(l) 



Numerous species are found in the seas of hot climates. The 



form of their jaws and the splendour of their colours have caused 



them to receive the vulgar appellation of Parrot-fishes. 



Some of them have a crescent-shaped tail,(2) and of these a few 

 with a singularly gibbous forehead. (3) 



In others it is truncated. (4) We separate from Scarus the 



Calliodon, Cuv. 



Where the latter teeth of the upper jaw are separate and pointed, 

 and where there is an inner range of much smaller ones on the 

 same;(5) and the 



Odax, Cuv. 



Which approaches a true Labrus in the inflated lips and continu- 

 ous lateral line; the jaws, composed like those of a Scarus, are how- 

 ever flat and not gibbous, and are covered by the lips; the pharyn- 

 geal teeth are en paves, as in Labrus.(6) 



FAMILY XV. 



FISTULARIDiE. 

 The fishes of this family are characterized by a long tube, 



(1) N.B. It is not the Sc. cretensis, Bl. 228. 



(2) Scarus coccineus, Bl., Schn., Parra, XXVIU, 2, which is the Spams abild- 

 gardii, Bl., 259, and the Spare rougeor, Lacep., Ill, xxxiii, 3; — the Cheat Scarus 

 with blue jaws, Sc. guacamaia, Cuv., Parra, XXVI; — the Sc. Catesby, Lacep., Ca- 

 tesb., II, xxix; — the Sc. bride, Lacep., IV, 1, 2; — Sc. chrysopterus, Bl., Schn., 57; — 

 Sc. capitaneus, Cuv., which is the Sc. enn^acanthe, Lacep., IV, p. 6, and his Sc. 

 denticule, Id., p. 12 and pi. 1, f. 1, and of which he gives a description annexed to 

 the Sc chadri. 



(3) Sc. /o>-o,Bl., Schn., Parra, XXVII,l;—>yc.ccEmZe!w, Bl., Schn., Parra, XXVn, 

 2, and Catesb., II, xiii, which is also the Coryphama cxruka, Bl., 176, and what is 

 more extraordinary the Spare holocyanose, Lacep. , III, xxxiii, 2 and IV, p. 441, 

 derives its origin from the same drawing of Plumier as this figure of Bloch. 



(4) Sc. vetula, Bl., Schn., Parra, XXVIII, 1; — Sc. txniopterus, Desmarest; — Sc. 

 chloris. Parr., XXVIII, 3; — Sc psittacus, Forsk.; — Sc. viridis, Bl. 



(5) Scarus spinidens, Quoy and Gaym., Zool. Voy. Freycin., p. 289, and some 

 new species. 



(6) iScams pw/Zus, Forster, Bl., Schn., 288. 



