174 THE NATURALIST IN AUSTRALIA. 
The Labride or Wrasse and Parrot-fish tribe embraces a multitude of forms, 
mostly of phenomenally brilliant colouration, but also including many species that are 
esteemed for the table. Among these, Platychwrops Gouldii, the so-called Blue 
Groper, of the Sydney fishermen, is one of the largest and most important. repre- 
sentatives, growing to a. length of three or four feet and a weight of over forty 
pounds. In its adult state it is of a uniform dark purplish-blue hue, but is variegated 
in its-earlier phases of development with orange bands and spots. This species is 
met with round the entire southern coast-line to King George’s Sound, in Western 
Australia, and is also reported from Tasmania. The head and shoulders of the Blue 
Groper boiled, with egg sauce, has been pronounced by Australian epicures to surpass 
the Cod and to closely approach the English Turbot in its delicacy of flavour. 
The so-called Pig-fish, Cossyphus unimaculatus, of a brilliant scarlet-vermilion hue, with 
a single large blue-black spot near the centre of the spinous dorsal fin, is also highly 
esteemed in the Sydney market. The Blue-head, Labricthys ceruleus, of Tasmania, 
and several species of Odax, known locally as “Strangers,” Ground Mullets, or Rock 
Whitings, indigenous to all of the southern or temperate Australian Colonies, repre- 
sent the leading remaining forms of the family group of the Labride that occupy 
a recognised position in the Australian markets. A cast of a fine example of 
the Tasmanian Blue-head, executed by the writer, occupies a position to the extreme 
left in the series of three fishes that constitutes the fifth row from the top in 
Plate XXVIII. 
Apart from the foregoing there are numberless other Labride, chiefly inhabitants 
of the tropical coral reefs, that are much appreciated as a source of food supply by 
those engaged more especially in the Béche-de-Mer and Mother-of-Pearl shell fisheries. 
They embrace fish of the most brilliant hues, commonly known as “ Parrot-fishes,” 
while some of the more sober-tinted types, belonging to the genus Cherops, are locally 
known as “Gropers.” One of the commonest of these, C. cyanodon, is of a uniform 
greenish grey hue, having its dorsal, anal, ventral, and caudal fins edged with a fine 
line of turquoise blue, and also prominent canine teeth of the same tint. Coloured 
illustrations of some of the more phenomenally brilliant-hued of these Australian 
Parrot-fishes are depicted in Chromo-Plate XV. of the author’s recently published work 
on “The Great Barrier Reef.” 
Among the few remaining fish groups that demand brief attention with reference 
to the phenomenal as well as economical character of their component members, that 
of the Herring tribe, or Clupeide, must be included. The presence in Australian 
