ACANTIIOPTERYGII. 30J> 



five feet ; and the extreme liideousncss of its appearance has procured it some celebrity. [There are few parts of 

 the muddy shores of the British islands where these uj;!y and voracious fish are not to be met with ; and such is its 

 propensity to keep its fjreat mouth in exercise, that when captured in a net a' on g with other fishes, it speedily 

 lje;i;iiis to swallow its companions, especially if Flounders, which appear to be its favourite food. On some coasts, 

 it is soLisbt for on account of the live fish in its stomach, its o^yn flesh beinf^ but small in quantity, and held in 

 httle estimation. Another European species, L. palripants, has its second dorsal lower, and five vertebrae fewer 

 in the spine. 



Chirojiectes. These have, like the last o;enera, free rays on the head, of which the first is small, and often 

 terminatinf^ by a tuft ; and those behind it are eularjifed by a membrane, which is sometimes very broad, and at 

 5ther times they are united into a fin. Their body and head are compressed, and their mouth opens vertically. 

 Their gill membranes have four rays, and have no opening but a small hole behind the pectorals. Their dorsal 

 extends along the whole back, and they often have cutaneous appendages all over their bodies. They have four 

 gills, a large air-bladder, and a moderate intestine without cceca. They can inflate their great stomach with air, 

 in the same manner as the Tetroduns blow up their bellies like balloons. On the ground, their two pairs of fins 

 enable them to crawl along like little (|uadrupeds; and the pectorals, in consequence of their position, perform 

 the functions of hind legs. They can live out of the water for iwo or three days. They are found only in the seas 

 of warm countries, and ^neas confounded many of them under the name L. hintrio. [In some of the muddy 

 estuaries on the north coast of Austi-alia, from which the tide ebbs far back u\ the dry season, these Frog-lishes 

 are so abundant, and capable of taking such vigorous leaps, that tho^e who have visited the places have, at lirst 

 sight, taken them for birds.] One mig'lit separate the species in which the second and third rays are united into 

 a fin, and sometimes also joined to the other dorsals. 



Malihuu. These have the head greatly extended and flattened, principally by the projection'of the sub-opercu- 

 lum ; the eyes are forwards ; the snout projecting, with a little horn ; the mouth under the muzzle, of mean size, 

 and protractile ; the gills sustained by six or seven rays, and opening by a hole above each pectoral. They have a 

 simple dorsal, which is soft and small ; and there are no free rays in the head. The body is studded with osseous 

 tubercles, and bordered round with cirri. They have neither cceca nor air-bladder. 



The remaining genus of this familyis Batraclim,\\\(i Frog-fishes, properly so called. They have the head flattened 

 horizontally, and much larger than the body ; the gape deeply cleft ; the operculum and sub-operculum spinous ; 

 six gill-rays ; the ventrals straight, attached under the throat, with only three rays, of which the first is broad and 

 lengthened : the pectorals are carried by a short arm, resulting from an elongation of the carpal bones : their first 

 dorsal is short, supported by three spinous rays; the second is soft and long, and has the anal corresponding to it; 

 their lips are often garnished with lilaments ; their stomach is an oblong sac ; their intestines are short, and with- 

 out cceca ; and their air-vessel is anteriorly deeply forked. They lurk in the sand, in order to swallow small 

 fishes, in the same manner as the members of the last genus ; and it is thought that wounds inflicted by their 

 spines are dangerous. They inhabit both oceans. In some, the scales are smooth, and they have a membi'ane 

 over the eye; others are scaly, and want that membrane. [None of them appear in the authenticated lists of 

 British fishes.] 



THE FOURTEENTH FAMILY OF THE ACANTHOPTERYGII. 

 LabridyE (the ^VBASSE, or Rock-fish Family). 



Tliis family are easily known Ijy their appearance. They have an oblong* body, covered with scales; 

 and a single dorsal, supported anteriorly by spinous rays, often fnrnisUed with membranous lamina;. 

 The jaws are covered 1j\ fleshy lips. There are three bones in the pharynx,— two upper ones attached 

 to tlie craninni, and a large under one. Alt the three are furnished with teeth, aj-ranged like a pave- 

 ment in some, and pointed, or in laminae, in others; but generally stronger than is usual in the class 

 of Fishes. Their intestinal canal is either without cceca, or with two small ones; and they have a large 

 and strong air-bladder. They admit of division into various genera and su])geaera. 



Labru.s\ or Lipped — that is. Thick-lipped — Fishes. A very numerous genus, the species of which 

 much resemble each other in their oblong form, and in their double fleshy lips, from wdfich they receive 

 their name. One of these lips adiieres immediately to the jaw-bones, ajid tiie otlier to the suborbitals. 

 They have thickly-set gills, witii five rays. Their conical maxillary teeth (of which the middle and front 

 lines are the largest), and their cylindrical teeth in the pharynx, are arranged like a pavement, — the 

 u])per ones with two large plates, and the under with one only, which fits to the others. Their stomach 

 lias no cid-de-sac, but is continued in an intestine without cojca, which, after two reduplications, ter- 

 minates in a wirle rectum. Tlie air-bladder is single, and strong. There are several subgenera. 



Lahrus, properly so called, vulgarly termed *' Old "Wives of the Sea." They have no spines or notches in the 

 operculum or pre-operculuni, and the operculum and cheek are covered with scales. The lateral line is nearly 

 straight. The European seas furnish several species, which, from variations of colour in the same species, are not 

 e.isily distinguished from each other. L. m-actdatus, the Balloon Wrasse, is a foot or eighteen iuches long, with 

 tAcrity or twenty-one spines in the dorsal; bine or greenish above ; \\hite belowj marked all over with yellow, and 



