122 SALT-WATER FISHES 



as he sees only one at the time. Cornishmen have no notion of 

 the origin of the term " ballard," and one can only regard it as 

 a possible contraction of " bald-head," a term of opprobrium ; 

 Australians are equally ignorant of the precise application of 

 " squire," though the appropriateness of " snapper " for the 

 larger fish is beyond all doubt. British sea-breams do not 

 approach in weight those of our colonies, for whereas a snapper 

 of lo lb. is not an uncommonly heavy fish, even to-day, 

 among the less-fished reefs on the coast of New South Wales, 

 a bream of half that weight would be a good fish in Devon. 

 It cannot be said that the sea-breams take high rank as 

 food-fish, for only one, the common sea-bream, or adult 

 form of the chad, is caught in considerable numbers for the 

 market. Although a southern form, the sea-bream finds its 

 way to all parts of the coast, but it is abundant only in 

 the south and south-west. The group may be regarded as 

 characteristically Mediterranean, in which sea the writer 

 caught, during four months of 1891, at least seven dis- 

 tinguishable species. 



The Common Sea-bream (Pagellus centrodontus) has the 

 usual appearance and habits of the family, so that much of 

 the foregoing account will apply to it. In colour it is bright 

 red, the adult fish having a conspicuous black spot on the 

 shoulder. Its scales are large. The front dorsal fin has sharp 

 spines, and there are three spines in the ventrals. The teeth 

 of the sea-breams show on a smaller scale the same variety as 

 those of the wolf-fish, for the jaws have pointed teeth in front 

 for seizing prey and flat teeth for crushing shells farther 

 back ; but Pagellus has mostly the flat teeth, and its food 

 consists in fact less of other fishes than of crustaceans and 

 echinoderms. Cunningham has not examined the eggs, but 

 concludes that they are similar to those of the pandora (P. 

 erythrinus), which were found at Naples to float separately at 

 the surface. The common sea-bream, though for the most 

 part a ground-feeder, is said at some seasons to swim in shoals 



