194 SALT-WATER FISHES 



but even in the proportion of the length and depth of the 

 body. The edge of the front gill-cover is usually serrated 

 in this species, but it is doubtful v^hether this is a dis- 

 tinguishing character. (Dr. Giinther points out, for instance, 

 that the young of all vi^rasses have serrated preopercles, which 

 suggest a permanent ancestral character that some have 

 dropped.) The greater number of the rays in the dorsal fin 

 are spinous, and the anal fin has also three spines. The 

 scales are in less than forty transverse series, whereas in the 

 preceding wrasses they number more than fifty. The lateral 

 line is well marked through its entire length, and it takes 

 a more decided downward curve just beneath the second dorsal 

 fin than in the cuckoo wrasse or ballan. 



It is probable, as Day has suggested, that this wrasse is 

 identical with the species that Couch calls " Baillon's wrasse," 

 the condition of which it may be said to assume when its 

 colours are faded, though there is also some apparent differ- 

 ence in the number of rows of scales across the cheek and 

 under the eye. 



The connor is a shallow-water fish, and is gregarious in 

 its habits, whereas the majority of wrasses might rather be 

 described as solitary. It occurs on all the shores of Great 

 Britain and Ireland, being commonest perhaps in the more 

 southern waters. 



Holt has studied the eggs in summer on the Irish coast. 

 They are colourless and have no oil-globule, and green and 

 yellow appear to be the prevailing colours of the yolk after 

 hatching. 



Jago's Goldsinny {Ctenolabrus rupestris), or the Pink 

 Brame, is a small red-and-gold kind, with a large black 

 blotch generally noticeable on the dorsal fin, though the spots 

 and bands are as variable as in most wrasses. In some 

 examples that have come under the writer's notice the fins 

 are black-edged, but this would seem to be an uncommon 

 character. 



