PERCID^E. 17 



Genus V. — Polyprion, Cuvier, 



Branchiostegals seven : pseudobranchice present. Body oblong. Opercles denti- 

 cidated, a serrated longitudinal ridge across the opercle, and others on the upper 

 surface of the head and occiput. Teeth villiform in the jaws and on the vomer, 

 palatine bones and tongue. A single dorsal fin with 11 strong spines, anal with 3. 

 Scales ctenoid, small. Pyloric appendages wwmerous. 



In appearance these fishes have a general resemblance to Serrani with the 

 head like a Scorpcena. 



Geographical distribution. — From, the coasts of Norway to Britain, France and 

 the Mediterranean : also Madeira and the Cape of Good Hope, while a large dried 

 example was brought to Europe by the " Novara" from the Island of St. Panl in the 

 Southern Indian Ocean. Forster recorded it from Queen Charlotte's Island, on 

 the western shores of North America ; and a few years since Steindachner described 

 a new species, as Polyprion Knerii, from the island of Juan Fernandez, on the 

 western coast of South America. 



1. Polyprion cernium, Plate VI. 



Amphibrion Americanus, Bl. Schn. p. 205, and A. Australe, t. xlvii. 



Epinephelus oxygeneios, Bl. Schn. p. 301. 



Scorpaina MassiUensis, Risso, Ich. Nice, p. 184 (not Lacep.). 



Holocentrus gulo, Risso, Eur. Merid. iii, p. 367. 



Scicena aquila, Rosenthal, Ich. Taf. xvi, f. 1. 



Polyprion cernium, Val. Mem. du Mus. xi, p. 265, pi. xvii ; Cuv. and Val. iii, 

 p. 21, pi. xlii and viii, p. 475 ; Yarrell, Brit. Fish (Ed. 2) i, p. 19, c. fig. (Ed. 3) 

 ii, p. 124 ; Swainson, Fishes, ii, p. 203 ; Cuv. Regne Anim. 111. Poiss. pi. ix, f. 1 ; 

 White, Catal. p. 12 ; Giinther, Catal. i, p. 169 ; Collett, Norges Fiske, p. 16 ; 

 Kner, Voy. Novara Fische, p. 28 ; Steincl. Ich. Span. u. Port. 1867, p. 15 ; 

 Sauvage, Arch, de Zool. 1879-80, p. 12. 



Serranus Couchii, Yarrell, Brit. Fish. (Ed. 1) i, p. 12, c. fig ; Jenyns, Man. 

 Brit. Vert. p. 334. 



Perca scriba, Comide, Peces de Galicia, p. 57. 



Stone-basse, Couch, Linn. Trans, xiv, p. 81, and Fish. Brit. Isles, i, p. 200, 

 pi. xliv. 



B. vii, D. 7-^, P. 16-17, V. 1/5, A. &, C. 17, L. 1. ca. 120, Vert. 13/13, 

 Ccec. pyl. numerous. 



Length of head from 3 to 3|, of caudal fin 7 to 8-| , height of body 3 to 3| in 

 the total length. Eye — comparatively much larger in the young than in the adult, 

 4£ to b\ diameters in the length of the head, 1^- to 1^ diameters from the end of 

 the snout. The maxilla extends to beneath the middle or (in large examples) 

 hind edge of the orbit : lower jaw projecting beyond the upper. Nostrils patent, 

 placed close together. A rough bony ridge ending in a spine, crosses the opercle. 

 The posterior limb of the preopercle strongly serrated, with a cluster of several 

 strong and irregularly placed spines at its angle, and some denticulations along its 

 lower limb. Inter- and sub-opercles denticulated at their approximating angles. 

 Preorbital denticulated. Supra orbital margin roughened, a ridge passes to the 

 shoulder, while a short convex median one exists on the occiput. Teeth — villiform 

 on the jaws, tongue, vomer, and palatine bones. Fins — all the spines and fin rays 

 comparatively longer in the young than in the adult : dorsal spines strong, 

 increasing in length to the 5th, the next 3 being almost equally long, from 

 the 8th they decrease, but the 11th is slightly longer than the 10th : dorsal 

 rays half higher than the spines. Ventral spine roughened externally. Third 

 anal spine somewhat the longest, the two first rough anteriorly, while the rays are 

 half longer than the spines. Caudal rounded. Gill-rakers — most developed in 

 the anterior branchial arch, the outer limb of which contains about twelve, the 

 longest nearly one diameter of the orbit in length. Scales — small, strongly 

 ctenoid, some are extended over a portion of the soft dorsal and anal fins, also on 



2 



