82 Fishes, 



wonder if we occasionally find the synonymes misapplied, the refer- 

 ences to ancient authors misplaced, and certain species sometimes re- 

 discovered, that have a better title to a designation than others which 

 for a time have been peinnitted to bear it. Another fertile source of 

 error arises from the fact, common indeed to species of other families 

 in Nature, that several fishes bear different names in different places ; 

 and, still worse, in some instances the same name is applied by the 

 same people to separate species, not from supposing them the same, 

 but from some characters which they possess in common, of which 

 this name is descriptive, though in other respects the species widely 

 differ. Many curious instances might be given in illustration of these 

 remarks, but scarcely any one has led to a greater extent of confusion 

 than the species I am about to describe, which appears to have been 

 known to some ancient naturalists, but which hitherto does not seem 

 to have fallen into the hands of any recent enquirer. * 



The specimen here figured was taken November 8th, 1842, with a 

 baited hook, at a place termed the Edges, a margin of rocky ground 

 running parallel with the land at the distance of three miles south of 

 Polperro. The weight was six pounds ; the body in figure and thick- 

 ness not unlike that of the common sea-bream [Pagellus centrodontus)^ 

 but rather deeper and more stout. The head thick, the muzzle re- 

 markably so, and rounded, the line of the front sloping suddenly from 

 the forehead to the mouth ; the eyes of moderate size, elevated, and 

 near the front, iris yellow : nostrils in a slight depression, the superior 

 large and patulous : jaws equal, in a line with the front, the lower one 

 with a well-marked chin : the teeth in front rather stout, somewhat 

 separate, those of the upper and lower jaws interlocking. The scales 

 large, and conspicuous on the posterior plate of the gill-covers ; the 

 middle plate has none, and there are but few vestiges on the anterior 

 plate. The head being short, the back rises high above it. The la- 

 teral line very dark, less curved than in the more common sparoid 

 fishes, and scarcely continued full to the tail ; the body terminating 

 in a defined forai at the caudal fin, with an incision opposite the di- 

 rection of the lateral line, it is also somewhat contracted at the vent. 

 Colour of the front and summit of the head a brownish red ; of the 

 back and fins much like that of the braize or becker {Pagnis mtlga- 

 ris), such as would be formed by a mixture of lake and vermilion : 

 fins the same, except the anal, which is a pale yellow : sides a pale 

 red, belly whitish. As the colours faded, at the angles where the 

 scales meet there was a yellow margin. 



