150 



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 this species ; 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 en- 

 quirer. 



The specimen here described 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 thickness not unlike 

 that of the common Sea Bream ( Pagellus centrodontus) 

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

 muzzle remarkably 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 pa- 

 tulous; jaws equal, in a line with the front, the lower with 

 a well marked chin; the teeth in front rather stout, some- 

 what separate, those of the upper and lower jaws inter- 

 locking. The scales large, and conspicuous on the posterior 

 plate of the gillcovers ; the middle plate has none, and there 

 are but few vestiges on the anterior plate. Tiie head being 

 short, the back rises high above it. The lateral 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 form at the caudal fin, with an incision opposite 

 the direction of the lateral line ; it is also somewhat con- 

 tracted 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 Becker (Pagrns vulgaris), such as would be formed 

 bv a mixture of lake and vermillion ; fins the same, except 

 the anal, which is pale yellow; sides pale red, belly whitish. 

 As the colours faded, at the angles where the scales meet 

 there was a yellow margin. 



Fin rays: D. 12, 10. P. 13. V. 4. A. 38. C— 



The third ray of the pectoral fin longest, the second and 

 first regularly becoming shorter. The remarkable shortness 

 of the head, the roundness and perpendicularity of the front, 

 equality of the jaws, interlocking of the teeth, and singular 



