14 MARINE AND FRESHWATER FISHES 



obtained from Mevagissey, Cornwall, through Mr. Matthias 

 Dunn, were successfully introduced by the writer in the year 

 1876 to the tanks of the Westminster Aquarium, being the 

 first and so far only examples of the species thus acclima- 

 tised. The Boops or Bogue {Box vulgaris), No. 10, is a 

 somewhat aberrant member of the Bream family, which, in 

 addition to its un-Breamlike elongated form, has three or 

 four yellow streaks developed along the sides of the body, 

 parallel with the lateral line ; this pattern of ornamentation 

 is, however, shared to some extent by the next-mentioned 

 species. The teeth along the front border of the mouth in 

 the Bogue differ again from those of the ordinary Sea-Breams 

 in having a flattened trifoliate shape. Among the commoner 

 representatives of the Bream family may be mentioned the 

 Black Sea-Bream or Old Wife {Cantharus limatus), No. 9, a 

 species pretty plentifully distributed upon the south and 

 western shores of England, and taken abundantly during the 

 summer months off Brighton. It is usually referred to as a 

 solitary species (Couch, Yarrel, Day, &c), but such assump- 

 tion is not supported by the writer's experience, who, when 

 fishing for it with hook and line in the above-named locality, 

 has observed that on one being caught, a rapid succession 

 of captures almost invariably followed, showing that the fish 

 fed in companies. Through a long observation of its habits 

 in the tanks of various aquaria, it has likewise been always 

 found to swim in shoals. In connection with the examples 

 kept at the Brighton Aquarium some data of high interest 

 were observed and recorded by the writer,* relating to 

 the phenomena of reproduction. On the arrival of the 

 spawning season, which takes place during the early spring 

 months, the full-grown males, separating themselves from 



* W. SaviUe Kent, " On Permanent and Transitory Variations in the 

 Colour of Fish," ' Nature,' May 8th, 1873. 



