7 o MARINE AND FRESHWATER FISHES 



further remarkable for the brilliant colouration of its com- 

 ponent members, many of the British species in common with 

 their allies — the Parrot-fishes of the tropical seas — having 

 to be reckoned amongst the most gorgeously tinted examples 

 of the entire fish series. In this connection it is further 

 found that the two sexes are often so differently coloured 

 as to have been for a long time regarded as separate 

 species, while in other instances, again, it is difficult to 

 find two individuals of the same form that correspond 

 precisely with one another in the hue and pattern of their 

 markings. The Spotted, or Ballan Wrass {Labrns macu- 

 latus), No. 93, is our commonest and largest indigenous type, 



FIG. 15. — ballan wrass {Labitis maculatus). 



adult examples often measuring from fifteen to eighteen 

 inches in their total length. The ground colour of this fish 

 may run through various, shades of brown, blue, green, or 

 yellow, diversified usually by reticulations on the cheeks 

 and anterior regions of brilliant red, similar coloured spots 

 and other lines and markings being developed over the 

 remaining surface of the body. The bright grass-green 

 variety of the Ballan Wrass shading off to yellow on the 

 abdomen, and with yellow streaks along the sides, was 

 formerly named by Couch, the Green-streaked Wrass (La- 

 brits lineatus) ; and another form, the Comber, or Dunovan's 

 Wrass {Labrus Dunovani). A yet more brilliantly coloured 



