24> CLASSIFICATION OF FISHES. 



being serrated or toothed ; by the operculum itself being 

 rarely armed with prickles ; and by the general small- 

 ness of their mouth : the whole of them inhabit the sea, 

 and only the Lahrince and the SparincE extend their 

 range to northern latitudes. We arrange the whole under 

 five great sub-families, each represented by the follow- 

 ing Linnsan genera : ChcEtodon, Scitena, Sparus, Scaraa, 

 and Lahrus. "^Vith the exception of the second and 

 thirds these groups have undergone a most laborious 

 analysis, the result of which will be found in our sys- 

 tematic arrangement : a few general remarks upon each 

 is all that our space will allow us to insert in this part 

 of our volume. 



(23.) For the LabrincB we have been prepared by 

 the last division of the perches, where, as in Percis, the 

 mouth is small, the body fusiform, and the lips fleshy : 

 this latter character, in fact, is the most peculiar of all 

 others belonging to these fishes, all of which have the 

 mouth small, the hps very thick, and the jaws, 

 especially at their tips, furnished with sharp conic 

 teeth : the dorsal fin is always single, and the spiny 

 rays are always shorter than those which are soft, — a 

 proportion directly the reverse of that V/hich is pre- 

 valent among the perches. The general colour of 

 these elegant-shaped fishes is green, varied on the head, 

 body, and fins, with stripes of the richest colours, but 

 chiefly blue, purple, or red. Several of these are found in 

 the British seas, and are the different species of wrasse, 

 figured by Mr. Yarrell (vol. i. p. 279 — 300). In some of 

 the minor groups, the pre-opercule is finely toothed, but 

 there are no prickles on the operculum. In this family, 

 we have defined, for the first time, many sub-genera, 

 exhibiting the different types of form, particularly 

 among the naked-headed wrasses, forming the genus 

 Jul is, one of the most lovely groups in the whole of this 

 sub-family. The only species of this latter group that 

 has recently been detected as a wanderer to our western 

 coast, is the Julis Mediterrana of Risso (fig. 3.). 



