158 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



had made sure I should have the satisfaction of examining these. 

 One of the fish was of a vivid mahogany hue approaching to rose red, 

 and of a colour and shape well depicted in a figure given by Couch 

 (' British Fishes,' vol. iii. plate cxxvi.) and described by him as the 

 Comber Wrass, but with no specific cognomen: Day ('British Fishes,' 

 voL i. p. 253, plate lxxi.), however, refers to it as Labrus maculatus 

 (variety donovani). 



It is my experience, and the fact is pretty generally recognized, 

 that the Labridce. are adorned with gorgeous tints, that intensify 

 under sexual influences, particularly in May, and that the species are 

 also subject to great individual variations in coloration, age and 

 sex also differentiating ; their brilliancy quickly declining, and hues 

 actually altering after death. Under these circumstances, and a 

 certain tendency to variation in figuration, the confusion that has 

 existed among naturalists as to a certainty of identification may be 

 excusable, but, nevertheless, leaves much to be regretted as well as 

 desired ; indeed, in most of their descriptions given of the Labridm 

 a very considerable space is devoted to argument and disputation as 

 to the determination of species. Personally, I am inclined to give 

 L. donovani (Cuv.) or L. comber (Eay) a definite place as a satis- 

 factory species. 



Mr. B. Q. Couch, son of the author of ' British Fishes,' describes this 

 fish as " the most elegantly shaped of all the Wrasses inhabiting our 

 seas. It is the most slender and most graceful. The head is smaller, 

 the lips thinner, and the jaws more prolonged and pointed than any 

 of the others. I have seen only a single specimen, caught off St. 

 Michael's Mount, but I am informed by the fishermen that several 

 are caught every summer " (' Zoologist'). These remarks well apply 

 to my two examples. 



Pennant refers to a Comber "received from Cornwall," and 

 professes to give an illustration of it, which has evidently been 

 copied by the engraver — although the position is reversed — in 

 Yarrell's ' Fishes,' although what he (Yarrell) terms the Trimaculated 

 Wrass (plate xlvi. fig. 120, vol. 3, edition 1776) is drawn to the exact 

 proportions of the fishes before me. My two examples measure 

 respectively 2f in. and 1\ in., and are immature : the larger was 

 dullish brown, but after a short immersion in formalin became dull 

 red ; the other, a red specimen, coming out in the solution vividly 

 red. When fresh the eyes were large and bright red ; the body 

 compressed but moderately deep, not so much so as in the Ballan 

 Wrass (a species remarkably well portrayed by Couch). On the 

 cheeks were three bean-shaped white spots, placed in such a position 



