196 



MEDITERRANEAN PROVINCE. 



bladder, and numerous cseca. They also present 

 few tints. Pomatomus is taken at 250 fathoms. 

 Ghimcera and Lepido leprus also belong to this 

 zone. 



During the researches of the "Beacon" on the 

 Lycian coast and among the islands of the iEgean, 

 above seventy species of marine fish were observed, 

 examined, and drawn, being more than twice the 

 number recorded from the Grecian seas in the 

 great French work on the Morea. Fishes are nume- 

 rous in the Eastern Mediterranean, but very few 

 attain any considerable size. " In the sheltered 

 bays and gulphs are numerous species of Sparoidece, 

 a tribe very characteristic of this region ; forms 

 of Sargus, Pagrus, Chrysophris, Cantharus, Sparus, 

 Dentex, Poops, and Oblada. They may be seen 

 swimming in shoals around the vessels at anchor, 

 their broad, silvery sides glancing in the water, in 

 some striped with irregular bands of gold, in others 

 marked with one or two dusky clouds, or tinged 

 with brilliant ultramarine and purple. They are 

 abundant in water from five to seven fathoms 

 deep, where the bottom is muddy or weedy. The 

 Scar us creticus is abundant on the Lycian shores : 

 it is remarkable for the variation in colour it pre- 

 sents at different seasons, at one time being of the 

 most vivid crimson, at another of a dull bluish-grey, 

 and sometimes piebald of the two colours. Equally 

 and even more vivid are the Wrasses, of which 

 many gorgeous sorts are common among the rocks 



