ENGLISH FISHES* 



453 



partly encircles a scaly space : in each jaw, one 

 row of larger teeth, those of the upper rather su- 

 perior in size ; within these, the mouth is rough- 

 ened with minute denticles : the irides are partly 

 dusky and silvery. The colour is usually dusky- 

 blue, with paler longitudinal lines. Sometimes 

 they are of so very dark a colour, approaching to ^ 

 black, that the lineations are obscure, which has 

 induced the fishermen to call them Parsons. 



By comparing this species with the Red Bream, 

 Sparus Pagrus, of similar size, the following dis- 

 tinction is obvious : The back is more arched be- 

 hind the head, and less sloping from the nostrils 

 to the mouth in front : the tail is rather less fork- 

 ed, and the angles unequal, which is not observ- ^ 

 able in the Red Bream : the eye of the Black 

 Bream is one-fourth less; this has no dusky spot 

 behind the head : the Red Bream has a spot above 

 the base of the pectoral fin on the lateral line : 

 all the fins of this are dusky, with a blue tinge ; 

 the fins of the other are more or less red : the 

 mouth is more protruded, and not red within as 

 in Pagrus : this is deeper in measurement, by near- 

 ly one-fifth ; is more compressed, andcarinated on 

 the back, than the other: the fins of both fishes 

 have nearly the same number of rays, but they 

 are much broader in this than in the red species : 

 the teeth in the fauces are small and slender, si- 

 milar to what are found in the other, and not in 

 the least like the Bufonites. It does not grow to 



VOL. II, G g 



