4 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
ova°. To man the wrasses, being fish of good flavour 
and easy of digestion, are of considerably alimentary 
value, but in Sweden they are seldom caught in any 
great quantity, indeed with rod and line only, and are 
not held in very high esteem. In southern countries 
the case is different: and the ancient Greeks and Ro- 
mans have handed down to us the most eloquent pan- 
egyrics of these fish. Their highest esteem seems to 
have been given to a Mediterranean fish of the genus 
Scams, as to which Aristotle cites the popular belief, 
that it was the only fish that chewed the cud after 
the manner of certain land-animals, while Oppian adds 
that in its amatory pursuits it is the most ardent of 
fishes, insomuch that, by the help of a captive female 
attached to a line, numbers of males may be enticed 
into the nets. At the same time it Avas held to be a 
very sagacious fish, capable even of helping its cap- 
tured felloAvs by drawing them through the meshes of 
the net. According to Seleucus of Tarsus it was the 
only fish that indulged in sleep and was for this reason 
not to be caught at night * * 6 . According to Pliny it was 
introduced into Italy from Greece by Optatus Eli- 
pertius during the reign of the Emperor Claudius. 
Physicians too considered it the best and most whole- 
some of food. The fat of its intestinal canal was espe- 
cially esteemed; and Ave have a line of the Greek Comic 
poet Epicharmus Avhich states that it Avas not lawful for 
the gods themselves to throAV away its excrement c . In 
hot countries the Avrasses are more numerous and easier 
to catch, and are therefore fished for more assiduously. 
EA T en the savages of the Polynesian islands and Australia, 
in Avhose Avaters some of the wrasses attain a weight 
of as much as 50 pounds, are not sIoav to avail them- 
selves of this source of food. Armed Avith their long 
Avooden spears, which are furnished with one or some- 
times several points, they keep Avatch upon the rocks 
for these shy fish and may be seen standing for hours 
together silent and motionless till the moment of the 
cast comes. The Europeans too, Avho live in these 
parts, set a high value on the large Avrasses, and catch 
them with hook and line, using crabs as bait. In the 
Mediterranean, according to Elian, the ’parrot- Avrasses’ 
(a species of Scams ) Avere caught in old times with 
baits of coriander and parsnip. 
The wrasse family is especially Avell represented, 
as far as variety of form goes, in the East Indian Seas, 
in connexion with Avhich it has been excellently described 
by the Dutch naturalist Bleeker. Gunther makes six 
sub-divisions of the entire family, only tAvo of Avhich 
are represented in the Scandinavian Fauna — the ty- 
pical wrasses ( Labrina ), which possess the extreme 
number of dorsal fin rays together Avith free (not united) 
jaw-teeth, and the Rainbow- wrasses ( JulicUna ), which 
have 12 spinous rays at most in the dorsal fin, the 
jaw-teeth also free, and the pharyngeal teeth not con- 
fluent, Those of the Scandinavian species Avhich belong 
to the first subfamily may be distinguished by means 
of the folio Aving scheme: 
I: Top of the head covered 
Avith scales, as is also the 
interorbital space Labrus ( Acantholabrus ) Palloni. 
II: Interorbital space naked. 
A: Number of scales in the 
lateral line more than 
40, above the lateral line 
6 roAvs of scales at least. 
a: Number of spinous 
rays in the dorsal fin 
at least 19 Labrus berggylta. 
b: Number of spinous 
rays in the dorsal fin 
at most 18 Labrus mixtus. 
B: Number of scales in the 
lateral line at most 40. 
AboArn the lateral line 
not more than 4 roAvs 
of scales. 
a: Number of spinous 
rays in the anal fin 
more than 3 Labrus ( Centrolabrus ) exoletus. 
b: Number of spinous 
rays in the anal fin 
at most 3. 
ct: The smallest depth 
of the tail at least 
85 per cent of the 
base of the anal fin Labrus ( Ctenolabrus ) rupestris. 
(3: The smallest depth 
of the tail at most 
75 per cent of the 
base of the anal fin .... Labrus ( Crenilabrus ) melops. 
“ Labrus berggylta, L. massa and L. pavo, Gerbe, Rev. Mag. Zool., ser. 2, Tom. XVI (1864) pp. 255, 273, 337; Moreau, Hist. 
Nat. Poiss. Fr., Torn. Ill, p. 102. 
6 This statement as to sleep has been confirmed by M6bius and IIeincke ( Fische der Ostsee, p. 72) in .connexion with a northern 
species ( Labrus rupestris'), which, when kept in an aquarium, seeks a sleeping place at night and lays itself down to rest on one side. 
c Cf. Cuv. et Val. Iiist. Nat. Poiss. p. 133 etc. Epicharmus apud Athenaeus, VII, 114; a/MQOvg, zwv otde to O/mq Peyirov 
6 zfialetv Aeolg. 
