22 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
however, to have disappeared from the system at a later time and 
has really no place there, save as a synonym for Coris Julis. In 
the Royal Museum are preserved in alcohol the 5 Linnasan type spe- 
cimens of L. paroticus, which originally belonged to the Drottning- 
holm Museum ; and of these specimens we have procured drawings of 
one < 3 * and one 9- 
A comparison between the Rainbow Wrasse and the 
other Scandinavian wrasses at once suggests the relation- 
ship between the Perciform and Sciteniform fishes, accord- 
ing to Gunther’s definition of these groups, or between 
the Scorpoenina and Cottina of the same author. Thus 
in the Rainbow Wrasse and the group which it repre- 
sents (Julidinae), the spinous-rayed part of the dorsal 
fin is less than the soft-rayed part, and the spinous 
rays are considerably weaker than in the true wrasses. 
BleekeiP gives as a character of the group Pseudolabri- 
formes , which should correspond in the most important 
respects to .Gunther’s Julidina, that the membranous 
flaps behind the points of the spinous rays are wanting 
in these fishes. But in fact they are present, at least 
in the Rainbow Wrasse — a point which Steindachner* 
and Day have shown in their figures — though they 
are small and most nearly resemble a bar-like thick- 
ening of the margin of the fin-membrane. Thus in this 
respect too, the Rainbow Wrasse is a typical member 
of the genus; but it lias quite a different appearance 
from the wrasses, partly because of the elongated form 
of the body, and partly because of its naked head. In 
size it may attain a length of 250 mm. In younger 
and in average-sized specimens, the head forms 1 / 4 or 
a little more of the length 0 ; in older specimens, on the 
contrary, to judge by a stuffed male from the Medi- 
terranean, 250 mm. in length, the proportional length 
of the head may apparently sink to 23 V 2 % of the length 
of the body. The least depth of the body and its great- 
est thickness are about equal to, or less than half 
the greatest depth. According to Day’s explanation 
(1. c.) of the difference between the sexes, which had 
previously been regarded as a difference of species — 
Coris Julis — cf, Coris Giofredi — 9 — the shape of 
the dorsal fin varies considerably, but only in its ante- 
rior part. In the male it is considerably raised, the 
first spinous rays being in length about three times the 
distance of the lateral line from the dorsal profile, and 
in a high degree adds to the distinctive appearance of 
the fish, on account of the black spot on the fin-mem- 
brane. In the female this spot is entirely absent, but 
in both sexes the length of the posterior dorsal spines 
is less than the depth of the soft-rayed part of the fin. 
The anal fin, with its three spinous rays gradually in- 
creasing in length, the first being extremely small, and 
the first soft ray sometimes undivided and usually 
branched but slightly at the point, in other respects, 
both in shape and position, fully corresponds to the 
soft-rayed part of the dorsal fin. The caudal fin, which 
is rounded at the posterior margin, formed an exception, 
in all the specimens I have examined except one, to the 
rule among the generality of wrasses, in the fact that the 
number of the branched rays was 12 instead of 11. The 
ventral fins are shorter than the pectoral, being about 2 / 5 
of the head in length, while the length of the pectoral 
fins is about 1 / 2 of the length of the head. The dental 
equipment is fairly powerful; there are about 11 teeth 
on either side of each jaw in the outer row, the front 
ones being the largest, the most pointed and the most 
crooked, and within this row there is another row of 
blunt teeth. At the corners of the mouth, on the po- 
sterior end of the intermaxillaries, there are one or 
two large teeth projecting forward. Both the nostrils 
on each side are small, the anterior being about as far 
distant from the posterior as the latter from the ante- 
rior supra-orbital corner. The longitudinal diameter of 
the eyes in average-sized specimens is about % of the 
breadth of the forehead between the eyes. The intero- 
percula and subopercula are fairly broad, on account of 
their dermal expansion, the former meeting each other 
beneaht the head. As a rule too they cover the bran- 
chial membrane attached to their inner side, together 
with the 6 branchiostegal rays, which are visible, how- 
ever, through the thin membranous margin, which is 
continued superiorly by the coloured flap of the oper- 
culum. The lateral line follows the dorsal edge, at a 
distance of only 4 or sometimes 3 rows of scales from 
it; but at the 10th soft ray in the dorsal fin (the 19th 
ray, counting from the commencement of the fin) or 
in a line with the space between the 9 th and 10th, it 
suddenly bends downwards to the middle of the side 
of the tail, so suddenly that it resumes its straight 
course in a line with the 11th soft ray or the space 
a Atl. Ichth., Labr., p. 55. 
b Ichth. Span. Port., Sitzber. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Abtli. 1, Bd. LVII (1868), p. 701, plate III, fig. 2 and 3. 
' In 5 measured specimens, the smallest 104 mm. long, the largest 168 mm., the length of the head varied between 25,2 / and 28,2 
Yo of the length of the body. 
