52 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
One specimen of this species has wandered into 
the Sound. “It was found,” says Nilsson, “on the 24th 
o 
of December, 1852, not far from shore, outside Alstorp 
south of Landskrona. The fish was stranded among the 
seaweed, where it lay and lashed about in its struggles to 
get free. It Avas killed Avith boathooks by the fishermen and 
brought to Lund after the holidays, where it has since 
been stuffed and is preserved in the University Zoologi- 
cal Museum. It Avas 5 feet long and Aveighed 67 1 / 2 lbs.” 
The Royal Museum has a specimen of the Maigre 
from Cape Colony, Avhere this species is said to be very 
common, and from Avhich place came the specimens 
first described by Lacepede and Cuvier a under the 
name Labrus ( Scicena ) hololepidotus. Another specimen, 
which has formed the basis of the above remarks and 
the figure, has been obtained by the Museum from the 
Museum of Vienna through the generosity of Professor 
Steindachner. 
Fam. SPARIEvE. 
Form of the body deep and compressed. External hones of the head smooth; the first two suborbital ( preorbital ) 
bones , often united, broad and covering the maxillary bones when the mouth is closed. Scales ctenoid or cycloid. 
The scales of the body are , as a rule, not continued over the dorsal or anal fin, but these fins may generally be 
partly concealed in a groove formed by a scaly fold of skin. One continuous dorsal fin, the spinous-ray eel part 
of which is about equal in extent to the soft-rayed, or a little longer. System of the lateral line but little de- 
veloped on the head. Either closely-set, cutting or pointed , at least somewhat compressed teeth in the front of the 
jaivs, or obtuse teeth on the posterior parts of the intermaxillaries and the mandible. Palate and tongue without 
teeth. Chin ivithout barbels. Ventral fins thoracic, with one spinous ray and fixe soft. 
This family, like the preceding one, Avas precon- 
ceived by Artedi. The definition he gave his genus 
Spar us 1 ', in Cuvier’s system Avas represented by the 
tAvo families Sparidce and Mcenidce c , and the character 
to Avhich Artedi seems to have paid most attention, 
namely the nature of the jaw-teeth, is still of service 
in the system of our oavii times for the generic divi- 
sion of the family Sparidce. 
The Sparidce, to which Nilsson has given the 
Swedish name haf sruclefiskar (Sea Gibel Carps) on 
account of the general depth of the body, occupy a 
peculiar intermediate position, Avhich makes a defini- 
tion of the family very difficult. The deep form of 
the body, and the movable cardiform teeth of certain 
species remind us of the scale-finned fishes ( Squami - 
pinnes), Avhile other species, with their flat, sharp front- 
teeth, point to the Teuthididce. Again, the long, pointed, 
sometimes falcate pectoral fins call to mind the Mackerel 
group, Avhile the deep snout and the strong, conical 
front-teeth in other species remind us of their close 
resemblance to Hcemulon and some other genera of the 
Percoid family. Although they are Avithout the marked 
development of the muciferous system of the lateral 
line Avhich Ave find in the Sciamidse and Avhich consists 
in its extension over the head, still the naked (scale- 
less) parts of the head are generally covered Avith a 
skin densely pierced by fine pores. It is at the mar- 
gins of the preorbital bones and the preoperculum that 
these pores most clearly develop into attenuated, hori- 
zontal tubes. Similar tubes, spread out like the fingers 
of a hand, occur too on the posttemporal bones, which 
in their posterior part appear like scales, on the scales 
in an oblique row ,l ascending from these bones, on a 
corresponding i'oav of scales in the same direction from 
the superior articulation of the preoperculum and on the 
scales Avhich cover the posterior suborbital bones. The 
direction of these i’oavs of scales may vary, so that those 
Avhich ascend from the posttemporal bone and the preo- 
perculum may meet, or the latter take an opposite 
course, more obliquely forwards, over the forehead; but 
still their appearance clearly shoAvs that they correspond 
to the so-called muciferous ducts on the head, and they 
may be found, though they are not so distinct, even 
in the common Perch. 
0 Lacep., ( Labrus ) 1. c., Ill, p. 517, pi. 21, fig. 2; Cuv.. Val., ( Scicena ) 1. c., p. 53; Smith: III. Zool. S. Afr., Fish., pi. XV. 
b Gen. Pise., p. 35. 
c Regn. Anim., ed. 2. vol. II, p. 180 ( Sparoides ) and p. 186 ( Mcenides ). 
d Valenciennes and Bonaparte called this row of scales squamce super scapular es, Winther in Zoologia Danica Fiske, Forklaring til 
Tavlerne, p. II, fig. 2, k, has called it “Sidelinieris Nakkegren” (the occipital branch of the lateral line). 
