SEA-BREAMS. 
53 
In their manner of life the Spar id, w closely re- 
semble the Labridce, and several exotic genera of the 
former family are also very like the Wrasses in ap- 
pearance. The principal character of the Sparidce , too, 
is expressed in their strong teeth, adapted for crashing 
or biting their food, and many of them are remarkable 
for their thick lips, sometimes fringed with a velvety, 
papillose covering, which may be continued into the 
mouth and there change into a coat of longitudinal 
folds on the palate and tongue". They live for the most 
part on mussels and other shellfish or crustaceans, the 
shells of which they have to crush. Some species, how- 
ever, which are provided with a longer digestive canal 
than the others, feed principally on seaweed. In con- 
sequence of this diet the Sparidao are generally shore- 
fishes, which, while young, live in shallow and tidal 
waters, but in old age keep to deep water. The young 
are often found in shoals, the old ones, on the con- 
trary, are generally of solitary habits. From olden 
times they have been highly esteemed among Mediter- 
ranean fishes by the Greeks and Romans, and one spe- 
cies, the Gilt-head ( Spams aurato ) was kept alive 
in captivity and fed on mussels, to form a highly 
prized dish. But the family is no less valuable in 
domestic economy in America, where the Sheep’s-head 
(Diplodus probatocephalus ■— Sargus ovis ), which attains 
a length of 35 inches and a weight of 14 or 15 lbs., 
is considered one of the most delicious salt-water fishes 
of the United States * 6 , or in Australia, Avhere the Schnap- 
per ( Spams unicolor ), which may weigh as much as 
28 lbs. c , is held in as great esteem. 
The family includes about 120 known species from 
the tropic and temperate seas and the brackish waters 
round their coasts. Of the four groups into which it 
is divided (subfamilies: Cantharini, Bogini d , Sargini , 
Sparini ), and which have been distinguished by Cuvier 6 , 
Valenciennes 7 and Gunther^ on account of the diffe- 
rence in the form of their teeth, there are two which, 
though only on occasions more or less frequent, are 
represented in the Scandinavian Fauna, the first, Cantha- 
rini, including the forms which have only pointed, 
cardiform teeth, the second, Sparini, containing those 
which in the front of the mouth have pointed, cardi- 
form teeth or canines and on the back of the jaws 
obtuse, molar teeth. Of each subfamily we have only 
to give one genus. 
Genus CANTHARUS. 
The jaw-teeth form anteriorly a dense , strong card , the outer row of which consists of larger teeth than the others. 
The European side of the Atlantic, the Mediter- 
ranean and the African side of the Indian Ocean, form 
the habitat of the genus Cantharus, whereof Gunther 
in his Catalogue (1. c.) has only cited 6 species as cer- 
tainly belonging to it. Three of these, he says, belong 
to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic outside it, three 
to the Cape and the Seychelles. Steindachner 6 , how- 
ever, has combined two of the first-mentioned species 
into one, and if this was done with good reason, as 
certainly seems to be the case, we are compelled also 
to assume that the third Mediterranean species has no 
greater right to its position, since the characters given 
by Valenciennes for Cantharus orbicularis 1 , have most 
of the appearance of characters of age. 
a This structure is especially beautiful in Spams erythrinus, for example. 
6 Cf. Cuv., Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., VI, p. 55, following Mitchill. 
c Cf. Tenison-Woods, Fish a. Fisher. N. S. Wales, p. 40. 
d Obladini , Moreau, Ilist. Nat. Poiss. Fr., Ill, p. 13. 
e Regn. Anim., ed. 2, vol. II, pp. 181, etc. 
f Cuv., Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., VI, pp. 6, etc. 
,J Cat. Brit. Mas., Fish., I, p. 412. 
h Stzber. Akad. Wiss. Wien, LVI, I (1867), p. 649. 
i Cuv., Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., VI, p. 331. 
