70 
PAGEUS UNICOLOIi. 
Chrysoplirys miicolor, Q,mji et Gaimard, Voyage de V Uraiiie, 
p. 299. 
Pagrus unicolor and guttulatus, Guv. ^ Val., vi., p. 162, 160. 
{The Snapper?) 
The Snapper is one of the largest and handsomest of the fish of 
the Melbourne Market. It is found all the year round, but the 
specimens caught in the cold months of the year are generally 
small; in ISTovember and December it becomes much more 
abundant, and the very large specimens are common. It is a 
good article of food. 
As I had already observed at the Cape of Good Hope, with 
respect to Chrysoplirys, the specimens of this sort are subject 
to very remarkable changes in their form. The female has 
always a rather oval profile, and the young male has the same ; 
but in this sex, age brings on the developement of a curious 
crest on the nape of the head, and of a protuberance which, in 
very old individuals, takes the appearance of an enormous nose, 
and gives to some of these individuals a most remarkable re- 
semblance to the human face. 
The Snapper is of a beautiful silvery pink, with the lower parts 
of the body white and silvery ; dorsal pink, with sometimes 
white spots on the membranes. The caudal becomes blackish 
towards its end ; all the fins are pink, with the exception of the 
anal and ventral, which are white. 
The young specimens are covered with white and sometimes 
with blue spots, which disappear with age ; these appear to be 
the Pagrus Guttulatus of Cuvier. Some old specimens take a 
beautiful red colour. This sort attains large proportions, and 
sometimes weighs up to fifty pounds. 
CHEYSOPHETS. 
This genus of Cuvier only difiers from Pagrus by the upper 
molar teeth, which are here in at least three series, when in 
Pagrus they are only in two. 
