THE CHECKERED SWINEEI8H 
221 
various marine creatures that swarm about such localities. In Madeira it is called Cherhe, 
when full grown, and Ci-ierhotte when young. 
Barnacle-laden timber seems to have great attractions for the Stone Bass, and it is 
mentioned by Mr. Yarrell that a becalmed vessel was surrounded for a fortnight with these 
fish, probably on account of the trailing barnacles with which her planking was covered. 
Their presence was most valuable, as they were caught in great numbers, and the men fed 
almost wholly upon them for twelve or fourteen days. 
^ From examination of the stomach, the Stone Bass seems to feed mostly on small fish of 
various kinds, sardines having been found in its interior in large quantities. Mollusks also 
form part of its food. It lives mostly in the deeper waters, preferring a rocky bottom, and 
generally remaining deeply immersed, unless attracted to the surface by the presence of its 
food. 
When following floating timbers, it is a remarkably bold fish. Mr. Couch remarks thus 
upon its habits : “ When a piece of timber, covered with barnacles, is brought by the currents 
from the more southern regions which these fishes inhabit, considerable numbers of them 
sometimes accompany it. In the alacrity of their exertions, they pass over the wreck in pur- 
suit of each other, and sometimes for a short space are left dry on the top, until a succeeding 
wave bears them off again. From the circumstance of their being usually found near floating 
wood covered with barnacles, it might be supposed that this shell -fish forms their food ; but 
this does not appear to be the case, since, in many that were opened, nothing was found but 
small fishes. Perhaps the young fishes follow the floating wood for the sake of the insects 
that accompany it, and thus draw the Stone Bass after them.” 
The color of the Stone Bass is dark purple-brown above, and silvery-white below. The 
fin-membranes are brown, and the tail is tipped with white. When young, it is mottled with 
darker and lighter brown. The lower jaw is larger than the upper, and over the operculum 
runs horizontally a bold, bony ridge, ending in a sharp point directed backwards. There is 
also a row of short, sharp spines over the eye, and the first ray of the ventral fins and the first 
' three rays of the anal fin are furnished with strong, thorny spines, so that the fish is armed at 
all points, and when struggling violently is likely to inflict rather severe wounds on the hand 
that grasps it incautiously. 
The great and important family of the Labridse, or Lip-fishes, so called in allusion to the 
thick and fleshy lip with which their mouths are furnished, are spread over the greater portion 
of the globe, few coasts being without several representatives of the group. 
These fishes are not only remarkable for the full fleshiness of their evidently sensitive lips, 
but for the endless variety of rich and vivid tints with which their bodies are decorated ; hues 
pure as the bright patterns of cathedral windows, and often arranged with a symmetrical 
regularity of outline and a daring harmony of contrasting colors that, when seen on the healthy 
and living fish, appear as if flung on its scales direct from the kaleidoscope. Of the three 
primary colors, red seems to retain its purity of tone more perfectly than either the blue or 
the yellow, the former usually being mingled with yellow, and forming greens of varying 
qualities, while the lattei frequently takes a slight tinge of red, and becomes warm orange. 
These tints are extremely variable, ranging through every tone of the secondary colors, and 
even in different individuals of the same species the color is so uncertain that no dependence 
can be placed upon it as a means of determining the particular species. 
The Labridse are most lovely creatures, but it is in the tropical and warmer seas of the 
world that they are to be seen in their full brilliancy. No artist can transfer to paper the 
radiant hues that glow on these favored members of the finny race, and no pen can do justice 
to. their wondrous splendor, as they dart through the crystalline water like living meteors, or 
leisurely traverse the forests of moving algse, balancing themselves among the submarine foliage 
like humming-birds of the sea. 
The Checkered Swihe-fish is one of the singular species which are so frequent in the 
hotter seas, and which exhibit a surface at once colored with the brightest hues, and decorated 
