PLATE LXXXIII. 
^bout the head : the fins are red, with a broad dusky border inclining 
*^ore or less to purple, and elegantly marked with numerous roundish 
‘Jots of white. — Bloch considers the dusky border of the fins (which 
‘*1 the specimen he delineates is black) as a sufficient indication of the 
Species. In his fish the black border was distinct only in the ventral, 
®Oal, and caudal fins to which may be added that the dorsal fin is 
‘Commonly dusky or purplish as well as those before mentioned. The 
number of rays is variable ; the dorsal fin in our Cornish specimen 
uontained twenty spiny rays and ten soft ones ; pectoral fin fourteen 
rays : ventral one spiny and five soft rays : anal three spinous 
nnd nine soft rays, and the tail fourteen rays, all which are soft. 
Sloch describes this fish under the title of Labrus vetula, as a native 
Ae coafts of Brittany, Normandy, and the North Sea, from the 
of which he received it thi ough the medium of his friend M. 
^Pengler. Gmelin mentions it as an inhabitant of the British coasts, 
Nobably on the authority of Ray and Willughby, But the species 
Uot confined to Europe, a specimen of it taken among a variety of 
uffier fishes by Capt. Cook in the South Seas is at this time in our 
Possession. 
The haunts of this fish are deep waters on the boldest rocky shores, 
'^here it subsists chiefly on crabs and testaceous animals, for the ma- 
‘^oration of which the three tuberculated bony processes of its throat 
^^0 admirably constructed. This fish takes bait eagerly, and is more 
'^ouiihonly caught with the hook and line, than in the|net, or by any 
°^her mode of capture. 
, T appears Mr. Pennant had not considered the varieties of this fish 
ttively, or we think the Ballan wrasse would not have been de-s 
YOL. IV, 
£ 
