KED BANDFISH. 
263 
common on the south and west of England, although the oc- 
currence anywhere of thirty specimens at one time, (Loudon’s 
Mag. Nat. Hist., N.S., vol. ii,) must be deemed remarkable. It 
is also remarkable that the occurrence of this fish in numerous 
instances has been owing to the accident of its having been 
thrown on shore by stormy weather; from which it happens that, 
although not liable to be broken in pieces, like the larger 
members of the ribband-shaped family, it usually becomes dis- 
figured with a variety of bruises. Some have been found on 
opening the .stomachs of the more voracious fishes, especially of 
the Cod family; and in a few instances it has been known to 
be caught with a hook. From circumstances attending its capture 
with us, it appears that its habits are to keep in rocky ground 
at a moderate depth of water; and that its food is the smaller 
sorts of crustaceans and perhaps mollusks, which the relative 
capacity of its gape enable it to seize with readiness, and which 
the spreading direction of its teeth must assist to retain with 
firmness. 'J’he stomach is of moderate size, but of a firm and 
muscular texture; and it may be added, in reference to its 
internal structure, that the air-bladder is large, with its chief 
portion not situated in the common cavity of the body, but 
behind it, and stretching along from the spine to the neigh- 
bourhood of the anal fin. 
The Red Bandfish is common in the Mediterranean, and 
Lacepede gives a florid account of its motions when alive, as 
if he had seen them; although when he informs us that there 
are two species, now acknowledged by naturalists to be only 
varieties of each other, he makes a principal distinction between 
them to be, that the C. serpentiformis^ which is the true C. 
ruhcscens of Gmelin’s Linnaeus, is furnished with a forked tail, 
which certainly is not the case. The short account by Risso of 
the actions of this fish is more moderate in its tone. He says 
that with its smooth and flexible body it is able to move in a 
serpent-like manner with considerable activity; and in contrast 
with the pale blue water, its own brilliant red colour has 
procured for it the name of the Flame and Ribband. 
The greatest length of this fish has been about twenty inches; 
but the example described measured filteen inches, with a depth, 
including the fins, of an inch and a quarter, gradually tapering 
from the vent to the tail, and very thin. A specimen of small 
