48 
JAOO’S CiOLDSlNNY. 
dorsal, and caudal fins inclined to red. The front of the dorsal 
bears a dark mark, which extends to three or four of the rays; 
at the upper border of the base of the tail is a round or 
oval spot, which may rather be said to be on each side of the 
edge than exactly on the top; a pink spot close to the upper 
part of the base of the pectoral. 
This species of Wrass remained long in a state of uncertainty, 
from having been confounded with such others of the Lahrid(s 
as had their chief marks of distinction in a spot at or near 
the root of the tail. Mr. Yarrell led the way in part to the 
detection of this error, by engraving, although only as a tail- 
piece, a figure of the fish at p. 301, vol. i, of his first edition; 
but the likeness was much distorted by the accidental pressure 
of the specimen in its conveyance. Further doubt, however, 
appeared to be dispelled by Mr. Selby, who published in the 
first volume of the “Magazine of Zoology,” etc., p. 167, with 
a plate, a description of the fish from examples thrown on 
shore in a storm on the coast of Northumberland. But the 
figure given by Mr. Selby is more stout and deep than any of 
the examples I have seen; and a remark to the same purport 
is made by Mr. M’dulla, as (j^uoted in Mr. Thompson’s work, 
already referred to. II' the form of the scales in Mr. Yarrell's 
plate is correctly represented, there is in these also a remarkable 
difference in these fishes; and the broad bands from the back 
downward, as in Mr. Selby’s figure, have never presented 
themselves in a Cornish, nor, 1 may add, in an Irish example. 
On the contrary, I have had occasion to mention the pink- 
tinted horizontal lines on the sides, which have also been 
noticed in Irish sjiecimens, but not in those of the north ot 
England. How far these differences may be explained by 
reference to the variety of ground and climate in which the 
individuals are found, is a subject for further inquiry; and 
this observation is the more appropriate, as, according to Dr. 
Gunther, who quotes the work on Ichthyology by Cuvier, 
there is a species with which it might be confounded. This 
is the Ctemlahrus marginatus, which is a native of the Medi- 
terranean, and of a more lengthened form than this C. rupestris, 
with the same number of fin rays, and a large black spot 
anteriorly on the dorsal fin, and another on each side of the 
caudal fin; the vertical fins with a narrow blackish margin 
