228 
PAGRUS. 
Two TOWS of small rounded molar teeth in each jaw; the front 
teeth fine and crowded; strong conical teeth in the outer series. 
BECKER. 
This is one of the fishes of which Dr. Gunther, in his 
“Catalogue of the Fishes of the British Museum,” has ex- 
pressed his opinion that Mr. Yarrell, in his history of our 
native species, has made the mistake of uniting the figure of 
one — the true Pagrus — copied fi-om Cuvier’s work, with the 
description and synonymes of a different species. 
Wliere fishes so nearly resemble each other as a large 
portion of this family are known to do, the marks of distinction, 
which are laid down by desci-iption only, as also figures taken 
from examples perhaps badly preserved, and when their dis- 
tinguishing tints have faded, are very likely to lead to errors 
of reference, similar to those which, in this instance and a 
few others, are attributed to my deceased friend. But if in 
this instance such an error has been fallen into, it has ex- 
tended far more widely than Dr. Gunther appears to suppose, 
since it is shared by most of the British naturalists, if not 
indeed by all, and not excluding the names of those excellent 
observers Willoughby and Ray. These last-named authors, 
who acted together, had travelled along the shores of the 
Mediterranean, for the special purpose of studying the natural 
history of the fishes of that sea in conneetion with those of 
their native country; and as some misunderstanding appears 
then to have existed in regard to the two fishes which had 
fallen within their observation, they have drawn at considerable 
length a comparison between them. The first is the Erythrinus 
or RubeUio, which Dr. Gunther believes to be the same with 
