THE WRASSE. 
22 X 
tile requifltes for that procefs are found to belong to 
them. Their food alfo is of fuch a nature, that after the 
firfl comminution in the mouth, it has no farther occa- 
fion to be brought back there to undergo a fecond mafti- 
cation. Pliny indeed afferts, that the fcari eat grafs and 
Weeds ; which, if true, would give a (hew of probability 
to the rumination of thefe fifties; but unhappily the fad, 
in moil kinds of thefe fifties, feems as ill founded as the 
opinion which it is adduced to fupportf. 
Brian feems to have adopted the notion of Pliny , as 
far as the food of the fcarus is concerned ; for he aflerts, 
that it is only found around the ifland of Crete, the fea 
in other parts not producing the marine plant upon 
which it fubfifts. Gefner, and feveral of the ancients, 
believed that this fpecies, as well as fome others, enjoyed 
intervals of fteep in their fubaqueous retreats ; an afier- 
tion which receives no credit from the conformation of 
the eye ; which being deprived both of eyelids and a. 
niftating membrane, cannot polfibly be ftmt t. 
1 he Scar us ^[. 
T • , • 
-*• his animal is of a reddilh livid colour, covered with 
^ r oad tranfparent feales, and dillinguilhed from ever^ 
ot her fiih, by certain prominent and tranfverfe appen- 
^ a ges on each fide of the tail. The mouth is not very 
Ca pac.ious, but ftored with obtufe teeth ; thofe upon the 
fore 
1 Plinii. Hift. Nat. ubi fupra. f Gefner de Pifcib. p. 1019, 
7 Scarus, Bdomi, Labrus Ctetenfis, I.in. Syft. 
