1 12 ACANTHOPTERYGII. — CH^TODONTIDiE. 
desirable to it, in these repeated strokes ; but what 
could the naked hand of the worthy naturalist 
yield in the way of food ? We must be content 
to reckon the action among the thousands which 
we observe in animals, to which our habits, in- 
stincts, and reason, afford us no clue whatever. 
The colours of these little fishes, ,we have al- | 
ready said, are beautiful, and the style of colora- | 
tion is not less striking than the tints themselves. 
A very common combination in the group is a I 
ground colour of silvery white, frequently tinged I 
with rose or yellow, on which are drawn narrow I 
parallel lines of vivid colour, meeting at a sharp * 
angle on the lateral line, frequently varied by 
ocellated spots, and transverse bands of black 
across the body and fins. Not rarely the ground i 
colour is golden yellow, more or less intense, \ 
crossed by black bands. 
The species are very numerous ; one hundred | 
and ninety-four are enumerated by the Prince of I 
Canino as belonging to the Family, of which one |i 
hundred and fifty are of the typical form. They I 
swarm in the warm seas, all round the globe, but, | 
as far as we know, only in the vicinity of land. The [i 
reefs of coral with which the shores, both of the I 
islands and continents in the equatorial regions, I 
are girt, are the favourite resorts of these painted I 
little fishes. Not a single species of the typical 1; 
Chaetodons is found so far north as Europe ; 
there is, however, one belonging to the more aber- h 
rant genera, closely allied to the Archer {Toxotes)^ 
whose occasional capture on these coasts warrants i 
its enumeration among British Fishes: with a 
notice of its generic and specific characters we 
close our account of the Family. 
