WRASSES. 
183 
j Family XVI. Labrid^. 
? ( Wrasses,) 
! In this very extensive Family we find great 
I brilliancy and variety of colour, perhaps even in 
I a higher degree than in the Chaetodons. The 
i richest greens, purples, blues, yellows, and reds of 
i all degrees of intensity, in various combinations, are 
I the common hues of the Wrasses, especially of 
jl those which inhabit the warmer seas ; but the shores 
! of Britain and those of southern Europe produce 
1 not a few, which shine in gorgeous tints, unfor- 
i tunately as evanescent as beautiful. Some shade 
1 of green is perhaps the most common ground- 
! colour, and the other hues are usually disposed 
i in the form of spots or of longitudinal bands. 
Little skill suffices to recognize the Wrasses. 
Their body is oblong, and spindle-shaped, clothed 
with rather large scales, which do not extend 
upon the fins. They have a single dorsal which 
is lengthened, partly spinous, partly flexible ; the 
spinous rays commonly shorter than the others, 
and terminated by membranous filaments. The 
jaws are covered by fleshy lips, often thick and 
prominent, whence the name of the principal 
genus has been derived, Lahrus from lahrum^ a 
lip. There are three bones in the pharynx (or 
throat), all of which are furnished with teeth, 
sometimes arranged like the stones of a pavement, 
sometimes pointed, or in laminae ; but generally 
conspicuous, and stronger than is customary in 
fishes. The intestines are either destitute of 
ccEca^ or are furnished with two small ones : a 
