WRASSES. 
187 
f preceding. They are distinguished, however, by 
' having teeth resembling those of a card, except 
j a range of conical ones in front. The operculum 
is scaled, the pre-operculum smooth. The pec- 
torals and the ventrals are.greatly developed ; the 
former generally, the latter invariably, long and 
pointed, and sometimes produced into threads : 
the dorsal also sends forth thread-like filaments. 
About eighty species constitute this sub-family, 
which are almost exclusively natives of India. 
There is, however, a small species in the Medi- 
terranean, and one {Chromis Niloticus^ Cuv.), 
which, contrary to the habits of the family, is 
fluviatile, and reckoned the best fish in the Nile. 
3. Scarina, lihe {intermaxillaries diwA pre- 
mandibles) are convex, rounded, and furnished 
with scale-like teeth on their margin and anterior 
surface. The jaws themselves resemble great 
teeth, and actually perform the ofiice of teeth, 
being very thick and sharpened at the edges. 
These rounded bones are divided in the middle 
by a narrow line, and move vertically, indepen- 
dently of each other, as we have noticed in the 
living fish. They are nearly covered with fleshy 
lips, but there are no sub-orbital lips, as in the 
Lahrina. The head and crown are usually ele- 
vated, the profile abrupt, sometimes vertical. 
The body is oblong, covered with coarse, horny 
scales, which are generally much larger on the 
tail than elsewhere. The caudal is for the most 
part crescent-shaped; the lateral line is inter- 
rupted. About one hundred and twenty species 
belong to this sub-family ; scarcely any of which 
are found beyond the tropics. They are known 
as Parrot-fishes, chiefly on account of their rounded 
