248 The Hijlory 0/ ANIMALS, 
the apertures are large : there is on eaeh fide under the noftrils, in the upper jaw, a 
little bone, which is furniftied with fmall teeth on it’s under part. 
The fcales of this fifh are large, and cover not only the body but the head, and fome 
part of the fins; they are placed in an elegaritly imbricated manner, and are imooth, 
and fomewhat hard, but not rigid or rough : on the belly and fides they are of a fil- 
very white, and on the back they are greyifh, with a tinge of brown ; they are round¬ 
ed at their extremities, and ftriated longitudinally : there is properly no lateral line on 
this fifh, but there are ten or eleven longitudinal lines, of a blackifh colour, which 
run parallel through the middle of the fcales, from the head to the tail. 
There are two fins on the back : the firft is fmall, and ftands nearly in the middle 
of the back; this has five prickles, and fometimes only four : the two anterior ones are 
largeft and robuft; the others are fofter and flexile : the hinder back fin is at a diftance 
from the other, and ftands about the mid-way, between that and the tail j this alfa is 
fmall, and has ten or eleven rays: the firfl of thefe is fhorteft, and is aculeated j the 
third and fourth are longeft; all of them have a direction toward the tail, and cannot 
be fet quite upright: the pe&oral fins are placed almoft tranfverfely under the gills ; 
they have each eighteen rays j the four firfl largeft, the others very fmall: the ventral 
fins are white ; they ftand nearer the pe&oral fins than to the anus, and are firmly joined 
together by a membrane at their bafe 5 thefe have each fix rays, of which the firfl is 
fhorteft and prickly, the reft are ramofe and longer; there is at the bafe of each of 
thefe fins a flefhy appendage, covered with fcales: the pinna ani is alfo white, and 
has twelve rays, or fometimes thirteen j the two or three firfl of thefe are prickly, the 
others ramofe, and cannot be raifed perpendicularly : the anus is much nearer the head 
than the tail; the tail is forked or femicircular, and has fourteen long rays. 
The mouth is furnifhed with a number of fmall teeth : the tongue is cartilaginous, 
and has a feries of them on each fide, and on each fide of the palate alfo there is a 
little bone covered with teeth : on the fim of the upper jaw alfo, behind the finuation, 
there are a number of fine teeth refembling hairs; but the middle of the palate, the 
fauces, and the under jaw, are all entirely fmooth : the flefh is white and firm, and 
is very well tailed ; it is compofed of large mufcles, and has no fpines among it: the 
vertebrse are oblong and large, and are only twenty-four in number: the ribs are long 
and large, and are fomewhat compreflfed; the air-bladder is large and Ample ; it is 
extended the whole length of the abdomen, and fixed to the back-bone : the heart is 
large and quadrangular ; the liver is fmall and undivided, but the gall-bladder is large; 
the fpleen is long, angular, and black; the inteftine is three times the length of the 
fifh, and has about ten volutions. 
The Mullet was well known to the antients. Ariftotle, Oppian, and fElian call it 
K t<pax©», Kerpsvc • and the latter fometimes, Ksrpix and Kerpt ®*; Gaza calls it Capito 5 
Paulus Jovius, Rondelet, and others, Cephalus; Gefner, Cephalus Mugil and Cef- 
treus Mugil; moft of the other Latin writers, Amply, Mugil; Charleton, Mugil imber- 
bis; and Salvian, Mugilis; the Italians call it Cefalo. 
It is frequent in the Mediterranean, and in our feas, and is much efteemed at our 
tables. 
L A B R U S. 
T H E Labrus has large and thick lips, covering the teeth : the teeth are large, 
and, befide thofe in the jaws, there are in the fauces three hard and thick den¬ 
ticulated bones, one of them placed below, and two above, which are furniftied 
with teeth : the palate and tongue, however, are fmooth : the membrane of the back 
fin has, in it’s anterior part, double rays, growing from the fame root or bafe; of 
thefe one is always foft, and the other rigid and prickly : the colour of the body is 
elegantly variegated; the tail, in moft of the fpecies, is undivided, and the fcales are 
large, fmooth, and foft: the branchioftege membrane contains fix fmall and fomewhat 
broad bones, when the fifh is full grown; but, in the young of moft fpecies, there 
can only be counted five. 
c 
Labrus 
