261 
Hoe Hijlory ^ANIMALS, 
colour, and the belly is of a filvery white : the opening of the mouth is very large ; 
there are teeth in the jaws, and on the palate, and in the fauces, and a rough bone 
runs all the way along the middle of the tongue : the noftrils are confpicuous, and 
have each a double aperture : the eyes are large, and ftand at a diftance5 they are co¬ 
vered with a fkin that adheres very firmly to them, and their iris is of a filvery white, 
but with a little circle of yellow: the tail is fomewhat forked, but not much fo : there 
are two fhort fpines at the pectoral fins, and at the angles of the branchias there is, on 
each fide, a fingle one larger than the others: the middle lamina of the coverings of 
the gills is ferrated round the edges, and has three large denticles beyond the angle: 
the firft back fin has nine rays; the fecond has thirteen : the pe&oral fins have each 
fifteen 5 the ventral ones have fix each, and the pinna ani has fourteen, of which the 
three former are prickly : the pylorus has five or fix appendages 3 the air-bladder is af¬ 
fixed to the back. 
This fpecies is frequent in the Mediterranean, and in fome other feas5 we have it 
about our own coafts: it is a very voracious fifh : it’s flefh is firm, and extreamly 
well tafted : the antients were well acquainted with it. Arifiotle, fElian, Athenasus, 
and Oppian call it Aclfyatg 3 and Ovid, Varro, Pliny, and from thefe Ray, Willughby, 
and almoft all the modern writers, have called it Lupus5 fome Lupus vulgaris5 others. 
Lupus marinus5 Paulus Jovius, Spigola five Lupus. The Italians call it Spigola 3 the 
Venetians, Bronchini 5 the Spaniards, Lupo5 the French, Lubin 3 and we, the Bafle, 
The giving this fpecies of Perea the name of Lupus has, however, occafioned fome 
confufion, as that name is alfo given to the Anarrhicas. 
P E R C M. 
Divifton the Second\ 
*Thofe which have only one jin on the hack 
Perea dorfo monopterygio , capite cavernofo. 
Ihe Perca y with a cavernous head , and with only one 
jin on the back 
mt 
SftttfF* 
T H E ufual fize to which this fpecies arrives is four or five inches, though fome- 
times it will grow confiderably larger: the head is, in it’s general form, com- 
prefled, but it is flatted a little between the eyes, and thence to the mouth it is fome¬ 
what declivous, and it has a great number of cavities or cavernulae deprefled on it ? s 
upper part, and on both fides, and fome on the lower 3 it is thefe hollows that have 
given rife to it’s being called the Hollow-head in fome places: the back is fomewhat 
acute 3 the breaft and belly are flatted : the breaft appears to be wholly naked, or 
without feales 3 the jaws are both of the fame length, and the opening of the mouth is 
confiderably large : the eyes are large, and of a variety of colours3 the noftrils are alfo 
large, and ftand about the midway between the eyes and the extremity of the head 3 
they are always full of a mucous humour, and the whole body of the fifh is, indeed, 
covered with the fame matter. 
The teeth are fmall, but numerous 5 there is a row of them in each jaw, and on 
the anterior part of the palate, toward the roftrum, there are a number of teeth fo 
minute, that they can fcarce be feen, but they are very eafily felt 3 and the reft of the 
palate is all ftnooth 5 in the upper part of the fauces there are two bones, the furfaces 
of which are alfo covered with teeth 5 and on the lower part, near the gills, there are 
two others, which are alfo covered with teeth 5 thefe, as well as the former, ftand fo 
clofe, that they feem to form only one bone of the two. 
The lateral line is fomewhat crooked. The colour of the fifh is a brownifh-yellow, 
and there are, on the back and fides, a number of black fpots of different fhapes and 
fizes 3 thefe, though very confpicuous, are not in the feales, but in the fkin which is 
under them. 
There is only one fin on the back, and this has twenty-eight rays, fometimes one or 
two lefs 3 the fourteen or fifteen anterior ones of thefe are prickly: the pedtoral fins 
have each fifteen rays, and the belly fins have each fix 3 the pinna ani has eight rays, 
of which the two firft are ftrong, firm, and prickly : the tail is fomewhat forked, but 
X x x ' it 
