12 _ L A B 
LABRO'SE, ad). [from tabra, Span.] Having full lips; 
having a brink. Bailey. 
LABROSUL'CIUM, f. [Latin.] A canker in the lips. 
Phillips. 
LA'BRUM,/! [Latin.] A bathing-tub; the edge of a 
ditch or river; a lip. Phillips. 
LA'BRUM VEN'ERIS. See Dipsacus. 
LA'BRUS,yi [from o?, Gr. voracious; or from la- 
brum, Lat. a lip, on account of the thicknefs of the lips.] 
In ichthyology, a gen us of thoracic fifhes, the characters of 
which are—Lips very thick, the lip-bones concealed, 
■the upper lip double and extenfile; a /lender fkin beyond 
each ray of the dorfal fin ; teeth /harp ; gill-coverts lcaly. 
Thefe tithes in general have the upper jaw moveable, f’o 
that it can be protruded or drawn back; it confifts of 
two bones which join in the middle; each bone is pro¬ 
vided with an apophyfis, or procefs, at the place of junc¬ 
tion ; above this half-jaw appear, according to the fize 
of the mouth, two other thin bones, whofe narrow ends 
join in the middle, and their broad ends advance to the 
corners of the mouth ; they have no other tegument but 
the (kin, and no immediate connexion with the other 
bones. Artedius calls them external jaws-, but, as they do 
mot perform the functions of lips, and are very rarely fur- 
niflied with teeth, and furthermore as they touch neither 
the upper nor under jaw, this name cannot be proper for 
them. Neither can they be denominated lips, as Linnaeus 
would have it, for that name can be applied to fie/hy fub- 
ftances only, not bony. Dr. Walbaum, in his new edi¬ 
tion of Artedius, calls them whifkers ; but this gives the 
■idea of fomething hairy. The only thing they can be 
compared to is the os hyoidcs in the human frame. Bloch 
calls them lip-bones, and him we have followed. Now, the 
fifhes of this tribe having thefe bones fhort and narrow, 
and concealed by broad thick lips, bones thus covered are 
taken by Bloch to form the generic charafter; fome other 
fifii indeed have this peculiarity, but they are fufficiently 
diftingui/hed by other marks. The fi/hes of this genus 
have a lengthened body, a blunt fnout, the head fome- 
times partly covered with fcales, fometimes quite bare ; 
the fcales are thin and oval, like thofe of ferpents; the 
lateral line is much curved in the back part in fome fpe- 
cies, in others it breaks off, and in fome it is quite ftraight. 
The fins are rounded in rnoft of the fpecies, though fome 
have them pointed. They have feven fins, of which the 
dorfal is very long, and the membrane is continued be¬ 
yond the end of each ray; this is the Linnaean generic 
character. They have beautiful colours ; and, the fpecies 
Being very numerous, fome are found in all parts of the 
world. They are predaceous, feeking the /hallows and 
rocky bottoms of the feas contiguous to the boldeft /hores; 
and thence their fle(h is firm and wholefome. The Greek 
writers were acquainted with fix fpecies ; Bloch reckons 
up no lefs than m, which he divides into thofe with 
fwallow-tails, crefcent-tails, and rounded tails ; which 
laft, being very numerous, he agains fubdivides into thofe 
which have fcales on the head, and thofe which have not. 
Cepede has divided the Labri into no lefs than feven ge¬ 
nera ; Labrus, Hiatula, Olphronemus, Cheilinus, Lutja- 
nus, Trichopodus, and Cheilodipterus; to which may be 
added Gomphofus and Monodaftylus, by which he has 
defignated fome fpecies very nearly refembling the Labri. 
All thefe we /hall, in conformity with our ufual plan, re- 
ffore to their places according to the Gmelinian fyftem, 
inferting the recently-difcovered kinds in their proper 
places. 
I. Tail divided; forked or crefsent-Jhaped. 
i. Labrus Brafilienfis, the Brafilian wraffe. Specific cha¬ 
racter, ltripes on the dorfal and anal fin. There are n 
rays in the peftoral fin, A in the ventral, in the anal, 
18 in the tail, and in the dorfal. The upper figures in 
the fraction-like form denote the number of fpinous rays 
i,n each fin. 
The head is without fcales, Hoping, and ornamented 
R U S. 
with vermicular lines or ltripes of blue upon a gold 
ground, which are continued all down the back. The 
mouth is fmall, the jaws of equal length, with two canine 
teeth in the upper, and four in the lower, and a row of 
little iharp teeth along the tides. The noftrils are dou¬ 
ble, and near the eyes; the pupil is black, irides dark red, 
and light blue. The lateral line is arched parallel with 
the back, and nearer to it than to the belly ; the anus is 
nearer the head than the tail. The fcales are large and 
fmooth. The foft rays of the fins are ramified, except of 
the dorfal and anal, which are only dichotomous. Gold 
is the prevailing colour in this fifli, on which the blue 
lines and fpots have a fine effeft. The dorfal and ana! 
fins are yellow, with each three blue ftripes ; the other 
fins are entirely blue. This beautiful fifli is found in the 
waters of Brafil ; its length is not more than ten inches 
according to Marcgrave; but prince Maurice fays it grows 
to the fize of the carp. It lives on prey, bites at a hook, 
and is excellent food. Cepede places this and the third 
fpecies in his third divifion, fuppofing the tail to be tri- 
lobated. 
2. Labrus lunaris, the lunated wraffe: body purple, 
and eight fpines in the dorfal fin. There are 5 rays in 
the membrane of the gills, 17 in the pedloral fin, 6 in the 
ventral, 13 in the anal, 14 in the tail, 21 in the dorfal. 
The head is fmall, compreffed, without fcales, furniflied 
with a great number of pituitous pores; there is one row 
of fmall Iharp teeth, of which the back ones are the long¬ 
ed ; the tongue and palate are fmooth, but there are bones 
in the gullet armed with flat teeth. The eyes are fmall, 
pupil blue, iris lilvery, and a niftating membrane; the nof¬ 
trils are clofe to the eyes. The poiterior operculum ter¬ 
minates in a blunt point, and confifts of two fmall laminae ; 
under the anterior one is found the Jingle gill-, concerning 
which peculiarity, fee the article Ichthyology, vol. x. 
p. 736. The body is oblong, and covered with fmooth 
fcales. The anus is nearer the head than the tail; the 
lateral line makes an abrupt bend at the end of the dor¬ 
fal fin ; it appears fplit in three upon every fcale. The 
foft rays of the fins are moftly four-branched, and the 
fpiny ones jagged. The head and dorfal fin are dark blue; 
the lower parts are lighter; the peftoral fins are yellow at 
the bafe, and afterwards dark blue, the dorfal fin is edged 
with white above and below. Inhabits South America 
and India. 
3. Labrus viridis vittatus, the green ftriped wraffe: the 
beautiful green colour which pervades this fi(h, and eight 
fpines in the dorfal fin, form the fpecific character. The 
pectoral fin has 12 rays, the ventral 6, the anal 13, the tail 
14, the dorfal 28. The head is fmall, compreffed, void of 
fcales, and ornamented with green ftripes. Mouth as in 
the preceding. The noftrils are double, and near the 
eyes. The eyes have a black pupil, and golden iris. The 
body is narrow, compreffed, and covered with large fmooth 
fcales, edged with yellow and green. The lateral line 
goes ftraight with the back, and is curved towards the 
end. The back is carinated, the belly thin, the anus in 
the middle of the body. The dorfal and anal fins are yel¬ 
low, with a green edgingat top and bottom: the others 
are yellow in the middle, and green at the extremities. 
This fpecies is from Japan ; it grows a foot long. We 
have given it the name of viridis vittatus, to diftinguifh it 
from Linnaeus’s Labrus viridis, which has a rounded tail, 
and inhabits the Mediterranean. The prefent fpecies is 
from Bloch. 
4. Labrus bifaciatus, the two-handed wrafte : two brown 
tranfverfe ftripes on the body. The membrane of the gills 
has five rays, the peftoral fin 12, the ventral 6, the anal 
14, the tail 13, the dorfal 21. The head is void of fcales, 
containing a number of minute apertures which leparate 
a vifcous liquor. The teeth are clofe together, and the 
front ones are the largeft. The eyes are fmall; the pupil 
is red, the iris green. The palate and tongue fmooth, but 
there are pearl-lhaped teeth in the gullet. The body is 
long; the fcales broad, thin, and fmooth. The lateral 
