Of the four species the most generally known is C. scolopax, the “Trumpet-fish” or “Bellows-fish,” which rarely occurs on the south coast of England, is more common farther south, and reappears in Tasmania. The allied C. gracilis is one of the fishes common to the Mediterranean and Japanese Seas. The species figured, C. humerosus, occurs on the coast of South Australia, and is very scarce.

The three species known of this genus are found in the tropical Indo-Pacific. Their body is so thin that it has the appearance of being artificially compressed between two sheets of paper; it is semi-transparent, especially in the region of the air-bladder. The structure of the vertebral column is extremely singular and unique among Acanthopterygians. The abdominal portion is more than four times as long as the caudal; nevertheless it is composed of only six vertebræ, whilst the latter consists of fourteen. The abdominal vertebræ are extremely slender, the third alone being nearly as long as the whole caudal portion; they have a slight ridge superiorly and inferiorly, and on each side; the whole portion lying in the uppermost concavity of the dorsal cuirass. The caudal vertebræ are extremely short, and the strength of their neural and hæmal spines is in proportion to their size. The dorsal cuirass is not a dermal production, but formed by modified parts of the endoskeleton; its composition, the number and condition of its single parts, and, finally, the first dorsal spine, which in A. punctulata is so singularly attached to it, favour this opinion. The plates, which occupy the vertebral line, would correspond to the neural spines, and the lateral plates on which the ribs are suspended to the parapophyses. Amphisile may be considered as a Chelonian form among fishes.

Fourteenth Division—Acanthopterygii Gobiesociformes.

No spinous dorsal; the soft and the anal short or of moderate length, situated on the tail; ventral fins subjugular, with an adhesive apparatus between them. Body naked.

These fishes are well characterised by their single dorsal fin, and by their adhesive ventral apparatus, which has only an external similarity to the organ observed in Cyclopterus and Liparis; its structure is typically different from it. Whilst in those genera the ventral fins occupy the centre of the disk forming its base, these fins are here widely apart from each other, as in Callionymus, forming only a portion of the periphery of the disk, which is completed by a cartilaginous expansion of the coracoid bones. The following description of its structure is taken from Sicyases sanguineus, but it is essentially the same in all the genera.

The whole disk is exceedingly large, subcircular, longer than broad, its length being one-third of the whole length of the fish. The central portion is formed merely by skin, which is separated from the pelvic or pubic bones by several layers of muscles. The peripheric portion is divided into an anterior and posterior part by a deep notch behind the ventrals. The anterior peripheric portion is formed by the four ventral rays, the membrane between them, and a broad fringe which extends anteriorly from one ventral to the other; this fringe is a fold of the skin, containing on each side the rudimentary ventral spine, but no cartilage. The posterior peripheric portion is suspended on each side from the coracoid, the upper bone of which is exceedingly broad, becoming a free movable plate behind the pectoral. A broad cartilage is firmly attached to it. The lower bone of the coracoid is of a triangular form, and supports a very broad fold of the skin, extending from one side to the other, and containing a cartilage which runs through the whole of that fold. Five processes of the cartilage are continued into the soft striated margin in which the disk terminates posteriorly. The surface of the disk is coated with thick epidermis, like the sole of the foot of higher animals. The epidermis is divided into many polygonal plates; there are no such plates between the roots of the ventral fins.

Not less unique is the structure of the bones which have some relation to this external adhesive apparatus. As exemplified by Chorismochismus dentex the coracoid is well developed, and, as usual, composed of two pieces, the upper of which is not suspended from the humerus, but fixed by a ligament to the hinder margin of the carpal bones. It is a broad lamella, dilated posteriorly into the cartilage, which is externally visible; the lower piece is narrower, and fixed to the extremity of the pubic bone of its side. The pubic bones are united by suture, and form together a heart-shaped disk, the point of which is produced backwards. The anterior portion of the disk is concave, with a bony longitudinal bridge and a feeble transverse ridge. The disk is fixed to the humeral bones by the convex portions of its anterior margin, whilst the convex portions of the lateral margins serve as base for the ventral fins. The latter are composed of one spine, which is transformed into a broad, thin, and curved plate, hidden below the skin, and apparently of four rays; but on closer examination we find that the hidden ray has a longitudinal groove anteriorly, in which another thinner ray lies concealed. This ray is quite free, and not joined to the pubic bone.

The fishes belonging to the single family of this division, Gobiesocidæ, are strictly marine but littoral fishes. They are scattered over the temperate zones of both hemispheres, and more numerous than between the Tropics. All are of small or very small size.

The adhesive disk consists of an anterior and posterior division. In some of the genera the posterior division has no free anterior margin, the teeth being either all conical, as in Chorisochismus (Cape of Good Hope) and Cotylis (Red Sea and Indian Ocean); or incisor-like in both jaws, as in Sicyases (coast of Chili and West Indies); or incisor-like at least in the lower jaw, as in Gobiesox (West Indies and Pacific coasts of South America). In other genera the posterior portion of the adhesive disk has a free anterior margin. Only one of these genera has incisor-like teeth, viz. Diplocrepis from New Zealand. In the remaining genera, Crepidogaster (from Tasmania and South Australia), Trachelochismus (from New Zealand and the Fiji Islands), Lepadogaster, and Leptopterygius, the teeth are very small and fine. The two last genera are European, and Lepadogaster at least is common on the Southern British coasts. The three species known as British—L. gouanii, L. candollii, and L. bimaculatus—are prettily coloured, but subject to great variation.

Fifteenth Division—Acanthopterygii Channiformes.

Body elongate, covered with scales of moderate size; no spine in any of the fins; dorsal and anal long. No superbranchial organ, only a bony prominence on the anterior surface of the hyomandibular.

These fishes belong to the single family Ophiocephalidæ, Freshwater-fishes characteristic of the Indian region, which, however, have found their way into Africa, where they are represented by one or two species. Thirty-one species are known altogether, most of which are extremely abundant; some attain to a length of more than two feet. Like other tropical freshwater fishes, they are able to survive droughts, living in semi-fluid mud, or lying in a torpid state below the hard-baked crusts of the bottom of a tank from which every drop of water has disappeared. Respiration is probably entirely suspended during the state of torpidity, but whilst the mud is still soft enough to allow them to come to the surface, they rise at intervals to take in a quantity of air, by means of which their blood is oxygenised. This habit has been observed in some species to continue also to the period of the year in which the fish lives in normal water, and individuals which are kept in a basin and prevented from coming to the surface and renewing the air for respiratory purposes, are suffocated. The particular manner in which the accessory branchial cavity participates in respiratory functions is not known. It is a simple cavity, without an accessory branchial organ, the opening of which is partly closed by a fold of the mucous membrane.

Sixteenth Division—Acanthopterygii Labyrinthibranchii.

Body compressed, oblong or elevated, with scales of moderate size. A superbranchial organ in a cavity accessory to that of the gills.

First Family—Labyrinthici.

Dorsal and anal spines present, but in variable numbers; ventrals thoracic. Lateral line absent, or more or less distinctly interrupted. Gill-opening rather narrow, the gill-membranes of both sides coalescent below the isthmus, and scaly; gills four; pseudobranchiæ rudimentary or absent.

Freshwater-fishes of the Cyprinoid division of the Equatorial zone. They possess the faculty of being able to live for some time out of the water, or in thick or hardened mud, in a still greater degree than the fishes of the preceding family. In the accessory branchial cavity there is lodged a laminated organ which evidently has the function of assisting in the oxygenisation of the blood. In Anabas it is formed by several exceedingly thin bony laminæ, similar in form to the auricle, and concentrically situated one above the other, the innermost being the largest. The degree in which these laminæ are developed is dependent on age. In specimens from one inch and a half to two inches and a half long there are only two such laminæ, a third being indicated by a small protuberance at the central base of the second or outer laminæ. In specimens of from three to four inches in length the third lamina is developed, covering one-half of the second. The edges of all the laminæ are straight, not valanced. In specimens of from four to five inches a fourth lamina makes its appearance in the basal centre of the third lamina. The other laminæ continue to grow in their circumference, and their edges now become undulated and slightly frilled. Cuvier and Valenciennes have examined still larger specimens. The figure given by them and reproduced here was taken from a specimen six or seven inches long, and shows the superbranchial organ composed of six laminæ.

The air-bladder of the majority of these fishes is very large, extending far into the tail, and, therefore, divided behind by the hæmal spines into two lateral portions.

The Labyrinthici are generally of small size; they are capable of being domesticated, and some of them deserve particular attention on account of the dazzling beauty of their colours or the flavour of their flesh.

The “Climbing Perch” (A. scandens) is generally distributed over the Indian Region, and well known from its faculty of moving for some distance over land, and even up inclined surfaces. In 1797 Daldorf, in a memoir communicated to the Linnean Society of London, mentions that in 1791 he had himself taken an Anabas in the act of ascending a palm tree which grew near a pond. The fish had reached the height of five feet above the water, and was going still higher. In the effort to do this it held on to the bark of the tree by the preopercular spines, bent its tail, and stuck in the spines of the anal; then released its head, and, raising it, took a new hold with the preoperculum higher up. The fish is named in the Malayan language the “Tree Climber.” It rarely attains a length of seven inches.

Spirobranchus from the Cape, and Ctenopoma from Tropical Africa, represent Anabas in that continent.

This genus is represented chiefly in the East Indian Archipelago; seven species are known; some of them have been domesticated on account of the beauty of their colours, and several varieties have been produced. One of them is to be mentioned, as, under the name of “Paradise-fish,” it has been introduced into the aquaria of Europe, where it readily breeds. It was known already to Lacépède, and has been mentioned since his time in all ichthyological works as Macropus viridi-auratus. In adult males some of the rays, and especially the caudal lobes, are much prolonged.

To this genus belongs the celebrated “Gourami” (Osphromenus olfax), reputed to be one of the best flavoured Freshwater-fishes in the East-Indian Archipelago. Its original home is Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and several other islands; but thence it has been transported to, and acclimatised in, Penang, Malacca, Mauritius, and even Cayenne. Being an almost omnivorous fish and tenacious of life, it seems to recommend itself particularly for acclimatisation in other tropical countries, and specimens kept in captivity become as tame as carps. It attains the size of a large turbot. A second, but much smaller, species of this genus, O. trichopterus, is frequently kept in vessels on account of the exquisite beauty of its varying iridescent metallic tints; like other fishes of this family it is very pugnacious.

Trichogaster, a very common Bengalese fish, differs from Osphromenus in having the ventral fins reduced to a single long filament.

A species of this genus (B. pugnax) is, on account of its pugnacious habits, reared by the Siamese. Cantor gives the following account:—“When the fish is in a state of quiet, its dull colours present nothing remarkable; but if two be brought together, or if one sees its own image in a looking-glass, the little creature becomes suddenly excited, the raised fins and the whole body shine with metallic colours of dazzling beauty, while the projected gill membrane, waving like a black frill round the throat, adds something of grotesqueness to the general appearance. In this state it makes repeated darts at its real or reflected antagonist. But both, when taken out of each other’s sight, instantly become quiet. This description was drawn up in 1840, at Singapore, by a gentleman who had been presented with several by the King of Siam. They were kept in glasses of water, fed with larvæ of mosquitoes, and had thus lived for many months. The Siamese are as infatuated with the combats of these fish as the Malays are with their cock-fights; and stake on the issue considerable sums, and sometimes their own persons and families. The license to exhibit fish-fights is farmed, and brings a considerable annual revenue to the King of Siam. The species abounds in the rivulets at the foot of the hills of Penang. The inhabitants name it ‘Pla-kat,’ or the ‘Fighting-fish;’ but the kind kept especially for fighting is an artificial variety cultivated for the purpose.”

Micracanthus.—This genus represents the three last-named genera in Africa, where it has been recently discovered in tributaries of the river Ogooué. It seems to differ from the Indian genera chiefly by its more elongate body, the structure of the fins being scarcely different (D. 3/7, A. 4/23, V. 1/4).

Second Family—Luciocephalidæ.

Body elongate, covered with scales of moderate size. Lateral line present. Teeth small. Gill-opening wide; pseudobranchiæ none. The superbranchial organ is formed by two branchial arches, which are dilated into a membrane. One short dorsal fin; dorsal and anal spines none; ventrals composed of one spine and five rays. Air-bladder none.

A small Freshwater-fish (Luciocephalus pulcher), from the East-Indian Archipelago.

Seventeenth Division—Acanthopterygii lophotiformes.

Body riband shaped, with the vent near its extremity; a short anal behind the vent; dorsal fin as long as the body.

Only one species is known of this division or family, Lophotes cepedianus. It is most probably a deep-sea fish, but does not descend to so great a depth as the Trachypteridæ, its bony and soft parts being well coherent. It is a scarce fish, hitherto found in the Mediterranean, off Madeira, and in the Sea of Japan; its length is known to exceed five feet. The head is elevated into a very high crest, and the dorsal fin commences with an exceedingly strong and long spine on the head. Silvery, with rose-coloured fins.

Eighteenth Division—Acanthopterygii Tæniiformes.

Body riband shaped; dorsal fin as long as the body; anal absent; caudal rudimentary, or not in the longitudinal axis of the fish.

The “Ribbon-fishes” are true deep-sea fishes, met with in all parts of the oceans, generally found when floating dead on the surface, or thrown ashore by the waves. Their body is like a band, specimens of from fifteen to twenty feet long being from ten to twelve inches deep, and about an inch or two broad at their thickest part. The eye is large and lateral; the mouth small, armed with very feeble teeth; the head deep and short. A high dorsal fin runs along the whole length of the back, and is supported by extremely numerous rays; its foremost portion, on the head, is detached from the rest of the fin, and composed of very elongate flexible spines. The anal fin is absent. The caudal fin (if preserved, which is rarely the case, in adult specimens) has an extra-axial position, being directed upwards like a fan. The ventrals are thoracic, either composed of several rays or reduced to a single long filament. The coloration is generally silvery, with rosy fins.

When these fishes reach the surface of the water the expansion of the gases within their body has so loosened all parts of their muscular and bony system, that they can be lifted out of the water with difficulty only, and nearly always portions of the body and fins are broken and lost. The bones contain very little bony matter, are very porous, thin and light. At what depths Ribbon-fishes live is not known; probably the depths vary for different species; but although none have been yet obtained by means of the deep-sea dredge, they must be abundant at the bottom of all oceans, as dead fishes or fragments of them are frequently obtained. Some writers have supposed from the great length and narrow shape of these fishes that they have been mistaken for “Sea-serpents;” but as these monsters of the sea are always represented by those who have had the good fortune of meeting with them as remarkably active, it is not likely that harmless Ribbon-fishes, which are either dying or dead, have been the objects described as “Sea-serpents.”

Young Ribbon-fishes (from two to four inches) are not rarely met with near the surface; they possess the most extraordinary development of fin rays observed in the whole class of fishes, some of them being several times longer than the body, and provided with lappet-like dilatations. There is no doubt that fishes with such delicate appendages are bred and live in depths where the water is absolutely quiet, as a sojourn in the disturbed water of the surface would deprive them at once of organs which must be of some utility for their preservation.

Ribbon-fishes are divided into three genera:—

Trachypterus.—In which the ventral rays are well developed, and composed of several more or less branched rays. Specimens of this genus have been taken in the Mediterranean, Atlantic, at Mauritius, and in the Eastern Pacific. The “Deal-fish” (T. arcticus) is often met with in the North Atlantic, and specimens are generally found after the equinoctial gales on the coasts of the Orkneys and North Britain.

Stylophorus.—Without ventrals, and with the tail terminating in an exceedingly long cord-like appendage. Known from one specimen only, found at the beginning of this century between Cuba and Martinique. It is eleven inches long, and preserved in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London.

Regalecus.—Each ventral fin is reduced to a long filament, dilated at the extremity; caudal fin rudimentary or absent. These are the largest of all Ribbon-fishes, specimens being on record the length of which exceeded twenty feet. They have been taken in the Mediterranean, North and South Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and on the coast of New Zealand. They are frequently called “Kings of the herrings,” from the erroneous notion that they accompany the shoals of herrings; or “Oar-fishes,” from their two ventral fins, which have a dilatation at their extremity not unlike the blade of an oar. One or more species (R. banksii) are sometimes found on the British coasts, but they are very scarce, not more than sixteen captures having been recorded between the years 1759 and 1878.

Nineteenth Division—Acanthopterygii Notacanthiformes.

Dorsal fin short, composed of short, isolated spines, without a soft portion. Anal fin very long, anteriorly with many spines; ventrals abdominal, with more than five soft and several unarticulated rays.

Notacanthus is the most aberrant type of Acanthopterygians. Of the characteristics of this order the development of spines in the vertical fins is the only one preserved in the fishes of this genus. Their body is elongate, covered with very small scales; the snout protrudes beyond the mouth. Eyes lateral, of moderate size; dentition feeble. Five species are known from the Arctic Ocean, Mediterranean, Atlantic, and Southern Pacific. They inhabit considerable depths, probably from 100 to 400 fathoms, and during the “Challenger” expedition specimens have been obtained from an alleged depth of 1875 fathoms.

SECOND ORDER:

ACANTHOPTERYGII PHARYNGOGNATHI.

Part of the rays of the dorsal, anal, and ventral fins are non-articulated spines. The lower pharyngeals coalesced. Air-bladder without pneumatic duct.

First Family—Pomacentridæ.

Body short, compressed, covered with ctenoid scales. Dentition feeble; palate smooth. The lateral line does not extend to the caudal fin, or is interrupted. One dorsal fin, with the spinous portion as well developed as the soft, or more. Two, sometimes three, anal spines; the soft anal similar to the soft dorsal. Ventral fins thoracic, with one spine and five soft rays. Gills three and a half; pseudobranchiæ and air-bladder present. Vertebræ, twelve abdominal and fourteen caudal.

The fishes of this family are marine; they resemble the Chætodonts with regard to their mode of life, living chiefly in the neighbourhood of coral formations. Like them they are beautifully coloured, the same patterns being sometimes reproduced in members of both families, proving that the development and distribution of colours is due to the agencies of climate, of the surroundings and of the habits of animals. The geographical range of the Pomacentridæ is co-extensive with that of the Chætodonts, the species being most numerous in the Indo-Pacific and Tropical Atlantic, a few extending northwards to the Mediterranean and Japan, southwards to the coasts of South Australia. They feed chiefly on small marine animals, and such as have compressed teeth appear to feed on the small Zoophytes covering the banks, round which these “Coral-fishes” abound. In a fossil state this family is known from a single genus only, Odonteus, from Monte Bolca, allied to Heliastes. The recent genera belonging to this family are:—Amphiprion, Premnas, Dascyllus, Lepidozygus, Pomacentrus, Glyphidodon, Parma, and Heliastes. About 120 species are known.

Second Family—Labridæ.

Body oblong or elongate, covered with cycloid scales. The lateral line extends to the caudal, or is interrupted. One dorsal fin, with the spinous portion as well developed as, or more than, the soft. The soft anal similar to the soft dorsal. Ventral fins thoracic, with one spine and five soft rays. Palate without teeth. Branchiostegals five or six; gills three and a half; pseudobranchiæ and air-bladder present. Pyloric appendages none; stomach without cæcal sac.

The “Wrasses” are a large family of littoral fishes, very abundant in the temperate and tropical zones, but becoming scarcer towards the Arctic and Antarctic circles, where they disappear entirely. Many of them are readily recognised by their thick lips, which are sometimes internally folded, a peculiarity which has given to them the German term of “Lip-fishes.” They feed chiefly on mollusks and crustaceans, their dentition being admirably adapted for crushing hard substances. Many species have a strong curved tooth at the posterior extremity of the intermaxillary, for the purpose of pressing a shell against the lateral and front teeth by which it is crushed. Other Wrasses feed on corals, others on zoophytes; a few are herbivorous. In all Wrasses the upper pharyngeal bones seem to be jointed to the basi-occipital; but whilst in Labrus the basi-occipital is raised on each side into a large flattish condyle, fitting into a concavity of the upper pharyngeals, in Scarus the mode of articulation is reversed, the basi-occipital having a pair of long grooves, in which the oblong condyles of the upper pharyngeals slide forwards and backwards. Beautiful colours prevail in this family, permanent pigmentary colours as well as passing iridescent reflections of the scales. Some species remain very small, others grow to a weight of fifty pounds. The larger kinds especially are prized as food, the smaller less so.

Remains of Labridæ, recognised by their united pharyngeals, which bear molar-like teeth, are not scarce in tertiary formations of France, Germany, Italy, and England. Such remains from Monte Bolca and the Swiss Molasse have been referred to the genus Labrus. Others, Nummopalatus and Phyllodus, are allied, but cannot be assigned, to one of the recent genera; the latter genus is first represented in cretaceous formations of Germany. Another genus, Taurinichthys, from the Miocene of France, represents the Odacina of the living fauna. Egertonia, from the Isle of Sheppey, differs so much from all recent Labroid genera that its pertinence to this family appears doubtful.

Young “Wrasses” differ from mature specimens in having the præoperculum serrated. The headquarters of this genus are the Mediterranean, whence it ranges, gradually diminishing towards the north, along all the shores of Europe. Nine species are known; British are the “Ballan Wrasse” (L. maculatus), and the “Striped or Red Wrasse” or “Cook” (L. mixtus). The two sexes of the latter species are very differently coloured; the male being generally ornamented with blue streaks, or a blackish band along the body, whilst the female has two or three large black blotches across the back of the tail.

The range of this genus is co-extensive with Labrus. C. melops, the “Gold-sinny,” or “Cork-wing,” is common on the British coasts.

The “Tautog,” or “Black-fish,” is common on the Atlantic coasts of temperate North America, and much esteemed as food.

Four species, from the Mediterranean and the temperate parts of the North Atlantic, Ct. rupestris being common on the British, and Ct. burgall on the North American coasts.

From the Mediterranean and British coasts (A. palloni).

Two species are known from Madeira and the Canary Islands, and one from northern Europe and Greenland. The latter is scarce on the British coasts, but bears a distinct name on the south coast, where it is called “Rock-cook.”

Lachnolaemus from the West Indies, and Malacopterus from Juan Fernandez, are Labroids, closely allied to the preceding North Atlantic genera.

Twenty species are known from the tropical zone and coasts adjoining it; some, like G. gouldii from Tasmania, attain a length of three or four feet.

Common in the tropical Indo-Pacific, whence more than twenty species are known. Hybrids between the different species of this genus are not uncommon.

This fish (E. insidiator) is said to seize marine animals by suddenly thrusting out its mouth and engulphing those that come within the reach of the elongated tube. It attains a length of twelve inches, is common in the tropical Indo-Pacific, and varies much in coloration.

Beautifully coloured fishes from the tropical Indo-Pacific. Ten species.

Small beautifully coloured Coral-fishes, abundant in the equatorial zone and the coasts adjoining it. Some eighty species are known (inclusive of the allied genera Stethojulis, Leptojulis, and Pseudojulis).

Twenty-six species are known from the tropical zone, and the warmer parts of the temperate zones. They are readily recognised by their compressed, knife-shaped body, and peculiar physiognomy; they scarcely exceed a length of twelve inches.

Co-extensive with Platyglossus in their geographical distribution, and of like beautiful coloration and similar habits. Some of the most common fishes of the Indo-Pacific, as J. lunaris, trilobata, and dorsalis, belong to this genus.

Twenty-three species, distributed like Platyglossus; two reach the south coast of England, Coris julis and C. giofredi, said to be male and female of the same species. Some belong to the most gorgeously coloured kinds of the whole class of fishes.

Genera allied to the preceding Labroids are—Choerops, Xiphochilus, Semicossyphus, Trochocopus, Decodon, Pteragogus, Clepticus, Labrichthys, Labroides, Duymæria, Cirrhilabrus, Doratonotus, Pseudochilinus, Hemigymnus, Gomphosus, Cheilio, and Cymolutes.

One species (P. moluccensis) from the East Indian Archipelago.

The fishes of this genus, and the three succeeding, are known by the name of “Parrot-wrasses.” Of Scarus one species (S. cretensis) occurs in the Mediterranean, and nine others in the tropical Atlantic. The first was held in high repute by the ancients, and Aristotle has several passages respecting its rumination. It was most plentiful and of the best quality in the Carpathian Sea, between Crete and Asia Minor, but was not unknown even in early times on the Italian coasts, though Columella says that it seldom passed beyond Sicily in his day. But in the reign of Claudius, according to Pliny, Optatus Elipentius brought it from the Troad, and introduced it into the sea between Ostium and Campagna. For five years all that were caught in the nets were thrown into the sea again, and from that time it was an abundant fish in that locality. In the time of Pliny it was considered to be the first of fishes (Nunc Scaro datur principatus); and the expense incurred by Elipentius was justified, in the opinion of the Roman gourmands, by the extreme delicacy of the fish. It was a fish, said the poets, whose very excrements the gods themselves were unwilling to reject. Its flesh was tender, agreeable, sweet, easy of digestion, and quickly assimilated; yet if it happened to have eaten an Aplysia, it produced violent diarrhœa. In short, there is no fish of which so much has been said by ancient writers. In the present day the Scarus of the Archipelago is considered to be a fish of exquisite flavour; and the Greeks still name it Scaro, and eat it with a sauce made of its liver and intestines. It feeds on fucus; and Valenciennes thinks that the necessity for masticating its vegetable diet thoroughly, and the working of it with that intent backwards and forwards in the mouth, may have given rise to the notion of its being a ruminant; and it is certain that its aliment is very finely divided when it reaches the stomach.

Two species from the Indo-Pacific.

Nine species from the tropical zone.

This tropical genus contains by far the greatest number of Scaroid Wrasses, some seventy species being known, and a still greater number of names being introduced into the various Ichthyological works. They are beautifully coloured, but the colours change with age, and vary in an extraordinary degree in the same species. They rapidly fade after death, so that it is almost impossible to recognise in preserved specimens the species described from living individuals. Many attain to a rather large size, upwards of three feet in length. The majority are eaten, but some acquire poisonous properties from their food, which consists either of corals or of fucus.

Six species from the coasts of Australia and New Zealand. Small. The species figured (O. radiatus) is from Western Australia.

The “Butter-fish,” or “Kelp-fish” of the colonists of New Zealand (C. pullus), is prized as food, and attains to a weight of four or five pounds. It feeds on zoophytes, scraping them from the surface of the kelp, with its curiously formed teeth. Its bones are green, like those of Belone.

Olistherops, from King George’s Sound, has scales of moderate size, but agrees otherwise with Coridodax.