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Show 136 PISCES. those whose mouth is less cleft, head more scaly of PENTAPODA, • ' 1 1 ted and whose caudal is covered w1th scales to the body ess e eva ' enBd.y( lt)h at of . · · h h h 1 LETHRINUS, we d1stmgu1s sue as ave no sea es on 1 h k most of them as in Hremulon, have some red about t 1e c ee ; ' . the angle of the jaws.(2) All these fishes have a pomted scale be. tween the ventrals, and one above each of them. A third tribe is also composed of a single genus. CANTHARus, Cuv. Teeth short and crowded, or bent and crowded (en cardes serrees), all round the jaws; those of the extern~l row being the ~trongest; body elevated and thick; muzzle short; Jaws not protractile. Two species are found in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. Canth. vulga~s; Sparus canth., L.; Ron d. 120, and Duham. sect. iv, pl. iv, f. 1. Silver-grey, longitudinally striped with brown; some small rough teeth behind the bent ones. Canth. brama; Sparus brama, L. About the same colour; all the teeth bent.(3) In a fourth tribe the teeth are trenchant. It comprises two genera. BooPs, Cuv. Teeth of the external row trenchant, mouth small and nowise pro· tractile. Several species are found in the Mediterranean. B. 'IJUlgaris; Sparus boops, L.; Rond. 136. Twenty-four teeth in each jaw, with an oblique, cutting edge; the body oblong, with longitudinal gold-coloured stripes, on a silver ground. B. salpa; Sparus salpa, L.; Bl., 265. More oval; stripes ofa more brilliant gold, on a ground of burnished steel; teeth broad and emarginated. OnLADA, Cuv. Differs from Boops in having small crowded teeth behind the inci· sors, which somewhat approximates this genus to Cantharus. (1) Sparus vittatus, Bl. 275;-the Sp. raye d'or, Lacep., IV, 131, and some new species. (2) Spar. clu13rorhynchus, Bl., Schn., 278;-Bodian lutjan, Lacep., IV, 294;Kurwa, Russel, 89;-Scirena maltsena, Forsk., p. 52, No. 62;-Sciamaharak, I~· (3) The fig. of Bloch, 269 and 270, intended to represent these two specles1 convey no correct idea of them. ACANTHOPTERYGII. 137 Ob. melanurus; sparus melanurus, L.; Salv. 181. Silvery, striped with blackish; a broad black spot each side of the tail. FAMILY V. MENIDES. The Menides differ from the preceding families in the extreme extensibility and retractility of their upper jaw, which is owing to the length of the intermaxillary pedicles which withdraw between the orbits. Their body is scaly, as 1n Sparus, in which genu~ they have hitherto been placed. MlENA, Cuv. Distinguished from a true Sparus by having very short, small, and crowded teeth, in a narrow and longitudinal band on the vomer. Those also in the jaws are all extremely fine, forming a very narrow band. The body is oblong, compressed, and somewhat similar to that of a Herring; an elongated scale above each of the ventrals, and another between them. Several species inhabit the Mediterranean. M. vulgaris; Sparus mrena, L.; Bl. 270. Back, lead-colour; belly, silvery; a black spot on the flank opposite the last spine of the dorsal. M. jusculum, Cuv., only differs from the vulgaris in having a narrower body, a shorter muzzle and a higher dorsal. M. radiata: Sparus radiatus, Osbeck.; Sp. tricuspidatus, Spinola; Ann. Mus. X, pl. xviii. A deep steel-blue; oblique blue streaks on the cheek; blue spots on the ventrals; the dorsal still higher. SMARis, Cuv. The fishes of this genus only differ from the Mrenre in the total deficiency of teeth in the vomer; their body is generally somewhat less elevated. Some of them are found in the Mediterranean. 8. vulgaris; Sparus amaris, L.; Le Picarel commun; Laroche, Ann. Mus. XIII, pl. xxv, f. 17. Lead-grey above; silvery be· neath; a black spot on the flank. 8. alcedo, Riss., so called from the beautiful blue with which its body is variegated. · ~· cagarella, Cuv. The body as high as that of the Mrena vulgarls, from which it only differs in having no palatine teeth • . VoL, U.-s \ |