Page:Natural History, Fishes.djvu/110

96 variations of structure, each possessed by a certain number of genera in common, by the selection of which such sub-division may be effected. In treating of the Percadæ, we briefly enumerated the subordinate groups into which that immense Family is divided; we will now indicate those into which Cuvier has distributed the Sparidæ.

1. The Sparina have the jaws set with round flat teeth like paving-stones. Eighty species belong to this group, of which sixteen are European, and five are British.

2. The Denticina have all the teeth conical and pointed, and the front ones hooked. This is the most important division, as regards number, though not the most typical; as it includes one hundred and twenty species, mostly tropical. Four only of these are European, of which one is marked as British, the Four-toothed Sparus, or Toothed Gilthead (Dentex vulgaris, .) It must, however, be reckoned among the very rarest of native animals, its claim to be so regarded resting on the authority of a single specimen. It fortunately happened that this rarity fell into the hands of Mr. Donovan, from whose "History of British Fishes," we extract the following interesting note of its powers, habits, and uses.

"A more voracious fish is scarcely known; and when we consider its ferocious inclination, and the strength of its formidable canine teeth, we must be fully sensible of the great ability it possesses in attacking other fishes, even of superior size, with advantage. It is asserted, that when taken in the fishermen's nets, it will seize upon the other fishes taken with it, and mangle