Page:Natural History, Fishes.djvu/119

Rh The dorsal, anal, and caudal fins are of a beautiful yellow, spotted with blue; the pectorals are reddish; the ventrals are pale blue, mottled with

reddish, and bordered with yellow. The Mediterranean coast of France is the locality frequented by this brilliant species, of whose distinctive natural history nothing seems to be recorded.

We arrive now at a Family of Spinous-finned fishes, particularly interesting on account of the peculiarities of form and of colour that commonly distinguish them, but quite unknown to the cold waters of our northern clime. Cuvier assigned to the Family the appellation of Squamipennes, which is sufficiently expressive of one of their prominent characteristics; the soft, and frequently even the spinous parts of their dorsal and anal fins, being fleshy, and covered with scales,