Page:Natural History, Fishes.djvu/200

186 grinding away the whole calcareous surface; but to the powerful jaws and teeth of the Labridæ this is an easy task; it is soon reduced to a pulp, and deposited in the stomachs of these fishes, where the nutritive matter is digested, and the stony residue rejected. Some of the genera have the power of protruding the mouth, and some (as the genus Epibulus) can impart a see-saw motion to the maxillary bones, analogous to that peculiar action of the jaws in the Rodentia, whereby they are enabled to gnaw away the hardest substances on which they feed, and probably here answering a similar end.

The beauty of these fishes is their only recommendation to man; their flesh is, for the most part, soft, and in no estimation as food.

We may consider the Labridæ as constituting three sub-families, distinguished by the following characters.

1. Labrina. In the typical group, the lips are very thick and fleshy; they are double, one lip adhering immediately to the jaw-bones, the other to the sub-orbitals. The teeth in the jaws are conical, those in the pharynx cylindrical, arranged like a pavement; the upper ones with two large plates, the under with one only, which fits to the others. The cutting teeth are sharp, simple, and distinct, those in front are the largest. The gills are thickly set, with five rays. The ventrals and pectorals are small. About three hundred species are enumerated as belonging to this group, which includes all the Labridæ, thirteen in number, found on the British coasts.

2. Chromidina. In many of their characters the members of this group resemble those of the