rst and second dorsal
spines are situated as usual over the eye (and form, one the angling
bait of the fish, the other the crest above the nose), the third is at
an unusual distance from the second, and is not separated, as in the
other species, from the soft fin by a notch.]

They belong to the family of _Lophiads_ or "anglers," not unfrequent on
the English coast; which conceal themselves in the mud, displaying only
the erectile ray, situated on the head, which bears an excrescence on
its extremity resembling a worm; by agitating which, they attract the
smaller fishes, that thus become an easy prey.

[Illustration: CHEIRONECTES]

On the rocks in Ceylon which are washed by the surf there are quantities
of the curious little fish, _Salarius alticus_[1], which possesses the
faculty of darting along the surface of the water, and running up the
wet stones, with the utmost ease and rapidity. By aid of the pectoral
and ventral fins and gill-cases, they move across the damp sand, ascend
the roots of the mangroves, and climb up the smooth face of the rocks in
search of flies; adhering so securely as not to be detached by repeated
assaults of the waves. These little creatures are so nimble, that it is
almost impossible to lay hold of them, as they scramble to the edge, and
plunge into the sea on the slightest attempt to molest them. They are
from three to four inches in length, and of a dark brown colour, almost
undistinguishable from the rocks they frequent.

[Footnote 1: Cuv. and VALEN., _Hist. Nat. des Poissons_, tom. xi. p.
249. It is identical with _S. tridactylus,_ Schn.]

But the most striking to the eye of a stranger are those fishes whose
brilliancy of colouring has won for them the wonder even of the listless
Singhalese. Some, like the Red Sea Perch (_Holocentrum rubrum_, Forsk)
and the Great Fire Fish[1], are of the deepest scarlet and flame colour;
in others purple predominates, as in the _Serranus flavo-caeruleus_; in
others yellow, as in the _Choetodon Brownriggii_[2], and _Acanthurus
vittatus_, of Bennett[3], and numbers, from the lustrous green of their
scales, have obtained from the natives the appropriate name of
_Giraway_, or _parrots_, of which one, the _Sparus Hardwickii_ of
Bennett, is called the "Flower Parrot," from its exquisite colouring,
being barred with irregular bands of blue, crimson, and purple, green,
yellow, and grey, and crossed by perpendicular stripes of black.

[Footnote 1: _Pterois m