138 ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



Family, XIII CYTTID.E, Roup. 



Branchiostegals seven or eight : pseudobranchise present. Body elevated and 

 compressed. Gill-openings wide : eyes lateral. The infraorbital bones do not 

 articulate with the preopercle. Minute teeth in the jaws and vomer, present 

 or absent from the palatine bones. Two dorsal fins placed close together, the 

 first spinous : ventrals thoracic. Scales, when present, small : or osseous 

 bucklers may exist. No anal papilla. Air-bladder present (in Zeus). Pyloric 

 appendages numerous. Vertebrae exceed 10 abdominal and 14 caudal. 



Geographical distribution. These fishes are found in the temperate and 

 semi-tropical seas of both hemispheres. 



Genus I. Zeus, Cuvier. 



Branchiostegals seven : pseudobranchice present. Body elevated and strongly 

 compressed. Mouth very protractile, its cleft deep. Occipital crest high. Small 

 teeth on the jaws and vomer, but absent from the palatine bones. Two dorsal 

 fins placed close together, the first with nine to ten spines, and the length of its 

 base about equal to that of the second dorsal. A row of bony plates, often armed 

 with spines, along the sides of the bases of the dorsal and anal fins : also a rote 

 of bony plates, usually armed ivith spines, on the ventral surface from the throat 

 to the ventral fin. Scales, when present, small. Air-bladder large. Pyloric 

 appendages numerous. 



These fishes have been considered by some Ichthyologists as constituting a 

 distinct Family Zeim:. Gill has separated from Zeus those forms which more 

 exclusively inhabit deep water, constituting them into a genus termed Zynopsis. 



As already observed, many fishes undergo remarkable modifications during 

 their gradual change from youth to age, and Agassiz (Am. Sc. Nat. 1865, iii, 

 p. 56) considered Argyropelecus hemigymnus, Cocco, to be the young of Zeus 

 faber. This Kner (Verb. z. b. Ges. Wien, 1865, p. 288) showed to be incorrect, 

 as the gill-rakers of the last are long, but very short in Zeus, whether old or 

 young. 



Geographical distribution. From Scandinavia to the British Isles and through 

 the Mediterranean : also along the eastern portion of the Atlantic Ocean to the 

 Cape of Good Hope : as well as Japanese and Australian seas. 



1. Zeus faber, Plate XL VIII. 



Zeus s. Faber, Pliny, ix, c. 18, xxxii, c. 11. Faber, Ovid, Hal. v, 110; Colum. 

 viii, c. 16 ; Wotton, viii, c. 181, fol. 160 b ; Salv. p. 203 ; Aldrov. i, c. 25, p. 112 ; 

 Jonston, lib. i, tit. 2, c. 1, Art. 18, t. xviii, f. 1, 2 ; Piay, p. 99. Faber sive gallus 

 marinus, Rondel, xi, c. 19, p. 328; Rutty, i. p. 366; Gesner, pp. 369, 439; 

 Willughby, p. 294, t. S. 16 ; Artedi, Gen. p. 50 ; Gronov. Zooph. p. 96, No. 311 

 and Mus. Ich. i, p. 47. Poule de mer, Duhamel, Peches, ii, Sect, v, p. 86. Boree, 

 Pennant, Brit. Zool. (Ed. 1) iii, p. 221, pi. xli (Ed. 2), iii, p. 296, pi. xlv ; Brunn. 

 Pise. Massil. p. 33. 



Zeus spinosus, Linn. Mus. Ad. Er. 1754, p. 67, t. 31, f. 2. 



Zeus faber, Linn. Syst. i, p. 454 ; Bloch, Fisch. Deutsch. iii, p. 24, t. xli ; Gmel. 

 Linn. p. 1223 ; Lacep. iv, p. 577; Bl. Sch. p. 94; Donovan, i, pi. viii; Shaw, 

 Zool. iv, p. 285, pi. 41 ; Turton, p. 95 ; Risso, Ich. Nice, p. 303, and Eur. Merid. 

 iii, p. 379 ; Fleming, Brit. An. p. 218 ; Martens, Reise Nach Venedig, ii, p. 435 ; 

 Cuv. and Val. x, p. 6 ; Cuv. Resrne Anim. 111. Poiss. pi. Ix, f. 1; Tarrell, Brit. 

 Fishes (Ed. 1), i, p. 162, c. fig. (Ed. 2), i, p. 183 (Ed. 3), ii, p. 251 ; Templeton, 



