298 



PISCES. 



climates, and are remarkable for the beauty of their colours. Their intestines are long, with numerous 

 cceca, and their air-bladders are large and strong. They frequent rocky shores, and are eaten. The 

 following are the genera : — 



Cluetodon, properly so called, with the body more or less elliptical, 

 the spinous and soft rays continued in a uniform curve, the snout pro- 

 jecting more or less, and sometimes a small dentation on the operculum. 

 They all resemble each other, even in their colours, being marked with 

 a black band which passes over the eye. In some, there are several 

 vertical bands ; others have them longitudinal, or oblique ; some have 

 brown spots on the flanks; some have glossed bands on the vertical 

 fins, and one or two ocellated spots. Some of them are also distin- 

 guished by filaments produced from the soft rays of the dorsal, and 

 others have very few spines in that fin. 



Chelmon, remarkable for the length of its snout, with the mouth small, 

 and at the extremity, and the teeth fine like hairs. One species, C. 

 rostra/us, has the faculty of shooting insects with drops of water pro- 

 jected from the mouth, and it seizes them as they fall. It is found near 

 the shores of South-eastern Asia. 



Heniochiu, Coachman, have the first spines of the dorsal, and particu- 

 larly the third and fourth, extended into filaments like a whip, and 

 often twice the length of the body. 



Ephippus, Horseman, with a deep notch between the spinous and 



6oft portions of the dorsal, the first of which has no scales, and can be 



folded into a groove on the back. There are various species, some of 



6 "° the American and some ol the Indian seas; and one species is said to 



be a very foul feeder. Many of this genus are found fossil in Mount Bolca in Italy, which is a vast magazine of 



petrified fishes. 



Uolocanlhus, have a strong spine on the operculum, with the edge of that toothed. They are found in the warm 

 latitudes of both oceans. Their flesh is excellent, and the colours beautiful and regularly marked. 



Pomaeanthtu, have the body more elevated from a sudden rise of the edge of the dorsal. They are only known 

 as American. 



Platax, has trenchant teeth, with three points in front of their brush-like ones, and their body strongly com- 

 pressed, and continued into thick, elevated, and scaly fins, with a few concealed spines in the anterior edge, so 

 that the height is much greater than the length. They inhabit the Indian Ocean, but a fossil species has been 

 found at Bulca. 



Pscttus, resembles Platax, but has all the teeth small and crowded ; and the ventrals, which are very long in 

 that, reduced to a small spine, without soft rays. They are of various forms, and known only as inhabitants of 

 the Indian Ocean. 



Pimelepterus, with a single row of teeth placed on a horizontal base or heel, and trenchant in the anterior part. 

 The body is oblong, the head blunt, and the fins thickened with scales, whence the name. They inhabit both oceans. 

 Diptterodon, an analogous genus, with trenchant teeth, chisel-shaped, and the spinous and soft parts of the 

 dorsal separated by a deep notch. Found in the Southern Ocean. 



The following genera, which are ranged with Chaetodon, on account of their scaly fins, yet differ 

 from them in having teeth on the vomer and palate : — 



Brama, Ray's Bream, has the body deep and compressed, the profile almost vertical, one elongated dorsal fin, 

 scales on the dorsal and anal, and slender curved teeth on the jaws and bones of the palate. It is found in the 

 warmer seas, but is occasionally met with on the shores of England. 



Pempheris, has a long and scaly anal, the dorsal short and elevated, and an obtuse profile and large eye; a small 

 spine on the gill-lid, and small crowded teeth on the jaws, vomer, and palate. Inhabits the Indian seas. 



Toxotes, the Archer, has the body short and compressed, the dorsal far backwards, the snout short and de- 

 pressed, and the lower jaw projecting beyond the upper one. It has small teeth crowded in all parts of the mouth, 

 and the gill-lids finely toothed. It hits insects with drops of water at the height of three or four feet above the 

 surface, and is remarkably sure of its aim. 



THE SEVENTH FAMILY OF THE ACANTHOPTERYGII. 

 Scomberid^: (the Mackerel Family) 

 This family comprises a vast number of genera, many species, and countless individuals. They are 

 eminently useful to Man, and are the object of some of the most extensive fisheries. Many of them 

 were included by Linnaeus in one genus, Scomber, but they are subdivided as follows : — 



Scomber, the Mackerel, with the body spindle-shaped, beautifully coloured, smooth, and with small 

 scales. The common Mackerel is well known as one of the most valuable of the fast-swimming surface 



