304 



PISCES. 



Anabas, the Climbing Percli of India. This genus has the labyrinths highly complicated ; the third pharyngi 

 have pavement teeth, and there are others behind the cranium; the body is round in the section, and covered with 



... i . .., strong scales; the head is large, the muzzle short 



\\ \ \ \ VA ,\\i\ v is||i) and blunt, and the mouth small ; their lateral line 



is interrupted for the posterior third ; the margins 

 of the operculum, super -operculum, and inter- 

 operculum, are strongly toothed, but there are 

 no teeth in the pre-operculum ; their gills have 

 five rays ; they have many spinous rays in the 

 dorsal and anal; and their stomach is of middle 

 size, rounded, and with three coscular appendages 

 to the pyrolus. Only one species is known, which 

 not only quits the water, and moves over banks, 

 but is said by Daldorf to climb bushes and trees, by means of its dorsals and the spines on the gill-lids ; but 

 others dispute the latter power. This species is very common in India. 



Polyacanthus, has the spinous rays as numerous as the last genus, or even more so ; and the same mouth, scales, 

 and interrupted lateral line, but the gill-lid is not toothed; the body is compressed ; there are four rays in the 

 gills, a narrow band of small crowded teeth in the jaws, but no palatal teeth; the labyrinths are less complicated, 

 and the pyrolus has only two coecular appendages. 



Macropodut, differs from the last in having the dorsal less extended, and that in the caudal and ventral ending 

 in slender points ; the anal is also larger than the dorsal. 



Hesostoma, have a small compressed mouth, so protractile as to advance from and retreat to the suborbitals; 

 they have small teeth on the lips, and some on the jaws of the palate ; five gill-rays, on the arches of which, to- 

 wards the mouth, there are lamella? resembling the external ones ; the stomach is small, and has only two pyrolic 

 cceca, but their intestine is long ; the air-bladder is very stout. 



Osphromanus [so called from a conjecture, apparently erroneous, that the labyrinths of the pharynx are organs 

 of smell], resembles Polyacanthus, but has the forehead concave ; the anal longer than the dorsal ; the suborbitals, 

 and inferior edge of the pre-operculum, finely toothed ; the first soft ray of the ventrals very long; six gill-rays; 

 the body much compressed. One species, 0. a/fax, grows as large as a turbot, and is considered more delicious. 

 It has been introduced into ponds in the Isle of France and Cayenne, where it thrives well. The female, as in 

 many other species of fish, digs a cavity in the sand for the reception of her eggs. 



Trichopodus, has the forehead more convex than the last, a shorter dorsal, and only four gill-rays. The only 

 known species is a small fish from the Oriental Isles, of a brownish colour, with a dark spot on the side. 



Spirobranchus, resembles Anabas, but has no teeth on the gill lids, but teeth in the palate. The only known 

 species is a minute fish of Southern Africa. 



Ophiccphalus, like the rest of the family in most of its characters, especially in the pharyngeal labyrinth, and 

 can creep for some distance over land; but it differs from all other Acanthopterygii in having no spines in the 

 fins, except a short one on the first of the ventrals. The body is long, and nearly cylindrical; the head flat, and 

 covered with polygonal plates; the dorsal extends nearly the whole length ; the anal is also long, and the caudal 

 round it ; they have five gill-rays ; the stomach is obtuse, with moderately long cceca ; and the abdominal cavity 

 extends nearly to the base of the caudal. They are found in India and China, of various species, and different 

 sizes. In the former country, the jugglers, and even the children, amuse themselves by making it crawl along 

 upon dry ground ; and in China, the larger ones are cut up alive for sale in the markets. 



[All the genera and species of this family are fresh-water fishes ; and they have not hitherto been 

 found except in the south-east of Asia and the adjacent islands, and in Southern Africa.] 



THE ELEVENTH FAMILY OF THE ACANTHOPTERYGII. 

 Mugilidje (the Mullet Family). 



This family consists of the following three genera : — 



Mugil, the Mullet, properly so called, [which must not, however, be confounded with the Red 

 Mullets, either plain or striped, which are included in the Perch family]. Their organization has so 

 many peculiarities that they might be formed into a separate family. Their body is nearly cylindrical, 

 covered with large scales, two separate dorsals with only four spinous rays in the first, and the ventrals 

 are a little in rear of the pectorals. Their head is a little depressed, covered with large angular scaly 

 plates ; their muzzle is short ; their form is an angle, in consequence of a prominence at the middle of 

 the lower jaw ; and their teeth are very small, and in some almost imperceptible. They have six 

 gill-rays ; the bones of the pharynx give an angular form to the gullet ; their stomach terminates in a 

 fleshy gizzard, resembling that of a bird; they have few crecal appendages, but the intestinal canal is 

 long and doubled. They are gregarious, resorting to the mouths of rivers in large troops, and con- 

 stantly leaping up out of the water. [They feed in part upon small Crabs and other Crustacea, which 



