214 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



its distinctive peculiarities. The chief of these is the differ- 

 ence in the shape of the month, which, instead of being a very- 

 concave disk, thickly studded inside with sharp spines, is 

 composed of one thin semicircular lip, with a transverse one 

 behind it, Mel. Biol. Acad. Sci. St. I J etersb. 9 1870, 189. 



LUTKEN OX GANOID FISHES. 



Dr. C. Liitken, in a paper on the limits and classification of 

 the ganoid fishes, published in the Annals and Magazine of 

 Natural History , as translated by Mr. Dallas, discusses at con- 

 siderable length the true affinities of this remarkable group 

 of fishes, of which, as is well known, the garfish, or garpike 

 of America, and the Polypterus of Africa, are types, constitut- 

 ing living representatives of a form which, in the earlier ge- 

 ological periods, was the predominant one. 



The conclusion to which Dr. Ltitken arrives, in answer to 

 the question " What is a ganoid ?" is as follows : Every 

 fish (abdominal, malacopterygian, physostome) with osseous 

 scales, articulated (as in the lepidostei) or interlocked (in the 

 manner of the pycnodonts), or with gular plates in place of 

 the branchiostegal rays, and with the paired fins fringed and 

 scaly (as in the polypteri), or which combine several of these 

 characters, should be classed among the ganoids. 10 A^May, 

 1871,337. 



GOURAMI FISH. 



The gourami, an Eastern fish recommended for stocking 

 fresh-water ponds, is by no means difficult to transport, hav- 

 ing been successfully carried from the Mauritius to China, 

 Quite recently twenty or thirty small ones were taken from 

 Mauritius as far as the Isthmus of Suez, the water in which 

 they were placed having been changed every day. On reach- 

 ing their destination they were placed in a fresh-water canal, 

 where they are thriving. This fish is said to breed readily, 

 commencing in the second year, and attaining in time a 

 weight of eight or ten pounds, although considered best 

 when weighing only about four pounds. 



A NEW L0PIII0ID FISH. 



Dr. Liitken, in describing a new genus of fish belonging to 

 the Lophius group, remarked that one character distinguish- 



