TO 



ZYG.ENA. 



The form of the head extended sideways, with the eyes at the 

 extremity of the lateral extension, and the nostrils on the anterior edge 

 of it. 



HAMMER-HEAD. 



BALANCE FISH. 



Sqaalus Zygcena, LiNNiEUS. 



Zygcena malleus, Cuvier. Jonston; Punctum 7, tab. 78, 



but he is mostly a copyist. 

 " " Willoughby; p. 55, tab. B 1. 



Squale marteau, Lacepede. Bisso. Bloch; pi. 117. 



Lowe; Fishes of Madeira, tab. 12. 

 " Jenyns; Manual, p. 507. 



" Yarrell; British Fishes, 2nd. edition, 



vol. ii, p. 504. I am informed that 

 the figure which Mr. Yarrell gave 

 in his first edition, p. 406, is that 

 which has been called Z. Bloclvii, and 

 which is the foetal condition of Z. 

 laticeps. This figure is omitted in 

 his second edition. 



The ancient Greek writers were acquainted with this fish, 

 which they called Zygama, or the Balance, from the form of 

 its head. But it is not named by Pliny, the general copyist 

 of the Greeks, although it finds a place in the writings of 

 Oppian and ^Elian, who however only or chiefly regard it as 



The monstrous Balance Fish of ugly shape. 



Oppian only goes a little further, by a pardonable exaggeration, 

 to compare it with the lion: 



But what's the lion! sharper weapons arm 

 The Balance Fish, and keener furies warm ; 



