128 ORDER ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



has the eyes at the upper surface so that they are di- 

 rected toward the sky ; their mouth also is cleft ver- 

 tically, their preoperculum is notched toward the bot- 

 tom, and they have a strong spine at each shoulder ; 

 their gills have only six rays. Within the mouth and 

 before the tongue is a long and narrow shred, which 

 they can put out at pleasure, and which, as it is said, 

 when they are hidden in the soft mud, they make use 

 of as bait for little fish. One remarkable particularity 

 of their anatomy is the great size of their gall-bladder, 

 which was known to the ancients ! . 



In some the first dorsal fin, small and spiny, is se- 

 parated from the second, which is soft and long. 



Uranoscopus scaber, Lin., Bl. 173. 



Is grey brown with irregular series of whitish spots. 

 This is one of the most deformed fish, but is never- 

 theless eaten. 



There are some very similar to this in the Indian 

 seas and at Brazil 2 . 



Others have only a single dorsal fin, or the spiny 

 part is joined to the soft part. They are all foreign 

 species 3 . 



1 Arist. Hist. An. lib. ii. c. 15. 



Add Uranosc. affinis. Ur.marmoratus. Ur. guttatus. Ur.fli- 



barbis. Ur. Y grcecum, new species described in our third volume. 



(Iran, lebech, Bl. Schn. p. 47. Ur. monopterygius, ib. 49. Ur. 



Iczvis, ib. pi. viii. Ur. inermis, Cuv. and Val. iii. 71. Ur. cirrhosus, 



two new species. 



