CLASS PISCES. 131 



is bronzed on the back and silvery under the belly. 

 The young have brown spots. 



America has one of them nearly allied ; ( Sp7i. 

 picuda, Bl. Schn.,) Parr. xxxv. 5. 2., Lacep. v. 9. 3. 



And another, which becomes still larger, and which 

 is feared nearly as much as the shark, (Sph. barra- 

 cuda, Cuv., Catesb. ii. pi. i. f. 1.) 



Paralepis, Cuv. 



Are small fish, similar to the sphyrsense, but whose 

 second dorsal fin is so small and so brittle that it has 

 been thought to be adipose *. 



Mullus, Lin. 



Are nearly attached to the percoides by many ex- 

 terior and anatomical details, and may nevertheless 

 form a separate family of themselves, from having such 

 remarkable particularities. 



Their two dorsal fins are much separated ; the whole 

 body and the opercula are covered with large scales, 

 which easily fall off; the preoperculum has no denti- 

 culations ; their mouth is but little cleft, feebly armed 

 with teeth, and they are more particularly distin- 

 guishable by having two long barbels attached to the 

 symphysis of the lower jaw. 



They are divided into two subgenera. 



1 There are in the Mediterranean two or three small species dis- 

 covered by M. Risso. See his second edition, fig. 1,5, 16. 



K 2 



