142 ORDER ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



parated by other naked bands. A thick epidermis 

 hides these scales, except when the skin is dry. 



This genus is known only in the North Pacific 

 Ocean \ 



Platycephalus, BL, 



Have been separated from the cotti for reasons still 

 more pressing : their ventral fins are large, with six 

 rays, and placed behind the pectorals ; their head is 

 much depressed, trenchant at the edges, armed with 

 spines, but not with tubercles ; they have seven rays 

 to the gills, and are covered with scales ; their pala- 

 tines have a range of sharp teeth, &c. They belong 

 to the Indian seas, and hide themselves in the sand, 

 watching for their prey. One of the species has 

 been hence named Cottus insidiator, Lin. 2 



N. B. The genus centranodon of Lacep. is founded 

 only on the supposed Silurus imberbis of Houttuyn, 

 which is nothing but a platycephalus. 



1 Cot. hcmikpidotus, Tiles. Mem. de l'Ac. de Petersb. iii. p. 11. 

 f. i. 1 and 2, which is probably also the Cottus trachurus of Pal. 

 Zoog. Russ. iii. 138. 



'' It is also Cottus spatula, BL 424. ; Cotte madegasse, Lacep. iii. 

 2. 12. ; the Callionymus Indicus, L. Russel 46, or Calliomore Indien, 

 Lacep. ; Platyc. endractensis, Quoy and Gaym. Voy. de Freycin. 

 p. 353 ; Cot. scaber, Lin. Bl. 189. Rnssel. 47. ; the two species or 

 varieties of Krusenstern, pi. lix. ; the Sandkruyper of Renard, second 

 part, pi. 1. f. 210, and a number of new species which we will de- 

 scribe in the fourth vol. of our Ichthyology ; but the Plat, undeci- 

 malis, Bl., Schn., is a centropome ; his PL sexatilis, a cychhla, 

 and his PI. dormilator, an eleotris. 



