CLASS PISCES. 143 



Scorp^na, Lin., 



Have, like the cotti, the head shielded and prickled, 

 but it is laterally compressed ; their body is covered 

 with scales ; there are seven rays to the gills ; and 

 their back has only a single fin. With the exception 

 of the manner in which their cheeks are armed, and 

 the tubercles which frequently give them a singular 

 appearance, they approximate to certain of the 

 percoi'des, such as the acerina and centropristis, but, 

 as in the cotti, the inferior rays of their pectoral fins, 

 although articulated, are simple and not branched. 



ScoRPiENA, (properly so called) Cuv., 



Have the head spiny and tubercular, without scales ; 

 the teeth are even in the palate as well as in the jaws ; 

 cutaneous filaments appear on different parts of the 

 body. 



We have two species : 



Sc. scropha, Lin. Bl. 182. and better, Duham. sect. V. pi. iv. 



Redder, with the scales larger, and the cutaneous 

 filaments more numerous. 



Sc. porcus, Lin., pi. 181. Duham, sect. V. pi. iii. x. ii. 



Browner, with the scales smaller and more numer- 

 ous ; they live in numbers in rocky places ; their 

 prickles are said to inflict dangerous wounds '. 



1 Sc. Diabolus, Cuv., Duham., sect. V. pi. iii. f. 1. ; Sc. bufo, 

 Cuv., Parr. 18. 1. ; Sc. cirrhosa, or Perca cirrhosa, Thunb. Nouv. 



