CLASS PISCES. 201 



The snout of some of these species when in a state 

 of quiescence is singularly retracted ; by suddenly 

 protruding it they are enabled to seize upon such 

 small fishes or insects as may pass within reach '. 



Mene, Lacep. 



Snout of an equula, and the body still more com- 

 pressed ; abdomen trenchant, and very convex be- 

 neath, a circumstance resulting from the development 

 of the bones of the shoulder and pelvis, while the 

 dorsal line is almost straight, which throws the ven- 

 trals behind the pectorals. 



But one species is known, the Mene Anne-Caroline, 

 Lacep. V. xiv. 2., or the Zeus maculatus, Bl. Schn. pi. 

 xxii. Russell 60. It is of a fine silver colour, spotted 

 with blackish near the back. From the Indian Ocean. 



Stromateus, Lin, 



The same compressed form as in the different species 

 of zeus, and similar diminutive and slightly apparent 

 scales, under a satiny epidermis ; but the snout is ob- 

 tuse and non-protractile ; a single dorsal, whose few 

 spines are concealed in its anterior edge ; no ventrals. 

 The vertical fins are sufficiently thick to tempt us to 



I. xxiii. 2. Eq. splendens, Cuv., Russ. 61. Eq. daura, Cuv., Russ. 

 65. Eq. totta, Russ. 62. Eq. coma, Russ. et Seb. III. xxvii. 4. 

 63. Eq. ruconius, Buchan. xii. 35. Eq. minuta, Cuv., or Scomber 

 minutus, Bl. 429. 2. which may very possibly be the same as the Zeus 

 argentarius, Forsterix. Schn. 96. 



1 Eq. insidiatrix, Cuv., or Zeus insidiator, Bl. 192. f. 2. and 3. 



