CLASS PISCES. 223 



gonal plates ; their muzzle very short. Their trans- 

 verse mouth, in consequence of a prominence in the 

 middle of the lower jaw, which corresponds with a 

 depression in the upper one, forms an angle, the 

 teeth being excessively fine, and frequently almost im- 

 perceptible. Their pharyngeal bones, highly deve- 

 loped, give an angular form to the opening of the 

 oesophagus, similar to that of the mouth, which only 

 permits fluids or very small matters to pass into the 

 stomach, notwithstanding which this stomach termi- 

 nates in a sort of fleshy gizzard, analogous to that of 

 birds ; they have but few pyloric appendages, but the 

 intestine is long and doubled. 



They resort to the mouths of rivers in large troops, 

 and are continually leaping out of the water. The 

 European seas produce several species hitherto very 

 imperfectly ascertained. Their flesh is esteemed \ 



Magil cephalus, Cuv. (the common mullet). Dis- 

 tinguished from all the other species of Europe by its 

 eyes, which are half covered by two adipose veils, 

 adhering to the anterior and posterior edge of the 

 orbit ; by the circumstance that when the mouth is 

 closed the maxillary is completely hidden under the 

 suborbitals, and by the base of the pectoral being sur- 

 mounted by a long and carinated crest. The nasal 

 openings are separated from each other, and the teeth 



1 Linnaeus and several of his successors have confounded all the 

 European mullets under a single species, their Mugil cephalus. 



