242 ORDER ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



racters ; one in their branchiae, which have but a 

 single aperture, consisting of a hole on each side of 

 the nape, and another in their ventrals, which are 

 placed under the throat, are separate, and larger 

 than the pectorals. Their head is oblong and de- 

 pressed, their eyes approximated and directed upwards, 

 their intermaxillaries very protractile, and their pre- 

 opercula elongated behind, and terminating in some 

 spines. Their teeth are small and crowded, but 

 there are none in the palate. They are pretty fishes, 

 with a smooth skin, whose anterior dorsal, supported 

 by a few setaceous rays, is sometimes very elevated. 

 The second dorsal is elongated as well as the anal. 

 They have the same post-anal appendage as the pre- 

 ceding ones. There is no cul-de-sac to their stomach, 

 and the natatory bladder and cceca are wanting \ 

 One of them is common in the British Channel, the 

 Call, lyra, L., Bl. 161 ; Lacep. II. x. 1. The first 

 dorsal elevated, and the second ray extended into a 

 long filament ; orange spotted with violet. The Call, 

 dracimculus, Bl. 162, only differs from it in the first 

 dorsal being short, and without the filament. Several 

 authors consider it the female. Some others are 

 found in the Mediterranean, such as 



Call, lacerta, Cuv., Rond. 304, and not so well, 

 Call, pusillus, Laroche, Ann. Mus. XIII. xxv. 16. 

 First dorsal low ; the second much elevated in the 



1 Callionymus, (beautiful name) is one of the names of the Uranos- 

 copus among the Greeks. Linnaeus applied it to the present genus. 



