ACANTHOPTERYGII. 291 



opoQ, a mountain,) and it merits the denomination from the 

 thick swellings, the drawing of which has the appearance of 

 the map of a volcanic country. 



It has been impossible to discover any thing approximating 

 to it in the account of naturalists, or travellers, who have 

 spoken of fish. We are indebted for it to the indefatigable 

 attention of Peron, which was engaged on the minutest ob- 

 jects. He brought it from the Atlantic Ocean, and his speci- 

 men did not exceed sixteen lines in length. 



We now come to the great family of the sct^enoides. 



We find in this family pretty nearly all the external charac- 

 ters of the perco'ides ; but we shall not enlarge here on the 

 character as stated in the text. 



The family of the mailed cheeks, if we except the peculiar 

 disposition of the infra-orbitals, establishes a sort of passage 

 from the perco'ides to the sciaeno'ides. A part of its genera, 

 the scorpsense more especially, are connected with the per- 

 co'ides by their palatine teeth, and the sebastes so much 

 resemble the serrani, that they are frequently confounded with 

 them, while others of the mailed cheeks, the synanceoe, for 

 example, have the palate also as smooth as any of the sciae- 

 noi'des. 



The sciseno'ides also resemble the perco'ides in many details 

 of their internal parts ; but we observe more varieties, and es- 

 pecially, more complicated structures in their natatory blad- 

 ders. A great many have horns there, still more developed 

 than those of the trigla ; and though these natatory bladders 

 appear to have no communication with the exterior, as all the 

 sciaeno'ides send forth noises still more marked than those of 

 trigla, it is difficult to believe that the disposition of these 

 organs should not have some relation with this property. 



The scisenoi'des are scarcely less numerous than the per- 

 co'ides, either in genera, or in species. They have pretty 

 nearly the same habits, and present the same utilities to man. 



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