CLASS PISCES. 503 



erection of a particular family in the order of Mala- 

 copterygii subbrachiati. 



ECHENEIS, L., 



Are remarkable among all fishes for a flatted disk 

 which they bear upon the head, and which is com- 

 posed of a certain number of cartilaginous plates, 

 transverse, obliquely directed backwards, dentated or 

 spinous at their posterior edge, and moveable, so that 

 the fish, by making a vacancy between them, or by 

 hooking the spines of their edges, fixes itself to dif- 

 ferent bodies, such as rocks, vessels, fish, &c. which 

 has given rise to the fable that the echeneis can sud- 

 denly arrest the course of the most rapid ship. 



This genus has the body elongated, and clothed 

 with small scales ; a single soft dorsal opposite the 

 anal ; the head altogether flat above ; the eyes on the 

 side ; the mouth cleft horizontally and rounded ; the 

 lower jaw more advanced, furnished, as well as the 

 intermaxillaries, with small pectiniform teeth. A 

 regular range of small teeth, like ciliae, along the edge 

 of the maxillaries, which form the external edge of 

 the upper jaw ; the anterior edge of the vomer is 

 furnished with a band of cardiform teeth, and so is 

 all its surface, which is broad, and rough, as well as 

 that of the tongue. They have eight branchiostegous 

 rays ; their stomach is a wide cul-de-sac ; their cceca 

 six or eight in number ; their intestine ample, but 

 short : they want the natatory bladder. 



The species are not numerous. The most known, 



