114 PISCES. 



the pelvis is still suspended to the bones of the shoulder. They are 

 allied to the Percoides by the teeth, either small and crowded, or bent 

 back like those of a wool-card, which arm their jaws, vomer, and 

 palate^ but their snout is convex, and the vertical fins scaly as in 

 many of the Scienoides: the two dorsals are separated, the preoper- 

 culum is dentated and the mouth deeply cleft: they are found in all 

 the seas of hot climates. 



Pol. paradiseus and Pol. quinquarius, L.; Seb. Ill, xxvii, 2; 

 Edw., 208^ Russel, 285. (The Mango Fish.) So called from its 

 fine yellow colour: has seven filaments on each side, the first of 

 which are twice the length of the body. The natatory bladder 

 is wanting in this species, although it exists in all the others: 

 it is the most delicious fish found in Bengal. 



The filaments of the remaining Polynemi are shorter than the 

 body, and their number is one of their specific characters. 

 Some of them are large, and all are considered excellent food.(l) 



In the succeeding genera the ventrals are altogether behind, 

 and the pelvis no longer adheres to the bones of the shoulder. 

 The first, for a long time, was even confounded w^ith that of 

 the Pikes : it is the genus 



Sphyr^na, B1. Schn.(2) 



Large fishes of an elongated form with two separated dorsals, an 

 oblong head, the lower jaw of which projects in a point before the 

 upper one, and part of whose teeth are large, pointed and trenchant. 

 Their preoperculum is not c^'itated nor their operculum spinous. 

 There are seven rays to the branchiae, and numerous pyloric appen- 

 dages. One species is found in the Mediterranean, 



Sph. vulgaris; Esox sphyreena^lj.; Sphyene spe^, Lacep.;(3) 

 Bl. 389, which attains a length of more than three feetj back 

 bronzed; belly silvery; brown spots when young. 



Sph. picula, Bl. Schn.; Parr., xxxv, 5, 2; Lac, V, ix, 3. A 



(1) Polyn. plebeius, or Emo'i, Brouss., Bl., 4OO5 Po/. uronemus, Cuv., Russel, 

 184; Pol. tetradadylus, Shaw, Russel, 183; Pol. sextarius, Bl., Schn., pi. iv; 

 Pol. enneadadylus, Vahl. ; Pol. decadadylus, Bl. 401; Polynemus americanus, 

 Cuv., which is the species improperly named by Bl., pi. 402, paradisasus, and of 

 which M. de I.acepede has also improperly made a particular genus, his Polydac- 

 tyle plumier, V, xiv, 3. 



(2) 2(f>!/V*"'='> dart. 



(31 Spet, fi-om Espeto, the Spanish name of the Pike. 



