MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES. 229 



the mouth however is but slig^htly cleft, and the abdomen is neither 

 carinated nor dentated.(l) 



Chalceus, Cuv. 



The same mouth, and trenchant, notched teeth as in the preced- 

 ing subgenus, but the body is oblong and neither carinated nor den- 

 tated^ very small, round teeth in the maxillary.(2) 



Myletes, Cuv. 



These fishes are remarkable for their very singular teeth which 

 resemble short triangular prisms, rounded on the ridge, and exca- 

 vated on top by mastication, so that three salient points are formed 

 there by the three angles. There are two ranges of these teeth in 

 the intermaxillaries of the slightly cleft mouth, and a single one in 

 the lower jaw, with two teeth behind; the palate and tongue, how- 

 ever, are smooth. The totally edentated maxillaries are placed on 

 the commissure. 



Some of them have the elevated figure, the falciform vertical fins, 

 forwardly inclined spine, and even the trenchant and notched abdo- 

 men of the Serrasalmi, to which, but for their teeth, we should cer- 

 tainly unite them. One of them even has a horizontal spine in front 

 of the dorsal. (3) Very large ones, whose flesh is much esteemed, 

 are found in America. (4) 



Others have an elongated form, the first dorsal being opposite to 

 the interval between the ventrals and the anal. The species known 

 are only found in Egypt. (5) 



Hydrocyon, Cuv. 

 End of the snout formed by the intermaxillaries; the maxillaries 



(1) Tetragonopterus argenteus, Artec!., App. Seb. Ill, pi. xxxiv, f. 3, or Corego- 

 no'ides amboi7iensis. Art., Spec, 44, improperly confounded with the Salmo btmac- 

 ulatus, Chalceus fasciatus, Cuv., Mem. Mas., V, pi. xxvi, f. 2;Serrasalmo chal- 

 ceus, Spix, XXXIII, 1. 



(2) Chalceus macrolepidotus, Cuv., Mem. Mus., IV, pi. xxi, f. 1; Ch. opalinus, 

 Id., lb., V, pi. sxvi, f. 1; Ch. angulatus, Spix, XXXIV. 



(3) Myletes rhomboidalis, Cuv., Mem. du Mus., IV, pi. xxii, f. 3. 



'(4) Add to the preceding- species, 3/i//. duriventris, lb. f. 2; M. hrachypomus, 

 lb., f. 1; 3/. mucropomus, lb., pi. xxi, f. 3; 3f. paco, Uumb., Zool. Obs), II, pi. 

 xlvij, f.2. 



(5) The Rail of the Nile, which is the Cyprinus dentex, L., Mus. Ad. Fred, and 

 ed. XII, or the Salmo dentex, Hasselq., and tlie S. nllotictis, Forsk., and which is 

 tlius twice found in Gmelin and his successors. It is the Myl. Ilassclquistii, Cuv. 

 M^m. Mus., IV, pi. xxi, f. 2. 



