FAMILY TRIGLID^E TRIGLA. 43 



FAMILY III. TRIGLIDM. 



Suborbital bone extending over the cheek, and articulating behind with the preopercle. Head 

 mailed or otherwise armed. 



Obs. This family has many of the characteristics of the preceding, but is at once distin- 

 guished (as may be distinctly perceived in the figure of the Dactylopterus volitans) by the 

 great development of the suborbital plates, which unite with the preopercle and cover the 

 cheeks. Hence the term " Joues cuirassees," which has been translated mailed cheeks, and 

 also loricati. We see no good reason for not adopting a name derived from some well known 

 member of the family, and thus preserve a uniformity in the nomenclature of the class. 



The family Triglidae is allied on the one hand by Uranoscopus, which has its suborbitals 

 largely developed, to the Percidae, and on the other to the succeeding family of Scienidas, by 

 the absence of teeth on the vomer and palatines. It is divided by Cuvier and Valenciennes into 

 twenty-nine genera ; and they describe seventeen species, belonging to eight genera, on the 

 coast and in the rivers of the United States. 



GENUS TRIGLA. Cuvier. 



Two dorsal fins ; the first spinous, the second flexible. Body scaly. Three detached rays 

 under the base of each pectoral fin. Head nearly square. The suborbitals nearly covering 

 the whole cheek, projecting more or less beyond the snout, and united firmly to the pre- 

 opercle. Teeth small, pointed, numerous, in both jaws, and in front of the vomer. Bran- 

 chial 7-ays seven. 



Obs. But one species has been detected on our coast, where it appears to be an occasional 

 visitor only. 



THE RED GURNARD. 



TlUGLA CUCDLOS. 



PLATE LXX. FIG. 225. 



Trigla cucvlus. LlN. 



Polynemus tridigitatus. Mitch. Lit. and Phil. Soc. Vol. 1, p. 449. 



La Rouget cojnmun, T. cuculus. Cuv. et Val. Hist. Pciss. Vol. 4, p. 26. 



Characteristics. Rose-red. Lateral line unarmed, and crossed throughout its length by lines 

 not reaching below the middle of the sides. Length 8-12 inches. 



Description. Body tapering, cylindrical, elongated. Back nearly straight. Head square, 

 descending obliquely from the orbits to the point of the snout, and granulated. Nose with 

 four projecting tooth-like processes on each side, belonging to the large suborbital plates ; two 

 or three small spines on the upper part of the orbits. The surscapular bone projects back- 



