STRUCTURE OF FISHES. 195 



i 



V. 



On the Arrangement and mechanical Action of the Mus~ 

 des of Fishes, By Anthony CarlislEj Esq, F.R.S, 



Jl r was my intention to have continued my physiologi- Introductory 



,. . . ,^ , n , *^ \. . remarks. 



cal inquiries on the phenomena ot muscular motion, by a 



series of chemical experiments; and to have communi- 

 cated the result, when duly matured, to the Royal Soci- 

 ety. But an unexpected request, made at a late period, 

 for the Lecture of the present year, obliges [me to defer 

 those researches, and to limit the investigation of the sub- 

 ject I have chosen. 



The application of the motive organs of animals has Peculiar struc- 

 already furnished examples of general utility by increas- 

 ing our knowledge of mechanical powers ; and the culti- 

 vation of this study promises still further improvement. 



The muscles of fishes are of a very different construc- 

 tion from those of the other natural classes. The medium 

 in which these animals reside, the form of their bodies, 

 and the instruments employed for their progressive mo- 

 tion, give them a character peculiarly distinct from the 

 rest of the creation. The frame-work of bones or carti- ,-«, -^ , , 

 lages, called the skeleton, is simple; the limbs are not is simple; mus- 

 formed for complicated motions, and the proportion of ^^^^ volumi- 

 rauscular flesh is remarkably large. The muscles of 

 fishes have no tendinous chords, their insertions being al- 

 ways fleshy. There are, however, semi-transparent, 

 pearly tendons placed between the plates of muscles, 

 which give origin to a series of short muscular fibres pass- 

 ing nearly at right angles between the surfaces of the ad- 

 joining plates. Lewenhoeck+ appears to have over- Tendons. 

 , looked these tendons, and the numerous vessels, which he 

 describes in the interstices of the muscular flakes, I have 

 not been able to discern. 



Tiie motion of a round shaped fish, independent of its The motion of 



a fish 



* Read before the Royal Society, Nov. 1805, being the Croonian 

 Jjecture. 



t Phil. Trans. Vol. XXXI. p. 190. 



finsj 



