GURNARDS. 79 



Family IV. Triglad^. 



(Guryiards.) 



Cuvier formed these Fishes into the second 

 Family of the Acayithopterygii in his system, 

 giving to the group, however, thus constituted, 

 no other appellation than the descriptive one of 

 " Fishes with hard cheeks." In these words . 

 their most obvious character is indicated, the 

 head and face being encased in a solid buckler of 

 bone, or in hard plates soldered together. In 

 general, the plates as well as the gill-covers, are 

 more or less armed with projecting spines. The 

 technical distinction between the Gurnards and 

 the Perches, to which Family they are very closely 

 allied, consists in the bone beneath the eyes (the 

 sub-orbital bone) — which is greatly dilated, so as 

 to cover the cheeks, — being jointed to the gill- 

 cover. Those curious fishes of the Perch family, 

 the Stargazers (Uranoscopus), have the head 

 mailed and angled much in the same way as the 

 Gurnards, and have their eyes directed even still 

 more vertically ; but, in that genus, the sub- 

 orbital bone, though very broad, is united with 

 the temporal bones, and not with the gill-cover. 



The fins are well developed ; especially the 

 pectorals, which often assume gay colours, and 

 dimensions so great, that, like the true Flying 

 fishes of another Order (Exocoetus), these fishes 

 are capable of projecting their bodies into the 

 air, and of taking long leaps. Some genera have 

 several finger-like rays, unconnected by mem- 

 brane, in front of the pectorals ; which probably 



