102 ACANTHOPTERYGII. M^NAD^. 



Family VII. M^nad^. 



{Meridoles.) 



With much in their form and characters that 

 resemble the preceding Family of the Sparidce^ 

 the Mcenadce differ from them in the extreme 

 extensibility, and retractibility of the upper 

 jaw, a peculiarity dependent on the length of 

 the intermaxillary pedicels, which withdraw be- 

 tween the orbits of the eyes. They have teeth in 

 the jaws, which are very fine and close set, re- 

 sembling the pile of velvet ; in general, the palate 

 is toothless. The body is furnished with scales, 

 some of which, very small and delicate, often, but 

 not always, extend upon the dorsal fin ; the 

 ventrals are placed beneath the pectorals. Their 

 air-bladder is large, simple, and rounded in 

 front ; commonly divided posteriorly into two long 

 horns, which penetrate into the muscles of the 

 tail, on each side of the internal spines of the 

 anal fin. 



The four genera which compose this Family, 

 comprising, according to the Prince of Canino, 

 sixty-one species, are thus distributed. Mcena 

 is confined to the Mediterranean ; Smaris inhabits 

 the same sea, but less exclusively, a few species 

 being found in the East and in the West Indies ; 

 Ccesio is confined to the Indian Ocean and its 

 gulfs; and Gerres spreads itself over all the 

 tropical seas. The Family is of little importance 

 to man ; the Common Mendole {M^ejia vulgaris, 

 Cuv.) of the Mediterranean, is considered so 

 utterly worthless, that its name in Venice is a 



