RIBBON-FISHES. 141 



these two characters, thinness and length, are 

 found in so extraordinary a degree, as to suggest 

 the idea of a piece of tape, or ribbon ; each of 

 which fabrics has given a name to its members. 

 So gradual indeed, is the transition from the 

 Scombridos to the Cepoladce, that certain of the 

 connecting forms have been placed by some na- 

 turalists in the one, and by others in the other. 

 Thus PteracliSf that singular American fish be- 

 fore referred to (see the engraving on page o5), 

 has the compressed silver-plated body of the 

 Ribbon-fishes, with the fins (in excess) of the 

 Coryphenes ; and is, by Cuvier, assigned to the 

 latter ; by Swainson to the former ; while of the 

 Silvery Hair-tails {Trichiurus), and the Scabbard- 

 fishes {Lejndopus) the reverse is true ; the French 

 zoologist marshalling them in the ranks of the 

 Ribbon-fishes, the English giving them com- 

 panionship with the Coryphenes. 



The technical characters, as indicated by 

 Cuvier, which belong to this Family, are some- 

 what vague; being simply the following : " these 

 fishes are long, flattened sidewise, and have very 

 minute scales." Each of these characters, how- 

 ever, we have seen to belong to some of the 

 ScombridcB, only in a rather less extreme degree. 

 Thirty-four species are at present included in the 

 Family ; the majority of which have been made 

 known at a comparatively recent period. They 

 are for the most part pelagic in their habits ; that 

 is, they rove in the open sea, far from the land. 

 The warmer parts of all the oceans produce them, 

 and not a few are natives of the Mediterranean. 

 Some extend their range into the colder seas of 

 the north, and two or three species are occa- 



