SPINE-TAILS. 147 



exclusive applicability of it to this particular 

 genus. According to the last named authority, 

 the common species has obtained at Nice, the 

 names of Fire-flame and Red-ribbon ; the former 

 of which appellations it owes to its glittering ap- 

 pearance, as it shoots, meteor-like, through the 

 water. 



The appropriateness of the term Ribbon-fish to 

 this species, is well-shown by an incident re- 

 corded in the Magazine of Natural History for 

 1838. A specimen, which had been obtained 

 on the Irish coast, was sent to Mr. W. Thompson 

 of Belfast, through the post-office. The penny 

 stamp was not at that time introduced, but the 

 fish, though nineteen and a-half inches in length, 

 having been carefully folded up like a ribbon, 

 passed in a franked letter of the ordinary size, 

 and legal weight, viz., less than an ounce. 



Family XI. Teuthidid^. 



(Spine-tails.) 



This is a compact and very natural Family, 

 containing a great number of species, many of 

 which are remarkable for the beauty of their 

 forms, and for the brilliancy of their colours. 

 About eighty species are enumerated, excluding 

 the extensive genus Siganits, placed here by 

 Cuvier, but which seems rather to belong to the 

 Mackerel alliance. They are exclusively natives 

 of the warmer parts of the globe; the tropical 

 seas of both hemispheres, especially those of the 

 East and West Indies, being the chief homes of 

 the Family. 



