INTRODUCTION. XV 



head being large and naked ; the fins peculiarly soft and fatty, generally 

 two or three in number, or one extending all along the back. The mouth 

 or gape is large and wide ; the teeth small. Their flesh is tender, white, 

 and delicate, affording an abundant aliment to man. Except the Burbot 

 or Birdbolt {Lota vulgaris^ Cuv. Gadus Lota, L.), all are inhabitants 

 of the sea, and chiefly abound in the cold or temperate regions of the 

 globe. 



Examples : — Cod, Haddock, Whiting, Hake, Ling, Burbot, Torsk, &c. 

 and in Madeira the Abrotea, Pescada, Praga, &c. 



Pleuronectida : — The Sole or Flat-fish tribe. 



Universally known by their singular flattening on one side ; by which 

 the eye, and bones of the mouth and head, are, as it were, squeezed up 

 or over to the other side. Hence the tail or caudal fin is not really, but 

 only apparently horizontal, from the habitual posture of the fish on one 

 side, (^Xgy^a, the side, and vrjKr^g, a swimmer,) which is the plain un- 

 coloured one ; forming no real exception to its characteristic vertical con- 

 dition in the fishes. 



Examples : — Flounder, Plaice, Sole, Turbot, Holibut, &c. Sola of 

 Madeira. 



CyclopteridfE : — The Sucking-fish tribe. 



A small family of singular fishes, analogous* to the spiny-finned Go- 

 bida: ; having the same naked sliniy skin, and the ventral fins united into 

 a curious disk or sucker underneath the belly, by which they adhere 

 strongly to other bodies. 



Examples : — The Lump-sucker or Cock-paddle of Scotland ; Chupa- 

 saugue of Madeira. 



Echeneidee : — The Remora tribe. 



This family consists, at present, only of a single genus, which refuses to 

 be classed with any other, and is characterized by the disk affixed to the 

 top of the head, by wdiich these curious fishes adhere to others for the most 

 part of considerable size and locomotive energies. To these their pa- 

 rasitic habits they are indebted chiefly for their own transference fi-om 

 place to place ; being themselves endowed with feeble or awkward swim- 

 ming powers. 



The body is elongated, clothed with minute or inconspicuous scales, and 

 slimy. The head is flattened ; mouth large, well-armed with copious but 

 small teeth. The colours are dark, and generally uniform. 



Examples : — The supposed Remora of the ancients ; the Pegadores 

 of Madeira. 



* Perliaps the relation is one of affinity, and much closer. At least, Lqmdogaster might well be 

 united with the Gobidce. 



