GENUS TRIGLA. THE GURNARDS. 143 



and hence, as in the higher orders of animals, a 

 greater proportion of its generic forms is common 

 to the New and Old World. Several genera are 

 common to both sides of the Atlantic, and some of 

 the Fresh-water Cotti and Gasterostei in Ame- 

 rica, are scarcely distinguishable from their Euro- 

 pean representatives. In general conformation, the 

 fishes composing it are not very difterent from the 

 Perches ; but the singular appearance of their head, 

 which is variously armed with spines and bristles, 

 forms a striking distinction; and the suborbital 

 bone is more or less extended, so as to cover the 

 cheek and to be articulated with the preopercular 

 bone. This Family includes several species of the 

 famous Flying-fishes, Dactylopteri^ which have at 

 all times attracted the attention of mankind ; but 

 not being British fishes, we cannot here enter into 

 their history. 



Gen. YIII. Trigla, — Is that which of all others 

 most characterizes the Family. The first sub- 

 orbital bone is very large, and articulates both with 

 the muzzle and the preopercle; the sides of the 

 head are nearly vertical, and cube-shaped ; there 

 are two distinct dorsal fins, and beneath the pecto- 

 ral fins there are three free rays. The English 

 name it bears is that of Gurnard, agreeing ^\^th the 

 French, and derived from the growling, grunting 

 noise which they make, by means of their throat 

 and gill, when disporting on the wave or ploughing 

 the deep, and still more frequently when they are 

 newly taken from the water. Eight species have 



