166 ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



III. FAMILY OF THE MAIGRES. 

 SCIENIDiE. 



Bepresentatims in British Fauna. Gen. 2. Sp. 2. 



Gen. 14. Sci^na. Sp. 33. S. aquUa. The Maigre. 



15. Umbrina. 34. U. vulgaris. Bearded Umbrina. 



This great Family, whose ascertained species 

 amount to about 260, is much more common on 

 the American shores of the Atlantic than the Euro- 

 pean, and four-fifths of the whole are inhabitants 

 of the intertropical seas; two species only having 

 been recognized as visitors to our coasts, and those 

 but rarely, it will not occupy us long. It has a 

 strong general resemblance to the Percidas ; but its 

 members are destitute of teeth on the vomer and 

 palatines, so that the palate is quite smooth ; some 

 of them have two dorsal fins, and others only one : 

 our species belong to the former category. 



These fish are remarkable for the size and com- 

 plicated structure of their air-bladders, which often 

 assume fantastic and highly ornamented shapes 

 they are also famous for the sounds they emit on 

 being taken from the water, and also when remain- 

 ing in it, to an extent exceeding that of the Gur- 

 nards and Crooners of the foregoing family; and 

 these tw^o circumstances have naturally been associ- 

 ated as cause and effect. The air-bladder, however, 

 in many instances, seems to have no external open- 



