42 MALACOPTERYGII. 



bly, according to Mr. Swainson, it does not amount 

 to more than one-fourth of the number comprised 

 in the former, or spiny-rayed one. It is also perhaps 

 true that the different genera belonging to it are 

 inferior to the foregoing in respect of their shapes 

 and colouring ; but, on the other hand, they are 

 superior in the grand point of utility to man, com- 

 prising by far the largest proportion of those which 

 furnish him with the all-important article of food ; 

 for when we enumerate, the Cod, Herring, Turbot, 

 Salmon, and Carp families, as belonging to this 

 division, we name those which supply the largest 

 amount of this necessary article, and in whose cap- 

 ture thousands of men, and fleets of vessels, are ex- 

 clusively engaged. The leading and most numerous 

 Order, consists of those soft-finned fishes whose 

 ventral fins are attached to the abdomen. 



ORDER II. SOFT-FINNED FISHES, WITH ABDOMI- 

 NAL VENTRALS. MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMI- 

 NALES. 



This Order comprises those fishes which have the 

 ventral fins attached to the abdomen behind the 

 pectorals, and unconnected with the bones of the 

 shoulder. They are the most numerous Order of 

 the Section, including the majority of fresh-water 

 fishes, and are divided into five families, in our 

 arrangement from the thirteenth to the seventeenth, 

 inclusive. From the two volumes of the Histoire 

 Naturelle des Poissons which have recently been 



