﻿98 GANGETic FISHES. Order IV. 



are finely indented on the edges ; and on those of the sides 

 each has on its centre a longitudinal mark. 



The fins of the back are united, but readily distinguishable, 

 the edge of each forming an arch. The first contains twelve 

 strong prickles, and is indented like a saw on the edge ; the 

 second contains one prickle and twelve soft rays, of which the 

 first is undivided, and the last split to the root. The pectoral 

 fins are short and rounded, and each contains fifteen rays. Tlie 

 vent}-al fins are without'bristles, and are short, and approximat- 

 ed to each other. The prickles of the fin behind the vent are 

 strong and short. The tail fin contains in all sixteen rays, of 

 which two on each side are undivided. 



8th Species. — Coius cobojius. Plate XIII. Fig. 33. 



A coins with the fin of the tail nearly rounded ; with seven- 

 teen prickles and eight soft rays in the united fins of the back ; 

 with ten prickles and ten soft rays in the fin behind the vent ; 

 and with faint black belts transvei'sing the sides. 



This fish is the Lutianus scandens of La Cepede, [Hist, des 

 Poissons, Tome IV. p. 242,) who seems to have borrowed his 

 account from that given of the Perca scandens by Captain 

 Daldorf, (Linnsean Transactions, Vol. III. p. 62,) a Danish, 

 and not an English officer, as La Cepede supposes. He was a 

 worthy man, very incapable, I believe, of advancing any tiling 

 that he thought untrue, and able enough to describe what he 

 saw ; but he did not possess those faculties which enable a man 

 to reason on what he observes, or to take into account the col- 

 lateral circumstances that might lead to an explanation of any 

 thing extraordinary. Accordingly, he gravely assures us, that 

 he saw one of these fishes climbing a palm-tree, and advancing 

 up by the same means that are employed in moving along the 

 ground. The French naturalist, to my utter astonishment, 



a 



