104 FAMILY SQUAMIPINNIDiE. 



Geographical Distribution. The Echeneis lineata ranges along the coast, 

 from Carolina to Cape Florida. 



General Remarks. There has been considerable difficulty in assigning to the 

 animals of this genus their proper position ; most ichthyologists have of late 

 placed them in a family by themselves, Echeneidce ; but the researches of Agassiz 

 have at last pointed out their true position. He has proved that the adhesive 

 disk is a modified anterior dorsal fin, produced by the development of several of 

 the anterior dorsal spines ; and in fact the inter-spinal apophyses are seen from 

 below, and the rudiments of spines on its superior surface along the mesial line. 

 They are thus, then, animals with two dorsal fins ; with the ventrals thoracic ; 

 and with cycloid scales ; or they belong to the family Scombrida; ; and in fact 

 they closely resemble an Elecate in form, teeth, &c., and like it their lateral line 

 scales have no duct. This animal bears some resemblance to the Echeneis alhi- 

 caucla of Mitchill, but it can readily be distinguished from it by its more attenu- 

 ated form, and by its colour ; in the latter the margins of all the fins are white, 

 while in the former the upper and lower borders of the caudal, and the tips of five 

 or six of the anterior rays of the dorsal, only are white ; and besides, the sulphur- 

 coloured lines on the sides make a distinctive character. 



FAMILY SQUAMIPINNID.E. 



Characters. Body compressed, much elevated or sub-orbicular, covered with 

 scales ; maxillary teeth bristly or trenchant ; vomer and palate-bones with or 

 without teeth ; pre-opercle spinous in some, in others smooth ; dorsal fin single or 

 double ; anal and soft portion of dorsal fin very thickly covered with scales at 

 their base. 



Remarks. This family was established by Cuvier, principally from the genus 

 Cheetodon of Linnaeus, in which the vertical fins are so covered with scales as 



