ZOOLOGY. 



G21 



Class, order, suborder, and family. 



CLASS OF TELK08T0ME8 OR FISHES — Continued 

 Order Teleoccphali — Continued. 



(Suborder Heterosomata.) 



< PlcuroDPctidffl (D.) 



( Suleidso 



Order Hemibranchii. 



GastcrosteidaB (D ) '. 



Fistnlaiiiilae 



Ceuiiisculso (D ) 



Order Lophobranchii. 



C Synsnathidaj (D.) 



I liipi)ocampida3 



Order Plectognathi. 



(Suborder Sclerodermi.) 

 ( Balistid£B • 



■) (Suborder Ostracodermi.) 



i Ostraciontidre 



(Suborder Gymnodontes.) 

 C Teti odontidaj ^ 



< Diodoiilidce^ 



(Molidai^ 



Order Pediculati. 



( Antennariidce 



I Ceratiidce 



'] LopbiiilfB^ 



I ilallheidce 



Species. 



G. B. M 



Genera. 



G. B. M 



Common. 



Sp. 



Gen. 



' Sclerodermi D. 



3 Pediculati D. 



* Gymnodontes D. 



Some interesting and curious deductions flow from a comparison of 

 tlie data embodied in these tables. 



Tlie fresh-water fishes are mostly very different in the two regions. 

 The British isles are not distinct from the neighboring- continent, so far 

 as its fishes are concerned, and almost all are conspecific with conti- 

 nental forms, the only difference being that there are fewer species and 

 an absence of some characteristic European types. Massachusetts and 

 its neighbors exhibit a similar relation to the rest of the American con- 

 tinent, in the paucity of species as well as deficiency of peculiar Ameri- 

 can types, and this feature is so well marked that more than a quarter 

 of a century ago Professor Agassiz denominated the region the "Zoolog- 

 ical island of New England." Both regions, however, so far as the fau- 

 nas go, are true to their continents. Notwithstanding the so much 

 talked of small size of the British area, the fishes of the same diversiform 

 families are on the whole larger than those of America, or, in more 

 eract terms, there is a lack of the very small species. The special 

 British Cyprinids and Percids, for example, are larger than those of 

 New England, and none are ns small as the peculiar American types, 

 such as the little minnows, shiners, and darters. (It may be remarked 

 that for size, the suckers take the place of the large Euroi)ean Cypri- 



