166 JIATKACHIP^. 



Fain. 22. BATRACHIDyE. 



Pediculati, pt., Cuv. Megne Anivi. 



Habitus cottoicl ; skin naked or with small scales ; the system of 

 muciferous channels well developed. Teeth conical, small or of mo- 

 derate size. TJie sinuous dorsal very short, the soft and the anal low/. 

 Ventrals jurjular, ivitli two soft rays ; pectorals not pediciilated. 

 Gill-opening a more or less vertical sUt before the pectoral, rather 

 nan-ow. Gills three ; pseudobranchife absent ; an air-bladder. 



Carnivorous fishes, living on the bottom of the coasts of the tro- 

 pical regions, several species advancing into the temperate seas. 



Synojjsis of the Genera. 



Dorsal spines three 1. Batrachus. 



Dorsal spines two ; canine teeth none 2. Thalassophryne. 



Dorsal spines two ; canine teeth on the vomer 3. Porichthys. 



1. BATRACHUS*. 



Batrachus, sp., £1. Schrt. p. 42 ; Cuv. ^- Val. xii. p. 461. 



Head broad, depressed ; body subcylindi'ical anteriorly and com- 

 pressed posteriorly ; skin naked, or covered with very small scales. 

 Canine teeth none. Gill-covers with several spines. The spinous 

 dorsal formed by three .stout spines. Gill-opening narrow, not ex- 

 tencUng to the side of the isthmus. Gills three, pseudobranchia^ 

 none, branchiostegals six ; air-bladder more or less deeply divided 

 into two lateral parts. Pyloric appendages none. Vertebra) y^. 



Coasts of nearly all the tropical and temperate regions. 



The sJceleton of the species of this genus is distinguished — 



1 , by the broad, depressed form of the skull, the bones being well 

 ossified, leaving distinct sutures between them. 



* 1. Cottus, sp., GroHov. Mus. Ichth. i. p. 46. no. 106, and Zoophyl. p. 79. 

 no. 269. — Batrachus gronovii, Cuv. ^ Val. xii. p. 482. — Callionymus 

 niqui, Gron. St/st. ed. Gray, p. 45 (not synon.). — Tropical parts of the 

 Atlantic. — The tv^jical specimen is not preserved in G-ronow's Collection. 



2. Batraehoides variegata, pt., Lesiccur, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. iii. 1823, 



p. 398. — Batrachus variegatus, Cuv. ^Fff^. xii. p. 484. — North America. 



3. Pacamo, Marcgr. p. 148. — Batrachus cryptocentrus, Cuv. (f Val. xii. 



p. 485. — Bahia. 



4. Batrachus apiatus, Cuv. ^ Val. xii. p. 477 ; Cuv. Begne Anim. III. Poiss. 



pi. 85. fig. 3.— Cape Seas. 

 Callionymus trigloides, Forst Dcscr. Anim. cd. Lichf. p. 358 (Batrachus 

 trigloides, Bl. Schn. p. 44), from Terra del Fuego, is probably a species 

 of Notothcnia or AphrUis. A rough sketch of the fish is preserved in 

 tlie British Museum, but does not quite agree with the description. 

 Batrachus bispinis, {Bl. Schn.) Cuv. ^- V(d. xii. p. 484, is the fish de- 

 scribed as Harpagifer bispinis : cfr. vol. ii. p. 263. 



