Fam. 10. TRIGLIDtE*. 



Cataphracti, pt., Cuv. Ref/ncAni?)!.; 3Iiilk'r, Berl. Abhandl. 1844, p. 201. 

 Sclerogenidaj, pt., Owen, Led. Compar. Anat. Vert. i. p. 49. 

 Triglidse, pt., Kemp in Wiegm. Archiv, 1858, p. 329. 



Form of the body oblong, compressed or subcylindrical ; eyes 

 generally lateral, the cleft of the mouth extending on the sides of 

 the muzzle ; sometimes of liideous aspect — eyes directed upwards 

 and the cleft of the mouth subvertical. Dentition feeble ; teeth in 

 vilHform bands ; generally without canines. Some bones of the head 

 armed; suborbital ring articulated with the prceoperculmn. Epidermoid 

 productions very variable. Two separate dorsal fins, or two distinct 

 portions of the dorsal finf. Anal fin similarly developed as the soft 

 dorsal. Ventrah thoracic, often with less than five soft rays. Five 

 to seven brcmchiostegals ; pseudobranchiag ; air-bladder often absent. 



Carnivorous fishes, foimd in aU seas, — a few only entering fresh 

 waters. Some inhabit exclusively the fresh waters of both the 

 Arctic regions. All live at the bottom of the water, being bad 

 swimmers ; a few are able to raise themselves into the aii'. 



After separating the Gasterosteidce from this family, as circum- 

 scribed by Cuvier, I divide them principally according to the structm-e 

 of the dorsal and anal fins J : one of the chief divisions corresponds 

 in many characters to the Percidce and Pristiponmtidce (Scorpce^iina), 

 another to the Trachinidce (Cottimi). The fourth and fii'st di\'isions 

 (Catajyhracti, Heterolepidina) have no correspondent in the pre- 

 ceding families, the anatomical characters of the last being very little 

 known. 



Synopsis of the Groups. 



I. Body covered with ordinary scales, or naked, sometimes with some 

 plate-like scales. 



A. The spinous portion of the dorsal equally or more developed 

 than the soft and than the anal. 



Anal veiy long a. Heterolepidina. 



Anal short b. Scorpsenina. 



* A genus but little known has been referred to this family — Xystophorus, 

 Richards. Voy. Ereb. ^- Terr. Fishes, p. 52. pi. 30. f. 22. 



t Except in Aspidophoroides. 



\ The distribution lately proposed by Prof. Kaup is founded on too one- 

 sided a principle to meet with the approval of a cooler observer. The circum- 

 scription of the genera suffers very much by such a method of division ; besides, 

 wrong characters are applied to several of the genera. Miiller has proposed 

 to divide this family according to the structm-e of the gills ; but that arrange- 

 ment appears artificial, since I have observed that there is a fifth slit behind the 

 posterior gill in some of the specimens oi Chorismodadylus nvdtiharhrifus, whilst 

 it is wanting in others. Moreover, the genera Pterois and Scorpana, Platycephalns 

 and Cottus. &c., would be separated from each other. 



