riUGLID.'E. 



Fam. 10. TRIGLID^*. 



Catapliracti, pt., Car.liegiieAnim.; MiiUcr, BerLAbhandl. 1844, p. 201. 

 Sclero[,reiiida3, pt., Owen, Led. Compar. Anut. Vert. i. p. 49. 

 Triglidse, pt., Kaup in Wieym. Archie, 1858, p. 329. 



Form of the body oblong, compressed or siibcj-lindrical ; eyes 

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

 the muzzle ; sometimes of hideous aspect — eyes directed upwards 

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

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

 armed; suborbital rimj articulated luitli the prceopercidum. Epidermoid 

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

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

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

 to seven branchiostegah ; pseudobranchiaD ; air-bk^dder often absent. 



Carnivorous fishes, found in all 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 air. 



After separating the Gasterosteidce from this family, as circum- 

 scribed by Cuvier, I di\ide them jirincipally according to the structure 

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

 in many characters to the Percidce and Pristipomatidcc (Scorpcpnina), 

 another to the Trachinidie {Cottina). The fourth and first divisions 

 (Catajdiracti, Heterole^iidina) have no correspondent in the pre- 

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

 knowTi. 



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 very long a. Heterolepidina. 



Anal short b. Scorpaenina. 



* 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 foiujded 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 structure of the gills; but that arrange- 

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

 posterior gill in some of the specimens oi Chorismodacfylns vudtiharha/ us, whilst, 

 it is wanting in others. Moreover, the genera P/'cro/s and Scorpcena, Vlafyccphcduf- 

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



