G]!AY MULI.KT8. 



329 



ill front nf ilie e\'e, with ;i pi-corhitnl Imiic, senvitt'd ul 

 tlic postevioi' ;iii(l outer (lower) iiini^ii'ins, ;iii(l |i(i-l'oi'uiiiig' 

 its rooting' function in the seiireh I'oi- food. 'I'he Ic^eth 

 of the mouth ;ii'e uither wenk or repliiced l)\' tiexilile 

 bristles, enamelled onh' ;it the tip. 'fhese bristles, how- 

 ever, iu-e not mere dermal growths, iiut oiMginiite from therefrom, in the typicnl Mugiloids is tliick-walled and 



furnisiied with a strong muscular covering, ■•ind calls to 

 mind the craw of a bird. The jnloric appendages are few, 

 generall\- (I — H mid sometimes oidy 2. 'I'he intestine is 

 e\ti-aordinai'il\ long and lies in numerous coils, sometimes 



The inside of the (esophagus is furnished with long tila- 

 ments, amongst which ii. eo|)i()iis secretion of mucus is 

 collected. The stomach |)roper is compiirativel}- small and 

 ihin-walled, with the liotloni in the form of a short Mind 

 sac; liut the pyloric part, which is distinctly .separated 



the dental margins of the interma\illar\ hones them- 

 selves and of the lower jaw, which margins seem coated, 

 as it were, witii a layer of dentine, broken into closely 

 set bristles. In the upper jaw, which is furnished with 

 a fleshy and often (•onsiderablx' tumid lip abo\c the 

 internia\illar\' bones, these l)ristles project be\c)nd the 

 labial margin; but the lower jaw has a sharp edge, 

 turned outwards and generalh without ;uiy external 



as manv as 'li). \ digestive canal of this length is rare 

 among the class of tishes". The whole of the digestive 

 appai'atus bestows upon the <ira\' Mullets a great capa- 

 bilit\- of extracting nourishment from the substances of 



traces of bristles. At the ti]i (above the s\mphysis) | which their food is composed; and they also belong to 



the fattest, most .active and most prolific ol' all tishes. 

 The skeleton is in several ])oints worthy of notice. 

 The broad top of the cranium is convex and smooth, 

 without an\' i)rojecting osseous ridges, its great breadth 

 being due to the space required by the phai-yngeal 

 cavit\ to contain the masticatory apparatus described 

 above. The ridges which issue in a backward direction 

 from the upper occipital bone, the mastoid bone (e^^o^icvrw), 

 the pterotic bone and even the styloid l)one {opisthoti- 

 euni), on the other hand, are all the longer and some- 

 times of an extraordinary length. The first-mentioned 

 ridge (crista ossis occipitis) advances above the extra- 

 ordinarily long lateral parts of the occi])ital bone, and 

 meets the neural spine of the first vertebi-a. The mastoid 

 bone sends out a foliate, somewhat bent, osseous pro- 

 cess, which may attain a length almost half tliat of the 

 head, and is continued in the flesh to a point vertically 

 above the second vertebra. This process may well be 



the lower ja\\- is furnished with two hard pi-otuljerances, 

 which tit into a eoi'responding incision at tiie middle 

 of the margin of the upper ja-\v. The mouth is pro- 

 trusile, thougii not to ;\n\ great extent, the nasal pro- 

 cesses of the intermaxillar^■ bones being broad, but 

 short. This is the nature of the apparatus of the jaws 

 in tlie more tvpical Mugiloids; and everything tliat is 

 conveyed into the mouth by means of this apparatus, 

 including a gTeat number of indisi'estible substances 

 mixed with the food, undergoes in the pharynx a pre- 

 liminar}' [irocess of mastication and filtration. The 

 phaf\iix is constructed especially with a view to this 

 purpose. The skin of the palate and tongue is closely 

 set witli tubercles and often even with small teetli; and 

 the pharyngeal bones form the framework of tliick swell- 

 ings which obstruct the pharyngeal cavity and the 

 opening of the oesophagus. The upper pharyngeal bones 

 are broad and curved into a slightly patelliform shape, 



with the convex side downwards, pointed in front, but \ regarded as an ossification of the muscles. To the outer 

 more rounded behind. They rest on a soft, but thick i side of the base of this process is attached the upjjer 



layer of fat on the under surface of the skull, and are 

 covered by a skin thickly set with tubercles and partly, 

 at the inner margin, with small teeth. Between and 

 behind the upper pharyngeals there also lies on each 

 side a swelling witli a soft, adijjose base; but at the 

 middle of the roof of the ijalate there runs a groove 



prong of the posttemporal bone, while the sliorter lower 

 prong joins the jjrocess of the styloid bone. The posterior 

 process of the scpiamosal bone is shorter th;ni that of 

 the ma,stoid bone, though it may extend to a line with 

 the beginning of the last third of the gill-cover, bur 

 stronger in proportion and of a pointed, triangular shape. 



into which the lower i)haryngeal bones and the base of ; The upper neural spines and transverse processes of the 



the tongue (the copular row of the hyoid bone) fit. I first six vertebra' are also well-developed, the former 



The gill-i-akers are comparatively short, but dense and being extended into disks in the ]on_gitudinal direction 



fine. Here the mouthful of different substances is chew- of the body; and as the corresponding interspinal bones 



ed, and the larger pieces of the indigestible part rejected. are equally broad', a continuous osseous roof is thus 



" We find tlie nearest appio.icli in (his respei't to tlie Gray Mullets in ciTlain of the Carps and Chietodonts. 

 '' Sec Agassiz, Pois.i. Fosi^., .\ll., tonic V, tab. F, fig. 2. 



i^Cfnulintrflari Fishes. 



42 



