180 



ICHTHYOLOGY. 



Squammi 

 pen lies. 



Acajithop- rizontal base or heel, on the anterior edge of wliich is a 

 terygii. vertical cutting portion. The body is oblong, the head 

 obtuse, and the 6ns rendered thick by means of the scales 

 with which they are covered. 



P. Boscii is a small Atlantic species, which measures 

 about five inches in length. Bosc, by whom it was brought 

 from the coast of Carolina, has seen it following vessels in 

 the high seas, and assembling in troops around the stern, in 

 order to seize upon whatever is thrown overboard. It is 

 shy at seizing a hook, and is said to know how to carry off 

 the bait without being captured. It is sought after as 

 food by the French, though held in slight esteem by the 

 natives of Britain. 



The only other genus of this tribe is that named Dipte- 

 KODON by Lacepede. 



Tribe 3d. Teeth either close-set or en carde on the Jaws and 

 palate. 



Genus Bkama, Bloch and Schneider. Pertains to our 

 present family, so far as concerns the scales which cover 

 the vertical fins, which have only a small number of spiny 

 rays concealed in their anterior margins ; but the teeth 

 are en carde on the jaws and palate, the profile elevated, 

 the muzzle very short, the front descending vertically, 

 the mouth almost vertical when closed. The scales reach 

 as far as the maxillaries ; there are seven rays to the gills ; 

 a low dorsal and anal fin, each commencing by a salient 

 point ; a short stomach, a small intestine, and only five 

 cffica. 



Of this genus there was known till recently only a sin- 

 gle species, that of the Mediterranean, the Sparus Rati of 

 Bloch. 



It is only of late that its characters and history have 

 been rendered in any way clear or satisfactory — a fact the 

 more remarkable when we consider its large size, its singu- 

 lar form, its extreme abundance, and the exquisite flavour 

 of its flesh. In spite of all these circumstances, most mo- 

 dern authors seem to have written regarding it as if they 

 were blindfolded. Bloch regarded it as a northern fish, 

 simply because so far back as 1681 a specimen was thrown 

 ashore on our Yorkshire coast ; and Lacepede describes it 

 as an oceanic species. The individual above alluded to 

 was described by Ray in his Synopsis (p. 115), under the 

 title of Braina marina cauda forcipata. Pennant figures 

 and describes it in his British Zoology (2d edition) by the 

 name of toothed Gilt-head, and it seems indicated by Mr 

 Couch (in Linn. Trans, xiv. 78) as a Chaetodon seen ott' 

 the coast of Cornwall. There is no doubt that its central 

 dominion is in the Mediterranean, as it is extremely com- 

 mon along many coasts of that inland sea.' It is called 

 Rondauin in the markets of Genoa. At the same time 

 there is no doubt that it wanders occasionally as far north 

 even as Denmark, and that many accidental specimens have 

 been captured along both the British and Irish shores. 

 Two other species have lately been discovered in the equa- 

 torial seas. 



Genus Toxotes, Cuv. Body short and compressed ; 

 dorsal situate on the hinder part of the back, strongly 

 spined, its softer portion, as well as the corresponding part 

 of the anal, scaly ; muzzle depressed, short ; lower jaw 

 more advanced than the upper ; small close-set teeth in 

 either jaw, on the vomer, the palatines, the pterygoids, 

 and tongue ; six branchial rays ; very fine dentations on 

 the inferior margin of the sub-orbital bone and pre- 

 opercle. Stomach short and broad ; twelve ca.cal apjien- 

 dages upon the pylorus ; swimming bladder large and thin. 



ridse. 



The Toxotes jaculatOT (Plate CCCII. fig. 2) is a small Acanthop- 

 Javanese species, measuring six or seven inches in length, tervgii. 

 remarkable for possessing the same faculty as that men- S'^ombe- 

 tioned in our notice of Clielmon rostratus. When it per-- , ' "'" 

 ceives a fly or other insect upon an aquatic plant, it dex- 

 terously drives it into the water by a shower of drops. 

 Cuvier received a specimen from Batavia, the stomach' of 

 which was entirely filled with ants. This species has been 

 erroneously multiplied in systematic works. It is twice 

 described by Shaw- under two different names (Scrirus 

 Schlosseri and Labrus jaculator), neither of v/hich is the 

 right one ; and there is no doubt of its being identical 

 with Hamilton Buchanan's Coins chatereus, a supposed 

 new species irom the Ganges.^ It seems pretty widely 

 distributed throughout the Indian Archipelago, and is 

 known to the Malays by the name of ikan-siimpit. 



FAMILY VII._SCO.\IBERID:E. 



One of the most useful to the human race of the entire 

 class of fishes, whether we consider their agreeable fla- 

 vour, their considerable size, or their inexhaustible pro- 

 ductive powers. We may mention the mackerel, the 

 tunny, and bonito, as familiar examples. 



When considered isolately, these celebrated fishes are 

 by no means difficult to characterise. The simple sepa- 

 ration of the posterior of the second dorsal, and of those 

 of the anal fin, would of itself suffice ; but the species 

 above named are the chiefs of a numerous series of gene- 

 ra and sub-genera, in which the more typical form gi'a- 

 dually alters, and passes insensibly into others which do 

 not exhibit either the character just mentioned, or almost 

 any other by which the principal types are distinguished. 

 Scales usually very small, causing the greater part of the 

 skin to appear as if entirely smooth ; opercular pieces 

 without spines or dentations, and in general numerous 

 caeca ; — these are almost the only prevailing characters 

 which can be assigned to the family, which at the same 

 time exhibits a likeness in the aspect of its constituent 

 groups which never leaves it. In short, it forms what bo- 

 tanists call a family by series or transition. The majori- 

 ty have the sides of the caudal extremity carinated, or 

 armed with scales or shields, which are themselves cari- 

 nated ; or the terminal rays of the second dorsal or of 

 the anal are free ; or the spiny rays of that dorsal want 

 their uniting membrane. Most frequently the caudal fin 

 is of great size, and corresponding vigour. In the majo- 

 rity, also, the first spiny rays of the anal fin are separated 

 from the others, and form, as it were, a small distinct fin 

 by themselves. But none of these characters is common 

 to the whole. 



We may here group, as forming the First Great Tribe, 

 those genera of which the anterior dorsal Jin is entire, but 

 the terminal rays of the posterior one are detached or iso- 

 lated, Jorming what may be called finlets or spurious Jins 

 [pinna spuria:). 



Genus Scomber, Cuv. The mackerels, properly so 

 called, have a fusiform body covered by scales, uniformly 

 small and smooth ; sides of the tail not carinated, but 

 merely raised into two small cutaneous crests ; a vacant 

 space between the first and second dorsal fin. 



The common mackerel {Sc. scombrus) is one of the 

 most beautii'ul of fishes, and too well knoviii to require a 



' Mr Yarrell, however, Itas brought together various instances of its occurrence along the British shores ; and as it is mentioned 

 by Nilsson in his Frodronms as occurring on the coast of Norway, and by lleinhardt as a Danish species, it rather appears that Baron 

 Cuvier regarded Uay's Bream too exclusively as a Mediterranean species. 



» General Zoolugtj, vol. iv. part ii. pp. 398, 485. ^ Fishes of Ha- Cannes, part 21)1, plate 14, fig. 34. 



