194 



ICHTHYOLOGY. 



' — ,- 



Acanthop. tirely concealed under the skin. The cavity of the mouth 



lervs^i. jg filled with a fleshy tongue almost of a globular shape, 



Gutii.iida!. ^^^j ^Y,e lower jaw has a few barbels beneath. The TVe- 



^*^'""*^ nioides Hermanii is the only species known : it is a native 



of the East Indies, and is usually found in the mud of 



stagnant waters. 



Genus Periophthalmus, Schn. Contains such as 

 have the head entirely scaly, the eyes placed quite close 

 to each other, and furnished on their lower margin with 

 an eye-lid capable of covering them ; the pectoral fins 

 clothed with scales for more than half their length, which 

 makes them look as if supported by a kind of arm. Their 

 gills being still narrower than those of the other gobies, 

 they can live for a longer period out of the water ; and in 

 the Moluccas, their native country, they are often observ- 

 ed to leap out on the mud in order to escape their ene- 

 mies, or to seize the small shrimps, which form their prin- 

 cipal nourishment. In some the ventrals have a concave 

 disk like the gobies properly so called ; while in others 

 these fins are separated almost to the base. Plate CCCIV. 

 fig. 3. 



Genus Eleotris, Cuv. In common with the gobies, 

 the fishes referred to this genus have the first dorsal with 

 flexible spines, and an appendage behind the anus ; but 

 the ventrals are perfectly distinct, the head obtuse and 

 a little depressed, the eyes remote from each other, and 

 the branchial membrane with six rays. The lateral line 

 is faintly marked, and the viscera resemble those of the 

 Gobii. The greater proportion of the species live in 

 fresh water, and often in the mud. That named E. dor- 

 mitatrix is a native of the Antilles ; it is of considerable 

 size, with the head depressed, the cheeks dilated, and the 

 fins spotted with black. Others occur in Senegal and 

 the Indies, and a small gilded species, marked with a 

 black spot at the base of the pectoral (the Gobius aura- 

 tus of Hiss.), inhabits the coasts of the Mediterranean. 



Genus Callionymus, Linn. Possesses very strongly 

 marked characters in the gills being open only by a hole 

 on each side of the nape, and in the ventral fins being 

 placed under the throat, remote, and larger than the pec- 

 torals. The head is oblong and depressed, the eyes ap- 

 proximating when seen from above, the inter-maxillaries 

 very protractile, and the pre-opercles elongated behind 

 and terminating in a few spines. The teeth are crowded, 

 and are wanting on the palate. They are beautiful fishes, 

 with a smooth skin, and having the anterior dorsal sup- 

 ported by some setaceous rays, occasionally much ele- 

 vated. The second dorsal is elongated, as well as the 

 anal. The same appendage is observable behind the anus 

 as in the preceding genera. The stomach is not in the 

 form of a cul-de-sac, and they are without casca and air- 

 bladder. Of this handsome genus we may mention as 

 an example the gemmeous dragonet (C. lyra), which oc- 

 curs not unfrequently in the British seas. Plate CCCIV. 

 fig. 4. It derives its specific name from the form of the 

 dorsal fin, which has been thought to bear an obscure 

 resemblance to a lyre. The full-grown fish is about a 

 foot in length. It is of a beautiful orange or yellow co- 

 lour, spotted and striped with violet ; the pupils of the 

 eyes fine deep blue, and the pectoral fins light brown. 

 The sordid dragonet (C. dracunculus) differs from the 

 above only in having the dorsal fin short and without a 

 fillet : by many it is conjectured to be the female of C. 

 lyra. Several species inhabit the Mediterranean, such 

 as C. lacerta, cithara, jaciilus ; and not a few are found 

 in foreign countries. 



Genus Thichonotus, Schn. Differs from the typical 

 Callionymi only in having the body very much elongat- 

 ed, and the continuous dorsal and anal of proportionate 

 extent. The genus Comephora of Lacepede compre- 

 hends but one species, from the Lake Baikal, which is 



Pediculati. 



usually found dead after storms, and is of so soft and fat Acanthop- 

 a substance as to afford a considerable quantity of oil. tervjrii. 

 It is distinguished from all the other members of this J*';f'"'?'f? 

 group by being destitute of ventrals. The genus Pla- 

 TYPiERON is constituted by a few Indian fishes, which, 

 to the large and remote ventrals of the Callionymi, unite 

 a short depressed head, a small mouth, open branchia', 

 and large scales : their two dorsals are short and remote. 

 Genus Chirus, Steller (^Labrax, Pallas). Placed by 

 Cuvier at the end of this family, presents so many dis- 

 tinctive characters, that it may not improperly be regard- 

 ed as the type of a new famil)' group. The body is elon- 

 gated, and garnished with ciliated scales ; the head small 

 and unarmed ; the mouth but slightly cleft, and furnished 

 with small unequal conical teeth ; the spines of the dor- 

 sal are almost invariably slender, and that fin extends 

 along the whole back. But their most distinctive feature 

 consists of numerous series of pores, resembling several 

 lateral lines. Their intestines are without caecal appen- 

 dages ; they have often a tuft on the eye-brow, like cer- 

 tain kinds of blenny ; but their ventrals are composed of 

 five soft rays, as is usual in the allied species. All the 

 known kinds, amounting to six or seven in number, are 

 from the sea of Kamschatka, and were first described by 

 Pallas in the II th volume of the Memoirs of the Academy 

 of Petersburg for 1810. 



FAMILY XIII PECTOllALES PEDICULATI. 



This family, in Baron Cuvier's arrangement, compre- 

 hends such acanthopterj'genous species as have the carpal 

 bone prolonged in order to form a kind of arm, which sup- 

 Dorts t^-e pectorals. From this peculiarity they have de- 

 rived their family name. Only two genera are here in- 

 cluded, and these are closely allied to each other, although 

 the generality of authors have placed them widely apart. 



Genus LoPHius,Linn. Besides the semi-cartilaginous 

 nature of the skeleton, and the want of scales on the skin, 

 has for its general character pectorals supported as if by 

 two arms, each of them sustained by two bones, which 

 have been compared to the radius and cubitus, but which 

 in reality belong to the carpus, and are more elongated 

 in this genus than in any other. The ventrals are placed 

 greatly in advance of the pectorals, and the opercles and 

 rays of the branchiae are enveloped in the skin, while the 

 gills open only by a single hole, pierced behind the pec- 

 torals. The species are voracious ; they have a large sto- 

 mach and a short intestine, and are able to live for a very 

 long period out of the water, on account of the small open- 

 ing of their gills. The kinds now included in this genus, 

 in the restricted sense attached to it by Cuvier, have the 

 head excessively large in proportion to the rest of the 

 body, and at the same time broad and depressed, and 

 spiny in many places ; the opening of the mouth very 

 wide, and armed with pointed teeth ; and the lower jaw 

 furnished with numerous barbels. There are two distinct 

 dorsals, of which the anterior possesses some detached 

 rays, moveable over the head, where they rest on a ho- 

 rizontal inter-spinal ; the branchial membrane forming a 

 very large sac opening in the axilla, and supported by six 

 very long rays ; the operculum small. It is asserted that 

 they lie among the mud, and by putting in motion the 

 rays of their head, attract small fishes, which, mistaking 

 the broad and fleshy extremities of these rays for worms, 

 thus become the prey of the Lophii. It is also said that 

 they can seize and retain their prey by means of their 

 large branchial sacs. Their intestine has two very short 

 caeca towards its origin, and the swimming bladder is 

 awanting. Of these fishes, the most remarkable is the 

 Lophius piscalorius oi lAnnxas. Plate CCCIV. fig. 3. It 



