ANCHOVIES. 



991 



of the veiitml marj^in, ;nid the lilaiueiitoiis t'loiipitioii 

 of the first peetoral ray, a iKH'iiliarity tliat extends to 

 still more of the pectoral rays in C'oilia. Bleeker" 

 indeed attein])ted, following a suggestion of GOxther's', 

 to find a limitation for sueli a genus in tlie number 

 of rays in tiie anal lin, more than 50. But a com- 

 parisoir between the two Indian species Stolephonis 

 (Setipinna) telara and St. piirnca, the latter with 38 — 

 47 (or, according to Glnther, 50) anal rays and 

 pointed pectoral tins, is enough to show liow nearly 

 the said characters run into each other. Another ge- 

 neric character recognised by Bleekek is the peculiarity 

 first observed by Gunthek in some Anchovies', and 

 consisting in a more vigorous development of tlu^ jaw- 

 teeth, among which some are prominent as canines. 

 But in otlier respects these species resemble those with 

 small teetii. Lastly Bleeker has directed attention to 

 the varying develoi>uient of the spiniferous scales at 



the ventral margin. In conjunction with a more elon- 

 gated and terete form of body, these spiniferous scales 

 disapj)ear in some forms of the genus, either in the 

 postabdominal region alone or throughout a great por- 

 tion of the j)r(;abdominai as well. These foi'ms are 

 also characterized by the shortest anal fin, with at most 

 23 rays, and Bleeker proposed to reserve the generic 

 name of Stolephorns, coined by Lacei'ede', for them 

 alone. But in these respects too there are intermediate 

 forms, and even in the most typical of the last-men- 

 tioned species — as for example in the European An- 

 chovy — traces of S])iniferous scales may be found at 

 the preabdominal margin. The genus has been most 

 generally known under the later name of Enr/rai<lis\ 

 and about 50 species have been described from tem- 

 perate and tropical regions all round the globe, most 

 of them purely salt-water fishes, but some visitors to 

 the rivers or at least to the estuaries. 



" Atl. Ichthyol. Ind. Or. Xcerl., tome VI, p. 1.S5. 



' Vat., 1. c. 



<■ See, for example. Day, Fish. Ind., lab. CLVIII, tig. 2 {telara) and tab. C'LVII. fig. 2 (jmriira). 



'' GCnther's subgenera Lycengrattlis and Lycothrissa. 



' Hist. JVat. Poiss., vol. V, p. 381. From ffroAr^, eijnijmMit, adornment, and (ftqio, bear; with reference to tlie silvery band along 



the sides of some species. 



f Cuv., R'egn. Anim., ed. I, torn. II, p. 174. 



125 



