284 



L WEH I 'EI! TEBltA TES. 



are chiefly denizens of troi)ie.'il seas. Little is known of tlieir habits. The Fistularia 

 tabaccaria is jierhaps the most common species. 



Several sjiecies of more compressed scaly fishes, with many weak dorsal spines, 

 constitute another family — Aulostomid^e — closely related to the preceding. 



A species of Heinibraneh, known on the English coast as snipe-fish, is the type of 

 another family, called Ckntriscid^, or Mackorhamphosid^. Its representatives 

 have a comparatively short sub-ovate body, covered with bony plates in front, and 

 es])eciany about the back, an elongated tubiform mouth, ventrals about the middle of 

 the abdomen, with a spine and seven rays each, and a small distinct spinous dorsal 



Fm. \oS.~ Marrnrlt<tinjtlio:iiis scoJopaj:, suipe-lish. 



about the middle of the body. The type, Macrorhamphosus scolopax better known 

 as Centriscus scolopax, is quite a common fish in the European seas, and one spi'ci- 

 men of it has been found on the Massachusetts coast. It is called by the English 

 snipe-fish and woodcock-fish. 



The only remaining fishes of the order of Ilemibr.inchs are of a very curious type 

 known as the family Ampiiisilid^. These have the body excessively compressed and 

 diaphanous, and the caudal portion is much abbreviated and deflected downwards by 

 the encroachment of the dorsal cuirass over the dorsal fin ; still further, this cuirass 

 is composed of plates connate with the ribs, the lateral ones being developed in con- 

 nection with the ribs; the head is produced into an elongate tubiform snout; the 

 ' ventrals are abdominal, and there are two dorsals crowded upon the downward-bont 

 tail. The species are confined to the Indian and Pacific oceans. 



