192 CLASS XIV. 



TracTiinus L. Head compressed, small. Eyes approximate. 

 Gape of mouth ascending obliquely. Teeth thin, crowded in jaws, 

 vomer and palate-bones. Operculum with a very strong spine. 

 Branchiostegous membrane with six rays. Dorsal fins two, conti- 

 guous, the first short, the second, like the anal, long ; this pro- 

 duced forwards almost to the pectoral fins. Body elongate, 

 compressed, covered with small scales. 



Sp. Trachinus draco L., Bloch 8y»t. Ichth. Tab. lo (named Trachinus 

 Uneatus), Skandinav. Fiskar. Tab. 3, fig. i ; the iveever, la vive, de pieteriiian ; 

 fiesh excellent, seldom i' long (mostly only 10"), the second dorsal fin has 

 twenty-nine or thirty rays ; — Trachinus vipera Cuv., TracJi, draco Bl. Ichth. 

 Tab. 61, Cdv. R. Ani., ed. ill., Poiss. PI. 15, fig. i ; this species is smaller 

 and shorter than the jireceding, and has not more than about twenty-four 

 rays in the second dorsal fin. Both species are from the North Sea; the 

 first occurs, with two other species, in the Mediterranean Sea also. That 

 the sharp rays of the first dorsal fin and the spine of the gill-cover are 

 dangerous and even poisonous weapons in these fishes, especially in 

 Trachinus vipera, was formerly a general opinion, and beyond doubt they 

 can produce painful wounds ; Allman compares a wound which he received 

 from the opercular-.spine to the sting of a wasp, Ann. of Nat. Mist. vi. 

 1841, pp. 161 — 165. 



Percis Bl., Schn. Head depressed. Dorsal fins conjoined. No 

 teeth in palate-bones. Remaining characters and habit nearly those 

 of Trachinus. 



Sp. Percis maculata Bloch, Syst. Ichth. Tab. 38 ; — Percis cylindrica, Scicena 

 cylindrica Bloch, Ichth. Tab. 299, fig. i ; — Percis canceUata, Lahrus tetra- 

 canthus Lac. Poiss. 11. PL 13, fig. 3, Guerin Iconorjr., Poiss. PI. 9, fig. 1, 

 &c. — Fishes from the Indian Ocean, the Red and Pacific Seas, which seem 

 to be the representatives of the European genus Trachinus. 



Note. — Perhaps genus Trichodon Steller is to be placed near 

 Trachinus. The ventral fins, however, are thoracic rather than 

 jugular. Dorsal fins two. Body scaleless. 



Sp. Trichodon Stdleri Cuv., Val, Poiss. in. PI. 57, Guerin Iconorjr., Poiss. 

 PI. 7, fig. 3. 



BovicUhys Cuv., Val. 



Sp. Bovichthys diacanthus Cuv., Val. Poiss. viii. PI. 244; a fish occurring 

 both on the east and west coasts of South America, unknown to me, 

 described formerly by Caemichael under the name of Callionymus 

 diacanthus, related to the Trachini but distinct from that genus by seven 

 rays of the branchiostegous membrane, by very large eyes, and by habit. 



Pinguipes Cuv. Head broad, protracted, with fleshy lips. Eyes 

 remote from mouth. Teeth crowded, thin in jaws behind a row of 



