I C II T H Y L G Y. 



251 



Clafsifica- ovnrian sacs not communicating witli tlie cavity of tlie abdomen ; 

 tion — Ma- air-bladders two, united by a necli, the anterior one roundisli and 

 lacopteri. covered by a tliiclc fibrous coat as in tiie Catastomi and other 

 . ^ / Ciiprinidm, and inserted into the third and fourth vertebral pro- 



cesses, but not communicating with the ear ; the second is subcel- 

 lular anteriorly, without extensive partitions, but with recesses 

 formed by longitudinal and transverse bridles in the walls of the 

 viscus, which project inwardly in thin folds. A tube runs from the 

 second air-bladder to the top of the oesuphagus. 



Erythrinus, says Miiller, belongs decidedly to the Characini. 



Genus I. Ervthrinus, Cuv., SIull. Simple, card-like teeth on 

 the palatines ; the bigger canines among the mandibular teeth are 

 proportionally short. Swim-bladder cellular. Six species. 



GENU.S II. Macrodon, jMiill. A row of bigger conical pala- 

 tines in place of the card-like teeth of Erythrinus ; on the mandible 

 isolated very large canines. Swim-bladder not cellular. Six 

 species. 



Genus III. Lebiasina, Valenc. Having the aspect of a Ciiprino- 

 don and the tricuspid teeth of that family, but with the suborbi- 

 tars cuirassing the cheek; numerous pancreatic ceeca, and a double 

 air-bladder, partially cellular as in Erythrinus. 



Genus IV. Pyrrhulina, Valenc. In some of its characters this 

 fish approaches the Cyprini<ice. A scaly, fusiform fish, with the 

 mandible projecting, and the upper lobe of the caudal elongated. 

 Snout very short ; eye rather large ; mouth formed above by the 

 short premaxillaries carrying minute crowded teeth, and on the 

 side by oval edentate maxillaries, which fit into pits in the man- 

 dible ; the mandible has large limbs, with small conical teeth, and 

 moves after the manner of the jaw of Mugil ; the second and third 

 suborbitar scale bones cover the cheek. Stomach roundish ; six 

 pancreatic caeca ; a double air-bladder, like that of Macrodon, 

 without cellular walls, but with a tube from the posterior conical 

 half, which communicates with the upper part of the oesophagus. 

 One species, Surinam. 



Genus V. Umbra, Kram. Small premaxillaries, articulating 

 at their extremities with the maxillaries, both carrying teeth ; 'vo- 

 mer and palatines also studded with teeth, Branchiostegals five ; 

 (esophagus short and globular. Stomach long, cylindrical, sii^honal ; 

 no pancreatic caeca ; air-bladder simple, pointed behind, rounded 

 before, and communicating with the pharynx by a wide opening. 

 A thickly fusiform fish, with a short-conical, smooth head, large 

 scales on the body, and a dorsal rather jjosterior to the middle of 

 the fish, and opposite to the small ventrals and anal. Caudal fin 

 cuneate at the end. 



This genus is one which ichthyologists find a difficulty in assign- 

 ing to any family that has as yet been characterized. It combines 

 the characters of several groups. Miiller remarks that it does not 

 belong to the Pcecilian genus CyprinoUon, since, in addition to the 

 premaxillary teeth, it has teeth on the vomer and palate bones; 

 and a mouth bounded anteriorly by the premaxillaries, and exter- 

 nally by the maxillaries, as in Esox, with which it agrees also in 

 having no cajcal projection of the stomach, and in the intestines 

 and the covered pseudobranchia;. {Arch, fur Naturg.) 



Genus VI. Dussumiera, Valen. This fish, having the aspect of a 

 Clupeoid, but, being without denticulations on the belly, is one of 

 the species whose combinations of characters mock at our attempts 

 at arrangement. It has teeth on the jaws, palatines, pterygoids, 

 and tongue, but the vomer is smooth. There are raduliform patches 

 of teeth on the palatines and pterygoids as in Elops, but it cannot 

 enter the Elopidw family, because it wants the sublingual bone of 

 Elops. It ought to be placed, M. Valenciennes thinks, between 

 Butirinus and Elops. One species, D. acuta. 



Genus VII. Etrumeus, Bleek. Se^jarated from Dussumiera 

 because it has vomerine teeth. {Clupea micropus, Schlegel.J 



three generic ones. It is the only representative of the genus Classifica- 

 Elops yet discovered, and is one of tlie few fishes which are *'"" — *'*" 



lacopteri. 



Fig. 75. 



Elops saurus, 



common to the warmer [larts of both the Atlantic and Paci- 

 fic Oceans. It has been captured at New Orleans, Suri- 

 nam, and on the coast of the Brazils ; also on the opposite 

 African coast at Senegal. In the Red Sea also, at the Isle 

 of France, in the Indian Ocean, and, lastly, on the North 

 Australian coasts and in the seas of Polynesia, westward to 

 Japan and China. 



There is a likeness between the genera Lutodeira and 

 Elops, but the great number of branchiostegals which the 

 latter possesses at once distinguishes them. 



Family XI.— ELOPID^. 



Elopiens, Valenc. Separated by M. Valenciennes on account of 

 the presence of a sublingual bone from the Butirinidtr, to which 

 they are nearly allied. This bone exists in Amia, but that genus 

 has another kind of dentition. These fish are remarkable among 

 their allies for the number of their branchiostegals, and the median 

 bone under the branchiostegal membrane, between the limbs of the 

 mandible, is also an unusual part of their structure. The mouth is, 

 like that of the Clupeidce, bordered above by small premaxillaries, 

 and long free maxillaries on the side. Teeth so fine on the pre- 

 maxillaries, maxillaries, mandible, palatines, entopterygoids, vo- 

 mer, presphenoid, and tongue, that they appear merely to be slight 

 asperities. Body long and rounded ; no denticulations whatever on 

 the belly. Dorsal medial, with no prolongation of the last ray. An 

 enlarged and indurated scale on the dorsal and ventral edge of the 

 base of the deeply-forked caudal ; long scaly appendages in the 

 axiUas of the ventrals and pectorals. Head naked ; a diaphanous, 

 waxy-looking, adipose eye-membrane. Stomach conical, with an 

 ascending fleshy branch ; numerous pyloric cceca ; a large air-blad- 

 der communicating with the digestive canal, and forked ante- 

 riorly, but not entering the cranium. 



Genus I. Elops, Linn. Character of the family as above. Two 

 species. 



Genus II. Megalops, Commer. Body elongated, of moderate 

 height and elegant form. Mouth bordered above by the small pre- 

 maxillaries, and by the large, moveable, compound maxillaries on 

 the sides, with the edges of both rough with minute teeth: there 

 are teeth also on the mandible, the palatines, the pterygoids, the 

 front of the vomer, the presphenoid, the lingual and hyoid 

 bones, and on the pharyngeals. Wide gill-openings ; branchioste- 

 gals numerous (twenty-two to twenty-five). A sublingual bone be- 

 tween the limbs of the mandible. An adipose eye-lid to the pretty 

 large eye. Small dorsal, with the tip of the last ray filamentous 

 and long. A large conical stomach; numerous slender, filiform, 

 pancreatic CEeca ; air-bladder large, forked anteriorly, with an 

 air-pipe from it opening into the pharynx. Three species. 



ELOPIDiE. 



The existence of a bone between the limbs of the lower 

 mandible is one of the characters of this family, and the 

 want of it in Butirijins (left among the somewhat hetero- 

 geneous Clupesocid<e) is the reason why M. Valenciennes 

 did not place that genus with his Elopiens. Amia is an- 

 other geiuis in which this sublingual bone is present, but 

 Miiller has adduced various arguments founded on its struc- 

 ture lor considering it to be one of the lew living Ganoids, 

 and we shall accordingly mention it under that order along 

 with the Lcpidostida: wiiich are more ime(|uivocal Ganoids. 



The figure No. 75, represents ihe Elops saurus, or Silver- 

 fish of Garden, a fish which has been introduced into our 

 systematic works under four different specific names and 



MORMYRIDvE. 



A small family of fishes which abound in the rivers of 

 both sides of Africa, the Nile, Senegal, and Congo. They 

 are timid fish, of nocturnal habits, that frequent rocky ba- 

 sins in the rivers, and would be selilom taken but for the 

 jiigh price they command, which renders the fishermen very 

 assiduous. They are caught with lines to which many 

 hooks baited with worms are affi.xed, and one fisherman 

 rarely succeeds in taking more than two or three in the 

 course of the night. Their flesii has an excellent flavour, 

 and is greatly esteemed by the epicures of Egypt. These 

 fish seem to have been objects of as great attention to the 

 ancient Egyptians as they are to the present inhabitants of 

 that country. In the Egyptian luuseum of Paris there is a 

 small bronze re[)resentation of one of the sharp-nosed 



