278 



ICHTHYOLOGY. 



Classifica- """'e by the toothless palate than any difiference of form or general 

 structure. 



Genus XXII. Lobotes, Cuv. Branchiostegals six. A single 

 dorsal ; thoracic ventrals with five soft rays. Body, opercular 

 pieces, and cheeks scaly. Snout short ; prominent mandible; profile 

 of face somewhat concave. Very coarse denticulations on the pre- 

 operculum. Soft portions of the anal and dorsal prolonged in such 

 a. manner that posteriorly the fish appears to be trilobate, the round- 

 ed caudal forming the middle and longest lobe ; entire form oval 

 and thickish. Spines of the fins strong, and those of the back re- 

 clining in a scaly furrow when at rest. Four pores, or four groups 

 of minute pores towards the end of the mandible. Scales ciliated. 

 Lateral line continuous. Stomach csecal, very large, and fleshy ; 

 three pancreatic caeca ; large oblong air-bladder. Four species. 



Genus XXIII. Scolopsides, Cuv. Connected with the Sciae- 

 noids, and especially with Priatopoma and Diagramma by the den- 

 ticulations of the preoperculura ; but there are either no pores on 

 the end of the mandible or only very minute ones, easily overlooked. 

 The peculiar generic character consists in the second suborbitar 

 scale bone ending in a spinous point, close under the orbit, pointing 

 backwards ; and the third bone of the chain frequently sends out 

 one in the opposite direction which meets it. Body oval or oblong. 

 Dorsal continuous in outline. Eye large. Mouth moderate. Scales 

 pretty large, extending to the occiput, opercular pieces, cheeks, and 

 throat. Dorsal spines reclining on a scaly furrow, and having 

 their broader sides turned alternately to the right and left, as in 

 many Scisenoids and Sparoids. Caudal notched or forked. Stomach 

 caecal, rounded, very small ; pancreatic caeca six thick, as long as 

 the stomach ; air-bladder simple. Twenty-two species. 



Genus XXIV. Heterognathodon, Bleek. Scaly fishes. Dor- 

 sal solitary. Branchiostegals five. Rays of the pectoral entire. 

 Suborbitar scale bones smooth, without spines. Preoperculum den- 

 ticulated ; a solitary opercular spine. Premaxillary teeth bristle- 

 shaped, pluriserial, with four canines anteriorly; mandibular teeth 

 also pluriserial and bristle-shaped, with two canines, and a row of 

 conical teeth behind. Batavia. 



Genos XXV. MaCquaria, Cuv. General form Percoid, with 

 the muciferous excavations of the bones of Acerina. No teeth. 

 Branchiostegals five. A pit and two small pores beneath the end of 

 the mandible as in many Sciasnoids. Preoperculum, subopercu- 

 lum and interoperculum, suprascapular and coracoid, finely denti- 

 culated or serrated ; operculum terminated in two thin, flat, bony 

 points. Scales rough, ciliated. Stomach csecal ; eight pancreatic 

 caeca ; air-bladder either absent or very small. One species. 



Genus XXVI. Latilus, Cuv. Forms in the division of Sciae- 

 noids, with an undivided dorsal, as given in the Histoire des Poissons, 

 a genus remarkable for its arched profile descending almost verti- 

 cally, the very short snout and large eye, near the profile. Hori- 

 zontal raouth reaching the front of the eye, and a general form of 

 the tapering body, resembling Coryphcena. Teeth, across band in 

 front of the vomer, none on the palatines ; four or five larger curved 

 teeth in front of the villiform band on the jaws. Branchiostegals 

 six. Peroperculum very finely denticulated; operculum ending 

 in a single point. Suprascapular smooth. Dorsal rays slender, 

 flexible. Scales minutely ciliated. Lateral line straight, continuous. 

 .Stomach csecal ; one pancreatic csecum only observed ; air-bladder 

 simple, large. One species. 



POLYNEMIDS. 



This small family has relations with the first group of the 

 TheraponidcE, in the existence of long feeler-like rays in the 

 pectorals. In one species of Polynemus, the long free pecto- 

 ral rays have obtained for it the appellation of Paradise-fish, 

 from the resemblance these filamentous rays bear to the tail- 

 feathers of a bird of Paradise. Polynemus is also remarkable 

 as being a genus, otherwise natural, of which the species ex- 

 hibit great varieties in the form of the air-bladder. In some, 

 that viscus is lobed posteriorly, and fringed on the sides with 

 many pointed processes ; in other species, the air-bladder, 

 thout;h large, is quite simple, and in others there is no air- 

 bladder at all, just as it is wanting in some species of Scom- 

 ber. The Polynemus indictts, which has a large air-bladder 

 with from twenty-eight to thirty-five of these lateral append- 

 ages springing from it, and also a very great number of pan- 

 creatic ceeca divided into two bundles, furnishes most of the 

 isinglass that is procured at Penang. The weight of this fish 

 is commonly from 4 to 6 lb., and seldom exceeds 20 lb. The 

 air-vessel of a good-sized fish when dried and ready for the 



market weighs upwards of two ounces, and the isinglass is Classifica- 

 considered to be very good, and fetches from 25 to 30 tion — 

 Spanish dollars the pikul. The prepared air-vessels are -Acanthop- 

 I • 1 .1 c ur- \ » terous 



known m eastern commerce by the name of 'rish-maws, pighes 



and in 1842 between 12,000 and 13,000 dollars worth were v ^ _^ y 

 exported from Prince of Wales Island (Singapore). They ~ ^ 

 are not obtained exclusively from the Poli/nemus, though its 

 isinglass is among the best. Dr Cantor, iiom whom these 

 particulars are quoted, says that the fishery is carried on in 

 a very rude manner, chiefly by the Chinese, and might be 

 almost indefinitely extended by European capital and skill. 



Family IV.— P0LYNE.\IID^. 



Acanthopterygians with abdominal ventrals, a position re- 

 sulting from the elongation of the pubic bones which are suspended 

 to the coracoids. Teeth on the jaws, front of the vomer, and pala- 

 tines. Two dorsals ; scaly appendages in the axillse of the pec- 

 torals and ventrals. Scales ctenoid, feebly ciliated. Pancreatic 

 caeca. 



Genus I. Polynemus, Linn. Body oblong. Head covered, even 

 to the branchiostegal membrane, with deciduous scales. Preoper- 

 culum denticulated. Villiform teeth on the two jaws, front of the 

 vomer, and on the palatines; tongue short and broad, smooth. 

 Wide gill-openings ; seven branchiostegals. The two openings of 

 each nostril near to one another and near the end of the snout. 

 Dorsals widely separated, the second one being distant also from 

 the caudal, and corresponding in position with the anal ; caudal 

 forked, generally unequal. Small scales on the three vertical fins, 

 and on the base of the pectoral; a number (varying with the species) 

 of the under pectoral rays free, long, and filiform, separated from 

 the rest of the fin by a scaly space. Anal spines, one, two, or three. 

 Stomach obtusely caecal ; several pancreatic cseca (six or more) ; 

 air-bladder large, pointed, and entering among the muscles of the 

 tail ; in some species the air-bladder is wanting, in others that 

 viscus has many(from twenty to thirty) processes on the ventral sur- 

 face. Sixteen species. 



With this we associate a Sciasnoid genus, which has had no other 

 more appropriate place assigned to it as yet, and which has many 

 characters in common with Polynemus. 



Genus II. Cheilodactylus, Lacep. Sciaenoids with an oval 

 compressed body ; small mouth ; villiform teeth, or conical, scarcely 

 acute, on the jaws only, and not on the palate. Preorbitars and pre- 

 opercula without denticulations. Numerous dorsal spines, and ven- 

 trals attached under the middle of the pectorals, but with the pubic 

 bones suspended from the coracoid. Branchiostegals six, more 

 rarely five only. Stomach csecal ; pancreatic casca two, short ; rec- 

 tum dilated, muscular. The lower pectoral rays, to the number of 

 six or seven, are simple, and one of them commonly thicker than 

 the rest, is elongated into a filiform tip, which often reaches the 

 end of the anal. Caudal forked. Many have a slight prominence 

 before the orbit, and in one or two species it rises in a conical 

 form. Eight species. 



Genus III. Latris, Rich. A division of Cheilodactylus, with 

 generally more-elongated elliptical bodies, and none of the simple 

 rays of the pectoral passing the membrane. The ascending limb of 

 the preoperculum is minutely serrated in some,and smooth in others. 

 Three Australian species. 



SURMULLET FAMILY. 



The fishes of this family were denominated rpiyXrj by the 

 Greeks, and mullus by the Romans. The Greek name is 

 said to have originated in the three spawning seasons attri- 

 buted to the Surmullets, and they were dedicated to the 

 tergeminous or tricipitous goddess Hecate. The Latin 

 name had another origin according to Pliny — a colore mul- 

 leorum calceamentorum, from the red-coloured shoes or 

 buskins worn by the kings of Alba, and afterwards by the 

 consuls, prastors, and curule ediles. By the luxurious 

 Romans, the Surmullets were held in such repute that they 

 sought lor them far and wide, and without regard to expense. 

 They seldom exceeded 2 lb. in weight, and the purchase 

 of a large one, the price augmenting in a greater ratio than 

 the size, was considered to be an act of magnificence. A 

 Surmullet of 3 lb. weight was an object of admiration, and 

 one of 4 lb. entailed ruin on the purchaser. 



