ICHTHYOLOGY. 



287 



dreads cold, and many were observed to perish during the 

 severe winter of 1 766. The Gilt-head is a British species, 



■ but of extremely rare occurrence. 



Tiie Dentex vulgaris, a fish of a silvery hue, shaded into 



, blue upon the back, with reddish pectoral fins, and some- 

 times attaining to the weight of 20 lbs., has occurred upon 

 the Sussex coast. The specimen figured by Donovan 

 (pi. 73) was obtained in Billingsgate market. 



Fig. 31 represents a scale ot Let/imitis ci/noclieilus, and 

 may give some idea of the general character of a Sparoid 

 scale, alluded to in the table of genera at the bottom of the 

 page. 



Family IX.— SPARID^E. 

 Sparoid scales ; a large elongated scale in the axilla of the pec- 

 toral. Gill-cover shining, without proper spines or denticiilations. 

 Maxilla capable of being received in part under the preoibitar 

 scale bone, which is generally high. Spinous rays of the dorsal 

 and anal fins bare, mostly lodging in a furrow ; pectoral and ventral 

 fins sharp pointed ; caudal fin notched in an angle at the end. The 

 Sparoid scales are generally thin, broader than long, and the centre 

 of growth is near the posterior border, the lines being parallel to 

 the anterior border, and becoming straight laterally. Their pecu- 

 liar structure is described more fully in Agass. Poiss. Foss. i., p. 86, 

 and in Troschel's Arch, for 1849, p. 382. Snout not projecting nor 

 protractile, destitute of palatine teeth, and distinguished from the 

 Sciasnoids by the want of any denticulations or armature of the 

 gill-covers, and of cavernous or cellular structure in the cranium ; 

 from the Chwtodontidw, by the want of scales on the vertical fins ; 

 and by the size and nature of the scales from the Scomleridai 

 (Hist, des Poissons). Branchiostegals generally six, sometimes five, 

 rarely seven. 



(a.) Round molar teeth, with trenchant or conical front ones. 



Genus I. SAKons, Cuv. Several rows of molars ; incisorial front 

 teeth. Cheek scaly. Sixteen species. 



Genus 11. Chauax, Risso. One row of very small molars al- 

 most granular ; incisorial front teeth. Cheek scaly. 



Genus III. Chuysophrys, Cuv. Several rows of rounded 

 molars ; front teeth conical. Cheek scaly. Twenty-four species. 



Genus IV. Pagrus, Cuv. Rounded molars in two rows; front 

 teeth conical, with a villiform card-like band behind them. Cheek 

 scaly. Fifteen species. 



Genus V. Pagellus, Cuv. Two or more rows of rounded molars; 

 front teeth villiform. Cheek scaly. Twelve species. 



(6.) Teeth conical, with larger ones, or canines. 



Genus VI. Lethuinus, Cuv. Teeth villiform, mixed with long 

 curved ones, and occasionally one or two rounded molars. Cheek 

 naked (without scales). Twenty-eight species. 



Genus VII. Dentex, Cuv. At least four large canines among 

 villiform or card-like teeth. Cheek scaly. Thirty species. 



Genus VIII. Pentapus, Cuv. Cheek scaly. Teeth villiform, 

 with only two canines ; mouth small. Caudal more scaly than in 

 Dentex. Eight species. 



(c.) Teeth all villiform. 



Genus IX. Cantharus, Cuv. Villiform teeth, the exterior ones 

 stronger. Twelve species. 



(d.) Trenchant teeth without molars, sometimes accompanied 

 by vitliformhands, sometimes without tliem; no rounded 

 molars. 



Genus X. Box, Cuv. A single row of thin vertical teeth notched 

 or crenated on the edge. Six species. 



Genus XI. Oblata, Cuv. Crenated cutting teeth as in Bo.t:, 

 with a villiform band behind them. Two species. 



Genus XII. Boxaodo.n, Guich. Body elongated, roundish, 

 covered with small scales. Snout short; mouth small, not protrac- 

 tile. No teeth whatever. Opercular bones not denticulated nor 

 serrated. Eyes large. Dorsals two, with many free spines between 

 them ; ventral fins minute, situated on the thorax. Branchial open- 

 ings wide ; branchiostegals six. Valparaiso. 



Genus XIII. Scathauus, Cuv. Cutting teeth not crenated in 

 a single row. One species. 



Genus XIV. Crenidens, Cuv. (Girella, Gray; Melanichthyi, 

 Schleg. Fauna Jap.) Oval scaly fishes, with a nearly even dorsal 

 having many spinous rays. Convex profile ; terminal small mouth 



and head wholly unarmed. Ventrals consisting of a spine and five Classifica- 

 soft rays under the pectorals. Scales ctenoid, in some covering all tion — 

 the head except the disk of the preoperculum, mandible, and lips, Acanthop- 

 in other species have more or most of the opercular pieces scaleless ; teroug 

 narrow vertical bands of scales exist on the fins in some species. Fishes. 

 but are easily deciduous. Teeth compressed, curved, crenated with > . _ , > 



three or more disks, rarely entire, forming two rows on the jaws, 

 and separated by a furrow from an interior band of minute teeth 

 appearing to be granular, but when examined with a lens showing 

 the same forms with the exterior older ones which they are des- 

 tined to succeed. Vomer and palate generally toothless. In C. 

 simplex, a species with entire incisorial teeth, the vomer is furnished 

 with a patch of minute teeth invisible to the naked eye, and there 

 is a similar plate on the front of the palatines. Pharyngeal teeth 

 small, short, subulate, and densely crowded. Branchiostegals six. 

 Six species. 



m;enoid.s. 



This family is distinguished from the Sparoids by the 

 protractility of the mouth, and by a greater thickness of the 

 face and of the body generally. The Mediterranean species 

 were known to the ancients, and their Greek name is La- 

 tinized by Pliny to Maina, and adopted by Cuvier as a 

 generic term. They are mostly small fishes, despised by 

 the ancients, and held in no great esteem now. 



" Fuisse gerres aut inutiles maenas. 

 Odor impudicus urcei fatebatur." 



Martial. 



The following table of the genera is from the Histoire 

 des Poissons, the source from which our observations gene- 

 rally are drawn : — 



TABLE OF GENERA. 



M.EN1DES. Form sparoid, but having occasionally teeth on the 

 palate, or denticulations on the preoperculum. Mouth in all cases 

 very protractile. 



A^o scales on the dorsal Jin. 

 M.ENA, Smabis. 



Scaly dorsal. 



C.ESIO, Gerres. 



The other genera are characterized by ichthyologists who 

 have written subsequently to the publication of the volume 

 of the Histoire des Poissotis, which contains the Manidce. 

 The genus Eminelichthijs is one of those which combines 



Fig. 105. 

 Emmelichthys nitidus 



Fiff. IOC. 

 Scale of Emmelichthys nitidus. 



the characters of several groups. It has much affinity to 



