292 



ICHTHYOLOGY. 



under tlie name of Angtiela, for cat's meat. The Atherina 

 presbyter is very common on the south coast of England, 

 and is taken in quantities in Portsmouth harbour, and even 

 in the salt-water ditches of the fortifications. In the mar- 

 kets of that place and of Southampton, the Atherines are 

 sold under the name of Smelts, but they are full of sharp 

 angular bones, and are very inferior in flavour to the true 

 Salmonoid Smelt. They seem to frequent, from choice, 

 the moutlis of drains that convey the putrid washings of a 

 large city into the sea. 



Family XIV.— ATHERINID^, Bonap. 



Atherinoidce, Cant, sub-family. Dorsals two ; ventrals abdo- 

 minal. Upper jaw very protractile ; teeth very slender and spare, 

 sometimes existing also on the palate, in other species the palate is 

 smooth. Body generally ornamented by a broad silvery band on 

 the flanks. Stomach siphonal, membranous, a little wider than 

 the rest of the intestinal canal, which latter is shorter and not so 

 frequently doubled back as in Mugil ; pancreatic caeca none ; peri- 

 tonjeum generally lined with a black pigment ; ova large ; air- 

 bladder large, often prolonged into a canal formed by the caudal 

 vertebra;. Vertebra more than double the number of those of the 

 Mugils. Thirty species. 



NOTACANTHS. 



The family of NotacanthidcB, says M. Miiller, includes 

 those Acanthopteri, with or without abdominal ventrals, 

 which liave many isolated dorsal spines, and the coracoid 

 bones suspended to the vertebral column and not to the 

 head. The same structure exists in Nofacanthus as well 

 as in 3Iastacemblus, but it still remains to be ascertained 

 whether Tetragonurus belongs to this group or not. There 

 is little to add regarding tlie family to the tacts collected in 

 the table. The Notacanth or Campylodon of Otho Fabri- 

 cius and Reinhardt is a Greenland species, and Bloch has been 

 much blamed for describing it as an Indian fish ; but the 

 fact is, that a very similar species inhabits the Australian 

 seas, and one of these may have come into Bloch 's hands. 

 Tetragonurus Cucieri of Risso, the only known species of 

 the genus, inhabits great depths in the Mediterranean, and 

 is consequently more rarely seen. It is named Courpata, 

 has a black colour, and hard scales, deeply chiseled and 

 ciliated. Its flesh is said to be poisono\is. We have seen 

 no specimen, but think from the structure assigned to the 

 scales, that it should be compared with the Elopida or 

 AmiidcE. 



Family XV.— NOTACANTHIDjE, Miill. 



Scales cycloid, covering the head, body, and partially the fins. 

 Snout prominent; mouth beneath, horizontal; nostrils near the 

 eye. Branchiostegals seven or eight ; gill-openings beneath, 

 closed directly behind. Head slightly armed ; opercular pieces 

 nearly concealed by the integument. Body elongated, sword- 

 shaped posteriorly. Spinous dorsal not continued by membrane ; 

 soft dorsal in some of one or two rays, or altogether absent, in 

 others of many rays. Coracoids suspended to the vertebral co- 

 lumn as in the Eels, and not to the head as in most osseous fishes. 

 Ventrals abdominal, or wanting ; when present composed of a spine 

 and eight soft rays. Stomach caecal ; pancreatic ca;ca few. 



Gf.nds 1. NOTACANTHUS, Bloch. Dorsal spines free, with a 

 divided soft ray in the axilla of the last one ; anterior anal spines 

 detached, each with a low membrane ; anal joined to a distinctly- 

 formed caudal. Body much elongated, sword-shaped, and tapering 

 posteriorly. Snout prominent, obtuse. Small cycloid scales cover- 

 ing all parts of the body, head, and face, except the lips. Abdo- 

 minal ventrals of two spines and seven articulated rays, united on 

 the median line by membrane into one continuous fin. Branchios- 

 tegals eight ; the membrane continuous across the throat with a 

 free edge. No armature on the head except an acute spine issuing 

 from the maxillary above its posterior extremity. Teeth slender, 

 with lanceolate tips uniserial on the upper jaw, whose border is 

 formed wholly by the premaxillaries ; an interior concentric curve 

 without a break is formed on the vomer and palatines by more subu- 

 late teeth, which iu one species are pluriserial in front ; the man- 



terous 

 Fishes. 



dibular teeth are uniserial or pluriserial ; all the teeth curve back- r;iogsifi__ 

 wards. Two species, Greenland and Australia. .• 



Ge.N'US II. Rhy.nchobdella, Bloch, Schneider. (MacrognaChus, if.„„,u„„ 

 Lacep.) Body elongated, compressed. Snout pointed, projecting, terous 

 fleshy or membranous, flexible and striated underneath, forming 

 a proboscis used as an organ of touch. Branchiostegals seven. 

 Teeth mere scabrosities on the premaxillaries, mandible, and fore 

 end of the vomer. No armature on the head. Scales cycloid, cover- 

 ing the body, bases of the fins, gill-covers, checks, cranium, and 

 borders of the eyes. Spinous dorsal not continued by membrane ; 

 soft one long and far back ; anal corresponding to the soft dorsal, 

 with two free spines in front. Stomach ca:cal, obtuse ; two pan- 

 creatic Cccca ; a long narrow air-bladder. One species. 



Genus III. JIastacembelus, Kuhl and Van Ilass. Rhyn- 

 chobdcllif but with a less elongated snout, which is merely conical 

 and not striated beneath. Teeth rather stronger than in Jihyuchoh- 

 clella. A lew small spines on the rounded corner of the preoper- 

 culum. Vertical fins in some species united, in others the caudal 

 Is merely contiguous to the other two. Ten species. 



Gencs IV. Tetragonurus, Risso. Ventrals a little behind 

 the pectorals. Body elongated, fusiform. Snout obtuse. Mandible 

 a little shorter than the premaxillaries. Upper lips thick, giving 

 the face the aspect of Mugil. Teeth uniserial, conical, and a little 

 recurved on the premaxillaries ; mandibular teeth also uniserial, 

 more curved, compressed and pointed posteriorly ; vomerine teeth 

 on the chevron and along the median line ; tongue smooth ; pha- 

 ryngeal teeth in cardlike plates. No armature on the head. 

 Body clothed in hard scales, lying in oblique rows, and exposing 

 disks which are grooved as in Lutodeira, of the family of Gono- 

 rhynchidce, to which genus this one has some other external simi- 

 larity, especially in the remarkable character of two elevated scaly 

 keels on the base of the caudal on each side. First dorsal composed 

 of a series of very short spines, each with its membrane, which 

 folds into a dorsal groove ; soft dorsal more elevated, not long, op- 

 posite to an anal of similar height and shape. Stomach very long, 

 csecal, conical ; pyloric caeca numerous, ranged along the sides of 

 the ascending branch of the stomach, and along the duodenum ; no 

 air-bladder. One species. The proper place of this geuus is unde- 

 cided. M. Miiller thinks it may be here. 



SCOMBEROIDS. 



In the periodicals of the day we read, that in 1855 the 

 Herring-fishery of Scotland alone employed very nearly 

 70,000 people, made up as follows : — 40,350 fishermen, 

 1913 coopers, 21,832 women employed as cleaners and 

 packers, 3730 labourers, and 1127 fish-curers. Wliat the 

 Herring-fishery is to the northern nations, the capture of 

 the Scomberoids is to the maritime population of the Me- 

 diterranean, and to the Mackerel boats of the British Chan- 

 nel, and both sides of the Atlantic, down to the 30th pa- 

 rallel of latitude. The Tunny, Bonito, and Mackerel fish- 

 eries are known, by report at least, to all. These well known 

 fishes, remark the authors of the Histoire des Poissons, are 

 easily characterized, if we regard the typical forms only. 

 In regard to them, the detachment of the posterior rays of 

 the second dorsal would suffice, but these are merely the 

 chiefs of numerous genera and sub-genera, in which the 

 characteristic forms ]Jass by insensible gradations into others 

 which retain little of the iirimary types. Scales in general 

 very small, and so thin, that they cause the greater part of 

 the skin to appear quite smooth. Vertical fins without scales ; 

 gill-covers destitute of spines and denticulations. Numerous 

 pancreatic ca;ca ; — and behold all is said that can be an- 

 nounced ; yet a family aspect is recognisable in all, adhering 

 to them in every modification, and we cannot subdivide 

 them into separate families, but merely into groups of less 

 value. 



The following analytical table is not to be considered as 

 separating the numerous genera into natural groups, but 

 merely as a means of facilitating the labours of the student 

 in discovering the generic name of any Scomberoid that 

 he is investigating. The apodal Bfii/nchobde/lus and 3Ias- 

 tacemblus, and the abdominal Notacaiithus, have been re- 

 moved from the table as presented in the Histoire des 

 Poissons, to form the family of NotacanthidxE. 



