SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OP^ FISHES. 29 



species is thus referred to by Lawson in "A New Voyage to Carolina", pub- 

 lished in 1709: 



Lampreys are not common; I never saw but one, which was large, and caught by the 

 Indians in a ware. They would not eat him, but gave him to me. 



Lampreys attach themselves to shad, cat-fish, sturgeon, and various 

 other fishes, making ulcerous sores and sometimes producing death by perfor- 

 ating the abdominal walls. The rapidity of their respiratory movements is quite 

 remarkable; in a healthy 2-foot specimen observed by the writer the respirations 

 averaged 124 per minute. 



Outside of a few localities in New England, the lamprey has no recognized 

 food value in the United States, although in Europe it has been more or less 

 celebrated from early times. 



Class PISCES. The Fishes, 



The North CaroUna representatives of this class fall into 2 easily recognized 

 groups or sub-classes, (1) the sharks, skates, and rays, and (2) the true fishes, 

 which are distinguished anatomically as follows: 



i. Skeleton cartilaginous; skull without sutures and without membranous bones; gill-openings 

 numerous (5 to 7) and slit like, the gills attached to the skin; tailheterocercal; skin tough, 

 naked or covered w-ith small rough scales, spines, or tubercles; air-bladder absent; jaws 

 separable from skull; species vi\iparous or ovoviviparous, the eggs large and few in number; 

 embryo with deciduous external gills. 



Selachii or Elasmobranchii (sharks, skates, rays, etc.). 



ii. Skeleton bony in all but a few families; skull with sutures and membranous bones (oper- 

 cula, etc.); gill-openings a single slit on each side, the gills attached to bony arches; tail 

 heterocercal or homocercal; body usually covered with numerous flat scales; air-bladder 

 present or absent; jaws not distinct from the skull; species oviparous (exceptionally vivi- 

 parous), the ova small and numerous Teleostomi (true fishes). 



Sub-Class SELACHII. The Sharks, Skates, and Rays. 



Key to the orders of selachians represented in North Carolina waters- 



i. Form typically fish-like; one or two well-developed dorsal fins; anal fin present; caudal fin 

 large; pectoral fins distinct; gill-openings lateral. 

 a. Gill-openings 6 or 7 in number; dorsal fin single.. . Diplospondyli (notidanoid sharks). 



aa. Gill-openings 5 in number; two dorsal fins Asterospondyli (tj-pical sharks). 



ii. Form not fish-like, much depresssed and expanded laterally; dorsal fins wanting, or 

 small and inserted on tail; anal fin absent; caudal fin small or wanting. 

 h. Pectoral fins expanded laterally, but not confluent with body, separated from neck by 

 a deep notch in which are the gill-openings; gill-openings lateral, partly inferior; 



ventral fins large Cyclospondyli (suborder Tectcspondyli, the angel-fishes). 



bb. Pectoral fins expanded laterally and confluent with body; gill-openings ventral; ven- 

 tral fins small B.\toidea (the skates and rays). 



Order DIPLOSPONDYLI. The Notidanoid Sharks. 



These sharks are distinguished by having 6 or 7 gill-openings on each side, 

 a single dorsal fin, and 2 vertebrse and 2 neural arches arising from each segment 

 of the backbone, together with other skeletal characters. Numerous species of 

 fossil sharks are allied to the few living members of the order. One American 

 family. 



