198 REV. R. T. LOWE’S SYNOPSIS 
Tas.e (Continued). 
Whole number of Species 
found in Species peculiar to Species common to 
Families. 
Brit. from Med. from Mad. Med. and Bate and | Brit. Med, 
: ed. 
Yarr. ee & | Lowe. Brit. . . d Mad. and Mad. 
5. Lophobranchiz, i. e. Syn- 14 
gnathide 
Gymnodontide 
Balistidz 
6. Plectognathi 
7. Chondropt. Ord. I. 
Sturionide 
8. Chondropt. Ord. II. 
Squalidz 
i. e.¢ Raiide 
Petromyzide 
Chondropterygii 
It only remains briefly to indicate a few of the chief results above displayed in figures. 
The first of these is one, indeed, which might have almost safely been anticipated, in 
consideration of the physical condition of the country ; the small extent of which, its 
abruptness of elevation above the level of the sea, and the extreme inequality of the 
surface, are causes combining to reduce its freshwater streams, however copious, to the 
mere character of rapid rivulets or mountain torrents, and to prevent the natural for- 
mation of any permanent lakes, pools, or ponds of stagnant water. Thus is excluded 
of necessity, with the exception of the Eel (Anguilla), the whole race of either perma- 
nent or temporary freshwater fishes. 
Bearing in mind this great source of deficiency, and then considering another almost 
equally influential on the numerical abundance of the species, namely, the perfect uni- 
formity of these shores in structure and materials, occasioning a corresponding uniform- 
ity of food and shelter, and encouraging tenants alone of one particular set of habits; 
it is only matter of surprise that the total number of Maderan fishes is not less than 
half the whole number inhabiting the rivers, lakes, and seas of England, Ireland, and 
Scotland. Excluding the freshwater species, as in the foregoing Table, for the purpose 
of a fair comparison, Great Britain possesses along all its well-searched, varied, and ex- 
tended shores, only one-third more fishes than Madera. And in the Acanthopterygian 
or Spiny-finned division the numbers are very nearly equal. 
But allowing for the absence of the fluviatile species in Madera, by omitting them on 
