FAMILY TRIGLIDA — TRIGLA. - 43 
FAMILY UI. TRIGLIDA. 
Suborbital bone extending over the cheek, and articulating behind with the preopercle. Head 
mailed or otherwise armed. 
Ozs. This family has many of the characteristics of the preceding, but is at once distin- 
guished (as may be distinctly perceived in the figure of the Dactylopterus volitans) by the 
great development of the suborbital plates, which unite with the preopercle and cover the 
cheeks. Hence the term “Joues cuirassées,” which has been translated mazled cheeks, and 
also loricati. We see no good reason for not adopting a name derived from some well known 
member of the family, and thus preserve a uniformity in the nomenclature of the class. 
The family Triglide is allied on the one hand by Uranoscopus, which has its suborbitals 
largely developed, to the Percide, and on the other to the succeeding family of Scienide, by 
the absence of teeth on the vomer and palatines. It is divided by Cuvier and Valenciennes into 
twenty-nine genera; and they describe seventeen species, belonging to eight genera, on the 
coast and in the rivers of the United States. 
GENUS TRIGLA. Cuvier. 
Two dorsal fins ; the first spinous, the second flexible. Body scaly. Three detached rays 
under the base of each pectoral fin. Head nearly square. The suborbitals nearly covering 
the whole cheek, projecting more or less beyond the snout, and united firmly to the pre- 
opercle. Teeth small, pointed, numerous, in both jaws, and in front of the vomer. Bran- 
chial rays seven. 
Ozs. But one species has been detected on our coast, where it appears to be an occasional 
visitor only. 
THE RED GURNARD. 
TRIGLA CUCULUS. 
PLATE LXX. FIG. 225. 
Trigla cuculus. Lin. 
Polynemus tridigitatus. Muitcu. Lit. and Phil. Soc. Vol. 1, p. 449. 
La Rouget commun, T. cuculus. Cuv. et Vat. Hist. Poiss. Vol. 4, p. 26. 
Characteristics. Rose-red. Lateral line unarmed, and crossed throughout its length by lines 
not reaching below the middle of the sides. Length 8 — 12 inches. 
Description. Body tapering, cylindrical, elongated. Back nearly straight. Head square, 
descending obliquely from the orbits to the point of the snout, and granulated. Nose with 
four projecting tooth-like processes on each side, belonging to the large suborbital plates ; two 
or three small spines on the upper part of the orbits. ‘The surscapular bone projects back- 
Lad 
