THE 



NATURAL HISTORY 



OF 



BRITISH FISHES. 



Strange forms, resplendent colours, kinds unnumbered, 

 With swords, saws, spiral horns, or hooked fangs. 



ARRANGEMENT. 



Upon the important subject of the Arrangement of 

 Fishes, we shall not enter farther than to remark, 

 that in the succeeding pages we follow that of the 

 Baron Cuvier, which we consider the best which 

 has hitherto been proposed. He divides this Class 

 of animals, the Fourth and last of the Vertebrata, 

 into two great Series, the Osseous, or those pos- 

 sessed of a bony skeleton, and the Cartilaginous, 

 or those furnished with a cartilaginous one; and 

 arranges the whole in six Orders, four belonging to 

 the former Series, and two to the latter. The Os- 



