166 ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



III. FAMILY OF THE MAIGRES. 

 SCIENIDjE. 



Representatives in British Fauna. Gen. 2. Sp. 2. 



Gen. 14. Sclbna. Sp. 33. S. aquila. The Maigre. 



1 5. Umbrina. 34. U. vulgaris. Bearded Umbrina. 



This great Family, whose ascertained species 

 amount to about 260, is much more common on 

 the American shores of the Atlantic than the Euro- 

 pean, and four-fifths of the whole are inhabitants 

 of the intertropical seas; two species only having 

 been recognized as visitors to our coasts, and those 

 but rarely, it will not occupy us long. It has a 

 strong general resemblance to the Percidse ; but its 

 members are destitute of teeth on the vomer and 

 palatines, so that the palate is quite smooth ; some 

 of them have two dorsal fins, and others only one : 

 our species belong to the former category. 



These fish are remarkable for the size and in- 

 plicated structure of their air-bladders, which en 

 assume fantastic and highly ornamented sh a : 

 they are also famous for the sounds they ei 

 being taken from the water, and also when remain- 

 ing in it, to an extent exceeding that of the Gur- 

 nards and Crooners of the foregoing family; and 

 these two circumstances have naturally been associ- 

 ated as cause and effect. The air-bladder, however, 

 in many instances, seems to have no external open- 



