241 



VIII. THE MULLET FAMILY. 

 MUGILID.E. 



Representatives in British Fauna. — Gen. 2. Sp. 4. 



Gen. 37. Atherina. Sp. 60. A. brestyter. Atherine, Sand-smelt. 

 38. Mugil. . 61. M. capita. The Grey Mullet. 



62. M. chelo. Thick-lipped Ditto. 



63. M. curtis. Short Ditto. 



Omitting, in this place, two of the Families of 

 the System we are following, namely the Theutidce 

 or Lancet-shaped, and the Family with Lahyrinthi- 

 form Pharyngeals, as having no representatives in 

 the list of British Fishes, we proceed to state that 

 the Genus Atherine, combined with the Riband - 

 shaped Family, in L'Hist. Nat. des Poissons, is, in 

 the Regne Animal, united with the present, — an 

 arrangement which we shall here adopt. Pallas 

 has urged this union, although objections exist to it 

 as to others, and it is far from being so natural as 

 might be wished. There is, when thus united, a 

 correspondence of its members in the maxillary and 

 intermaxillary bones, in the small number of the 

 first dorsal rays, and in the position of the ventral 

 fins ; and there is a difference in the formation of 

 the mouth and gill-covers of the Mullets, in their 

 extraordinary pharyngeal apparatus, in the existence 

 of a gizzard, so rare in fishes, and in the bony ske- 

 leton. There are about thirty described species of 



Q, 



