480 FISHES. 



generally used as food ; seven species occur on the British 

 coast : the Eed Gurnard {T. ^)?'/i-2'), the Streaked Gurnard 

 {T. lincata), the Sapphirine Gurnard {T. hirundo), the Grey 

 Gurnard {T. gurnardus), Bloch's Gurnard {T. cuculus), the 

 Piper {T. lyra), and the Long-finned Gurnard {T. ohscura or T. 

 hicerna). Singularly, the European species cross the Atlantic 

 but rarely, the American species belonging chiefly to the 

 division Prionohcs. 



Several other genera belong to this family ; for com- 

 pleteness' sake they are mentioned here, viz. BunocoUus from 

 Cape Horn; Rhami^liocottus, Trijlops from Arctic North 

 America ; Podabras, Blcpsias, Nautichthys, Scorpccnichtliys, 

 Hemilejndotus, Artcdius, from the North Pacific ; Ptyonotiis, 

 from Lake Ontario ; Polycaidus from Indian Seas ; Bemhras 

 from the Japanese Sea. 



Fourteenth Family — Cataphracti. 



Form of the hody doiujatc, suh-cylindrical. Dentition fcehlc. 

 Body completely cuirasscd until osseous heeled sccdes or plates. 

 A Ijony stay eonneds the anqlc of the p)rccoperculum ivitli the 

 infrcwrhital ring. Vcntrcds thoraeic. 



INIarine fishes, and partly pelagic. Petedoptcryx, from the 

 chalk of Mount Lebanon, is supposed to have a resemblance 

 to Dactylopterus. 



Agonus. — Head and body angular, covered Avith bony plates. 

 Two dorsal fins ; no pectoral appendages. Small teeth in the 

 jaws. 



Small fishes, from the northern parts of the temperate 

 zone and extending into the Arctic Ocean ; the genus re- 

 appears in the Southern Hemisphere on the coast of Chile. 

 Of the eleven species known, one {A. ccdaphractus) is not 

 uncommon on the coast of Great Britain. 



AsPinoPHOROiDES, from Greenland, has a very similar form 

 of the body, but possesses one short dorsal fin only. 



