2736 THE BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS 



ranges over the Mediterranean, the eastern coasts of the temperate zones of the At- 

 lantic, and the Australian and Japanese seas; while in a fossil state it occurs in the 

 Miocene deposits of Sicily. An exceedingly ugly and ill-favored creature, with a 

 huge protruding mouth, the common dory is olive brown tinged with yellow in color, 

 showing blue and metallic reflections in certain lights. The sides bear a large black 

 spot, surrounded by a white ring; a similar mark occurring in some of the other spe- 

 cies. A somewhat migratory fish on the British coasts, the dory has been long es- 

 teemed by epicures, and it is stated that its flesh is better on the second than on the 

 first day. Couch writes that ' ' when the pilchards approach the shore, the dory is 

 often taken in considerable numbers. In the autumn of 1829 more than sixty were 

 hauled on shore at once in a net, some of them of large size, and yet the whole of 

 them were sold for nine shillings. It continues common until the end of winter, af- 

 ter which it is more rare but never scarce. The form of the dory would seem to 

 render it incapable of much activity; and it is sometimes seen floating along with 

 the current rather than swimming; yet some circumstances favor the idea that it is 

 able to make its way with considerable activity. It keeps pace with shoals of pil- 

 chards, so that some are usually inclosed in the seine with them; it also devours the 

 common cuttle, a creature of vigilance and celerity; and I have seen a cuttle of a few 

 inches long taken from the stomach of a dory that measured only four inches." In 

 the allied genus Cyttus, represented by three species from Madeira, South Aus- 

 tralia, and New Zealand, the body is covered with minute scales, there are no bony 

 plates, the number of spines in the anal fin is two, and the pelvic fins comprise one 

 spine and six or eight rays. 



STROMATEIDS AND CORYPH^NAS Families STROM 'ATEID^E and 



These two families are collectively distinguished from the preceding by the ab- 

 sence of any distinct spinous portion to the dorsal fin; the compressed body being 

 either oblong, or very deep; and there being more than ten vertebrae in the trunk, 

 and more than fourteen in the tail. In the first of the two the dentition is feeble, 

 the palate being devoid of teeth; but there are horny barbed processes projecting 

 into the resophagus which take the place of oral teeth. The scales are very small, 

 the eyes lateral, and the dorsal fin long. The typical genus Stromateus, which in- 

 cludes about half a score of species from most tropical and temperate seas, is charac- 

 terized by the absence of pelvic fins in the adult; the dorsal and anal fins being long, 

 with their points curving backward in several or the species, and the caudal deeply 

 forked. In habits these fishes are partly pelagic. 



The second of the two families is represented typically by the well- 

 known pelagic coryphsenas (Qnypk&na), popularly miscalled dolphins. 

 As a family, the Coryphcenida are readily distinguished from the Stromateidce by the 

 absence of tooth-like processes in the resophagus. In the typical genus the body is 

 somewhat elongated and compressed, the adults having an elevated crest on the top 

 of the head; and the cleft of the mouth is wide. The single dorsal fin extends in a 



