16 THE GAME FISH OF NORTH AMERICA. 



tiou of a few deep-sea fish, are included in two large classes of 

 abdominal Malacopterygii, or Acanthopterygii ; the first class 

 being those which have all the fin-rays soft and flexible ; and 

 the second, those which have a part of the fin-rays hard and 

 spiny, as is the case with the Perch and the Bass, besides some 

 others. 



The deep-sea fish, to which I have alluded as coming under 

 a third class, are the sub-brachial Malacopterygii, which have a 

 diff'erent arrangement of the fins, although they have the soft 

 and flexible fin-rays, in lieu of spines, as in the first class 

 named. To this class belong the Cod, Haddock, Whiting, and 

 such other of the deep-sea fish, especially Flat-fish, as can, by 

 any extension of the term, be allowed to figure as Game Fish ; 

 for, under this head, I cannot by any means include the E,ay, 

 the Skate, or the Lampreys, which come under the same class 

 with the Sharks [Chondropterygii) or cartilaginous fishes, the 

 skeletons of which are not, as in the Malacopterygii or Acan- 

 thopterygii, composed of bone, but of cartilaginous or gristly 

 matter. The Eel, which is not a Game Fish, is of the class 

 Malacopterygii, but with a different arrangement of fins, which 

 gives him the title oi Apodal. He hardly deserves notice at all, 

 unless as an article of food, and if mentioned, will be kept aloof 

 from the others. 



Of these two great generic divisions, then, are all the fresh- 

 water fishes, more or less distinct, families ; and all the shoal- 

 water sea fishes likewise, with which we have to do; nor is 

 there any line to be drawn as regards the migratory or non- 

 migratory fishes, some of these belonging to each of these two 

 great classes. 



