ACANTHOPTEKYGIANS. 11£^ 



Gkrres, Cuv. — MocHARRA, hi Soutk America, 



Also have the mouth protractile, but, in extending itself, it descends ; their 

 hody is elevated, the anterior part of the dorsal in particular, along tlie 

 base of whose posterior portion is a scaly sheath. They have no other 

 leeth than those in the jaws, which are small and crowded. The first in- 

 terspinal of their anal fin is. tabular as in certain Pagri. They are excel- 

 lent food, and inhabit the hot parts of both oceans*. 



G. rhomheus, Cuv. ; Sloane, 11, pi. 253, f. 1, (The Rock Barbs of 

 Jamaica), a species that is said to penetrate occasionally as far as the 

 coast of Cornwall, following pieces of wood covered with Anatifs, 

 carried there by the currents f 



The sixth family of the Acanlhopterygians, or 



FAMILY VI. 



SQUAMIPENNES, 



Is so called, because the soft, and frequently the spinous parts of their 

 dorsal and anal fins are covered with scales, which encrust them, as it 

 were, and render it difficult to distinguish them from the mass of the body. 

 This is the most remarkable character of these fishes, the body of which 

 is generally much compressed, the intestines long, and the cseca numerous. 

 They were comprised by Linnsus in the genus 



Ch^todon, Li7i. 



The Chastodons, so named from their teetli, which in length and tenuity 

 resemble bristles, collected in several close rows like the hairs of a brush. 

 Their mouth is small; their dorsal and anal fins are so completely covered 

 with scales similar to those on the back, that it is extremely diflicult to 

 ascertain where they commence. These fishes, very abundant in the seas 

 of hot climates, are adorned with the most beautiful colours, a circumstance 

 which has led to the collection of them in museums, and to numerous gra- 

 phic representations of the species. Their intestines are long and ample, 

 and their caca long, slender, and numerous ; their natatory bladder is large 

 and very strong. They frequent rocky shores, and their flesh is good for 

 eating. 



f. 174 ; — Bodianiis argentius, BI. 231, or Picarel raillard, Quoy et Gaym. Zool. Freycin., 

 pi. 44, f. 3i—Sparus cmiivg, Bl. 263, or Cychla cuning, Bl. Schii., p. 336. M. de La- 

 cepede also makes a Ccesio of the Scomber, equula of Forskhal, or Centrogaster equula 

 of Gmelin, which is our Equula caballa. 



* Labrus oyena, Forsk. Kupp. Voy. Poiss., pi. Ill, x, 2, or Spare bretov, Lacep. IV, 

 134, or Labre long musean, Id. Ill, xix, 1, and p. 467; — Gerres apriov, Cuv., Catesb. 

 II, xi, 2 ; — G. rhombeus, Cuv., or Stone-bass, Sloane, Jam. li, pi. 253, f. 1 ; — G. poieti, 

 Cuv., Ren., pi. ii, f. 9, Valent., No. 354;— C lineuius, Cuv., or Smarts lineatus, Hunib. 

 Zool. Obs. pi. xlvi, f. 2; — Gerres argyreus, Cuv., or Sci(fna argyrea, Forster, or Cychla 

 argyrea, Bl. Schn.; — G. filumentosus, Cuv., or U'ordatvahali, lluss., f. 68. 



t Couch, Lin. Trans. XIV, part I, p. 81. 



