124 



TOXOTES, Cuv, 



The Archers have the body short and compressed; the dorsal placed 

 on the last half of the body, with very stout spines, the soft part, as well as 

 that of the anal which corresponds to it, scaly ; the snout depressed, short ; 

 lower jaw projecting beyond the upper one ; the teeth quite as dense as 

 the pile on velvet in both jaws, on the extremity of the vomer, palatines, 

 pterygoids, and on the tongue ; six rays in the branchiae, inferior edge of 

 the infra-orbital and preoperculum finely serrate. Their stomach is wide 

 and short, with twelve caecal appendages to the pylorus ; natatory bladder 

 large and thin. 



The species known, Toxotes jacnlator, Cuv. ; Lahrus jaculator, 

 Shaw, vol. IV, part II, p. 485, pi. G8*, from Java, is celebrated for 

 the same faculty that distinguishes the Chcet. rostrattis, of spurting 

 drops of water on the insects which adhere to aquatic plants, to 

 bring them down for the purpose of seizing them. It can force the 

 water to a height of three or four feet, and rarely misses its aim. 



The seventh family of the Acanthopterygians, or 



FAMILY VII. 



SCOMBEROIDES, 



The Scomberoid Fishes, is composed of a multitude of fishes with 

 small scales, a smooth body, numerous caeca frequently united in clusters, 

 and whose tail and caudal fin in particular are extremely powerful. 



This is a family of the greatest utility to man, by the size of its fishes, 

 by their agreeable flavour, and their inexhaustible reproduction, which 

 brings them periodically into the same latitudes, where they constitute the 

 object of the most extensive fisheries. 



Scomber, Lin. 



The Scombers have the first dorsal entire, while, on the contrary, the last 

 rays of the second, as well as those of the anal, which correspond to them, 

 are detached, forming what are termed false or spurious fins, or pinnce 

 spurice. The genus is subdivided as follows : 



Scomber, Cuv. 



The Mackerels have a fusiform body covered with uniformly small and 

 smooth scales; two little cutaneous crests on the sides of the tail; an 

 empty space between the first and second dorsal. 



Sc. scombrus, L., Bl. 54. (The Common Mackerel). Blue back, 

 varied with black undulating streaks ; five false fins above and be- 



* It is also the Scarus Schlosseri, Gm., Lacep. and Shaw, the Sciana jaculalrix of 

 Bonnatere, the Lahre sagittaire of Lacep., and the Cdiio! chatareiis of Buchanan. 



