ABDOMINAL MALACOPTERYGIANS. 189 



Some of them are fouiul wilh globules, which appear to be their eggs, 

 adhering to the thorax by pedicles. 



LoRicARiA, Lin., 



So called on account of the angular and hard plates in which the head 

 and body are completely mailed, are otherwise distinguished from the 

 mailed Siluri, such as the Calliclithys and the Doras, by their mouth 

 being opened under the snout. This mouth is most analogous to that of 

 a Synodontis; small intermaxillaries suspended under the snout, and 

 transverse disunited mandibularies support long, slender, and flexible 

 teeth, terminating in a hook; a broad, circular, membranous veil encir- 

 cles the opening, and the pharyngeal bones are furnished with numerous 

 teeth, as if paved. The true opercula are immoveable, as in Aspredo, 

 but two small, external, moveable plates, appear to supply their place. 

 There are four rays in the membrane. Strong spines constitute the first 

 rays of the dorsal, pectorals, and even of the ventrals. They have 

 neither casca nor natatory bladder. They may be divided into two sub- 

 genera. 



Hypostomus, Lacep., 



Have a second small dorsal furnished with a single ray, as in Callichthys; 

 the labial veil is simply papillate, and is provided with a small cirrus on 

 each side; no plates on the belly; the intestines, spirally convoluted, are 

 as slender as thread, and twelve or fifteen times longer than the body. 

 From the rivers of South America *. 



LoRicARiA, Lacep., 



Have only a single dorsal, forward; edges of the labial veil furnished 

 with several cirri, and occasionally bristled with villosities ; imder part of 

 the abdomen covered with plates; intestines of a moderate thickness -j-. 



The fourth family of the Abdominal Malacopterygians, 



FAMILY IV. 



SALMONIDES. 



The Salmonides, according to Linnaeus, form only one great genus, very 

 distinctly characterized by a scaly body, and a first dorsal with soft rays, fol- 

 lowed by a second one small and adipose, that is to say, formed of skin 

 filled with fat, and unsupported by rays. 



These are fishes with numerous casca and a natatory bladder; nearly 

 all of them ascend rivers, and are highly esteemed. They are naturally 



• Loricaria plecostomus, L., B. 374; — Hyp. etentaculatum, Spix, IV. 



t Loricaria cataphracia, L., or L. cirrhosa, Bl. Schn., and setigera, Lacep., 

 375, 1, 2; — Loricaria rosirata, Spix, III; — Jlinelepis aspera, Id. II; — Acanthicus 

 •rix. Id. I. 



