198 FISHES. 



ranean*. The lake of Mexico produces a second, S. mexicamts, 

 Cuv., which is nearly transparent. A third, equally diaphanous, 

 with very long flexible teeth, some of which have a sagittiform ter- 

 mination, an extremely short snout, and very weak fins,^.^. ophio- 

 don, Cuv.; Vana motta, Russel, 171, is employed in India, when 

 dried and salted, as a condiment f. 



ScopELUs, Cuv. — Serpes, Risso'i^, 



Have the mouth and branchis deeply cleft; both jaws furnished with very 

 small teeth ; edge of the upper jaw wholly formed by the intennaxillaries ; 

 tongue and palate smooth. The snout is very short and obtuse; there 

 are nine or ten rays in the branchis, and besides the ordinary dorsal, 

 which is opposite to the interval between the ventrals and anal, there is a 

 very small one behind, in which vestiges of rays are perceptible. 



These fishes are taken in the Mediterranean along with Ancho- 

 vies, where they are called Meleties. One of them, Serpe Humboldt, 

 Risso, pi. X, f. 38, is remarkable for the lustre of the silvery points 

 arranged along the tail and abdomen §. 



AuLOPUsJl, Cuv., 



Combine the characters of the Salmon and Codfish; the mouth well cleft; 

 the intermaxillaries, which form the whole of its upper edge, the pala- 

 tines, the anterior extremity of the vomer and the lower jaw, furnished 

 with a narrow band of teeth, resembling those of a card ; the tongue and 

 level part of the ossa palati rough. The maxillaries are large and eden- 

 tated, as is the case with the greater number of the class. The ventrals 

 are almost under the pectorals, their external rays being stout and only 

 forked; the first dorsal opposite to the anterior half of the interval which 

 separates it from the anal; twelve rays in the branchia; body, cheeks, 

 and opercula, covered with large ciliated scales. 



• Add, S. satirun, Bl. 384, which appears to me to differ from the Mediterranean 

 Kpecits i—Salmo focte7ts, Bl. 384, 2;— ,S'. liimhil, Bl. 400;— the Osmere g(tlonne, Lac. 

 V, vi, 1;— the Salmove varie, Id., V, iii, 3;— the O.imire a bandes, Risso, ed. I, p. 

 326;— 5. fcatii, Cuv., {Badi motta), Russel, \'i2;—Salmo myops, Forster, Bl. Schn. 

 p. 421; — S. minutns, Lesueur, Ac. Nat. Sc. Philad. V, part I, pi. v; — S. coni- 

 rnstris, Spix, XLIII; — S intermedins, Id. XLIV;— 5. tnincatus, Id. XLV, and seve- 

 ral new species to be described in our Ichthyology. N.B. Esox .synodiis, Gronov., 

 Zooph.Vll, I, Si/nodus si/nodus, Schn., Synode fasce, Lac, appears to be nothing 

 more than a Saurus which had lost its adipose fin; its extreme smallness renders it 

 easily effected by friction or desiccation. 



t The Salmo microps, Lesueur, Ac. Nat. Sc Philad. V, part [, pi. iii, if not the 

 same species, is at least a closely allied one. It forms the genus Harpodon of that 

 naturalist, who considers it as having teeth in the vomer, but they are in the pharyn- 

 geals, and not in the vomer: the mistake has arisen from the extreme shortness of 

 tlie snout. 



X Skopelos, the Greek name of an unknown fish. 



§ I believe this fish to be the same as the pretended Argentina sphyroena of Pen- 

 nant, Brit. Zool., No. 156: thus it would also be found in our Ocean. — ^Add, the Serpe 

 crocodile, Risso, p. 357;— the Serpe halbo, lA., Ac. of Sc Turin, Vol. XXV, pi. x, 

 f. 3.^ — But the Serpe microstome, p. 356, certainly belongs to another genus, and to the 

 family of the Pikes. 



II /iulopos, the Greek name of some unknown fish. 



