CENTRANTHUS CENTROPRISTES. 



767 



sally carnivorous, but from the situations in which we 

 have repeatedly found some of the English species, 

 we should be disposed to assign them, at least in 

 some degree, an appetite for decaying vegetable 

 matter. Dr. Leach has also given the name of 

 G cop/ulna curpopJutgus to one of the species, from its 

 feeding upon fruit. One of the British species, the 

 electric centipede, (Scolopendra electrica, Linnaeus,) 

 possesses the remarkable property of emitting a 

 phosphorescent light by night, nearly as bright as 

 that of the glow-worm. We have often met with 

 this insect in foot-paths near London, and have ob- 

 served that it leaves a strong light upon the ringers 

 when handled. It resides under stones and in moss 

 during the day. It is about three quarters of an inch 

 long, of a dirty buff colour, with a black line down 

 the back. It is destitute of eyes, at least the small 

 shining tubercles upon the head of the common 

 scolopendra, which have been regarded by all authors 

 as eyes, are here entirely obliterated. This is a 

 remarkable circumstance with reference to the lumi- 

 nosity of the insect, as it has generally been supposed 

 that the emission of this kind of light by insects, has 

 for its object the enticement of the opposite sex, 

 which in this instance would of course be unable to 

 see or to be attracted by the light of its mate. Dr. 

 Leach observed beneath the earth in a garden, in the 

 month of January, a cavity containing a female of 

 the Geopkilm subtcrraneus, and twenty-six young 

 ones, varying very much in the number of their legs; 

 they were of a pale yellow colour, with their heads 

 darker yellow, and the joints of their legs slightly 

 ferruginous. Zoological Miscellany, vol. iii. p. 44. 



There are numerous small British species, of which 

 Dr. Leach has published a very good monograph in 

 the Zoological Miscellany, forming several genera. 



CENTRANTHUS (De Candolle). A genus of 

 herbaceous perennials, two of them British. They 

 belong to the first class and second order of Linna3us, 

 and to the natural order Vnlerinneee. 



CENTRARCHUS. A genus of spinous-finned 

 fishes belonging to the perch family, and having, as 

 their most distinguishing characters, a compressed 

 body, with an oval section, and a produced membrane 

 at the angle of the gills ; they have also mem- 

 branous spines in the anal fin, and small teeth upon 

 the tongue. They are inhabitants of the fresh 

 waters of America. 



CENTRINA. A genus of cartilaginous fishes, 

 belonging to the shark family, and not differing 

 greatly in their families from the sharks properly so 

 called. For an account of the general habits of the 

 family we must refer to the article SQUALOIDTE. 



CHNTRISCUS. A genus of spinous-finned 

 fishes, belonging to Cuvier's fifteenth, or last family 

 (Jioiic/tcs I'll _flt(tc), pipe-mouths, so named from the 

 great elongation of the jaws and the smallness of the 

 opening of the mouth. They in fact form a division, 

 or sub-familv, including all those species which have 

 the mouth of the pipe-form, but the body compressed 

 and oval, instead of being drawn out, as in the pipe- 

 fishes properly so called. The fishes of this division 

 are sometimes called sea-pies. They have the body 

 compressed at the sides, and trenchant at the under 

 part, and only two or three small rays in their gill- 

 flaps. It is not very long, and indeed they are alto- 

 gether fishes of small size. They have the first 

 dorsal spinous, and small ventrical fins behind the 

 pectorals ; their mouth is extremely small, and opens 



obliquely. Their intestinal canal is without caeca, 

 but it has three or four duplications ; they are fur- 

 nished with air-bladders of considerable size. 



They consist of two genera or sub-genera, AMPHI- 

 SITE, of which a notice will be found under that 

 name. The characters of Centriscus, properly so 

 called, in brief, are these : the foremost dorsal situ- 

 ated far backwards, and having its first spine very 

 long and strong, and articulated to the bones of the 

 head and shoulders, over which there are some large 

 scaly plates, toothed in the centre. There is one 

 species (Centriscus scolopax), which inhabits the Me- 

 diterranean, attains the length of some inches, and is 

 of a silvery colour. Sailors, who sometimes catch 

 this species as a curiosity, call it a " sea-snipe." 



CENTROG ASTER. A genus of spinous-finned 

 fishes belonging to the lancet-fish family, and pre- 

 senting altogether a singular appearance. Their 

 ventral fins have a spinous ray upon each margin, and 

 the three intermediate ones with jointed rays, as 

 usual. They have five rays in the gill-flaps, and a 

 crooked spine in advance of the dorsal fin. Their 

 most singular characters, however, is in the styloid 

 bones of the shoulders, which are prolonged, bent 

 backwards, and connected at the extremities with the 

 first spinous ray of the anal fins. The species of 

 this genus are numerous, and they are all found 

 chiefly in the warmest seas. 



CENTROLOPHES. A genus or sub-genus of 

 spinous-finned fishes, included in the group COKY- 

 PH^NA, under which some notice will be found. 



CENTRONOTUS. A genus of spinous-finned 

 fishes belonging to the family of Gobioidee. They are 

 very nearly related to the Blcnnies, from which, how- 

 ever, they differ in as many respects as warrants the 

 separation. They have their ventral fins much more 

 minute than any of the other blennies ; these organs 

 are always without much power of action, and they 

 sometimes consist of only a portion of one single ray. 

 Their head is very small, their body long and blade- 

 shaped, furnished all along the back with a fin of 

 nearly uniform height, of which all the rays are 

 spinous. Their teeth are crooked, pointed, and wide 

 apart from each other, but consist of several rows. 



There is one species very common on the shores 

 of western Europe, the common gunnel, which grows 

 to the length of from six to ten inches, is yellowish 

 brown on the body, but whitish on the belly, and 

 marked with a variable number of ocellated spots 

 ranged along the base of the dorsal fin. There is 

 also another species, larger in size, being from twelve 

 to fifteen inches in length, brownish on the upper 

 part and yellow on the under, and with the former 

 mottled or marbled. This is the viviparous gunnel, 

 or blennie, as it is called. Both species lurk among 

 stones near the shore for great part of the year ; but 

 the viviparous ones take to the water as a surface 

 fish, though generally in estuaries, or places near the 

 coast, about the middle of summer. At these times 

 it is rather provoking to amateur fishers, as it is 

 always in the way, very ready to take their bait, and 

 not worth the catching. Its flesh is good for nothing, 

 and the spine has the curious property of turning 

 green when boiled, on which account the fish is in 

 some places called the "green bone." 



CENTROPRISTES. A genus of spinous-finned 

 fishes, belonging to the perch family, and bearing 

 some resemblance to the sea perches. Some of them 

 attain a considerable size. See the article PERCOIDTE. 



