628 



.SCOMBEROID^. 



there are many of the prolonged appendages of which 

 it is difficult to imagine the use. 



There is even an intermediate sub-genus, which 

 one can hardly refer either to Caranx or to Vomer ; 

 and there are two species of Caranx, both natives 

 of the warm seas, the distinction of which is well 

 worthy of attention. There are the true and the 

 bastard Camngus of the West Indies, the mistaking 

 of the one of which for the other is a much more se- 

 rious matter than the mistaking of the scad for the 

 mackarel. The true Carangus is a fish of a silvery 

 colour, with a black spot on the operculum. It at- 

 tains considerable size, reaching twenty-h've pounds 

 in weight ; and it is an excellent fish for the table. 

 The other one, which resembles this in many re- 

 spects, but never has the spot on the gill-cover, is 

 poisonous. If these had been fishes of the European 

 seas, they would have helped to give more of romance 

 to the fable about the marks of the Apostle's thumb 

 and finger on the fish, when he took the tribute-money 

 out of its mouth ; for if, as could have easily been 

 fabled in this case, the fish had been changed from 

 poisonous to sanative at the same time that it got 

 the thumb-mark, the whole would have made a capi- 

 tal monkish miracle. 



The species which appear to be intermediate be- 

 tween the true Carungi atid the Vomert, are East In- 

 dian. Some of them are entirely without teeth ; and 

 others, to which Cuvier has given the sub-generic 

 name of Cituliis, have the points of the second dorsal 

 and the anal very much produced. 



Vomer he subdivides into six, as we have said : 

 Alistus, Seyris', Blipharis, Gallus, Argyreasos, and 

 Vomer, properly so called. Alistus have the middle 

 rays of the second dorsal without any branching, but 

 articulated, and produced into very long filaments. 

 Seyris have similar filaments, but the stems of the first 

 dorsal are entirely concealed in the anterior margin 

 of the second, and their ventrals are short. Some of 

 them, of very singular shape, are found in the south- 

 ern parts of the Mediterranean. Blipharis have the 

 same lengthened filaments in the second dorsal and 

 the anal as the preceding ; and in addition they have 

 the ventrals very long. Their body is very elevated, 

 and their profile singular. One of them is the "cob- 

 bler-fish" of the West Indies the Zeus cUiaris of 

 Bloch. Gal/us have the profile still more elevated, 

 and the profile of the gape more oblique than the 

 last ; but in other respects they are nearly the same. 

 drgyreosus has the profile more elevated still, and the 

 first dorsal developed, and drawn out into long fila- 

 ments in a manner very similar to the second. They 

 have also the ventral fins very long. Vomer have the 

 same shape in the body, but the fins are not pro- 

 duced into long filaments. All of these are fishes of 

 most singular appearance ; but very little is known 

 of their natural history, or of the use which they 

 make of their singularly produced filaments. They 

 can at present be looked upon as little else than ob- 

 jects of mere curiosity ; but there is no doubt that 

 their singular forms are connected with a history 

 equally singular if we could find it out. 



ZEUS Dory. This genus is one of more inte- 

 rest than any of the preceding ones, on account of the 

 estimation in which the leading species is held by the 

 ichthyophagic epicures. Some account of this cele- 

 brated species will, however, be found on looking 

 back to the article DORY in this work ; and that will 

 render any farther notice in this place unnecessary. 



There is, however, a species of one of the other sub- 

 genera, which has usually occurred on the British 



The Dory 



coast, and we may give a mere notice of it. This 

 is 



The Boar-fish (Copras aper) which is the only 

 known species of the sub-genera Capras. The ge- 

 neric characters are : two dorsal fins, but without any 

 filaments to the rays of the spinous one as there are 

 in the Dory, and without any spines at the base of 

 either the dorsal or the anal ; the body oval in the 

 profile, and much compressed, covered with small 

 rough scales ; the mouth capable of being protracted 

 and withdrawn to a greater extent than in the Dory. 

 It is in consequence of the power of lengthening and 

 shortening the snout that this species is called the 

 boar-fish. 



Boar Fish. 



The body is shorter in proportion to its height 

 than that of the Dory ; and the jaws are more length- 

 ened when the mouth is open ; the teeth are small, 

 and at some distance within the margin of the jaws. 

 The eye is very large, and about iis own breadth 

 from the extremity of the mouth when that is shut. 

 The nostrils are close by the anterior part of the 

 orbit, and have a considerable opening ; the first dor- 

 sal, the pectoral, and the ventral, all have their origin 

 in the same straight line, at right angles to the axis 

 of the body ; the surface feels smooth when the hand 

 is passed over it backwards, but rough in the other 

 direction. It is a small fish, not above six or seven 



