SPINOUS FISHES. 



647 



ventral fins seem to be the great object of bis 

 system ; he considers them in fishes supplying 

 the same offices as feet in quadrupeds ; and 

 from their total absence, or from their being 

 situated nearer the head or the tail, in differ- 

 ent fishes, he takes the differences of his sys- 

 tem. 



These arrangements, which are totally arbi- 

 trary, and which are rather a method than a 

 science, are always fluctuating ; and the last 

 is generally preferred to that which went be- 

 fore. There has lately appeared, however, a 

 system composed by Mr. Gouan, of Mont- 

 pellier, that deserves applause for more than 

 its novelty. It appears to me the best arrange- 

 ment of this kind that ever was made ; and 

 in it the divisions are not only precisely sys- 

 tematical, but, in some measure, adopted by 

 nature itself. This learned Frenchman has 

 united the systems of Artedi and Linnaeus 

 together ; and, by bringing one to correct the 

 other, has made out a number of tribes, that 

 are marked with the utmost precision. A part 

 of his system, however, we have already 

 gone through, in the cartilaginous, or, as he 

 calls a part of them, the branchiostegous tribe 

 of fishes. In the arrangement of these, I have 

 followed Linnaeus, as the number of them was 

 but small, and his method simple. But in 

 that which is more properly called the spinous 

 class of fishes, I will follow Mr. Gouan's sys- 

 tem ; the terms of which, as well as of all the 

 former systems, require some explanation. I 

 do not love to multiply the technical terms of 

 a science ; but it often happens that names, 

 by being long used, are as necessary to be 

 known as the science itself. 



If we consider the substance of the fin of a 

 fish, we shall find it composed, besides the 

 skin, either of straight, hard, pointed, bony 

 prickles or spines, as in the pike; or of soft, 

 crooked, or forked bones, or cartilages, as in 

 the herring. The fish that have bony prickly 

 fins, are called prickly-famed fish ; the latter, 

 that have soft or cartilaginous fins, are called 

 soft- finned fish. The prickly-finned fish have 

 received the Greek new-formed name of 

 Acanthopterigii ; the soft-finned fish have like- 

 wise their barbarous Greek name of Mala- 

 copterigii. Thus far Artedi has supplied Mr. 

 Gouan with names and divisions. All spinous 

 fish are divided into prickly-finned fish and 

 soft-finned fish. 



Again, Linnaeus has taught him to remark 

 the situation of the fins ; for the ventral or 

 belly-fins, which are those particularly to be 

 remarked, are either wholly wanting, as in the 

 eel, and then the fish is called Apodal, (a 

 Greek word signifying without feet ;) or the 

 ventral-fins are placed more forward than the 

 pectoral-fins, as in the haddock, and then the 

 animal is called a Jugular-fish ; or the ventral- 

 fins are placed directly under the pectoral- 

 fins, as in the father-lasher, and then it is call- 

 ed a Thoracic-fish ; or, lastly, the ventral-fins 

 are placed nearer the tail than the pectoral- 

 fins, as in the minnow, and then it is an Ab- 

 dominal-fish. 



Possessed of these distributions, the French 

 naturalist mixes and unites them into two 

 grand divisions. All the prickly-finned fish 

 make one general division ; all the soft-finned 

 fish another. These first are distinguished 

 from each other, as being either apodal, jugu- 

 lar, thoracic, or abdominal. Thus there are 

 prickly-finned apodal fishes ; prickly-finned 

 jugular fishes ; prickly-finned thoracic fishes ; 

 and prickly-finned abdominal fishes. On the 

 other hand, the soft-finntd fishes fall under a 

 similar distribution, and make the other gene- 

 ral division. Thus there are soft-finned apo- 

 dal fishes, soft-fin i\ed jugular fishes, soft-finned 

 thoracic fishes, and soft-finned abdominal fishes. 

 These general characters are strongly marked, 

 and easily remembered. It only remains, 

 therefore, to divide these into such tribes as 

 are most strongly marked by nature ; and to 

 give the distinct characters of each, to form a 

 complete system with great simplicity. This 

 Mr. Gouan has done ; and the tribes into 

 which he has distributed each of these divisions, 

 exactly amount to fifty. Thus the reader, 

 who can contain in his memory the charac- 

 teristic marks of fifty kinds, will have a toler- 

 able idea of the form of every kind of spinous 

 fish. I say, of the form ; for as to the history 

 and nature of the animal itself, that can only be 

 obtained by experience and information. 



SECT. I. 



PRICKLY-FINNED FISHES. 



Prickly-finned Apodal Fish. 



1 . THE Trichurus. The body of a sword- 

 form ; the head oblong ; the teeth sword- 



