PISCES. 95 



Family XIV. Cyprinodontes. Teeth small in maxillae. Su- 

 perior and inferior pharyngeal teeth conical or subulate, crowded. 

 Superior margin of mouth formed by the intermaxillary bone. 

 Rays of branchiostegous membrane 5 6. Adipose fin none. 

 Head, opercula and cheeks covered with scales. 



[Swimming-bladder simple. Pyloric appendages none. Small 

 fishes, or of moderate size, with scales often large; many are vi- 

 viparous.] 



This small family is distinguished from the preceding, with which 

 it agrees in habitus, by the teeth and by the gill-membrane with 

 more than three rays, and was first separated from it by AGASSIZ. 

 Most of the species are found in America, Some however occur in 

 Europe, in Syria and Egypt. 



Anableps AETEDI, BL. (species of Cobitis L.). Teeth slender, 

 subulate in both jaws, palate edentulous. Eyes protuberant; cornea 

 divided transversely into two segments. Head depressed between 

 the eyes. Nostrils produced into a tubular papilla. Branchiostegous 

 membrane with five rays. Pectoral fins scaly. Dorsal fin small, 

 remote, placed behind the anal ; anal fin in males adhering to the 

 posterior margin of a conical scaly process. 



Peeper aloft. The eye of these fishes reminds us of the form of this organ 

 in the insect genus Ascalaphus. (See Vol. I. p. 420.) The cornea is 

 divided into two halves by an opaque transverse band; the iris also appears 

 to be double, and thus to form a double pupil, yet in reality is merely 

 drawn together by two processes from the iris, that meet under the trans- 

 verse band of the cornea. The connexion between the seemingly two 

 pupils is quite apparent, particularly in young fishes. The lens is pear- 

 shaped, and the broader portion lies under the upper and larger segment of 

 the cornea. The other parts of the eye offer nothing peculiar. The struc- 

 ture of these eyes has been described by ABTEDI, CAMPER, LACEPEDE, 

 BLOCH, J. F. MECKEL (Archiv f. die Physiol. rv. 1818, s. 124, 125), and 

 circumstantially by D. W. SCEMMERING especially (De oculorum sectione 

 horiz. Gottingae, 1818, pp. 68, 69, with a figure), and by VALENCIENNES 

 (Hist. not. des Poiss. xvni. pp. 264, 266, PI. 539). 



These fishes, of which for a long time only one species was formed, are 

 found in Surinam ; they are viviparous. 



Sp. Anableps tetrophthalmus BLOCH, Cobitis Anableps L., Anableps Gronovii 

 VALENC., GRONOV. Zoophyl. Tab. i. figs, i 3, BLOCH Ickth. Tab. 361, 

 Syst. Ichfk. Tab. 71, Cuv. et VALENC. Poiss. xviu. PI. 538. The skeleton 

 is figured by ROSENTHAL Ichthyot. Tafeln, Tab. x. figs. 9, 10. Two other 

 species are noted and figured by VALENCIENNES op. cit. PL 540, 541. 



