PISCES. 141 



Comp. CUVIEB &ur le genre Chirontcte; Mem. de Museum, n. 1817, 

 pp. 418435, PL 16 18. 



These fishes are on the whole small. They have a large swimming- 

 bladder, and are able, by distending the stomach, to inflate their body. 

 The pediculated pectoral fins and the ventral fins placed in front of them, 

 resemble four feet, by means of which these fishes creep over the ground. 

 The different species of them are found in the tropical seas, especially 

 amongst forests of Fucus natans, which cover large tracts of the surface of 

 the ocean. 



Sp. Ckironecfes pictus VALENC., Lophius histrio L. in part, Cuv. et VALENC. 

 Poiss. xii. PI. 364; Atlantic Ocean, West Indies; Chir. marmoratus 

 VALENC., SCHLEG. Faun. Japon., Pise. Tab. 81, fig. i : Indian Ocean, as 

 far as the seas of China and Japan ; Chir. punctatus Cuv., Lophius hir- 

 9utus LAC., Cuv. Mem. 1. 1. PL 18, fig. 2, &c. 



Chaunax LOWE. 



Comp. Transact, of Zool. Soc. m. 4, 1846, p. 339, PL 51. 



NOTE. Does genus Ceratias KBOEYER, unknown to me, belong 

 here 1 Ventral fins none. Teeth conical, subincurved in inter- 

 maxillary bones and lower jaw; teeth in vomer and palate-bones 

 none. 



Sp. Ceratias Hottoelli, from the Greenland Sea. Comp. KBOEYER Tidsskrift; 

 ny Raelcke, I. 1845, p. 639. 



Lophius ~L. (in part), Cuv. Body naked, depressed. Head very 

 large, depressed, rotundate. Branchial aperture small behind 

 pectoral fins. Mouth very ample, with lower jaw produced beyond 

 tipper. Teeth subulate, unequal in jaws, vomer and palate-bones. 

 Dorsal fins two, the first composed of separate rays, the three 

 anterior remote forwards, placed on head, mobile ; the second dorsal 

 fin small, opposite to anal. Only three pairs of branchiae, with last 

 branchial arch naked. 



Sp. Lophius piscatorius L., CHARLETON Onomastic. Zoic., Mantissa anatom. 

 Tab. i. p. 201; BLOCH Ichth. Tab. 87, GU^RIN Iconogr., Poiss. PI. 41, fig. 4; 

 the wide gab, sea-devil, angler; /Sdrpaxos, Rana piscatrix of the ancients. 

 The widely gaping mouth is armed with numerous conical teeth. On the 

 head are three moveable filaments, which are to be regarded as free rays of 

 the first dorsal fin. That the fish moves these filaments to entice small 

 fishes, is a statement already advanced by the ancients, and which a few 

 years ago found a wordy defender in BAILLY Mem. du Museum, IX. 1824, 

 pp. 117 131. But this fish would seem not only to take its prey with 

 the fishing-rod but also with the net, and to this end makes use of the sac, 

 which is formed behind the gill-cover by the elongation of the gill- 

 membrane. GEOFFROY SAINT-HILAIRE Ann. du Museum ix. pp. 417 420, 

 x. pp. 480481. At the fore part of the head on each side of the first 



