PISCES. 181 



YARRELL Brit. Fish. I. p. 90; Sea-Perch, Umbrina or Ombrina of the 

 Italians, Aigle, Maigre, in the Medit. Sea and North Sea; becomes 5 or 6 

 feet long, and was formerly in high esteem in Italy. We have already 

 remarked above on the swimming-bladder of this fish. The stomach is 

 very long; there are 9 (or, according to CUVIER, 10) large and wide pylo- 

 ric appendages ; the last part of the intestinal tube is very narrow. 



Note. On some other sub-genera, omitted here, comp. Cuv. et VAL., 

 Poiss. Tom. v. 



Family XLII. Mugiloidei. Body elongate, scaly, with two 

 dorsal fins, almost always small, distant; the first with pungent 

 spines nearly in the middle of back, the other supported by soft 

 rays, almost opposite to anal fin. Caudal fin forked. Ventral fins 

 abdominal, placed before the first dorsal. Teeth small, very thin, 

 sometimes none. Eyes large. (Branchiostegous membrane with 

 six rays, more rarely with five.) 



Tetragonurus Risso, Cuv. Scales arranged in oblique rows, 

 surrounding the body verticillately. Anterior dorsal fin long, low, 

 with numerous spines. Teeth conical, in a single row in jaws ; 

 teeth acute in vomer and palate-bones. Tail in front of fin bicari- 

 nate on each side. Branchiostegous membrane with five rays. 



Sp. Tetragonurus Cuvierii Rrsso, Mugil niger KONDELET, Corvus niloticus 

 ALDROVANDI dePiscib. (ed. Francof.), p. 236, Tab. 26, fig. 14, Cuv. et VAL. 

 Poiss. XI. PI. 318 ; from the Medit. Sea ; this species becomes 13" long, and 

 seems to be rare. It has many pyloric appendages and no swimming- 

 bladder. In some respects this genus approaches the Notacanthini (see 

 above, p. 151); the hard scales disposed in oblique rows recall the Gano- 

 lepidoti, Lepidosteus and Polypterus. 



Mugil L. Body and head scaly. Opercles large, smooth, thin, 

 gibbous. Scales large (ctenoid), rough posteriorly with small den- 

 ticles. Head flat above ; eyes remote from each other. Body elon- 

 gate, with back almost straight. Mouth small ; lower jaw with a 

 longitudinal crest, exsert internally, received in the excised margin 

 of upper jaw. Maxillary teeth in a single row, very thin, some- 

 times none; vomer and palate-bone edentulous. Two dorsal fins 

 distant, small, the first with four spines. 



Sp. Mugil capita Cuv., YARRELL Brit. Fish. I. p. 200, in the Medit. Sea 

 and the N. Sea; LINKEUS confounded this species with Mugil cephalus, 

 GUERIN Iconogr., Poiss. PI. 37, fig. I ; on the different species in the 

 Medit. Sea, see Cuv. et VAL. Tom. xi. Different exotic species are known, 

 especially from the Indian Sea. In this genus there is a large swimming- 



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