188 CLASS XIV. 



Dactylopterus LAC. Teeth conical, short, rounded at the apex, 

 crowded in jaws, none in vomer or palate-bones. Branchiostegous 

 membrane with six rays. Pectoral fins bifid, the posterior part 

 with very long, simple rays, forming a wing. (Kemaining charac- 

 ters almost those of the preceding genus.) 



Flying fishes, like the genus Exocoetus; see above, p. no. There is a 

 species in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, Dactylopterus 

 vulgaris, Trigla volitans L., BLOCH Ichth. Tab. 351, and one in the Indian 

 Ocean; from the Island of Mauritius to the Sunda Islands, which also 

 extends itself to the east coast of Asia, at China and Japan, Dactyl, 

 orientalis Cuv. et VAL. Poiss. iv, PI. 76, SCHLEGEL Faun. Jap., Pise. 

 Tab. XV. A. This genus differs from the otherwise nearly allied genus 

 Pungitius, not only in its elongated pectoral fin -rays, but also in its much 

 larger size ; they attain a length of more than a foot. The Indian species 

 has a long free ray of the dorsal fin on the back of the head, and is of a 

 red colour with yellow-green, round spots; the pectoral fins are blue. 

 The cranial bones are thick and porous on the surface. 



Trigla L. (excl. of Trigla volitans). Head from vertex to 

 mouth very declivous, loricate, armed with rugged crests. Bran- 

 chiostegous membrane with seven rays. Pectoral fins ample, with 

 two or three inferior rays free (digiti LINN.). 



A. Fingers three. Teeth small, crowded, thin in jaws and in the anterior 

 part of vomer. Body scaly. 



Trigla nob. (Trigla recentiorum and Prionotus LAC.) 



Gurnards, Knurrhaknen of the Germans, Grondins of the French. 

 These fishes feed principally on crustaceans. Their swimming-bladder 

 is large, oval, with stiff walls. They have a pretty long intestinal canal 

 with thin tunics, but the wide stomach has thick walls. There are 5 10 

 pyloric appendages. 



Some species (all from the western hemisphere) have large pectoral fins, 

 which extend almost as far as behind the second dorsal fin, and teeth in the 

 palate-bones. Here belong Trigla evolans and Trigla Carolina L. In most 

 of the species the pectoral fins are smaller and extend only as far as the 

 beginning of the second dorsal fin ; they have no teeth in the palate, except 

 those of the vomer. Sp. Trigla hirundo L., BLOCH Ichth. Tab. 60 ; red, 

 with dark violet, very large pectoral fins ; this species becomes two feet 

 long ; Trigla gurnardus L. (and Trigla hirundo L. in part), Skandin. 

 Fiskar. PI. 3, fig. 2, YARRELL Br. Fish. I. p. 48, the grey or small gurnard; 

 this species is rarely more than i' long; the lateral line has larger and 

 carinate scales. There are different species also of this genus in the 

 Mediterranean Sea, and some in the Atlantic Ocean and in the Southern 

 Pacific at New Zealand. The exotic species, however, are not numerous. 

 Trigla alata HOUTTUYN, a Japonese species, is not clearly to be determined, 

 perhaps Trigla Burgeri, Faun. Jap. 



