Spiny-finned Fishes, 3 1 



of bony fishes. The scale-clothing of this class is 

 usually remarkable for the comblike or spiny surface 

 and hinder margin of each scale, whereby they are 

 distinguished from the circular smooth scales of the 

 ph> sostome fishes. The most familiar examples are 

 the perches of our streams ; the bull-heads and gur- 

 nards, known by their spiny heads, found along our 

 coasts ; the sticklebacks, so interesting on account of 

 the nests constructed by the males for the protection 

 of the young : the mullets, which have the singular 

 property of changing colour when they are dying ; the 

 mackerels, bi earns, braizes, blennies, gobies, &c. 



Some of these fishes are laterally compressed, like 

 flat fish, but without showing any distortion of the 

 heads, such as the John d ; Ory and Archer fishes ; the 

 latter are East Indian fishes, and owe their name to 

 their habit of shooting at flies by forcibly ejecting 

 drops of water from their long snouts. The sword- 

 fish, which sometimes attains the length of sixteen feet, 

 is closely allied to the mackerel, and is remarkable for 

 the long, swordlike upper jaw. The common lump- 

 sucker, the little red or brown Lepadogaster of En- 

 gland, and the tropical Remora are remarkable as 

 being provided with sucking disks, whereby they can 

 adhere with great tenacity to foreign bodies. Fistularia 

 (the tobacco-pipe fish) is remarkable for his long 

 tubular snout, as is also the allied trumpet- fish. 

 Trachinus (the weever) is said to be able to inflict 

 poisonous wounds. 



There are three aberrant groups of spiny-fmned 

 fishes, which constitute the remaining three sub-orders. 



The first of these, or sub-order 4, is called Pharyn 



