48 ACANTHOPTERI ; FISTULARIDJE ; TRIGLIDJE. 



enabled by its means to climb or hold on by the stalks of marine 

 plants. It is only in the dead specimen, that the neck acquires 

 the peculiar bend, which gives its head the resemblance to that 

 of a Horse, from which its name is derived. The Pegasus, 

 though furnished with a snout, has the mouth beneath it ; the 

 pectoral fins are large, and are spread out in a wing-like manner ; 

 whence these curious Fishes have derived their name, which 

 signifies Flying Horses. 



C. ACANTHOPTERI. 



607. This group, which must be regarded as including the 

 types of the class of Fishes, is subdivided into a great number of 

 families, the most important and remarkable of which alone will 

 require to be especially noticed. In the family of the FISTU- 

 LARID.X, or AULOSTOMID^:, commonly known as Sea Snipes, 

 and Trumpet Fishes, the snout is produced into a long tube, at 

 the apex of which the mouth is situated, much in the same way 

 as in the Syngnaiki and other Lophobranchiate Fish. The 

 skin is usually clothed with small scales, but sometimes naked ; 

 and in one genus the back is covered with large plates. The 

 Sea Snipe, the only Fish of this family that has ever been seen 

 on the British coasts, is about four or five inches in length, and 

 of a rather broad form, which has obtained for it the name of 

 the Bellows Fish. The first dorsal fin is placed rather far back, 

 and its first ray is produced into a long and strong spine. In 

 the genus Amphisyle, in which the back is plated, this spine is 

 placed quite at the extremity of the body, in a line with its 

 axis ; and the second dorsal and caudal fins are situated in 

 front of it on the lower surface of the fish. In the true Fis- 

 tularias, which inhabit the Eastern seas, the body is elongated 

 and cylindrical, and the first dorsal is represented by a series of 

 five spines along the back. 



608. The TRIGLID^E, or Fishes with shielded cheeks, are dis- 

 tinguished by having the chain of small bones which forms the 

 lower part of the orbit ( 541) greatly dilated, constituting 



