70 BARBEL, ETC. ANABLEPS. ESCCID.E. 



ter in ponds, sometimes attaining the length of four feet. The 

 beautiful little Gold and Silver Fish belong to a small species of 

 Carp, which is very much disposed to pass into varieties. The 

 Barbel is another well-known large species, which sometimes 

 attains the length of three feet ; ifr inhabits rivers, and is only 

 found in those which have a connexion with the sea. It keeps 

 at the bottom of the water, working in the sand or mud with its 

 snout in search of insects and worms. The Gudgeon, Tench) 

 Bream, Roach, Chub, Dace, Bleak, and Minnow, which are all 

 well-known pond and river Fishes, belong to this family, as does 

 also the Loach, which passes the cold weather buried in the mud. 



632. Nearly allied to the Carps are the P.ECILIID^E, in which 

 the jaws are armed with numerous small teeth ; the air-bladder is 

 simple, and the chain of bones uniting it with the ear is wanting. 

 They are small fishes, inhabiting the fresh waters of hot coun- 

 tries. A few of them are viviparous. The Anableps, or Four- 

 eyed Loach, belonging to this family, is remarkable for being 

 apparently possessed of four eyes. This is not, however, really 

 the case ; for although the cornea and iris are divided by trans- 

 verse bands, so that there are two pupils on each side (ANIM. 

 PHYSIOL. 533), yet the other parts of the eye are single. This 

 is one of the viviparous species. Another small family, that of 

 the CHARACINID^E, seems to unite the Carps to the Salmonidae ; 

 like the latter, they have an adipose dorsal fin, and teeth in the 

 jaws ; but the air-bladder is divided into two parts, and furnish- 

 ed with a series of bones, as in the Carps ; and some other pecu- 

 liarities of internal structure indicate their affinity to those Fishes. 

 They are found in the fresh waters of tropical countries, and 

 some of them are of considerable size and very voracious. 



633. The family of the ESOCID^E, or Pikes, is nearly allied to 



the Cyprinida% but differs in 

 having the jaws and palate 

 armed with a formidable ar- 

 rangement of teeth, and in the 



FIG. 384 .-PIKE. . . ,, . 1 . , , 



position ot the dorsal and anal 



fins, which are placed very far back on the elongated body. All 

 the known species are inhabitants of the fresh waters of tern- 



