596 THE OCEAN WORLD. 



LABYRINTHIFORM PHARYNGEANS. 



In the fishes of this order the superior pharyngeal bones are divided 

 into numerous and irregular little leaflets, which intersect the cellules 

 situated under the operculum, which again serve to retain a certain 

 quantity of water. This water preserves the gills, however, when the 

 animal is dry, which permits them to live on shore, where they 

 frequently contrive to creep over great distances in search of water. 

 The genus Anabas, from ava/3alva), to ascend, possess this pecu- 

 liarity of organization in a remarkable degree; it enables them to 

 leave the rivers and marshes and little watercourses of Borneo and 

 Java, and other islands of the Indian Archipelago, and creep through 

 the herbage or along the ground by means of the inflexions of their 

 bodies, the dentation of their opercules, of their spines and fins. This 

 fact, although only recently known to modern naturalists, was well 

 known to the ancients, and has been recorded by Theophrastus. 



The family' of the Scomberoides is the most important group in the 

 order, comprehending some of the fishes most useful to man, from their 

 size, the excellence of their flesh, and their abundance. The Tunny 

 (Thynnus, Cuv.), the Mackerel (Scomlier sconibrus), and the Bonita 

 (Tliynnus pelamys) , have yielded, from the remotest antiquity, immense 

 resources as human food, both in the fresh and preserved state. 



The tunny, while resembling the mackerel in many respects in its 

 general form, is rounder, and attains a much. larger size, being some- 

 times found eight and nine feet in length, and weighing three to four 

 hundred pounds. The upper part of the body is a bluish-black ; the 

 belly is grey, with silvery spots. These fishes sometimes present 

 themselves in the Atlantic, but in the Mediterranean they are very 

 abundant. At some periods of the year they approach the coast in 

 innumerable shoals, and in numerous serried ranks, forming a vast 

 battalion, which conceals itself under the waves, and only betrays 

 itself on the exterior by the motion of the sea, caused by such vast 

 numbers travelling rapidly through the water. In many localities the 

 shoals of tunnies show themselves in the spring, pursuing their way 

 towards the east, and in the autumn we find them pursuing an oppo- 

 site direction. We see the same thing on the coast of Provence. 

 Upon the coast of La Ciotat a first fishing takes place from the 



