247 



cies, as the trout, we find the jaws, palate and 

 tongue supplied with teeth. The upper jaw of 

 the sword fish protrudes considerably beyond the 

 lower, and both jaws of the garpike are consider- 

 ably elongated into sharp points ; while such 

 is the great difference of structure the jaws of 

 others are furnished with long vermiform pro- 

 cesses, called cirrhi, and serving them in the ca- 

 pacity of antennae or feelers. The teeth of fishes 

 are adapted, as I have elsewhere observed, ra- 

 ther for tearing and lacerating, than for chewing 

 their food, and their tongue is of very various 

 character, corresponding to the habits of each ; 

 but they are all alike destitute, for an obvious 

 reason, of salivary glands. 



The intestines of fishes are generally very 

 short, especially those of voracious fishes, which, 

 feeding for the most part carnivorously, very ra- 

 pidly effect the necessary changes in their ali- 

 ment. In many fishes, as in the carp for example, 

 the stomach is not separated from the intestines. 

 The salmon, perch and others, in which, from 

 the nature of their food, it is necessary that it 

 should remain longer in the body to undergo the 

 requisite changes, have their intestines furnished 

 with many vermiform appendages, which appear 

 to secrete a liquid analogous to the pancreatic 

 fluid of the higher classes of animals, and proba- 

 bly of essential use in their digestion. 



In all fishes, the liver is large and the secretion 

 of bile very copious. This fluid finds its way by 

 regular ducts into the intestines, where, meeting 



2 K 



