FISHES. 8.3 



scales : fins all covered with the common skin; dorsal 

 anil anal generally more than one, the rays unarmed : 

 ventral-fins slender, ending in a point, 6 or 7 rayed. 



11. BLESMUS. Head sloping: gill-mtmbrane 6-rayed : 

 body lanceolate, a little compressed, lubricous : ventral 

 Jiiis 2, .'], or 4-rayed, unarmed. 



ORDER III. THORACICI. 



Bony fishes, icilh the ventral fins placed directly under the 

 pectoral. 



12. CEPOLA. Head short, roundish, compressed: teeth 

 curved, sharp, in a single row : gill-membrane 4-6 

 rayed : body very long 1 , compressed, naked : belly ex- 

 tremely short. 



13. EcuitXEis. Head furnished at top with a flat oval 

 transversely grooved shield : gill- membrane 9 or 10- 

 rayed : -body witlvout scales. 



14. Gonius. Head small: eyes approximate, with 2 pu 

 nctures between them: gill-membrane 4-rayed: body 

 compressed, clothed with small scales, witha tubercle 

 behjnd the vent : dm^sal fins 2 : ventral-fun united 

 into a funnel-like oval. 



15. COTTUS. Head broader than the body, spinous : eyes 

 vertical, furnished with a nictitant membrane: gill- 

 membrane 6-rayed : body round, generally without 

 scales, tapering to tbe tail: dorsal-Jim often 2. 



16. ZEUS. Head compressed, sloping down; upper-lip 

 arched by a transverse membrane : tongue mostly su- 

 bulate : gill-membrane with 7 perpendicular rays, the 

 lowest transverse : body compressed, thin, broad, 

 somewhat rhombic : first dorsal-fin generally furnished 

 with projec f lng filamentous rays. 



\T. PLEURONECTES. Head small: eyes both on the same 

 side of the head, and near each other: mouth arched: 

 jams unequal, toothed : gill-membrane 4-7-rayed : 

 I)ody flattened, one side a little convex and coloured, 

 representing the back; the other flat and paler, re- 

 presenting the belly : vent near the head, 



18. SPARUS. Teeth strong, disposed in one or more rows: 

 grinders convex, smooth, disposed in range.?, and 

 forming a kind of pavement in the mouth: gill-mem- 

 brane 4-6-rayed; the covers smooth, unarmed,, scaly : 

 lips thick : body compressed : pectoral .fttis pointed : 

 tail forked . 



19. LA.BRUS. Teeth strong, rather sharp: lips thick: 

 gill-membrane 4-6-rayed; the covers unarmed and 

 scaly : 'pectoral-fins and fa** rounded. 





