204- 



PISCES. 



FAMILY X. 



THIS family is distinguished by 



LABYRINTHIFORM PHARYNGEALS. 



By this we mean, that part of the superior pharyngeals of these fishes are 

 divided into small irregular lamellae, more or less numerous, intercepting cells 

 containing water, which thus flows upon and humects the branchite, while the 

 animal is removed from its proper element. By this it is enabled to quit the 

 rivulet or pool, which constitutes its usual abode, and crawl to a considerable 

 distance from it ; a singular faculty, not unknown to the ancients, and which 

 induces the people of India to believe that they fall from heaven. The two 

 most remarkable genera of this family are the following. 



ANABAS, Cuvier. 



It is in this genus that we find the greatest degree of complication in these 

 labyrinths ; the third pharyngeals, however, have teeth arranged like paving 

 stones, and there are others behind the cranium. Their body is round and 

 covered with strong scales, their head broad, muzzle short and obtuse, and 

 mouth small ; the lateral line is interrupted at its posterior third. 



An. testudineus, Cuv., called the Paneiri or Tree-Climber; highly celebrated, 

 because it not only leaves the water, but, according to Daldorf, even climls up 

 the shrubs on its banks; this latter assertion, however, is denial. Found 

 throughout all India, and the only species known, the 



OPHICEPHALUS, Blumenbach, 



Resembles the preceding genus in most of its characters, and particularly in 

 the cellular conformation of the pharyngeals, which are adapted to retain 

 water. These fishes also creep to a considerable distance from their liquid 

 abodes; but what particularly distinguishes, and even separates them from 

 all other Acanthropterygii, is the absence of spines in the fins, the first ray of 

 their ventrals at most excepted, and even that, though simple, is not sharp and 

 stiff. The jugglers of India exhibit this fish out of water, and even the chil- 

 dren amuse themselves by forcing it to crawl upon the ground. In the mar- 

 kets of China the larger species are cut up alive for distribution. They may 

 be divided by the number of their dorsal rays. 



FAMILY XL 



MUGILOIDES. 



OUR eleventh family of the Acanthopterygii is composed of the genus 



