ACANTHOPTERYGII. 207 



FAMILY XIII. 



PECTORALES PEDICULATI. 



THIS family consists of certain Acanthopterygii, whose carpal bones are 

 elongated, so as to form a sort of arm, which supports their pectorals. It com- 

 prises two genera, which are closely .approximated, although authors have 

 generally placed them at a distance from each other, and which are closely 

 allied to the Gobioides. 



LOPHIUS, Linnaeus*. 



The general character of this genus, independently of the semi-cartilaginous 

 skeleton and the naked skin, consists in the pectorals being supported by two 

 arms, as it were, each of which is formed of two bones that have been com- 

 pared to the radius and ulna, but which in reality belong to the carpus, and 

 which in this genus are longer than in any other ; in the ventrals being placed 

 very far before these pectorals ; in opercula and branchiostegous rays enveloped 

 in the skin, and, finally, in the only opening of the gills being a hole situated 

 behind the said pectorals. They are voracious fishes, which survive a long 

 time out of water, on account of the smallness of their branchial apertures. 



L. piscatorius, Lin. ; Sea Devil; Galanga, &c. (The Angler.) A large fish, 

 of from four to five feet in length, inhabiting the seas of Europe, whose hideous 

 figure has rendered it celebrated. 



FAMILY XIV. 



LABROIDES. 



THIS family is easily recognised ; the body is oblong and scaly ; a single 

 dorsal is supported in front by spines, each of which is generally furnished 

 with a membranous appendage ; the jaws are covered with fleshy lips ; there 

 are three pharyngeals, two upper ones attached to the cranium, and a large 

 lower one, all three armed with teeth, now resembling a pavement and then 

 pointed or laminiform, but generally stronger than usual. 



LABRUS, Linnaeus. 



A very numerous genus of fishes, which strongly resemble each other in 

 their oblong form ; their double fleshy lips, from which they derive their 

 name, one adhering immediately to the jaws, and the other to the suborbitals ; 

 their crowded branchiae with five rays; their conical maxillary teeth, the 

 middle and anterior of which are the longest, and their cylindrical and blunt 

 pharyngeal teeth arranged like a pavement, the upper ones on two large plates, 

 the lower on a single one, which corresponds to the two others. 



* Lopfiius, a name made by Artedi, from Xip/a (j9?'nn), on account of the crests of 

 their head. The ancients called them /Srerea^oj, and /?na, or Frog. 



