212 PISCES. 



one longitudinal carinated range near the lower edge excepted. The bones are 

 very remarkable for their colour, which is a beautiful green. 



B. vulgaris (The Gar-Fish). Two feet long ; green above, white beneath ; 

 found on the coast of France, where its flesh is much esteemed, notwith- 

 standing the colour of the bones. Neighbouring species inhabit all seas. 

 The bite of one of them, which is said to attain a length of eight feet, is con- 

 sidered dangerous. 



EXOCETUS, Linnaeus. 



These well known, or Flying-fishes, as they are called, are instantly distin- 

 guished among the Abdominales by the excessive size of their pectorals, 

 which are sufficiently large to support them in the air for a few moments. 

 Their head and body are scaly, and a longitudinal range of carinated scales 

 forms a salient line on the lower part of each flank, as in the Hemiramphi, 

 &c. The head is flattened above and on the sides ; the dorsal placed above 

 the anal; the eyes large, the intermaxillaries without pedicles and consti- 

 tuting the whole edge of the upper jaw; their two jaws are furnished with 

 small pointed teeth, and their pharyngeals with teeth like a pavement. 



They do not fly far : rising in the air to avoid their voracious enemies, they 

 soon fall into the sea, their wings merely acting as parachutes. Birds pursue 

 them through the air and fishes through the water. They are found in all the 

 seas of hot and temperate climates. 



E. exilens, Bl. Common in the Mediterranean, and easily recognised by 

 the length of its ventrals, placed posterior to the middle of the body ; the fins 

 of the young are marked with black bands. 



E. volitans, Bl. Common in the Atlantic Ocean, and has small ventrals 

 placed anterior to the middle of the body. 



The American seas produce species with cirri, which are sometimes simple, 

 sometimes double, and even ramous. 



Next to the family of the Esoces, we place a genus of fishes, which, though 

 varying but little from the former, has some anatomical difference. It will 

 most probably give rise to a particular family. It is the Mormyrus, Linnteus. 

 They are found in the Nile. 



FAMILY III. 



SILURID^E. 



THIS family is distinguished from all others of the order by the want of 

 true scales, having merely a naked skin or large osseous plates. The inter- 

 maxillaries, suspended under the ethmoid, form the edge of the upper jaw, 

 and the maxillaries are reduced to simple vestiges, or are extended into cirri. 

 The first ray of the dorsal and pectoral is, almost always, a strong articu- 

 lated spine and, there is frequently an adipose one behind, as in the salmon. 



