294 



HISTORY OF FISHES. 



from theii total absence, or from their being 

 situated nearer the head or the tail, in differ- 

 ent fishes, he takes the differences of his sys- 

 tem. 



These arrangements, which are totally arbi- 

 trary, and which are rather a method than a 

 science, are always fluctuating ; and the last 

 is generally preferred to that which went be- 

 fore. There has lately appeared, however, a 

 system composed by Mr Gouan, of Montpel- 

 lier, that deserves applause for more than its 

 novelty. It appears to me the best arrange- 

 ment of this kind that ever was made ; and in 

 it the divisions are not only precisely systema- 

 tical, but, in some measure, adopted by Na- 

 ture itself. This learned Frenchman has 

 united the systems of Artedi and Linnaeus to- 

 gether ; and, by bringing one to correct the 

 other, has made out a number of tribes that 

 are marked with the utmost precision. A 

 part of this system, however, we have already 

 gone through in the cartilaginous, or, as he 

 calls a part of them, the branchiostegous tribe 

 of fishes. In the arrangement of these, I 

 have followed Linnaeus, as the number of them 

 was but small, and his method simple. But 

 in that which is more properly called the spi- 

 nous class of fishes, I will follow Mr Gouan's 

 system ; the terms of which, as well as of all 

 the former systems, require some explanation. 

 I do not love to multiply the technical terms 

 of a science ; but it often happens that names, 

 by being long used, are as necessary to be 

 known as the science itself. 



If we consider the substance of the fin of a 

 fish, we shall find it composed, besides the 

 skin, either of straight, hard, pointed, bony 

 prickles or spines, as in the pike ; or of soft, 

 crooked, or forked bones, or cartilages, as in 

 the herring. The fish that have bony prickly 

 fins, are called prickly-f.nned.Jish ; the latter, 

 that have soft, or cartilaginous fins, are called 

 soft-finned fish. The prickly-finned fish have 

 received the Greek new-formed name of 

 Acanthopterigii ; the soft-finned fish have like- 

 wise their barbarous Greek name of Malacop- 

 terigii. Thus far Artedi has supplied Mr 

 Gouan with names and divisions. All spin- 

 ous fish are divided into prickly-finned fish 

 and soft-finned fish. 



Again, Linnaeus has taught him to remark 

 the situation of the fins ; for the ventral, or 

 belly-fins, which are those particularly to be 

 remarked, are either wholly wanting, as in 

 the eel, and then the fish is called Apodal (a 

 Greek word, signifying without feet) ; or the 

 ventral fins are placed more forward than the 

 pectoral fins, as in the haddock, and then the 

 animal is a Jugular-fish : or the ventral fins are 

 placed directly under the pectoral fins, as in 

 the father-lasher, and then it is called a Tho- 

 racic-fish ; or, lastly, the ventral fins are placed 



nearer the tail than the pectoral fins, as in the 

 minnow, arid then it is an Abdominal-fish. 



Possessed of these distributions, the French 

 naturalist mixes and unites them into two 

 grand divisions. All the prickly-finned fish 

 make one general division ; all the soft-finned 

 fish another. These first are distinguished 

 from each other, as being either apodal, jugu- 

 lar, thoracic, or abdominal. Thus there are 

 prickly-finned apodal fishes; prickly-finned 

 jugular fishes ; prickly-finned thoracic fishes; 

 and prickly-finned abdominal fishes. On the 

 other hand, the soft-finned fishes fall under a 

 similar distribution, and make the other gene- 

 ral division. Thus there are soft-finned apo- 

 dal fishes, soft-finned jugular fishes, soft-finned 

 thoracic fishes, and soft-finned abdominal fishes. 

 These general characters are strongly marked, 

 and easily remembered. It only remains, 

 therefore, to divide these into such tribes as 

 are most strongly marked by nature ; and to 

 give the distinct characters of each to form a 

 complete system with great simplicity. This 

 Mr Gouan " has done ; and the tribes into 

 which he has distributed each of these divi- 

 sions, exactly amount to fifty. Thus the read- 

 er, who can contain in his memory the charac- 

 teristic marks of fifty kinds, will have a toler- 

 able idea of the form of every kind of spinous 

 fish. I say, of the form; for as to the history 

 and nature of the animal itself, that can only 

 be obtained by experience and information. 



SECT. I. 



PRICKLY-FINNED FISHES. 

 PricJdy-finned Apodal Fish. 



1. THE Trichurus. The body of a sword- 

 form ; the head oblong ; the teeth sword-like, 

 bearded near the points ; the fore-teeth lar- 

 gest ; the fin that covers the gills with seven 

 spines ; the tail ending in a point without fins ; 

 an inhabitant near the Oriental and American 

 shores ; of a silvery white ; frequently leap- 

 ing into the fishermen's boats in China. 



2. The Xiphias, or Sword-fish. The body 

 round; the head long ; the upper jaw termi- 

 nating by a long beak, in form of a sword ; the 

 fin that covers the gills with eight spines ; an 

 inhabitant of Europe; an enemy to the 

 whale. 1 



1 The general colour of the common sword-fish (xipf.- 

 ias gladius, see Plate XXI. fig. 11.) is brown, accompa- 

 nied by a deep steel-blue cast on the head and upper 

 parts, and inclining to silvery white on the sides and 

 abdomen. It sometimes grows to a very large si/e, and 

 as much as twenty feet in length. Pennant mentions 

 one cast on shore near Laughame. Caermartheoshire, 



