ORDEK LOPHOBR ANCHIATA. HOOP GILLS. 



123 



sometimes to a greater length ; they are very voracious, and far from being 

 inviting in appearance ; their colour is mottled, brown, and yellow. Some 

 of the species have but one row of sharp teeth in each jaw, while others 

 have two rows ; some have two rows on the vomer, and a single one on 

 the jaws ; and others again have two rows on the jaws, and four, like a 

 pavement, on the vomer. The species M. Meleagris (Plate 9), M. Helena, 

 and M. Unicola, are of this genus. 



SPHAGEBRANCHDS. This genus is distinguished from the Murcenae by 

 the close approximation of the gill openings, which are placed beneath the 

 throat, and each contain four branchial arches. In some species there are 

 not any pectoral fins, such as 8. Rostratus (Plate 9), about a foot long ; 

 the muzzle is projected into a tube-like form, and the orifice of the mouth 

 beneath the head ; each jaw is furnished with seven little teeth ; between 

 the eyes are two elevated lines rail of pores, and running to the tip of the 

 muzzle, at which there are a pair of barbs ; general colour brown. Is 

 found in the rivers of Surinam. 



SACCOPHARYNX. The first description of this curious genus was given 

 in 1824 by Dr. Mitchell, and named by him, from " the pouch-like form 

 of the throat," Saccopharynx. Subsequently, in 1827, a Paper was read by 

 Dr. Harwood, before the Royal Society, giving an account of " a newly- 

 discovered genus of Serpentiform Fishes," to which he assigned the name 

 Ophionathus, from the general resemblance of its jaws to those of Serpents. 

 The species S. Harwoodi is four feet and six inches long ; colour pur- 

 plish-black ; the air-vessel twenty inches, its parietes extremely delicate, 

 and, when partially distended, it measured nine inches in circumference 

 below its union with the tail ; dorsal fin commencing about eighteen inches 

 from the snout, terminating gradually on the slender, tape-like tail, which 

 extends about twenty inches and a half beyond, and about the termination 

 of the dorsal fin a few other minute filaments arise ; anal fin, commencing 

 from the vent, terminates at about fourteen inches short of the tip of the 

 tail. Tongue almost entirely deficient ; teeth disposed above and below in 

 a single row above only in the margin of the intermaxillary bones, below 

 along almost the whole length of the maxilla ; the jaws, when gently 

 opened, measured two inches and a half across, and three and a half from 

 above to below. 



GYMNONOTUS. These fish in their general form resemble the Eels, but 

 differ from them in the situation of the branchial aperture ; they are all 



natives of South America. The name by 

 which they were first designated was Gym- 

 notus, but it has been corrected by Schneider 

 to Gymnonotus. In this genus is found 

 the remarkable animal known commonly as 

 the Electric Eel (G. Electricus), but no other 

 species is possessed of its peculiar proper- 

 ties. 



The use which the stunning power pos- 

 sessed by these animals serves, is to enable 

 them to procure their prey, and devour it at 



their leisure ; for as their teeth are but small, and their intestinal canal very- 

 short, a small portion can only be taken at a time, and without this organ 

 the animal would be incapable of providing itself nourishment, which 

 consists of small fish and worms. 



The illustrated species is the Evenlipped Gymnote (G. jEquilabratus) ; it 

 is about twenty-eight inches in length, body long, snake-like, compressed ; 

 the lips obtuse and of equal length ; the back is olive-green and the belly 

 silvery, marked with little reddish spots. It was discovered by Hnmboldt 

 in the great river of St. Magdalen. Resembles in its manners the Electric 

 Gymnote, but has no electric apparatus ; its air-bladder is single, and does 

 not extend along the tail. 



LEPTOCEPHALUS. The species L. Morrisii (Plate 9) measures about 

 four inches, and is of a whitish colour, and almost transparent ; head much 

 below the level of the back ; eyes large, irides golden ; the branchial aper- 

 ture very wide. Found on the English and French coasts, and first dis- 

 covered by Pennant. 



OPHLDIUM. This genus very much resembles the Mwcena and Arnmo- 

 dytes, but the junction of the dorsal, caudal, and anal fins distinguishes it 

 from the latter, as does the branchial apparatus from the former. 



The Beardless Danzelle, or Ophidium (O. Imberbis), is, as its title implies, 

 destitute of beard ; its dorsal fin so small as to appear little more than a 

 fold of skin ; caudal fin slightly rounded ; general colour yellow. Is found 

 in the Mediterranean, on the southern coast of France especially, but also 

 in all the European seas. 



AMMODYTES. The individuals of this genus have the body like the 

 former. There are two species ; the Sand Eel (A. Tobianus), and the 

 Sand-lance (A. Lancea), figured on Plate 9. Both species are found on 

 the sandy shores of Britain ; their stomach is fleshy and pointed ; they 

 have no ca?ca nor air-bladder ; they burrow in the sand, and are captured 

 by digging for them at low water. It is supposed that they contribute to 

 the support of the Salmon in the estuaries. The Sand-lance is thicker in 

 the body than the other species ; the intermaxillaries are larger, and the 

 dorsal commencing farther forward. 



Other genera of this family : Gymnothorax, Stemarchus, Synbranchus. 



ORDEK V. LOPHOBRANCHIATA. HOOP GILLS. 



THE Fishes of this Order are distinguished by the tuft-like nature of their 

 gills, disposed along the arches of the jaws in pairs ; their body is also 

 covered with small plates, giving it an angular form. 



ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES. 

 PLATE 10. 



Genera. Species. Common Name. 



Syngnathus ... Typhlus - ... Needle-fish. 

 Pegasus - ... Draco Sea Dragon. 



CHARACTERS OF THE GENERA. 



1. SYNGNATHUS (Gr. avv and yvddog, jaws connected'). Head long, 

 both jaws produced united and tubular; body very long, slender, and 

 covered with indurated plates ranged in parallel lines ; no ventral fins ; 

 under the tail of the males an elongated pouch closes by two folding mem- 

 branes in some species. 



2. PEGASUS. Muzzle much projecting, and of a tubular form, with the 

 mouth opening beneath ; body wide, depressed, and covered with scales 

 connected like the plates of a coat of mail ; branchial opening single ; ven- 

 tral fins behind the pectoral, which are sometimes very broad ; dorsal and 

 anal fins opposite each other. 



LOPHOBRANCHIATA. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIES. 



SYNGNATHUS Pipe-fish. The individuals composing this genus, 

 move in the water much in the same manner as Eels. They feed on 

 marine animals of very small size, also upon small Crustacea and the spawn 

 offish. 



The Deep-nosed Pipe-fish (S. TypbJus) is thirteen inches in length ; jaws 

 compressed and deep, so that their upper and lower edges are nearly 

 on the same plane as the upper and under surfaces of the head ; body hex- 

 angular, the middle lateral angle on each side becoming the upper angles 

 of the quadrangular tail at the end of the dorsal fin, the middle of which is 

 nearly in the middle of the whole length of the fish ; the sculptured plates 

 are eighteen on a side between the shoulder and the vent, behind which 

 they are about thirty-seven ; the belly rounded ; anal fin very small, caudal 

 pointed, its two central rays the longest, and the others graduated. Its 

 general colour is olive-green, mottled and spotted with yellow, brown, and 

 yellowish-white. It is common along the Dorsetshire coast. Laroche's 

 S. Emdeletii and Risso's S. Viridis are, according to Yarrell, identical with 

 this species. 



PEGASUS The Sea Dragon (P. Draco) is from three to four inches in 

 length ; the body of a trigonal form ; the large expansion of its pectoral 



