ACANTHOPTERYGII. 91 



Sciana.* 



We know so little of the habits and manners of 

 fishes, from our inability to penetrate into their 

 recesses, that it is almost impossible to make their 

 history popularly interesting; of many families we 

 can give little more than the distinctive characters 

 which mark the relations of one to the other, the 

 connexion, so to speak, of the links which form the 

 mighty chain, selecting for illustration, where we 

 can, such as are remarkable for their size, beauty, 

 or other peculiarities. The present genus, well 

 known to the ancients, and esteemed by them, 

 has the dorsals slightly separated; and but for the 

 deficiency in the teeth mentioned above, would 

 hardly be distinguished from Perches. One species, 

 the Maigre of the French, (S. Aquila,} attains a 

 length of six feet ; another, the Bearded Umbrina, 

 (S. Cirrosa,) is marked with very regular diagonal 

 streaks of steel blue on a golden ground. 



FAM. IV. SPARID^E. 



As in the preceding, the palate is destitute of 

 teeth, and the scales are large : but the head is not 

 rounded, nor is the gill-cover indented or spined : the 

 gill rays are not more than six. 



* The Greek name of the fish. 



