134 NATURAL HISTORY. 



especially affects muddy position*. It carries a small bifid spine below the eye, which is capable of 

 being elevated by the fish at will. The body is considerably compressed; like all the allied fishes it 

 emits sounds when touched. The length is about three inches ; the barbels are remarkably short ; 

 there is a row of large brown spots on the side of the body, and a brown streak running from the eye 

 to the end of the snout. It is less valued for food than the common Loach. This species, though 

 characteristic of Europe, appears also to occur in Japan. In the genus Botia the air-bladder is 

 divided into two parts ; the anterior division is only partly contained in an osseous capsule, and 

 the hinder portion is free and suspended in the abdominal cavity. 



CHAPTER VII. 



PHYSOSTOMI (concluded) CYCLOSTOMATA LEPTOCARDII. 



GONORHTNCHnxE HroDONTiOE OsTEOGLOSSiD.E - CLUPEiD.E THE ANCHOVY THE HERRING The Fisheries The Boat 

 and Nets The Whitebait The Sprat The Shad The Pilchard The Pilchard Fishery CHIROCENTRID.E ALEPO- 

 CEPHALID.E NOTOPTERID.E HALOSAURID.E GYMNOTID.E The Electric Eel Electric Organ Effects of the Shock 

 SYMBRANCHID.E--MUR.ENID: Characters Various Types THE SHARP-NOSED EEL Weight Habits THE BROAD- 

 NOSED EEL THE CONGER EEL Characters Prehensile Power of its Tail Habits The Genus Muraena PEGASID^E 

 CYCLOSTOMATA Characters MARSIPOBRANCHII PETROMYZONTID.E Characters THE SEA LAMPREY 

 Distinctive Features Great Suctorial Power Distribution THE LAMPERN, OR RIVER LAMPREY THE SAND-PIPER 

 MYXINID.E Characters THE HAG --Distinctive Features Remarkable Nostril Character Its Enormous Mucous 

 Secretion LEPTOCARDII CIRROSTOMI THE LANCELET Size Characters Peculiar Heart and Blood - Difficulty 

 onnected with it and Hag FOSSIL FISHES. 



FAMILY XVIII. GONORHYNCHnXE. 



THIS family contains only a single species, Gonorhynchus greyi, a marine fish found only at the 

 Cape of Good Hope and in Australian and Japanese waters. It is covered with small spiny scales, 

 and has barbels to the mouth ; the dorsal and anal fins are both short ; the air-bladder is absent. 

 The large eye is covered by transparent skin ; there are no teeth either on the jaws or on the palate, 

 but patches of teeth are developed on the pterygoid bones and on the hyoid bone. It is about a foot long. 



FAMILY XIX. HYODONTIDJE. 



The Hyodontidse comprise only the American fish termed the Moon-Eye (Hyodon teryisus), found 

 in the fresh waters of North America, especially in the great lakes. It is covered with silvery 

 -cycloid scales, but has the head naked. The stomach is horseshoe-shaped, the body is oblong. 



FAMILY XX. OSTEOGLOSSIDJE. 



This is a small group of fresh-water fishes from the Tropics. The body in these large fishes is 

 covered with scales, which are thick, and arranged like pieces of mosaic, though they are absent from 

 the head, whei-e the skin is almost entirely replaced by bone. The dorsal fin is on the caudal 

 region, and opposite to the anal fin ; sometimes both these fins are confluent with the caudal. 



The genus Osteoglossum is found in the fresh waters of Queensland, the Indian Archipelago, and 

 Tropical America. Arapaima gigas is a lai'ge fish from Brazil and British Guiana. The head is less 

 than one-fourth of the total length. Specimens in the British Museum are eight feet long, but it is 

 sometimes nearly twice that length, and weighs 400 Ibs. It is often captured with the hook, but 

 frequently killed by the Indians with the bow and arrow. A number of men and boys go out in small 

 boats, and when the fish is seen shoot at it. Of course it instantly disappears, but is followed up and 

 shot at again and again, till, at length becoming exhaiisted, it is easily captured. The flesh is not very 

 appetising, but is salted and dried by the natives and exported. In the allied Heterotis niloticus of 

 Tropical Africa the stomach consists of two distinct portions, one membranous and the other muscular ; 

 the air-bladder is cellular, and the fourth branchial arch carries a spiral organ. These fishes are often 

 three feet long. 



FAMILY XXL CLUPEID^E. 



This family is scarcely inferior in importance to any other group of fishes in the supply of human 

 food. Its varied forms have led the family to be subdivided into seven groups, comprising in all more 



