THICK-RAYED GROUP. 349 



Romans in their vivaria, where it is said to have become extremely flat. Several 

 .species of the genus inhabit the seas and estuaries of. India, one of which (C. berda) 

 occasionally grows to 30 inches in length, and is much esteemed as food in Madras, 

 where it is known as black-rock cod. Fossil teeth of a gilt-head occur in the Red 

 Crag of Suffolk, and the Miocene strata of Malta and the Canaries. 



The Knife- J awed Fishes, — Family Hoplognathidje. 



A single small genus of fishes (Hoplognathus), from the coasts of Australia, 

 Japan, and Peru, constitutes a separate family of the present section, characterised 

 by the jawbones having a sharp cutting-edge ; such teeth as are present being 

 confined to this region, where they are confluent with the bone, to form a more or 

 less indistinct serration. The compressed and deep body is covered with very small 



spotted firm-fin (£ nat. size). 



ctenoid scales ; while the sides have a continuous lateral line. The dorsal fin has 

 its spinous portion rather longer than the soft, with the spines very strong ; the 

 anal, which has three spines, is similar to the soft dorsal ; and the thoracic pelvics 

 are furnished with a single spine and five rays. The species figured on the 

 opposite page is the Australian one {H. conwayi). Nothing seems to have been 

 ascertained with regard to the life-history of any member of the family. 



The Thick-Rayed Fishes, — Family Cirrhitid^e. 



This small family, which, for want of a better English name, we designate as 

 above, comprises several genera from the Indo-Pacific and Australasian seas, some 

 members of which are of the first importance as food-fishes in the British colonies. 

 Closely allied to the next family, they differ therefrom (and thereby resemble the 

 preceding groups) in the absence of a bony connection between the preopercular 

 bone and the infraorbital ring of the skull ; while they are specially distinguished 



