BARRACUDAS AND SAND-SMELTS. 397 



the shore in the warmer months. Swimming with remarkable speed, it is enabled 

 by the length of its pectorals to take considerable leaps above the surface of the 

 water, and thus approaches the flying-fish. During stormy weather great numbers 

 of these fishes are frequently stranded, when they are collected by the natives for 

 the purpose of extracting the oil from them. 



Barracudas, Atherines, and Grey Mullets, — Families Spiiyejsnid^:, 

 Ateerinjd^e, and ISugilid^e. 



Following Dr. Glinther's classification, these three families form a sectional 



group differing from those we have been considering by the position of the pelvic 



fins, which are abdominal, and have one spine and five soft rays. The two dorsal 



fins are situated more or less remote from one another, the first being either short, 



like the second, or composed of weak spines. 



The large and ferocious fishes commonly known as barracudas 

 Barracudas. „ ° * 



(Sphyrcena), of which a species (S. vulgaris) is shown in the upper 

 figure of the illustration on p. 379, are the sole existing representatives of the 

 first family, which is distinguished by the elongated and subcylindrical form 

 of the body, the large cutting-teeth, the continuous lateral line, and the presence 

 of only twenty-four vertebrae in the backbone. The scales are small and cycloidal ; 

 the cleft of the mouth is wide ; and the medium-sized eyes have a lateral position. 

 Represented by something less than a score of species, barracudas are distributed 

 over all temperate and tropical seas, but generally prefer the neighbourhood of 

 the coast to the open ocean. They are all carnivorous and fierce in their dis- 

 position, and since they frequently grow to 6 or 8 feet in length, they are as 

 much or even more dreaded by bathers in seas where they are common than 

 sharks. They are extensively caught for food, but in some instances, from their 

 having fed on poisonous kinds of fish, their own flesh becomes impregnated with 

 the venom. Moseley writes that " there is a great fishery at the Cape, of a fish 

 called snook, a kind of barracuda, which is salted and dried, and sent mainly to 

 Mauritius for sale. The snook-boats were always to be seen about in the bay. 

 The fish are caught with a hook and line whilst the boat is in motion. The 

 fishermen are especially careful not to get bitten by the fish as they haul them in, 

 wounds caused by their bite being said to fester in a violent manner, as if 

 inflamed." Fossil barracudas occur in the middle Eocene of Monte Bolca ; while 

 in the Cretaceous rocks of the Lebanon and Brazil the family is represented by 

 the extinct genus Cladocyclus. 



The second family of the group under consideration is typically 

 ocLu&- smelts, 



represented by the so-called sand-smelts; one of the two British 



species (Atherina hepsetus) being shown in the left figure of our illustration. 



As a family, the Atherinidce are distinguished from the barracudas by the 



indistinct lateral line ; the feeble or moderately developed dentition ; and by 



the number of vertebrae being usually in excess of twenty-four. The body is 



more or less elongate, with but slight compression. In the sand-smelts the scales 



are smooth and cycloid, and the teeth minute ; the first dorsal fin is short and 



completely separate from the second ; and the muzzle is blunt, with the cleft 



