156 DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS.—CLASS IV. PISCES. 
that is, Jove himself. The monks also claimed it as the ‘ Tribute-money- 
fish,’ from the black marks of the thumb and fingers of St. Peter on the 
| shoulders, in which it is the rival of the haddock, neither of which fishes 
Peter had any chance of seeing. It is still held in great estimation by epi- 
cures; and, being a ground fish, it keeps two or three days, and is all the 
| better for it.” 
Following the Zeus, and resembling it in many of its characters, are the 
genera Capraus, the Boar-fish ; Lampris, a large fish of the Arctic seas, of 
a violet color, spotted with white, and having red fins; Hquula are small 
fishes of the Indian Ocean; some of the species have a projectile snout, 
with which they surprise their prey. Nearly motionless, the deceitful snout 
contracted and concealed, they wait till the small fry, on which they feed, 
are within reach, when they suddenly project the treacherous muzzle, and 
sweep the victims into their hungry jaws; MJenqas is also an inhabitant of 
the Oriental seas, of a silvery color, with a black spot near the back; Séro- 
mateus resembles the foregoing, with the exception that its muzzle is blunt 
and non-protractile ; Peprilus “has the pelvis trenchant and pointed before 
| the vent;” “Lavanus, some species of which are of large size, of a silvery 
color, with a red back; Seserdnes is a small Mediterranean fish, and Aurtus 
is found in the Indian seas, 
CoryriLe@Na (Dorades, or Gold-fishes), the Dolphins of the ancients and 
of the modern Hollanders. They have the body long, compressed, and coy- 
ered with small scales; the head trenchant in the upper. part; a single 
dorsal, which extends the whole length of the back, with flexible rays the 
whole length, but the anterior ones not jointed, and they have seven rays in 
the gills. The following are the sub-genera : — 
Coryphena, the Coryphene, properly so called, have the head much ele- 
vated, the profile curved and descending rapidly ; they have teeth in the 
palate, as well as in the jaws. They are large and splendidly-colored 
fishes, celebrated for the velocity of their motions, and the havoe which 
they commit among the flying-fishes. “ C. Aépparis, the common Cory- 
phene, is found in the Mediterranean and Atlantic. It is a brilliant fish, 
and drives through the water like a radiant meteor. Its long dorsal is sky 
blue, with the rays gold colored ; its tail-fin green; its back green, mottled 
with orange, and its belly silvery, divided from the former by a yellow lat- 
eral line. As it passes along, however, there is an extraordinary play of 
colors upon it; and it is one of the fishes, with the changes of whose col- 
ors, when dying, the luxurious Romans’ used to gloat their depraved fancy. 
Some of the Indian species are brighter colored than this one; and, indeed, 
all the Seomberidw have a tendency to get blackish in the cold seas, and 
brilliant in the warm ones, owing to the greater effect of the solar light in 
