180 DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS.— CLASS IV. PISCES. 
jaw ; and the maxillary bones are either simple vestiges, or extended into 
cirri. The intestinal canal is large, folded, and without ceca. The air- 
bladder is large, and adheres to a peculiar apparatus of bones. A strong, 
articulated spine generally forms the first ray of the dorsal and the pectorals ; 
and there is sometimes an adipose dorsal behind the other, as in the Salmon 
Family. 
“Srunus. — These form a numerous genus, known by the naked skin, 
from the mouth being cleft in the end of the muzzle, and from a strong 
spine in the first ray of the dorsal. This spine is articulated only to the 
bones of the shoulder, and the fish can at pleasure lay it flat on the body, 
or keep it fixed in a perpendicular direction, in which case it is a formidable 
weapon, and wounds inflicted by it are understood to be poisoned; which 
opinion has arisen from tetanus sometimes following the wound, not from 
poison certainly, but from the ragged nature of the wound itself. 
“These fishes have the head depressed; the intermaxillaries suspended 
under the ethmoid, and not protractile; the maxillaries very small, but 
almost always continued in barbules attached to the lower lip, and also to 
the nostrils; the covering of their gills is without sub-operculum or gill-flap ; 
their air-bladder, strong and heart-shaped, is attached, by its two upper 
lobes, to a peculiar bony structure, which again is attached to the first ver- 
tebra; the stomach is a fleshy ezd-de-sac, having the intestinal canal long 
and wide, but without eaeca. They abound in the rivers of warm countries ; 
and seeds of plants are found in the stomach of many of their species. 
“SiLurus, properly so called, with only a small fin of four rays on the 
fore-part of the back, but with the anal very long, and approaching very 
close to the base of the caudal. There is no obvious spine in the dorsal ; 
and the teeth in both jaws, and in the vomer, are like those of a card. 
S. glanis, the Sly Silurus, is the largest fresh-water fish of Europe, and 
the only member of the genus in this quarter of the world. It is smooth, 
of a greenish-black, spotted with black above, and yellowish-white below ; 
head large, with six cirri— two large ones near the nostrils, and four shorter 
on the lower jaw. It sometimes grows to six feet in length, and weighs 
three hundred pounds. It is found in the slow-running rivers of Central 
furope, and lurks in the mud to watch for its prey. Its flesh is greasy, and 
is sometimes employed as hog’s lard. It is found in the rivers of Asia and 
Africa. 
“Scnitbus have the body vertically compressed, a strong-toothed spine in 
the dorsal, the head small and depressed, the nape suddenly raised, and the 
eyes low down. They have eight cirri, are found in the Nile, and their 
flesh is said to be less disagreeable than that of other members of the 
family.” 
