OF FISHES IN GENERAL. 'J 



Sfhes ; becaufe greater violence has been ufed in exclud- 

 ing them from it. They are bj no means capable of 

 living indifcriminately in the water and on fliore, and, 

 therefore, merit not the name of amphibious^ which Z/;;- 

 n:eus has affigned them. The lingle circumftance, by 

 which that naturalifl determined their rank in the ani- 

 mal kingdom, is the want of the loiiy operculum^ or co- 

 vering of the gills, which is common to the fpinous^ 

 fifties. 



This laft order, which alone he admits to be fifties, 

 he has very properly fubdivided into four different fee- 

 tions, the apodal, the thoracic, the jugular, and abdo« 

 ?ninal, fifties *. This afrcngement is founded on the com- 

 parifon of the ventral fms to the feet of land animab ; 

 and the particular fituation of thefe fins with reipect to 

 the reft, determine the place, where each fifli is to be 

 yanked. 



The apodal ^ihes, ■are fuch as want the ventral fins alto- 

 gether, fuch as the Jhvordjijh and tel. In the jugular, the 

 ventral fins are placed before the perioral, as is exem-i 

 plified in the codjijh and hlenny. The thoracic are di- 

 ftinguiflied by having the ventral fins pla^d bi aeath the 

 perioral, as is illuflrated by the mackreU ox fathtr if!r:r. 

 The abdominal fifties are known, by having the ventral 

 fins placed behind the pectoral fins, near to the abdomen, 

 as is the cafe in the falmon and pike. This divi- 

 fion of fifties, according to the fituation of their fin?, 

 is exceedingly judicious and natural. It firfl occurred to 

 Linnceus, when examining a colledion of prepared fub- 

 jeds, in the prefence of Dr. Sollander, who witnefted the 

 extafy of this indefatigable naturalifl on making this 

 difcoveryf. 



Sect. 



• Vide Syftema Nat. p. 4»2. 



f He ufcd the cxciamaticn of the Crtdan mathematician Archimdti, 



