IJJ SFINOUS FISHE3, 



CHAPTER VI. 



Order III. — Spinous Tijlie&t 



Section I. 

 General CharaBers of this Order, 



Vv E are now come to that order of the finny tribe, to 

 which the later naturalilts liave exclufivelj appropriated 

 the name of fi(h : According to them, the cetaceous kinds 

 are beafts, that have taken up their abode in the ocean j 

 and the cartilaginous, an amphibious band that are but 

 half denizens of that element ; the fpinous fiflies being 

 alone entitled to that appellation *. After detailing the 

 hiftory of the two firft orders, we have feen that there 

 are particularities in their conformation, which, in a phi- 

 lofophical view, perhaps juftify the arrangement of thefe 

 naturalifts, to whom fcience is much indebted. While 

 therefore, we have availed ourfelves of their method of 

 placing the different genera, our veneration for the ideas 

 and the language univerfally eftabliflied among men, has 

 induced us to rank all the inhabitants of the fame ele- 

 ment in one clafs, and to diftinguiih them by a common 



name. 



2 The 



% Goldfmlth's Nat. Hlft. vol. vi. page aof>. 



