302 PISCES. 



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 : — 



CoryphiSna, the Coryphene, properly so called, have the head much elevated ; the profile curved, and descending 

 rapidly; they have teeth in the palate, as well as the jaws. They are large and splendidly-coloured fishes, cele- 

 brated for the velocity of their motions, and the havoc which they commit among; the Flying- Fishes. [C. hipparis, 

 the Common Coryphene, is found in the Mediterranean and Atlantic. It is a brilHant fish, and drives through the 

 water like a radiant meteor. Its long dorsal is sky-blue, with the rays gold-coloured ; its tail-fin green ; its back 

 green, mottled with orange ; and its belly silvery, divided from the former by a yellow lateral line. As it passes 

 along, however, there is an extraordinary play of colours upon it ; and it is one of the fishes with the changes of 

 whose colours, when dying, the luxurious Romans used to gloat their depraved fancy. Some of the Indian species 

 are brighter coloured than this one ; and, indeed, all the Scomberida; have a tendency to get blackish in the cold 

 seas, and brilliant in the warm ones, owing to the greater eflfect of the solar light in the latter ; for the sunbeam 

 is Nature's pencil, down even to the deepest fish or pearl shell]. 



Ciira/ia-mnores, differ from Coryphene in having the head oblong, and less elevated, and the eye in a medium 

 position. Centrolophes, has no teeth in the palate, and a plain space between the occiput and the dorsal. [One 

 species, the Black Fish, C. pompilius, occasionally wanders from the Mediterranean to the southern shores of 

 Britain. It is a powerful fish, and not easily caught, but its flesh is much esteemed. It feeds partially on some 

 sea-weeds, but chiefly on other fishes.] 



Asfrodermus, has the head and dorsal like the Coryphene, but the mouth small, four rays in the gills, and the 

 ventrals very small in the throat. Tlie scales are thinly scattered over the body, arranged into stars, hence the 

 name. Only one species is known, which inhabits the Jlediterranean ; is silvery, spotted with black, and has a 

 very long dorsal. The fins are red. 



PteracUs, teeth and head like the Coryphene, but the scales larger ; ventrals on the throat small ; dorsal and 

 anals as high as the fish. 



[Such are the leading genera and subgenera of the Mackerel faniily, one of the most numerous and 

 splendid in the class.] 



THE EIGHTH FAMILY OF THE ACANTHOPTERYGII. 

 T^NiD^ (Ribbon-shaped). 



This family is closely allied to the Mackerels, its first genus agreeing intimately with the last sub- 

 genera of Scomber. The fishes composing it are long, flattened on the sides, and have very small 

 scales. One tribe has the muzzle elongated, the mouth deeply cleft, with strong trenchant teeth, and 

 the lower jaw projecting beyond the upper. This tribe contains only two genera. 



Lepidopus, the Scabbard-fish, or Scale- foot— from the form of the ventrals, which are merely two scaly plates. 

 The body is thin and elongated, with a dorsal above, and a low anal beneath, terminating in a well-formed caudal. 

 The gills have eight rays ; the stomach is long, with more than twenty cceca near the pyrolus ; and the air-bladder 

 is long and slender, with a glandular body attached. One species, L. argyreus, occurs from England to Southern 

 Africa, but is not plentiful. It is sometimes five feet long, but it is rare. [It swims with extreme rapidity, and 

 often with the head above water. It has no scales on the body, except the two which occupy the place of the 

 ventral fins.] 



TricMurus, Hair- tail. Tlie body, muzzled jaws, and teeth hke the last, and a dorsal extending along the back; but 

 no ventral, anal, or caudal fins, excepting a few obscure httle spines on the under side of the tail, which terminates 

 in a hair-hke point ; there are seven rays in the gills ; the stomach is long and thick ; the intestines striped with 

 numerous cceca ; and their air-bladder long and simple. Viewed laterally, they resemble beautiful silver ribbons. 

 There are several species of the Indian Ocean, and one at least of the Atlantic. [One, T. Lepturus, called by 

 some the Blade-fish— in contrast, we suppose, to the Scabbard-fish— occurs occasionally in various parts of the 

 British seas. It is shining silvery, with greyish-yellow fins ; the dorsal mottled with black on the edge ; the 

 irides are golden]. Some of the Indian Trichiuri have been described as having electric or galvanic properties, 

 but such is not the fact. 



A second tribe comprehends genera which have the mouth small, and little cleft. 



Gymnetrus, has the body elongated, and flat, without an anal fin, but with a long dorsal, a caudal composed of 

 few rays, and ventrals under the pectorals, which are fibrous, with small expansions at their extremities, but both 

 they and the anterior of the dorsal are liable to be broken. The fishes themselves are very tender, their bones 

 soft, their fins easily rent, and their flesh soon decomposed. They occur in the Mediterranean, the Indian, the 

 Atlantic, and the Arctic Seas. Some of them are ten feet in length. [Two species have occurred in the British 

 seas-.—G.Hawkensii, on the coast of Cornwall, and G.arclictis, on some of the northern coasts; but the last 

 species is not very satisfactorily made out, as the tenderness of the fish causes it to be mutilated almost the in- 

 stant it is stranded.] 



Stylephorus, has a caudal fin, as in the last, but shorter ; and instead of the tail ending in a hook in the middle 

 of the fin, as it does there, it is produced in a filament longer than the body. 



