106 FISHES. 



Sebastes, Cuv., 



Possess all the characters of the Scorpions, except that there are no cu- 

 taneous cirri, and that the head is less rough and scaly. 



There is a large species in the Northern Ocean, called the Ma- 

 nlike, and in some places Carp, the Sebastes norvegicus, Cuv. ; 

 Perca marina, Penn. ; Perca norvegica, Mull. Bonat. Encycl. Meth. 

 pi. Icthy. f. 210. It is red, and frequently upwards of two feet in 

 length. It is dried for the purpose of food, and its dorsal spines 

 are used by the Esquimaux as needles. The Mediterranean pro- 

 duces another, very similar, but which has fewer dorsal rays, the 

 Sebastes imperialis, Cuv. ; Scorpaena dactyloptera, Laroche, Ann. 

 Mus. XIII, pi. xxii, f. 9. Its palate is black, and it has no nata- 

 tory bladder, although the contrary is the case with the preceding 

 species*. 



Pterois, Cuv., 



Have the characters of the Scorpions, properly so called, except that 

 there are no palatine teeth, and that the dorsal and pectoral rays are ex- 

 cessively elongated. 



These fishes are from India, and were not less remarkable for 

 this singular prolongation, than for the pretty disposition of their 

 colours^. 



Blepsias, 



Have the head compressed; cheeks mailed; fleshy cirri under the lower 

 jaw; five branchial rays; ventrals very small, and one very high dorsal 

 divided by emarginations into three parts. 



The only species known are from the Aleutian islands J. 



Apistus 



Have the palatine teeth and entire dorsal of the Scorpions; but the few 

 rays of their pectorals are all branched. Their distinguishing character 

 consists in a stout spine on the suborbital, which, inclining from the 

 cheeks, becomes a treacherous weapon §. They are all small. 



Those of the first division have a scaly body, and some of these have 

 a free ray under a large pectoral||; others have ordinary pectorals, with- 

 out free rays^f . 



* The pretended Sc. malabatica, Bl. Schn. 190, is a Sebastes, identical with the 

 species of the Mediterranean. — Add, Sc. capensis, Gmel. ; — Holoe. albofasciatus, Lacep. 

 IV, 372; — Perca variabilis, Pall., or Epinephelus ciliatus, Tiles. Mem. Acad. Petersb. 

 IV, 1811, pi. xvi, f. 1—6. 



f Sc. volitans, Gm. Bl. 184; — Sc. antanata, Bl. 185; — Sc. Koemgii, Id. New Stock. 

 Mem. X, vii, and several new species described in our fourth volume. 



% Blevnius villusus, Steller, or Trachinus cirrhosus, Pall. Zoog. Russ. Ill, 237, No. 

 172. Blepsias is a name descended to us from the antients without any characteris- 

 tic designation. 



§ Greek, Apistos, perfidus, treacherous. 



|| Ap. aplatus, Cuv., Russel, 160, B;— Scorp. carinata, Bl. Schn. 



if Cotlus australis, J. White, New South, IV, 266; — Ap. tanianotus, Cuy., Lacep. 



