ISO FISHES. 



Scomcresox, Lacep. — Saiuis, Rafin., 



Have the structure of the snout similar to that of a Belone; very nearly 

 the same port and same scales, with the carinated range along the belly ; 

 but the last rays of the dorsal and anal are detached, forming spurious fins 

 as in the Mackerel. 



One of them is taken in the Mediterranean, the Scombresocc 



camjecrien, Lac. V, vi, 3; Esox saurus, Bl. Sclin. pi. 78, 2; Senis 



nians, Rafin., Nouv. Gen. IX, 1 *. 



Hemi-Rampiius, Cuv. 



The Half-Beaks have the edge of the upper jaw, which, as well as that 

 of the lower one, is furnished with small teeth, formed by the intermaxil- 

 laries; but the upper jaw is very short, and the symphysis of the lower 

 one is extended into a long point or half-beak without teeth; as to their 

 port, fins, and viscera, they resemble the Belone; scales large and round, 

 and a carinated range of them along the belly. 



Several species are found in the seas of hot climates in both he- 

 mispheres; their flesh, although oily, is agreeable to the palate \. 



ExocetusJj Lin. 



The Flying-Fishes are instantly recognized among the Abdominales by 

 the excessive size of their pectorals, which are sufficiently large to sup- 

 port them in the air for a few moments. Their head and body are scaly, 

 and a longitudinal range of carinated scales forms a salient line on the 

 lower part of each flank, as in the Half-Beaks, &c.§ The head is flatten- 

 ed above and on the sides; the dorsal placed above the anal; their eyes 

 are large, the intermaxillaries without pedicles, and constituting by them- 

 selves the whole edge of the upper jaw; their two jaws are furnished with 

 small pointed teeth, and their pharyngeals with teeth as if paved. 



* Add, Scomber-esox eqtiirostris, Lesueur, Ac. Nat. Sc. Pliilad. I, 132; — Sc.scutel- 

 latus, Id. lb. 



f Species from India: Hem. longirostris, Cuv., or kuddera, C, Russ. 178; — H. bre- 

 virostris, or kuddera, B, Russ. 177, Willoughb. App. pi. vii, f. 4; — H. marginatus, 

 Cuv., Lacep. V, vii, 2; — H. Commersonii, Cuv., Lacep. V, vii, 3, or the Demi-bee de 

 Baggewaal, Ren. part II, pi. v, No. 21. 



American species, H. brasiliensis, Cuv., or Esox brasiliensis, Bl. 391; — H. hepsetus, 

 or Esox hepsetus, Bl. Schn., and others to be described in our Hist, des Poissons. See 

 also the article of M. Lesueur, Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. I, 134, et seq. 



N. B. M. de Lac. unites the Esox hepsetus, Lin., to the Es. marginatus ; but the 

 former is a compound of two fishes — one, the Piquitivga of Marcgr. 159, (the moe- 

 nidia of Brown, Jam. XLV, 3), is an Anchovy; the other, Amcen. Ac. I, p. 321, ap- 

 pears to me to be indeterminable, but it cannot be a Hemi-ramphus. 



X From the Greek Exokoitos, sleeping out, the Greek name of a fish, which, ac- 

 cording to theantients, came on shore to rest. It was most probably either a Goby or 

 a Blenny, as imagined by Rondelet and others. It is difficult to conjecture what could 

 have induced Artedi to associate the fishes here in question with these Blennies. 

 Linnseus separated them, but without altering the name of exocetus, which does not 

 belong to them. 



§ We must not, like Bloch, confound this carina with the lateral line, which, 

 though frequently but slightly marked, is in its ordinary place. 



