ABDOMINAL MALACOPTERYGIANS. 183 



sidered in many places as poisoned; an idea arising from the fact that 

 lock-jaw frequently ensues. 



The head is depressed, the intermaxillaries suspended under the eth- 

 moid and non-protractile, the maxillaries very short, but each of them 

 almost always continued into a fleshy cirrus, to which are added others 

 attached to the lower jaw or even to the nostrils. The covering of their 

 branchias wants that piece which we call the suboperculum ; the two su- 

 perior lobes of the stout and cordiform natatory bladder adhere to a pecu- 

 liar bony apparatus, which is connected with the first vertebra. The sto- 

 mach is a fleshy cul-de-sac, the intestine long, ample, and without casca*. 

 These fishes abound in the rivers of hot climates. Seeds are found in 

 the stomach of various species. In the true Silurus, the 



Silurus, Lacep., 



There is only a small fin with very few rays on the fore part of the 

 back, but the anal is very long, closely approaching that of the tail. In 

 Silurus, more especially so. called, 



Silurus, Arted. and Gronov., 



There is no evident spine in the small dorsal; the teeth in both jaws re- 

 semble a card, and behind the intermaxillary band of the same is another, 

 on the vomer. Such is the 



S. glanis, L. ; the Saluth of the Swiss ; Wels or Scheid of the 

 Germans, the Mai of the Swedes, Bl. 34. The largest fresh-water 

 fish found in Europe, and the only one of this extensive genus that 

 it possesses; it is smooth, black, greenish, spotted with black above, 

 with yellowish white beneath : head large, with six cirri ; it some- 

 times exceeds six feet in length, and weighs three hundred pounds. 

 It inhabits the rivers of Germany and Hungary, the lake of Haar- 

 lem, &c, and conceals itself in the mud to watch for prey. The 

 flesh, which is fat, is employed in some places for the same purposes 

 as hog's lard-j- . The 



Schilbe, Cuv., 



Differ from these true Siluri in a -vertically compressed body, and in a 

 strong and dentated spine in the dorsal. The small, depressed head, sud- 

 denly raised neck, and eyes placed very low, give these fishes a singular 

 appearance. 



The species, hitherto known, inhabit the Nile, where their flesh is 



less disagreeable than that of the other Siluri, which are found in 



the same stream. They have eight cirri J. 



* Hasselquist attributes caeca to the Schilbe; I have ascertained, however, that 

 the contrary is the fact. 



f Add, Sil. fossilis, Bl. 370, 2;—Sil. bimaculalus, Id. 364;— Wallagoo, Russel, 160; 

 — Sil. attu, Schn. 75; — the Sil. chinois, Lacep. V, ii, 1 ;— Sil. asotus, L., Pall., Nov. 

 Act. Petrop. I, xi, 2. 



N. B. Judging from inspection of the dried specimen, the Ompok siluro'ide, Lacep. 

 V, i, 2, is a Silurus whose folded dorsal escaped the notice of the artist who drew it. 



X Sil, mijstus, Hasselq., Geoff., Poiss. d'Eg., pi. ii, f. 3 and 4;— Silurus aurilus, 

 Geoff., lb., f. 1 and 2. 



