ABDOMINAL MALACOPTERYG1ANS. 205 



is, that their teeth are as if paved, being rounded, and closely set on the 

 tongue, vomer, and palatines. From both oceans. 



The Elops and Butirini are beautiful, silvery fishes, with numerous 

 bones and caeca, that attain a considerable size*, affording an excellent 

 dish. 



Chirocentrus, Cuv., 



Have the edge of the upper jaw, as in the Herring, formed by the inter- 

 maxillaries, and the sides by the maxillaries, which are united with them; 

 both, together with the lower jaw, are furnished with a row of stout coni- 

 cal teeth, the two middle anterior upper ones of which, as well as all those 

 of the lower jaw, are of extraordinary length. The tongue and branchial 

 arches are bristled with teeth, resembling those of a card, but there are 

 none on the palatine bones or on the vomer. There are seven or eight 

 rays in the branchiae, the external ones very broad. Above and beneath 

 each pectoral is a long, membranous, and pointed scale, and the pectoral 

 rays are very hard; the body is elongated, compressed, and trenchant, 

 but not dentated beneath ; the ventrals are extremely small, and the dor- 

 sal is shorter than the anal, opposite to which it is placed. The stomach 

 is a long, slender, and pointed sac, the pylorus is near the cardia, and the 

 natatory bladder long and narrow. I find no caeca. 



But a single species is known; it is of a silver colour, and inha- 

 bits the Indian Ocean j. 



Hyodon, Lesuetir. 



The Hyodons have the form of a Herring; abdomen trenchant but not 

 dentated: the dorsal opposite to the anal; eight or nine rays in the 

 branchiae, and hooked teeth in the jaws, vomer, palatines and tongue, as 

 in the Trouts. 



The species known inhabit the fresh waters of North America \. 



Erythrinus, Gronov. 



The Erythrins, like all the rest of the family, have small intermaxilla- 

 ries, and a great portion of the sides of the upper jaw formed by the 

 maxillaries ; a range of conical teeth occupies the edges of each jaw, and 



* The But. banana, Commers., Lacep. V, 45, which is also his Synode renard, Id. 

 V, pi. viii, f. 2, or Esox vulpes, L., Catesb. II, i, 2, cop. Encycl. 294, is a fish found 

 on the Atlantic coast of America, the same as the U bar ana of Marcgr., Brazil, 154, 

 or Clupea Bras'diensis, BL, Schn. ; as the Am'ia of Brown; as the Albula gonorynchus, 

 Bl., Schn., p. 432, or Albula Plumieri, Id. pi. 86; as the C/upee macrocephale, Lacep. 

 V, xiv, 1, and as the Macabi, Parra, pi. 35, f. 4, or Amia immaeulata, BL, Schn. 451. 

 Spix has two of them, pi. xxiii, 2, and xxiv. The Butirinus of India is the Argen- 

 tina glossodonta, Forsk., or Argentine bonttk, Lacep , the Esox argent eus, Forst., App. 

 Bl. Schn. 396. Having seen the American species only, I am not yet well acquainted 

 with their distinguishing characters. 



f The Esoce chirocentre, Lacep. V, viii, 1, sabre or sabran of Commerson, which is 

 the same fish as the Clupea dentex, Schn., p. 428, Forsk., p. 72, or as the Chip, dorab, 

 Gin., and as the Wallah, Russ. 199. It is probably also the Purring, or Cltnees, of 

 the Moluccas, Ren. VIII, 55. 



X Hyodon clodulus, Lesueur, Ac. Nat.Sc. Philad. I, pi. xiv, and p. 367; — //. tergi- 

 sus, Id., lb., p. 366. 



