112 



AXACAXTHS.- 



-FISIIES.- 



-LErTOCEI'IIALIDS. 



bread mixed with oil, spices and Cretan wine, and 

 then boiling tliom carefully for some time in a cloth. 

 In Pennant's day, vast quantities of lampreys were 



taken in the Thames, near Mortlake, and sold to the 

 Dutch, who salted them for use as baits in the Turbot 

 fishery. 



Okdek ir.— ANACANTIIS (No Spinous Fix-eays.) 



Fins supported by flexible or jointed raj's ; ventrals 

 present in some groups, absent in otliers ; when present, 

 most commonly beneath the pectorals. Skeleton soft 

 or indurated, but in the latter case, having merely an 

 osteoid structure, dillering from true bone in the 

 absence of radiated or fusiform bone - corpuscles. — 

 [Kullikcr.) Dermal skeleton in the form of cycloid 

 scales in some, in others as ctenoid scales. Swim- 

 bladder having no air-duct ; often wholly absent. 



With this order we enter on the Fisdes Proper 

 of Agassiz, which have one gill opening on each side 

 with an operculum, though in a few instances tlie 

 openings are so approximated on the mesial line of the 

 throat, as to appear single externally. The lieart 

 consists of a linear series of four cavities, viz., the 

 venous stuns, tlje auricle, the ventricle, and the arterial 

 hull). Tliis bulb has generally a pair of semilunar 

 valves at its orifice, but wants the interior rows of 

 valves which exist in the Ganoids aud Placoids or 

 Plagiostomes. 



Family L— LEPTOCEPnALIDS.— (Plate3,fig. 12.) 



Kiilliker, who has examined skeletons of the Lepto- 

 cephali or Tape-fishes under the microscope, says, that 

 the bones are structureless homogeneous substances, 

 and, indeed, in most of the species the induration is 

 confined to the jaws, teeth, and some portions of the 

 skull, so that, when one of these delicate creatures is 

 laid out on paper, and suflfered to dry, it becomes a 

 mere film, in whicli, nevertheless, the internal structure 

 may be traced. One species, named the Morris, occurs 

 on the British coasts ; and the otliers which much 

 resemble it, are fishes of a small size, greatly com- 

 pressed, with a lancet-shaped profile, destitute of scales, 

 and so diaphanous that the arrangements of the mus- 

 cular fibres and of the internal organs are distinctly 

 visible. The dorsal and an.al fins are narrow cutaneous 

 seams which unite at the point of the tail to form an 

 acute or a bhmtish, and, in one species, a forked caudal 

 fin, with generally perceptible rays. Some members 

 of the family have pectorals, others want these fins, 

 and only one known species {Esunculus) has ventrals. 

 Some Tape-fishes have a series of strong acute teeth 

 on the jaws ; others appear to be toothless. The 

 genera belonging to the family, which is co-extensive 

 with the sub-order of IIelmiciithyans are charac- 

 terized by Dr. Kaup in his catalogue of the apodal 

 fishes in the British Museum, under the following names, 

 Esunculus, Ilijprorus, Osystomus, and Lcptocephalus, 

 and are generally diffused over the temperate parts of 

 the ocean in both hemispheres. The British species 

 called Moriis (Leptocejihaius Morrisii), inhabits the 

 Mediterranean sea also ; and iu the museum of Ilaslar 



Uospital there is a specimen, which, having been 

 brought up from tlie deep in the eruption of Graham's 

 island, was picked by a naval officer from the smoking 

 clills of that short-lived volcano. Sto7nasiunculus and 

 Porohranchus are two new Leptocephalid forms 

 recently discovered by Dr. Kaup. 



Family II.— OPHIDIOIDS.— (Plate 2, fig. 9.) 



Tliese Apodal Anacanths are elongated cycloid- 

 scaled fish, more or less compressed and lancet-shaped 

 posteriorly, without ventrals, and having the tip of the 

 tail edged by the vertical fins without a break. 



The genera ure—Afachoirium, Ophidium, Gijmnelis, Fkrasfer, 

 and Enchetiophis, the last-named being destitute of pectorals as 

 well as ventrals. 



None of these fish are of importance in an eco- 

 nomical point of view, though their transitional char- 

 acters, and the uncertainty of their true aflinities liave 

 directed the attention of systematic ichthyologists 

 towards them. The Bearded Ophidiimi, which is a 

 Gymnelis, and Drummond's Fierasfer, inhabit the 

 British seas. 



Family III.— AMMODYTIDS.— (Plate 2, fig. 10.) 



This family is composed of Sand-launces, which 

 are elongated, scabbard -shaped, apodal fishes, with 

 large lateral gill-openings, cycloid scales, three separate 

 vertical fins, supported by unbranched but jointed rays, 

 and having the anal opposite to the posterior half of 

 the long dorsal. They have neither pyloric coeoa 

 nor a swim-bladder. Ammodijtes is the only genus ; 

 and two species, known on our coasts by the names of 

 Sand-eels, Horn-eels, Sand-launces, and Piggies, bur- 

 row in the moist sands when the tide ebbs, and are 

 raked out by fishermen to serve as bait. 



Family IV.- GADOIDS.— (Plate 6, figs. 29, 30.) 



These Thoracic Anacanths are second in importance 

 to no family of fishes, the fisheries established for their 

 capture yielding a great quantity of nutritive food, ami 

 being the means of training up many thousands of 

 able and hardy seamen. The members of the family 

 are more or less elongated, generally with tumid 

 bellies. The ventrals are subbrachial or jugular, have 

 seldom ranch spread, and are sometimes mere fila- 

 ments; the dorsals are one, two, or three in number, all 

 anacanthous; the scales are cycloid, small and soft. 

 Card-like or rasp-like patches of teeth cover the 

 jaws, front of the vomer, and occasionally the palatines. 

 The brancliiostegals are seven in number ; the air- 



