CTliSOID AcANTIIOrTEllES.- 



-FISHES.- 



-SCI.ENOIDS. 



125 



Family VII.— SCI^NOIDS {^Scimtimdcc). 

 Plate 7, fig. 39. 



In this group the bones of the head abound in muci- 

 ferous cells and excavations, the jaws have but little 

 protractility, and there are no teeth on the vomer or 

 palatines, in which respect they diU'er from the typical 

 I'ercoids. Tho dorsals are two in number, or one 

 only; and the anal spines are few, and generally slender 

 and feeble. Seven branchiostegals support the bran- 

 chiostegous membrane on each side, the operculum is 

 spiniferous or denticulated, and the prooperculum is 

 variously armed in the various genera ; but the cheeks 

 are not cuirassed by the second suborbitar, as in the 

 Sclerogenids. Slost frequently the scales are ctenoid ; 

 but tliey are often thin, tender, and nacry, and are 

 arranged obliquely and peculiarly. In many the 

 swim-bladder is curiously fringed or lobed, and fishes 

 so provided are noted for emitting strange grunting 

 noises. 



The genera are — Sclttim ; Sci(Enoi(k^ (Blyth) ; CoUtchthys 

 (Giintlier); Otolithus; Aiici/lodon; Corvina; Johjiius; Leioslotmt^; 

 Larbmis; Ncbris; Lepiptcrus or Pachijurus (Ag.assiz); Boridia; 

 Conndijn; Eqves; Urnhrina; Loncfiurtis ; PoffOnias; Micro- 

 pogou; UcEimdon; Frtsfijioma; I)iat/ramma ; Pristipomo/des 

 (Bleeker); Cheilutrema (Scluidi); Uapalogenys (Kichardson) ; 

 Anijpcrodon (Giintlier)-, IlyperoyJyphe (Guuther). 



The term Sciccna is from a Greek word signifying a 

 cloud, and has reference to a great Mediterranean 

 species which appears in the water like a cloud. This 

 is the Sciccna aquila (fig. 39) of modern ichthyologists, 

 whose range extends to our coasts, where it is known 

 by the name of Maigre, borrowed from the French 

 fishermen. Its weight occasionally exceeds forty 

 poiuids, and its length six feet. From its size it is 

 necessarily sold in slices, and its flesh, although dry, is 

 considered to be good and wliolesome. Formerly the 

 head was reckoned a handsome gift; and in the fifteenth 

 and sixteenth centuries it was the custom to offer it as 

 a valuable perquisite to the three conservators of the 

 city of Home. Bishop Paul Jovius, who published a 

 work on fishes in the year 1531, relates a story of a 

 noted parasite named Tamisio, who flourished in the 

 year 1480. This gourmand, being wont to station his 

 servant in the fish-market to bring him intelligence of 

 the destination of the finest fisli, learnt from him that 

 a Maigre of unusual size had been brought in. Tamisio 

 instantly hurried to wait on the conservators, in expec- 

 tation of an invitation to dinner; but as lie ascended 

 the steps of the capitol, he met the head, adorned 

 with flowers, and borne, by order of the conservators, 

 as an offering to Cardinal Eiario, nephew of Pope 

 Sixtus IV. Tamisio, being W'ell acquainted with this 

 prelate, gladly joined the procession ; but Kiario, 

 delighting in a play of words, said that the head of the 

 greatest of fislies should go by right to tho greatest of 

 cardinals, and sent it accordingly to Cardinal St. 

 Sevorin, who was of extraordinary bulk. St. Severin, 

 in his turn, despatched it in a golden dish to the 

 wealthy banker Chigi, to whom he owed money. This 

 time Tamisio, in his eager pursuit, had to traverse the 



whole city and to cross the Tiber in his way to tho 

 Farnesian palace which Chigi had built. Chigi, how- 

 ever, did not retain the much-prized head, but aftei 

 replacing the faded garlands by newly-gathered 

 flowers, sent it to his mistress, whose abode lay a 

 good way off There at length Tamisio, who, though 

 fat and unwieldy, had tracked the object of his desires, 

 under a hot sun, over the whole city, was at length 

 permitted to partake of the luxury he had endured so 

 much toil to obtain. 



The name of Corvo (or Ciow), given to one genus 

 of ScicCnoids by the Italians, has reference probably to 

 the croaking noise these fish at times produce. One 

 species, probably for the same reason, is called El ron- 

 cador in central America. Some people attribute tlic 

 sound of a bell, which occasionally issues from the 

 depths of the Mediterranean sea, to the Corvo ; otheis 

 think that these curious sounds are produced by shelly 

 molluscs. On the coasts of the United States of 

 America certain species are called " Drums," and in 

 the autumn a loud drumming noise, which seems to 

 come from the bottom of a ship, and is accompanied 

 with some degree of tremor, is said by the fishermen 

 to be caused by the Drums. At that season the tails 

 of the Drums are infested by long thread-like worms 

 {Filaria), and it may be that the fislies find relief by 

 beating their tails on the bottoms of the ships. Tlie 

 author of these pages has been prevented from sleeping 

 by like sounds when on board a ship at anchor on 

 the coast of Carolina. The fact had long before been 

 mentioned by Schoepff in the Berlin Transactions. 



Lieutenant John White mentions in the narrative 

 of his voyage to China, published in 1824, that when 

 his ship was anchored in the mouth of the river Cani- 

 boya, the crow were amazed at the strange sounds that 

 rose from the water, resembling the base of an organ, 

 mingled with the tones of a bell, the croaking of an 

 enormous frog, and the clang of an immense harp. 

 These sounds swelled into a general chorus on botli 

 sides of the ship, and were attributed by the interpreter 

 to a scull of fish. 



Baron Humboldt mentions a similar occurrence 

 which he witnessed in the South Sea. About seven 

 o'clock in the evening the sailors were terrified by an 

 extraordinary noise in the air, like the beating of tam- 

 bourines, followed by sounds which seemed to come 

 fi'om the ship, and resembling the escape of air from 

 boiling liquid. It ceased at nine o'clock. It was 

 judged to proceed from a scull of Sci;eiioides.* 



The Uinbriiia vulgaris is a rare visitor of the British 

 seas. Many members of tho family are in request for 

 the table in Asia and America. The Bulapama 

 [Scicrna) is the whiting of the Calcutta fish-maikct. 

 Ololithi and Juhnii are also fished in the Indian sens 

 for the isinglass made of their air-bladders. The 

 highest price in the market is got for the isinglass of 

 the Salainpai {Otolithus bi-anritiis). The King-fish, 

 Weak-fish, or Scuppey [Ololittina) are well known in 

 the New York markets, and a West Indian King fish 

 is dreaded for the severity of its bite. lie can strip tho 

 flesh from the arm of a fisherman. 



• Hist, dc Pois., vol. 198. 



