130 



ClESOIU ACjLNTHOPTEKES.- 



-FISHES.- 



-Mdoiloids. 



Family XV.— JIUGILOIDS {Mugilidm). 

 Plate 9, fig. 48. 



This family approaches the last in having also a 

 greater development of the phaiyngeals than other 

 fishes. The Mugiloida have cylindrical bodies with 

 broad backs and two widely-separated dorsals, of 

 which the first is supported by four stiff acute spines 

 and no more. The vciitrals are situated generally 

 on the abdomen. The large scales are extended 

 with little diminution of size to the head, aa in the 

 genus Oplncrphalus of the preceding family. The 

 small masillaries are mostly concealed by a thick 

 prcmaxillary lip that presses against the peculiarly- 

 serrated preorbitar when the mouth is shut ; man- 

 dible shelving, with a small cutaneous tubercle at the 

 .sjniphysis that fits into a notch between the pre- 

 njaxillavics ; teeth when present so slender as to be 

 almost invisible, and they pass through the substance 

 of the lip. The pharyngeals are so large that they 

 nearly fill up the gullet, and allow only soft and thin 

 matters to pass. The branehiostegals number four, 

 five or six, and the stomach is usually thick, like a 

 gizzard, with a muscular ascending branch ; in Nostis, 

 liowever, the stomach is membranous. The pancre- 

 atic c£cca are few, being mostly two, and not exceed- 

 ing four. 



Four gonora have DCcr. cLaracterizcd — Mufjil ; Ccstrcr^us ; 

 Vajaus , and Nestls, 



The British species arc the Grey Mullet or liamado 

 (JSIur/il capito) ; the Thick-lipped Mullet or Scioi-ino 

 {Mitf/il ehclo) ; and tlio Short Mullet {Mugil curtus). 



JluUets abound in the Mediterranean ; and as they 

 are welcome fish at table, they were well known to the 

 Greeks and Romans. Dy the former they were named 

 Kcslrmus or Muxiiws, whence the Latin Mutjil is sup- 

 posed to have come. Aristotle distinguished several 

 kinds of Mullet by the names of Challuncs, Chclona, 

 Myxon, Kcphalos, of which some traces survive in the 

 Sicilian appellations of these fish as reported by 

 Itafinesque, Calvbnt, Cirrimi, Crfalu, and Cefuhme. 

 They are called also in some parts of Sicily, Mohttu, 

 Lampune, Lusiru, and Ozzone. In Italy their desig- 

 nations arc still more numerous, one Roman name 

 being evidently a combination of two of Aristotle's 

 epithets, viz., Ccfalo mnsino. The Jlullets are quiet, 

 timid fish, that feed in small sculls ; and as they 

 approach closely to steep shores, their habits may 

 be studied in the pellucid waters of the Mediterranean 

 by a cautious observer. The shadow of a passing 

 cloud, however, is sufficient to drive them away into 

 deep water. The fishermen feed them with pounded 

 macaroni or other farinaceous pastes ; and when they 

 have been attracted to a convenient locality, and 

 acquired confidence by several days' undisturbed feed- 

 ing, a very small hook enveloped with paste, and 

 attached to an exceedingly fine line, is dropped noise- 

 lessly into the scull. When the bait is swallowed 

 dexterity is required to withdraw the hooked fish, 

 without alarming the others, yet an experienced fislicr- 

 nuui jiossessing a large share of patience is able to 



collect in a day as many as he can carry, and to gain 

 a comfortable livelihood. Mullets afford sport to tlu 

 angler during flood-tide, with which they enter rivers 

 and rise freely to artificial flies, the gaudier the better. 

 If inclosed in a net, they begin as soon as they dis- 

 cover the snare to throw themselves over the head- 

 line. The ancients supposed that the Mullets were in 

 the habit of feeding on the mucus that exuded from 

 their own bodies. The species are numerous in the 

 rivers and seas of the warmer and temperate regions 

 of both hemispheres. The roes of Mullet, compressed 

 into cakes and dried, are sold in the Mediterranean 

 under the designation of Botargo, 



Family XVI.— TETRAGONURIDS 

 {Tctragonuridic). 



This famil}' is founded on a single known species, 

 the Coiirpata [Tdragonunis Cuvicri) of the Jlediter- 

 rancan, for which Cuvier had much difliculty iu finding 

 a proper station in his ichthyological system. As it 

 has, however, several characters in common with the 

 Mugiloids, he has placed it next that family. This 

 fish has a lengthened, spindle-shaped body, with an 

 obtuse snout. The first dorsal is composed of a series 

 of very short spines, each with its proper membrane 

 falling back into a dorsal gi'oove ; the more elevated 

 and longitudinally abbreviated soft dorsal is opposed 

 to an anal of similar extent and form ; the ventrals 

 are situated a little behind the pectorals, and the 

 caudal, which is separated from the other vertical 

 fins, has a lateral keel on each side of its base, giving 

 a quadrangular form to a section of the tail, wholly 

 due to the distribution of the bundles of muscles. 

 The scales of Tetragonurns are anangcd obliquely, 

 and are grooved with the points of the ridges project- 

 ing beyond the free margin, as in the genus Clianus. 

 There is no armature on the head, but many muci- 

 ferous pores. The peculiarly-shaped mandible is a 

 little shorter than the prcmaxillarics, and the teeth 

 standing on both these bones are unisorial, com- 

 pressed, pointed, and recurved. Teeth exist also on 

 the chevron of the vomer adjoining the corners of the 

 palatines and down the mesial line, in addition to 

 which there are card-like patches on the pharyngeals ; 

 but the tongue is smooth. The stomach depends 

 below the pylorus in form of a long narrow bag, and 

 there is a valve in the interior of the lower intes- 

 tine and round part of the anal orifice. Numerous 

 pyloric cffica enter the ascending branch of the stomach, 

 and the adjoining part of the small intestine. There is 

 no swim-bladder. Mittenheim examined this some- 

 what anomalous fish at Messina, and came to the 

 conclusion that the genus does not e ter the Mugiloid 

 family, nor ia it a ganoid, as some have supposed, 

 since it has neither tlic heart proper to that order nor 

 a heteroccreal caudal. Fiu'tber examination of the 

 brain is needed, he says, to determine il8 real affinities. 



Family XVII.— ATIIERINIDANS (Athcrimvchx). 



This group consists of the genus Atliciina, or Sand- 

 smelt, and the similar one oi Atherinopsis (Girard). Tlie 



