152 



51 VLACOPTEnOUS AuDOMIXALS.- 



-FISHES.- 



-IIOHMYKIANS. 



Family XVII.— MORMYRIANS {Mormyrkke). 



These are longish, compressoJ fishes, with slcinler 

 tails, having a slight expansion at the attachment of 

 tlie caudal fin. A thick, soaleless skin envelopes the 

 Itoail, gill-cover, and the six hranohiostogals, leaving 

 merely a slit to serve as a gill-opening on each side. 

 Promaxillaries that coalesce on the mesial line, like 

 those of the Dlodon hound the tipper part of the small 

 mouth, the sides hoing edged hy the maxillaries. The 

 temjioral hones are simpler than those of other fishes, 

 and a peculiar cranial canal conducts to the acoustic 

 lahyrinth. No pseudobranchiai have been found ; the 

 stomach is globular; there are two pyloric caica and a 

 long slender intestine. The air-bladder is simjile. The 

 arterial Imlb has a lateral recess or diverticulum, and 

 I'rofcssor Ilyrtl has found an inner muscular coat cor- 

 responding to the outer ones of the Ganoids. Living 

 among the mud like the Gymnotids, the Mormyiians 

 lesemble them in some parts of their arterial system. 



Tlie genera arc — Moriiujras and Monnijvops. 



Tlic species are numerous in the Nile, Senegal, and 

 Congo, and several were objects of worship by the 

 ancient Egyptians. They are timid, nocturnal fishes, 

 extremely diEBcult to catch, but being of, high value, 

 llie fishermen pursue them assiduously and bring a few 

 to the markets of Cairo. They are taken with lines, 

 furnished with many hooks baited with worms. The 

 Mormyrus anguillaris is carnivorous, but the other 

 species are more or less exclusively phytophagous, 

 which accounts for the small success of fishermen using 

 the hook and line. 



The most noted of the fish held to be sacred by 

 the ancient Egyptians were the Oxyrhinclms, P/iayrus, 

 and Lepidotus. The two latter have been noticed in 

 page 149, under the generic names of Ciiharinus and 

 Hydnicyun, and their dentition corresponds to the 

 reputation they have obtained as devourers of a part 

 of Osiris ; but the slender tubular faces of the Mor- 

 niyrians show that they scarcely could deserve to be 

 raidved with tlio bloodthirsty Characinoids. The Mor- 

 myrus oxyrhinclms, however, is considered to be one 

 of the fislies placed under tlie ban of the priests of 

 Osiris. It is well represented by a small bronze 

 figure that was brought from Egypt by Mr. Salt, 

 and is now preserved in the museum of the Louvre. 

 A cut of it is also given in Sir Gardner Wilkinson's 

 " Ancient Egypt." * We are there told that the 

 Oxyrhinehus is very commonly reiircsentcd in the 

 paintings of Thebes, Beni-IIassan, atid Memphis, and 

 tliat it was the object of special worship in the city and 

 nome of Oxyrhinehus. The citizens of that city were 

 so scrupulous lliat they would cat of no fish taken with 

 a hook, fearing that the hook miglit at some time have 

 been employed in the capture of the object of their 

 worship ; and when a net was used the draught was 

 carefully scrutinized, and should a single Oxyrhinehus 

 be found among the fishes taken, the whole wore 

 returned into th.e river. Plutarch relates that the 



See Series ii. i>age 250. 



Cynopolites having insulted the 0.\yrhinchiaus by 

 eating of their sacred fish, the latter in revenge 

 killed and consumed tho lioly dogs of the Cynopolites, 

 and thus a religious war ensued between the com- 

 munities. 



Family XVIIL— IIEEEING-PIKES {Chqxsocida) . 



TIio fish here grouped under this family designation 

 were either associated with the Pikes by M. Valen- 

 ciennes, or considered to be types of other small sections. 

 Muller at one time thought that he had found a dis- 

 tinctive character between them and the true Clupeoids 

 in the absence of pseudobranchix ; but having afterwards 

 discovered these organs in the Odoutognath, a close 

 ally of Notopterus, he was led to restore the group to a 

 place among the Clupeoiils. We have thought it expe- 

 dient, however, to retain the Odoutognath with its 

 strongly serrated belly among the Chi|ieoids, and to 

 distinguish the Herring-pikes as a family, by the want 

 of ventral serratures, the absence of an adipose fin, and 

 of pseudobranohiw. Their upper jaws are formed 

 laterally by the maxillaries ; a few of them have a 

 simple swim-bladiler ; in some one or two pyloric ca::ca 

 are present, while in others these appendages are 

 wholly absent. 



Tlie genera are — Stomins; Micyusloma; Chlrocerdnts ; Xuto- 

 iHerus'j ArajxiivM or Sudis ; JJd&rotls ; and UiUirinus, 



These genera are interesting to ichthj'ologists from 

 peculiarities of structure. The Biitirins arc known in 

 the West Indies by the names of Banana-fish, Ten- 

 pounders, and Kakamby ; and on the Gold Coast of 

 Western Africa by that of Kiokio. In Tahiti their 

 appellation is Mohc'c. 



Sudis, Vastrcs, or Arapaima, is a genus of tishes 

 remarkable for their bulk of body and for the size and 

 strength of their scales. One species discovered by Sir 

 Ilobert Schomburgh is appropriately named the Giant 

 Sudis, and has a skeleton surpassing that of most other 

 fishes in the strength and firmness of its bones. Its 

 scales are almost bonj', and aro sculi)turcd on the discs 

 in dendritic and mosaic patterns ; tho thinly-covered 

 bones of the skull also presenting similar appearances. 

 These fish abound in Guiana and South America, and 

 other species inbabit the Senegal and Niger. Skeletons 

 preserved in our museums measure from throe to five 

 feet in length, and the hyoid-bone, which is used as a 

 file by the natives of the countries where the genus 

 exists, is often brought to Europe as a curiosity. The 

 hyoid-bones from the Amazon are named Lingua dc 

 Paes, and those from the Rio Negra de Para are called 

 Kuarc. As some of these bones belong to species not 

 yet described, the attention of travellers should be 

 turned to finding and preparing the fish which produce 

 them. Caste.lneau says tliat the fishermen of South 

 America often mentioned the singular aQ'ection of the 

 female Piraruca (Sudis) for its progeny. It defends its 

 eggs with vigour against tho male fish, which seeks to 

 devour them, and affords shelter in its mouth to the 

 young fish when they are in danger. The fishermen 

 ascribe tho same habits to the large Siluroids. 



