i:4 



Malacoi'terous Abdominals.- 



-FISHES.- 



-Ac-VNTaopsiDEg 



small bones ; the second air-obamber communicatea 

 with the gullet by a long tube. 



The Cyprinoi J genera are divided by Heckel into three tribes : — 



1st. The TnicK-LipPERS {rndiychUi) — Ci/i>r'mus ; Osleo- 

 hrama; Carjno ; Carassitis; Tinea; Barhus; Gubio; Aviopi/ge; 

 Jihodius (Agassiz) ; Ahramis ; Blicca ; BUccopsU ; Pelecus ; 

 Alburnus; Aspius (Agassiz); Leucasjnus; Idtis; Scardinius ; 

 Leucos ; Leucisciis ; Sr/nalius ; Telestes; Bhox'tTius ; and 

 Pkoxindlus. Tliese are European genera, some of which embrace 

 also Asiatic species, and a purely Asiatic genus, Epidzeorhyn- 

 chiis ot Blecker, is to be added to them. 



2nd. Prone-mouther-S (Ccttastovii), having thick, papillose, 

 or furrowed lips ; and incorporated with the pliaryngeal bone a 

 crescentic series of pharyngeal teeth, whose crowns adapted for 

 grinding are compressed yet broader than their stems — Caia- 

 .•'fomus ; Moxosttmui; Ci/cleptus ; rtijchostoiri'S ; Uylomyzon ; 

 RhimcJithys ; Carpioides ; Ichthijobvs ; Crossocheilos (Bleeker); 

 Lobocheilos (id.) ; and BubaUchthys (id.). These are American 

 genera, including comparatively very few Em'opean or Asiatic 

 lepresentatives. 



3rd. CuTTiNO-LIPrERS (C/(on[?)'os(omi), in which the mandi- 

 ble is sheathed by an almost cartilaginous lip, whose edge is 

 tliin and incisorial. They are numerous in Asia, and perhaps 

 still more so in America, but Europe nourishes only one repre- 

 .sentative of the group — Choudrostoma; AcrocheUus ; Exnt/los- 

 t^uiti ; Cinnpylostoma ; Pimepkales ; Ilyloborhynchus ; Tlyhibo- 

 ynnt/ms ; Ptychocheilus ; Mylochtilus; Aspidoparia ; and C(Ula. 



Many genera of Asiatic Cyprinoids proposed by Dr. M'Clelland 

 and others, require to be more fully described before their correct 

 jjosition can be ascertained. Such are — Pelecus; 3/o/a (Ulyth) ; 

 OreiKMS (M'Clelland); Syst/miys (lA.^ ; Pei-ihjnjms (id.) ; Opsa- 

 rius (id.) ; Capue/a (id.) ; Nurla (id.) ; D.mfjila (Valenciennes); 

 Chela; Bengala; Potia; Cin'hinus; Pdlorliynchus; Schisothornx; 

 Pacoma ; Devario (Heckel) ; Schlsojyyye (Bleeker) ; Labia ; 

 Pohlta ; Pylnymdhus (Heckel) ; Discoynatkus (id.) ; Cyvcne. 

 (id.) ; and Plutijcara (M'Clelland). L(dAo and the four fol- 

 lowing genera form the group called Pcniuii'liittr by Heckel. 



The Cyprinoids are, more e.xcliisively than almost 

 any other largo family, fresh-water fishes, though some 

 species descend the rivers into the brackisli waters of 

 estuaries or iidand seas. Most of them floin-ish and 

 multiply in ponds. Tlieir cultivation has been much 

 attended to in China, whose teeming populations derive 

 great quantities of food from this family of fishes. 



In America the Catastomi, or Sucking-carps, are 

 most abundant, and yield wholesome supplies to the 

 natives all the year round, up to the northern extremity 

 of the continent. 



The British species are — The Common Carp 

 {Cijprinus carpio) \ the Crucian Carp {Carassius lin- 

 iicci) ; the Prussian Carp (C. gibelio) ; the Gold Carp 

 (C. auratus) ; the Barbel {Barhus fliwiatilis) ; the 

 Gudgeon [Gobio jbwiaiilis) ; the Tencli {Tinea vul- 

 garis) ; the Bream {Ahramis hrama) ; the Bream -flat 

 {Blicca argyrolcuca) ; the Pomeranian Bream {Blic- 



copsis hugfjenhagii) ; the Rudd {Scardinius erytltroph- 

 talrnus) ; the Azurine {Sc. ccerulcus) ; the Ido {Idus 

 idbarus) ; the Clmb {Id. mclanotus) ; the Dobule {Squa- 

 lius dobula) ; the Dace {Sq. lettciscus) ; the Graining 

 {Sq. lancastriensis) ; the Uoach {Leuciscus ruiilus) ; 

 the Bleak {Alburnus lucidus) ; the Minnow {Phoximts 

 lievis) . 



Cuvier remarks tliat the name of the Carp, though 

 mentioned by Aristotle and Pliny, does not occur in 

 Ausonius, and thence infers that at tlie end of the fourth 

 century, when the Bordeaux poet wrote, the Carp, which 

 came from the East, had not reached tho Moselle. It 

 is not included in the ample list of fish served up at 

 the feast held in 14G(j at the entlironization of the Arch- 

 bishop of York ; but fifteen years later the prioress of 

 St. Alban's, Dame Jidiana Berners, in her " Boko of St. 

 Alban's," printed in 1481, calls it " a deyntous fisshe." 

 This passage was doubtless unknown to Leonard Mas- 

 call, who claims to have introduced Carp and Pippins 

 into England in the year IGOO. The suppression of 

 the monasteries had probably caused the Carp ponds 

 to be neglected. 



Family XXII.— ACANTIIOPSIDES {Acanthopisida). 

 Plate 4, fig. 21. 



Fishes of this small family have generally a fusiform 

 bod}', with thickish tails and a small head, covered 

 with smooth skin as far back as the gill-openings. Tlic 

 preorbital scalo-bone, and frequently tho bony opercu- 

 lum, emit one or more spines, in which respect they 

 differ from the Cyprinoids. Suctorial lips and barbels 

 surround the orifice of the small toothless mouth. A 

 short dorsal, destitute of bony rays, stands over the 

 ventrals. Small scales clothe the body; tho gill-open- 

 ings are sliort vertical slits; and the branchiostegals are 

 three in number. No pseudobranohia; are developed. 

 A globular bony cell, constructed in processes of tho 

 large anterior vertebra, receives the swim-bladder, from 

 whence chains of bones extend towards the acoustic 

 organs. 



The genera are — Cobltls; Botla; Acanthopsls; Ajmn (Blyth); 

 Prostheacantkiis (Blyth); Punylo (id.); Syncrosstis (id.); 

 Schlstura (M'Clelland); Ifonioloptcra (Kuhl et Van Hassclt); 

 and Bulitora (Gray). 



This last form is depressed, is furnished witli largo 

 spreading ventrals and pectorals, and has no air-blad- 

 der. The Loacli or Beardie {Cuhitis) and the Ground- 

 ling {Acantliopsiii) are Britisli representatives of these 

 genera. 



Order VI.— SILUKOI DS. 



Fishes of tliis order have either a smootli naked skin 

 ur a lateral line protected by keeled scales, which are 

 sometimes so expanded as to encase the whole body, 

 each side being protected by one row above, and 

 another below the lateral line. In the second family 

 of the order tlie scales are disposed in more numerous 



rows. The cranial and Iiumeral bones often appear on 

 the surface, forming with some of the interspinous 

 bones shields of various forms ; and the skeletons dilTcr 

 considerably from those of the common osseous fishes. 

 The sub-operculum is wanting, and the epicoracoid is 

 reduced to the condition of a mere process of the cora- 



