SlLUROIDS.- 



-FISHES.- 



-Glanidlans. 



155 



coid. There are no pancreatic caeca. There is some- 

 times only one dorsal, bnt more commonly two ; the 

 second being adipose, or in a few species only supported 

 in front liy a bony ray; the caudal is forked, crescentic, 

 or rouniiad at the end. lu almost all cases the first 

 pectoral is a strong, bony serrated ray, which is sus- 

 tained by a stout scapulo-coracoid arch ; and a similar 

 strong ray often stands in front of the dorsal, and is not 

 iinfrequently furnished witli a trigger-like apparatus 

 lor fixing and releasing it at the pleasure of the fish. 

 Fossil bones of tliis kind arc abundant in some strata, 

 and are known by the name of Ichthyodorulites. When 

 the air-bladder is present, it is furnished with a pneu- 

 matic tube ; hence those who consider the Siluroids to 

 be merely a family group, place it among tlie Physos- 

 tomi of Mtiller. 



Family I.— GLANIDIANS (Siluridm). 

 Plate 4, figs. 22, 23. 



To avoid using the same designation for the family 

 that Agassiz has applied to the order, we have bor- 

 rowed an epithet from Aristotle. The Glanidians are 

 a very large family, and resemble the Malacoptcres 

 and also the Ganoids, in havitig a pneumatic tube to 

 the air-bladder. Their skins are either naked, oi 

 encased in the expanded plates of the lateral line ; the 

 mouth is bordered above by the premaxillaries, the 

 maxillaries being reduced to mere vestiges, or elongated 

 into soft, flexible barbels : all iiave barbels either at 

 the nostrils, or on the borders of the mouth. The 

 swim-bladder is connected to the acoustic organs by 



Tangsa (Clarias pulicaris> 



chains of ossicles ; tlie cavity of the cranium is closed 

 laterally, as in the Cyprinoids; and the posterior bones 

 (if the skull are generally prolonged to furnish sutures 

 with the first vertebral spines. The stomach has a 

 sac-like protuberance below the pylorus ; and the 

 branchiosiegals vary in number from nine to eighteen. 



Tlic gener.i are — Sihivus; Giants (Agassiz); Schildcs; Ce- 

 /'■psis ; Bajrus ; Cephalocassis (Bleeker) ; Gargnta (id.) ; Hara 

 ( Blyth) ; Platystojna ; Galelchihys ; Pangasins ; SilundUi ; 

 'S'feWes (ftliill. nnd Trosch.) ; Ariodes (id.); Eutropivs (\di.^ \ 

 ftsteogeneiosus (Bleckcr); Arius; Asterophysiis(yi'ncr)'y 

 J!ittrachocij)hahis (Blocker) ; Clarotes (Kner) ; Pime- 

 hdus ; llcmipbttchdiis (Blyth); Ptmelonotus (Gill); 

 Sgneckoglanis fid.); Aniblgceps; Rita (Bleeker); Baga- 

 rhts (id.); Euanemus (Miill. und Trosch.); Erethisies 

 (id.); Auchenipterits; Ketengus (Blocker); CaUophgstis 

 (lliill. und Tr.) ; Centromocklus (Kncr) ; Trachy- 

 lopfertts ; Ihipopthahniis ; Ageneiosus ; Glypfostemon 

 (Blyth); Glyptuthorax (id.); Pseudecheneis (id.); 

 Axos<07?ia (id. ) ; Synodontis; Doras; Callichlhys; IIop- 

 lt>s(er7ium{Q\\l); Hoplosmna (Swams.}; Ai-ges; Brontes; ^^, _ 

 Astroblepm; CUirias; Uttcrobranchus; Saccobranchus ; 

 PIolosus ; Tryckomycterus ; Stegoj>kilus (lihemhaviit); 

 Pareiodon{KtKr'); Bunocephabis (id.); Aspredo; Chaca; 

 tilsor ; Mulaptcrurus ; A ilia; Ereinophiltis. 



The Rita represented by the woodcut is very 

 strongly mailed, and is a fish of a disagreeable 

 aspect, common in the mouths of the Ganges, 

 but few of the natives venture to eat it. It 

 grows to the length of four feet. 



The Sheat-fish {Silurus (jlanis) is considered to be 

 the largest of European fresh-water fishes. Pliny 

 describes it as second in size to the marine Tunny 



alone, as devouring all animals that it meets with, and 

 as frequently drowning horses that attempt to swim 

 across the rivers that it inhabits. The " Histoiro des 

 Poissons" mentions that in modern times one was taken 

 in the Bug which measured sixteen feet in length ; and, 

 quotes Grossinger, who relates that, on the confines of 

 Turkey, a poor fisherman captured one of those omni- 

 vorous fishes which had in its stomach the entire corpse 

 of a woman, with a ring and a purse filled with money ! 

 Sibbald roenl''<>'\s tlie Sheat-fish in his list of Scottish 



Fig. 42. 



Tlie Rita (Alius lita). 



fishes, but gives no details, and no other ichthyologisi 

 has seen a British example. 



The Glanis of the ancient Greeks, which inhabits 

 the river Achelous in Acarnania, and at this day bears 



