LOPHOBKANCHS.- 



-riSHES.- 



-Syngnatiiids. 



15V 



itsolf to stones in rapid currents, and so muintain its 

 lilace. 



A smart galvanic sliock can be given by the small 

 scalelesa Malapteruri which inhabit tho rivers of 

 Northern Africa. By a correct analogy, the Arabs 

 term these fishes Raad or Tliuiider. Dr. Barlho men- 

 tions isheiwa as the native name of the Malapternrus 

 on the Niger. 



Tlio Clarias anguiUaris, known in Egypt by the 

 name of Karmoot or Ilarmoutli, is supposed to have 

 been anciently called Alahes or Latus, and to have 

 been an object of worship in Latopolis, now Esneh. 



The Cascadura of Trinidad {Hoplosternum) is very 

 highly esteemed as an article of food, and it is probable 

 that Siluroids arc among tho fishes used in making 

 the strong-smelling huni, used in Central Africa as an 

 indispensable medium of exchange. 



Family II.— GONIODONTS (Goniodontidw). 

 Plate 5, fig. 24. 



The members of this family, called by some LOEl- 

 CAKINI, were formerly included among tho Glaiiidians, 

 but they differ in possessing pseudobranchi;e, and in 

 being destitute of a ccccal dilatation of tho stomach. 

 A coat of mail, formed of hard angular plates, encases 



their head and body ; tho mouth, situated under the 

 snout, has a ventral aspect, and is bordered anteriorly 

 by the maxillarics and premaxillaries ; both these 

 bones and the mandible are set with long flexible teeth, 

 and a broad fold of skin sin-rounds the orifice of the 

 mouth ; the branchiostegals are four in number, and 

 the gill-cover is generally immovable ; the first ray of 

 the dorsal and the pectorals, and sometimes of the 

 ventrals, is bony and spiniferous; some have an adipose 

 second dorsal headed by a bou}' ray. 



As in the Glanidians, the absent stylo-coracoid is 

 replaced by a process of the coracoid, and tho heart 

 is lodged in a bony capside of the last-named bono. 

 Both families arc destitute of pancreatic ca:ca, but the 

 Goniodonts want also the air-bladder. Much phos- 

 phate of lime exists in the dermal plates, which contain 

 bone corpuscles, like the plates and sjiines of the Gla- 

 nidians. A link between the two families exists in the 

 Sisor rhahdophorus, whose skin is naked, and mouth 

 toothless. 



The genera are — Loncaria; Hcmiodon (Kner); Acest?-a 

 (id.); Pterij(jopUchthus (Gill); lihiuetcjns ; AcanihlaS] and 

 Byposlomus^ all South American. 



Like the Synodonts of the Nile, many of these fishes 

 have tho habit of swimming on their backs. 



Ordkr VII. — lop no bean C IIS. 



Plate 14, fig. 69, 70. 



The Lophobrancbs Lave an osseous internal skeleton 

 and a very complete dermal one, which incloses them 

 like jointed armour, giving them a stiff and curious 

 aspect. No bony corpuscles enter into tlie composition 

 of the bones. Their jaws are complete and free, but 

 tho ultimate position of their gills, instead of being 

 disposed like the teeth of a comb in single or double 

 rows, is in small tufts, clustered in pairs on the 

 Iiranchial arches. The gill-opening is small, and 

 there is no air-duct to tho swim-bladder. Very 

 little flesh exists on the mailed body, whose armour 

 is formed of rings that allow a certain degree of 

 flexibility. The fins are in general small. In most, 

 the male carries the eggs during the process of incuba- 

 tion. The number of fins varies in different groups. 

 In all the face is elongated into a tube or snout formed 

 of the nasal, vomer, tympanals, preopercula, and sub- 

 opcrcula, the nasal being a short compressed plate. 



Family I.— SOLENOSTOMES {Solenostomidce). 



In these the orifice of tho mouth is at tho extre- 

 mity of a long, compressed, leaf-like snout, and wdien 

 tlie gill-plate is raised, the whole gills are exposed. 

 The family is represented by a single species (Solcnos- 

 tomus paradoxus) of great interest to ichthyologists 

 from its singular form and roseate colour, with black 

 ornaraonta. 



Family II.— PEGASIDES {ricjasida). 

 Plate 14, fig. G9. 



In these fishes the breast is greatly expanded, so that 

 its breadth much exceeds its height ; the gill-opening 

 is lateral, and the operculum flat and depressed to the 

 level of the belly ; the mouth is on the ventral aspect, 

 at the base of the bill, like that of a sturgeon; the 

 body is encased in rings, which have oacli three knolis 

 or spines, tho breast-ring being very broad, bispinous, 

 and extended between the gill-covers ; the tail is flat- 

 tish, quadrangular, and spiniferous ; nine or ten firm 

 spine-lilce rays support each pectoral fin ; the ventrals 

 are biradiate and filamentous ; the caudal is ten-rayed, 

 and tho dorsal and anal occupy from two to four rings. 

 There is but a single genus in the fiimily [Pegasus) of 

 three species. 



Family III.— SYNGNATHIDS (SyngnatMdw). 



These fishes have an elongated form, with a single 

 dorsal placed nearly above the vent, and a small roiuid 

 gill-opening high up. The pectorals are present in 

 some, and absent in others ; and the anal, which is in 

 no case large, is wholly wanting in some. Most havo 

 egg-pouches that vary in position with tlie genus, two 

 genera only being without pouches. Some have pre- 



