
ial 
exceeds four or five pounds in weight, but is much 
esteemed for the table. 
Plate XV. fig. e. Luctoperca Sandra, the Pike 
Perch, is a much larger fish, measuring three or four 
feet in length, which is common in the rivers and 
lakes of Eastern Europe, where it prefers clear water 
with a sandy bottom. Its head resembles that of a 
pike. There are 22 rays in the hinder dorsal fin, 
while the common perch has only 106. 
Plate XV. fig. f. Acerina cernua, the Ruffe, is 
a small fish about six or eight inches long, fonnd in 
rivers and lakes with a sandy bottom. It has a 
large head, a slimy body, and the undivided dorsal 
fin is only spiny in front. 
Plate XV. fig. g. Mullus barbatus, the Red 
Mullet, is a beautiful fish. The variety figured, 
which is scarce in England, is of a red colour, with 
yellow stripés and fins. Its flesh is very delicate, 
and it was highly prized in Roman times, when it 
was almost worth its weight in gold. The first 
dorsal fin is spiny, the scales are easily removed, | 
and there are two long filaments beneath the lower | 
jaw. It is common ir 

Plate XIV. fig. c. Echinets naucrates, the 
Sucking Fish, is about two or three feet long, and 
has a peculiar sucking apparatus on its head, con- 
sisting of 24 dentated bony transverse plates on the 
head and front of the body, formed of the modified 
dorsal fin. By this it can attach itself firmly to 
other fish, or to vessels, and thus travel from place 
to place. It is found in the Indian and Atlantic 
Oceans, and a smaller species (Eehinets remora) in 
the British seas, as well as in the Mediterranean. 
Plate XV. fig. a. Zeus faber, the John Dory, 
differs from the mackerels in its short and laterally- 
compressed body. The back is dark-coloured and 
the sides gilded, and marked with a conspicuous 
grey spot. The spines of the dorsal fin are pro- 
duced into long filaments, and the mouth is tube- 
like and extensile. It is not an uncommon sea-fish, 
and is highly esteemed. It grows to the length of 
eighteen inches. 
Family VI. Labyrinthida. Here we find the 
pharyngeal bones modified into a series of bony 
lamellae which serve as water-reservoirs, and conse- 
quently the fish are 
oO 
5 


theEuropean seas, grow- 
ing to the 
length of 
about 18 inches, and 













enabled to exist™for a 
long time out of water. 
Plate XIV. fig. h. 






varying much in colour. 
Plate XIII. fig. a. 















Anabas scandens, the 
Climbing Perch, is com- 




mon in the East Indies, 







Uranoscopus scaber, the 
Star-gazer, is a curious 
fish rather less than a 
foot long, which is found 
in the Mediterranean. 
The head is flat, the 





















































where it grows to the 
length of about 6 inches. 
It is said to climb trees 
by means of the spines 
on the ventral fins and 


eyes quite on its summit, 
and the muzzle runs 
on the giitcovers. 
Family VIL. Xiphiida. 

The Sword-fishes are 






obliquely upwards. The 
small spiny dorsal fins, 
and the position of the 
ventral fin, which is 




large fish, which are 
chiefly met with in the 
tropical seas, where they 






placed just under the 
throat, are also. re- 
markable. 
Family IV. Mugil- 
ida. The Grey Mullets 
have a large head, large 
scales over the gill-covers 
and the whole body, 
and a small spiny front 


pursue and impale other 
fish with the long sword- 
like upper jaw. There 
is a large spiny dorsal 
fin, the ventral fins, 
when present, are sword- 
like, and the tailfin is 
strongly concave. 
Plate XII. fig. 1. 







dorsal fin, placed far 
from the hinder one, 
which is not spiny. They are sea-fish. 
Plate XV. fig. i. Muzgil cephalus is a species 
about a foot long, which does not extend very far 
north. It is fond of entering the mouths of rivers. 
Family V. Scombride. The Mackerels are 
carnivorous marine fishes, variable in form, but usu- 
ally with smooth bodies, and a spiny dorsal fin, 
behind which the hinder fin, which is often soft, 
runs to the tail. 
Plate XIV. fig. e. Scomber scomber, the Mackerel, 
resembles a herring in shape, but is much larger, 
and is one of the worst foes of the latter fish. It 
is met with on the coasts of Europe inimmense shoals. | 
Plate XIV. fig. f. Zhynnus thynnus, the Tunny, 
is the largest fish of this family, attaining a length of | 
from four to eight feet, and weighing several hundred | 
pounds. The back is steel-blue, the sides silvery, 
and the ventral fins yellowish. It is found in other 
European seas, but is most abundant in the Medi- 
terranean, 
Stickleback 





Aiphias gladius, is com- 
mon in the Mediter- 
ranean, where it is captured with harpoons, and eaten. 
It grows to the length of 11 or 12 feet, and the 
sword is 3 or 4 feet long. It is met with in the 
Atlantic Ocean, but less commonly than in the Me- 
diterranean. 
Family VII. Triglida. This family includes 
fishes remarkable for the mail-clad head. 
Plate XIV. fig. d. Scorpena scorpio, the Red 
Scorpion-fish has a _ strangely-shaped head with 
jagged appendages, there is only one dorsal fin, and 
the ventral fin is placed below the large pectoral fins. 
It is found in the European seas, and rarely exceeds 
and nest, 
eighteen inches in length. 
Plate XIV. fig. g. Gasterosteus aculeatus, the 
Stickleback, is a voracious little fish, about two 
inches long, which abounds in rivers and streams. 
Its whole body is clothed in mail, and it has three 
spines in front of the dorsal fin, and another on the 
belly. It is one of the few fish which are known to 
protect their young. The male makes a nest amon 
