196 PISCES. 



in the fore-part of the cranium, formed by the prolongation 

 of the sethmoid, vomer, preopercula, interopercula, pterygoi- 

 dals and tympanals, and at the extremity of which is the 

 mouth, composed as usual of the intermaxillaries, maxillaries, 

 and the palatine and mandibulary bones. Their intestine has 

 neither great inequalities nor many folds, and their ribs are 

 short or wanting. 



Some of them, the Fistularise, have a cylindrical body ; in 

 others, the Centrisci, it is oval and compressed. 



FiSTULARIA, Lin. 



The name of these fishes, in particular, is derived from the tube 

 common to the whole family. The jaws are at its extremity, slightly 

 cleft in a nearly horizontal direction. This head, thus elongated, 

 constitutes the third or fourth of the total length of the body, which 

 is itself long and thin. There are six or seven rays in the branchiae, 

 and some bony appendages extend behind the head, upon the ante- 

 rior part of the body, which they strengthen more or less. The dor- 

 sal is opposite to the analj the stomach, resembling a fleshy tube, is 

 continued in a straight canal, without duplicatures, to the commence- 

 ment of which are attached two caeca. In 



FiSTULARIA, properly so called, 



Or the FiSTULARIA, Lacep., there is but a single dorsal, most of 

 which, as well as of the anal, is composed of simple rays. The in- 

 termaxillaries and the lower jaw are armed with small teeth. From 

 between the two lobes of the caudal proceeds a filament which is 

 sometimes as long as the body. The tube of the snout is very long 

 and depressed, the natatory bladder excessively small, and the scales 

 invisible. They are found in the seas of hot climates in both hemi- 

 spheres. (l) In the 



AuLosTOMus, Lacep. (2) 



The dorsal is preceded by several free spines, and the jaws are with- 

 out teethj the very scaly and less slender body is widened and com- 

 pressed between the dorsal and the anal, and followed by a short and 



(1) Fistularia iabacaria, Bl., 3&7, 1; — Fist, serrata. Id., lb., 2, are from Amer- 

 ica, Marcgr., 148, Catesb., If, xvii; — Fist, {fnniaculata, Commers., J. White, p. 

 296, f. 2, is from the Indian Ocean. 



(2) Auhstomiis, from avxot and ro^a. 



