222 PISCES. 



of the abdomen covered with plates; intestines of a moderate thick- 

 ness. (l) 



FAMILY IV. ^ 



SALMONIDES. 



The Salmonides, according to Linnaeus, form but a single 

 great genus, clearly characterized by a scaly body, with a first 

 dorsal whose rays are all soft, followed by a second one small 

 and adipose, that is, formed of skin filled with fat, and unsup- 

 ported by rays. It comprises fishes with numerous caeca and 

 a natatory bladder ; nearly all of them ascend rivers, and are 

 highly esteemed. They are naturally voracious. The struc- 

 ture and armature of the jaws are singularly various. This 

 great genus, 



Salmo, Lin. 

 Is subdivided as follows. 



Salmo, Cuv. 



The Salmon, properly so called, or rather the Trout, has a great 

 portion of the edge of the upper jaw formed by the maxillariesj a 

 range of pointed teeth in the maxillaries, intermaxillaries, palatines 

 and mandibularies, and a double one on the vomer, tongue, and pha- 

 ryngeals; so that of all fishes it is the most completely furnished with 

 teeth. In the old male the end of the lower jaw is bent up towards 

 the palate, where a cavity receives it when the mouth is closed. 

 The ventrals are opposite to the middle of the first dorsal, and the 

 adipose to the anal. There are ten branchial rays or thereabout. 

 There is one flexure in the long and narrow stomach, which is fol- 

 lowed by very numerous cseca; the natatory bladder extends from 

 one end of the abdomen to the other, and communicates above with 

 the oesophagus. The body is usually spotted, and the flesh good. 

 These fishes ascend rivers to spawn, leaping over cataracts. Sec, 

 and are even found in the brooks and small lakes of the highest 

 mountains. 



(1) Loricaria cataphrada, L., or L. cirrhosa,B\. Schn., and seiigei-a, L,^cep.y 

 Bl., 375, 1, 2; — Loricaria rosfrata, Spix, III; — Rinelepis asperu, Id., II; — JieantM- 

 CU8 hysirix. Id., 1. 



