230 PISCES. 



commencing near the eyes, or before them, and completing the upper 

 jaw. The tongue and vomer always smooth, but both jaws are fur- 

 nished with conical teeth; a large suborbital, thin and naked like the 

 operculum, covers the cheek. 



Some of them have a compact range of small teeth in the maxilla- 

 ries and palatines, their first dorsal corresponding to the interval 

 between the ventrals and anal.(l) They inhabit rivers in the torrid 

 zone; their flesh resembles that of the Carp. (2) 



Others have a double row of teeth in their intermaxillaries and 

 lower jaw, and a single one in the maxillaries; but their palatines 

 are edentated. Their first dorsal is above the ventrals. (3) 



Others again only have a single range in the maxillaries and lower 

 jaw, the teeth* being alternately very small and very long, the two 

 second ones below in particular, which, when the mouth is closed, 

 pass through two holes in the upper jaw. Their lateral line is fur- 

 nished with larger scales, and the first dorsal corresponds to the in- 

 terval between the ventrals and anal.(4) 



There is a fourth sort in which the snout is pointed and very 

 salient; the maxillaries very short, and furnished, together with 

 the lower jaw and the intermaxillaries, with a single compact range 

 of very small teeth; their first dorsal corresponds to the interval be- 

 tween the ventrals and anal. The entire body is covered with strong 

 scales. (5) 



Finally, the only teeth possessed by others are those in the lower 

 jaw and intermaxillaries; they are but few, strong, and pointed. 

 Their first dorsal is above the ventrals. But a single species is 

 known, and it inhabits the Nile.(6) 



CiTHARINUS, CuV. 



A depressed mouth, transversely cleft in the end of the snout, 



(1) It is for this reason that M. de Lacepcde placed them among the Osmeri. 



(2) Salmo falcatus, lil., 385, — <S'. orfoe, Id., 386; — Hydrocyon falcirostria, Cuv., 

 M^m. Mus., V, pi. xxvii, f. 1; — Hyd. hepseius, Cuv., or Hydr. fuucille, Zool. Voy. 

 de Freycin., pi. 48, f. 2. 



(3) A new species from Brazil, the Hydroc. hrevidens, Cuv., Mem. Mus., V, pi. 

 xxvii, f. 1, or Characiiius amazonicus, Spix, XXXV. 



(4) Another Brazilian species, Hydroc. scombero'ides, Cuv., Mem. Mus. V, pi. 

 xxvii, f. 2, or Cynodon vulpinus, Spix, XXYl;—Cy7wdon gibbus. Id., XXVII. 



(5) Another species from Brazil, the Hydroc. lucius, Cuv., Mem. Mus., V, pi. 

 xxvi, f. 3, or Xiphostoma Cuvieri, Spix, XLII. ; 



(6) The Roschal or Water-dog o^Yors^, 66, or Characinus dentex, Geoff., Poiss., 

 d'Eg., pi. 4, f. 1, and Cuv., Mem. Mus., V, pi. xxviii, f. 1, but which is not, as Fors- 

 kahl thought, the Salmo dentex of Hasselquist — that is the raii. 



