330 CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 



in the North Sea, and are more objects of curiosity, even 

 among the fishermen themselves, than articles of trade. For 

 many years there was to he seen a Ballan "Wrasse, painted green, 

 hanging suspended by a string, along with a Sea Bream, a Dory, 

 and other "uncouth fishes," in a fisherman's shop window at 

 Cullercoats, a sure sign of the rarity of these fishes at that 

 fishing village. 



The order Anacanthini, Spineless -rayed fishes, is the most 

 important, both as regards the number of species and individuals, 

 and also as they constitute the bulk of those fishes which afford 

 abundant and wholesome as well as in some instances delicious 

 food for man, and consequently their capture becomes the chief 

 business in life of thousands of our bravest and boldest country- 

 men, who supply not only the coast towns but the interior of the 

 kingdom with, in most instances, the least expensive sort of 

 animal food. The chief families in this order are the Gadidae, 

 or Cod-fishes, and the Pleuronectidae, or Flat-fishes, all the 

 species of which are without exception valued as articles of food 

 in a fresh and also the former in a dried state. The North 

 temperate and colder parts of the ocean seem to be the home of 

 this numerous tribe. In our district only two of this group are 

 found in fresh water, the one the Burbolt, living constantly and 

 only in rivers, and the other the Flounder, ascending rivers as 

 far and even beyond the limits of the tidal-flow. About thirty 

 species of fishes belonging to this order are enumerated in this 

 list, most of which are residents ; such fishes as the Hake being 

 a straggler from the South, and the Tusk or Torsk a visitor 

 from the more Northern coasts of the British Islands. It is 

 among the Flat-fishes that new additional species are most likely 

 to occur on our coast. 



The fourth order, Physostomi, or Bony-fishes with all the 

 fin-rays articulated, is a most heterogeneous assemblage, which 

 will some day require revision. Those families which chiefly 

 concern the British fauna are the Cyprinidse, or Carps, which 

 are all fresh water forms, living in rivers, lakes, and ponds, 

 and many of which have been introduced into Britain as colo- 

 nists in early times, and are now thoroughly acclimatized. The 



