776 FISHES — AMIID^. 



hard as flint, and even pioof against lead balls! Its flesh is not good to eat. It is a 

 voracious iish Its vulgar names are Diamond Fish (ovring to its scales being cut like 

 diamonds), Devil Fish, Jack Fieh, Garjack, etc. The snout is large, convex above, very 

 obtuse ; the eyf s small and black ; nostrils small, round before the eyes ; month beneath 

 the eyes, transversal with large angular teeth. Pectoral and abdominal fins trapezoidal 

 Dorsal and anal fins equal, longitudinal, vrith many rays. The whole body covered 

 with large stone scales, lying in oblique rows ; they are conical, pentagonal and pen- 

 taedral, with equal sides from half an inch to one inch in diameter, brown at first but 

 becoming of the color of turtle shell when dry. They strike fire with steel! and are 

 baJl proof!" — (Rafinesqne, Ich. Ohiensis, 91.) 



If our species is identical with the Cuban Manjuari, which is not im- 

 probable, the older name, L. iristmchus (Bloch), must be substituted for 

 L. spatula. 



ORDER V. HALECOMORPHI. THE CYCLOGANOIDS. 



Parietals in contact ; pterotic simple ; basis of cranium, and anterior vertebrse simple ; 

 mandible with opercular and coronoid ; maxillary not segmented, forming part of the 

 border of the mouth ; third superior pharyngeal lying on the enlarged fourth ; upper 

 baaihyal wanting ; vertebrae amphiccelian ; pectoral fins with mesopterygium and eight 

 other elements , body covered with thick, cycloid scales ; tail heterocercal ; dorsal fin 

 long; ventral fins abdominal ; skeleton mostly ossified : preooraooid cartilaginous ; one 

 axial and four basal brauchihjals ; air bladder cellular, with partial functions of a lung. 



This order contains but a single family, the AmiidcB, with no near relatives among 

 recent fishes. (Latin, luilecomorphous, having the form of a shad.) 



FAMILY V. AMIID^. THE GRINDLES. 



Body oblong, moderately compreesed posteriorly ; the head broad, narrowed forwards, 

 its upper surface bony and rugose ; membrane bones of head extremely hard ; a broad 

 radiated bony plate between the branches of the lower jaw ; maxillary broad, with a 

 supplemental bone, formingpart of the margin of the upper jaw; jaws with strong teeth; 

 similar teeth on vomer, palatine and pterygoid bones ; eye rather small ; anterior nos- 

 trils each with a barbel ; branchiostegals about nine ; gill openings very wide, not 

 separated by an isthmus ; gill rakers short , body covered with cycloid scales ; lateral 

 line present ; dorsal tin occupying most of the back, its rays rather low, of nearly uniform 

 length ; anal fin short ; ventral fins small ; pectoral fins inserted rather high ; fins all 

 without fulcra ; tail heterocercal ; air bladder large, cellular, lung-Uke, communicating 

 by a glottis with the oesophagus ; stomach large ; coloration dark, the male fishes with 

 an ocellated black spot on the tail. A single species is known, among recent fishes. 



Gbnus 8. AMIA.. Linnaeus. 



Amia, LiNN^us, Systema Naturae, Ed. xii, 1766. 

 Type, Amia calva, LiNN^us. 

 Etymology, amia, an ancient name of the marine Benito {Sarda pelamya) transferred 



by Linnaeus to this very different fish. 

 The characters of the genus are included above, with those of the family. 



