218 LOWER VERTEBRATES. 



highly as a pan-fish. One of its common names, ' Cape May goodie,' embodies this 

 favorable opinion of its merits. Another name, referring to the mark on its shoulders, 

 is ' spot ' ; ' old wife ' is an additional designation borrowed from the English. The best 

 known name, ' Lafayette,' is due to the fact that it became prominent by its appear- 

 ance and indeed was said by the fishermen to have first appeared in the year (1824) 

 when General Lafayette visited the United States. 



One other species, the Eques laticeolatics, may be noticed as an illustration of 

 how much variation is compatible within the family limits of the Sciienids. This 

 fish is one of several living in the Caribbean sea, distinguished by the humped 

 back, very short and advanced, but elevated first dorsal, and long second dorsal, 

 and a peculiar distribution of colors. As a rule the sciaenids are very sober in 

 coloration, but in the species of Eques we have some striking contrasts, as in the 

 one here figured. 



By Cuvier and the early ichthyologists, a number of fishes were referred to the 

 family of Sciaenidse which did not really belong to it, and were eliminated by an accom- 

 plished ichthyologist, the Rev. Wm. Low, leaving it as it is now retained. Some 

 later ichthyologists went to an extreme, and widely separated the eliminated forms 

 from the Scieenids. Nevertheless, a number of them really do belong near that 

 family, although still nearer others to follow. Among such are certain fishes for 

 which the family H^MULONiDiE or Peistipomid^ has been constituted. These have 

 the body compressed, and often (not always) elevated towards the front of the back, 

 the spinous part of the dorsal longer than the soft, the jaw-teeth pointed, head 

 pointed forwards, the palate toothless, and the preopercle serrate. Quite a large num- 

 ber of species belong to it, and a couple of genera are of special interest to the 

 American naturalist ; they are Jlti-mulon and 07-t/iopristis. 



Grunt, pig-fish, and red-mouth are the principal common names of the species of 

 Hmmulon ; the first two refer to the noise made when one is hauled out of the water, 

 and the last to blood-rod blotches on the gums or lips behind ; it is to this peculiarity 

 also that the scientific name alludes. The color of the sides is likewise noteworthy, 

 for, in most, oblique stripes run along the rows of scales. The mouth is quite deeply 

 cleft. The flesh is excellent. 



Another fish, also called grunt and pig-fish, hut differing from the former by the 

 absence of the red staining of the jaws, and comparatively small mouth, is the Ortho- 

 pristis chrysopterus. In some places it bears the name ' sailor's choice,' but this one 

 is also shared by others. It is quite common on the southern American coast, and is 

 highly esteemed ; it has indeed been pronounced by some to be " the finest fish that 

 swims." 



One of the most important families of fishes is that of the SPAEiDiE. The body 

 is compressed and generally quite high, especially towards the front of the back; the 

 head is moderate, and usually the skin from the nape to the snout is smooth and scale- 

 less ; the preorbital bones are more or less enlarged, and the maxillaries slide under 

 them ; the teeth are generally developed as molars on the sides, while in front they 

 are either conical, or more or less compressed, and sometimes shaped like the incisor 

 teeth of mammals ; the dorsal fin is long and entire, and is depressible in a groove of 

 the back ; the spinous portion is longer than the soft. The species are numerous in 

 tropical as well as in temperate seas. On the coast of the United States representa- 

 tives of six genera are found. 



The typical genus of the family, /Sparus, is represented by a species common to 



