190 



SUBKINGDOJI VEETEBKATA. 



ORDER TELEOSTEI. 



General Characteristics. — The Teleosts (perfect bone) 

 include nearly all the common fishes. The skeleton is more 

 or less ossified, the skull complicated, the single gill-opening 

 protected by a bony flap or "gill-cover" (operculum), and 

 the tail equal-lobed (homocercal). 



Syngnathldae (jaw-tied). — The Pipe-fish has a tube-like 

 jaw. Its single dorsal fin, set far back, works like the screw 



Mg. SBh. 



Syngnathvs pecJcidnu^, Pipe-fisli, 



/ 



Fig. S25. 



of a propeller. The male has a kind of marsupial pouch, in 

 which the female places the egg for hatching, and thither 

 the young flee for safety. Itfeeds upon igin.ute insects and 



shell-fish, thrusting its^loiij fflWi'Wf^ every crevice, anl 

 sometimes, where that cannot enter, blowing in water to drive 

 out its prey. 



Diodontidas (two-toothed). — The Puffer inflates its 

 body by swallowing air. Floating 

 bottom up, it presents to its ene- 

 mies beneath only a ball of spines, 

 with which its back is thickly cov- 

 ered. 



Lophiidse (crested). — The 

 FisMng Frog has the ventral fins 

 forward of the pectoral. The latter 

 serve as legs, and enable it to hop about upon the beach. 

 Upon the head are three spines — the first, with a shiny mem- 

 brane at the tip, fastened by a ring-aud-staple joint and able 



TetraSdon turgMus, Puffer. 



