104 TELEOSTEI : ACANTHOPTERI, — XX. 
a. Ventral rays united into one; D.low. . . . - . TETRAPTURUS, 122, 
aa. Ventral rays 2or 3; D.very high. . . . . - « IsTIorHoRus, 123. 
122. TETRAPTURUS Rafinesque. (reérpa-, four; mrepdr, fin; 
obpé, tail.) 
260. T. albidus Poey. Spear-FisH. Bivt-Fisu. Blue-black; 
head (with sword) 2%; depth 74. D. III, 39-6. A.II,13-6. L.8 
feet. W.I., N. to Cape Cod. (Lat., white.) 
123. ISTIOPHORUS Lacépéde. (fotiov, sail; popéw, to bear.) 
261. I. americanus Cuv. & Val. Sai.-FisH. SPIks&-FIsu. 
Bluish-black; dorsal very high, its membrane with round black 
spots. Sword, from eye, 2% times rest of head, nearly twice as 
broad as deep. Head 23; depth6. D. XLI-7. A.9-7. L. 6 to 
8 feet. Warm seas, N. to Cape Cod. 
Famity LIV. TRICHIURIDAN. (Tue Scasparp-FISHES.) 
Fishes closely related to the Scombride, but having the vertebra 
very numerous, and the dorsal fin long and low, its spines and soft 
rays indistinguishable from each other, and without finlets. Ven- 
tral fins rudimentary or wanting. Genera 6; species about 15, in 
the warm seas. : 
a. No caudal fin; tail tapering to a point; no ventrals; teeth very strong, 
unequal, some of them barbed.. . . . . . . + TRICHIURUS, 124. 
124. TRICHIURUS Linnzus. (rpixcor, a little hair ; 
ovpa, tail.) 
262. T. lepturus L. ScaBBARD-FISH. CUTLASS-FISH. SIL- 
vER EE. Silvery, D. dark-edged ; snout long; lower jaw longer. 
Head 74; depth 16. D.135. A. very low, 100. Warm sea, N. to 
N.Y. (Aerrés, thin; ovpd, tail.) 
Famity LY. SCOMBRIDA. (THE Mackerets. 
Body subfusiform or compressed, with small cycloid cake those 
at the shoulders sometimes enlarged, forming a corselet; lateral line 
present. Head pointed; mouth large, not protractile; teeth sharp, 
large or small; opercles unarmed; gill openings very wide ; pseudo- 
branchiz large. Dorsals two, the first of slender spines, the second 
usually followed by detached finlets; tail slender, keeled, its fin 
widely forked; V. thoracic I, 5. Vertebre in increased number, 30 
to 70; pyloric cxca many. Coloration metallic, the sexes similar. 
Genera about 17; species about 70. Fishes of the high seas, many 
of them cosmopolitan, coming to northern shores to spawn, and 
often irregular in their visits. Most of them are valued as food, 
but the red, oily flesh of some is very coarse. 
