316 PISCES. 



and thfirswimminp: aiul flyiiip; enemies, tliey furnish one of tlie most sini^-iilar sit^-'hts in the warm seas. E. exilens, 

 common in tlie Mediterranean, has the ventral tins lonp;, and in rear of the middle of tlie body. E. voUtans, com- 

 mon in the Atlantic, has the ventral tins small, and placed furtlier fonvards. Tlie lattpr species sometimes visits 

 the Bi-jtish shores, in sin;;le individuals, and even in shoals. They can leap more than two hundred yards in 

 distance, and upwards of twenty feet in height. Their food is understood to be the small floating MoUusca ; and 

 themselves are ;.,^oud catinp;. 



Ne\;t to the Pike family, tlicie is jilaced a genus of fishes wliicb, tlioug-h differing but little from 

 that family in <.itli''r rcs|iocts, lias l(in^-er intestines, ami two ccEca. It will ]jri,iljably give rise to a new 

 family. This is Moni/i/rus, liasing thf body coin}n-rsse(l, oblong, and scaly; tail thin at the base, but 

 swelling near the (in; skin of tin- beail naked, covering llie operculum and gill-rays, and leaving no 

 opening for tlie latter but a vertical fissure, which has led some naturalists to assert that these fishes have 

 110 gill-lids, and only one gill-ray, whereas their gill-lids are perfect, and their rays five or six. Tbeir 

 gape is small, and. resembles that nf the Ant-eater, the angles being foniicd by the niaxillaries. The 

 teeth are small, notched at the CNtreniities, and occupy the intermaxillaries and lower jaw ; anrl there 

 are bands of small cmwded ones nu the vomer and tongue. The stomach is a roundish sac, followed 

 by a slender intr^tine witli two eu'ca, almost always cuvercd with fat; and the air-bladder is long, large, 

 and &iitii)le. Tliey are accmmted among the best fishes of the Nile. Two species have a cylindrical 

 muzzle, — the one having a long dorsal, and the otlier a short one; a third has both the snout ami dorsal 

 short ; and in a fourth, the forehead forms a protuberance advancing in front of the mouth. There are 

 various other species in the Nile [and probably also in the other African rivcr.^], Imt thev have not 

 liecn described. 



THE TimiD FAMILY OF THE MALACOPTErvYGlI ABDOMINALES. 

 SiLURiD.E (the SiiKAT-Fi«H Faiuily.) 

 These fishes are distinguished from all the rest of the order by the want of true scales, having only a 

 naked skin, or large bony plates. The intermaxillaries, suspended under the ethmoid, form the margin 

 of the upper jaw ; and the maxillary bones are either simple vestige';, or extended into cirii. Tlie in- 

 testinal canal is large, folded, and without cceca. The air-bladder is large, and adheres to a peculiar 

 apparatus of bmies. A strung articulated spine generally forms the fir-.t ray of the dorsal and tiic pec- 

 torals ; and there is sometimes an adipose dorsal behind the other, as in the Salmon family. Tlie fol- 

 lowitig are the genera and subgenera: — 



Sihir>'s. — These form a numerous genus, hnown by the naked skin, from the mouth being cleft in the 

 en<l of t!ie mu?/Je, and from a strong spun.- in the first ray of the dorsal. This spine is articulated only to 

 the bones of the shoulder ; and the fisii can at ])leasure lay it flat mi the body, nr keej) it fixed in a jier- 

 pendicular direction, in which case it i> a hirmidable weapon, ami wonn<ls iiillicted liy it an- undcistood 

 to be poisoned, which opinion has arisen from tetanus sometimes following the wound, not from poison 

 certainly, but from the ragged nature of the wound itself. 



These fishes have the head depressed; the intermaxillaries suspenfled under the ethmoid, and not 

 protractile; tlic maxillaries very small, hut almost always continued in barbules attached to the lower 

 lip, and also to tlie nostrils ; the i-overing of their gills is without sub-opercnliini or gill-Ilap ; their air- 

 bladder, strong and h('art-sha])ed. is attaciied, liy its two upper lobes, 1o a peculiar bony structure, which 

 again is attaciied to the first vertebra; the stomach is a fleshy cul-de-sac, having the intestinal canal 

 long and wide, but without cmca. They abound in the rivers of warm countries ; and seeds of plants 

 are found in the sioniaeh of many rif tiudr species. The foUowitig are the suligenera : — 



>Siliini.<!, properly so called, with only a small fin of four rays on the fore part of the back, but with the anal very 

 long, and approaching very close to the base of the caudah There is no obvious spine in the dorsal; and the teeth 

 in both jaws, and in the vomer, are like those of a card. 6\ glanis, the Sly Silurus, is the largest fresh-water fish 

 ofKurope, and the only member of the genus in this quarter of the world. It is smooth, of a greenish black 

 spotted with black above, and yellowish uhite below ; head large, with six cirri,— two Uirge ones near the nostrils, 

 :i[jd four shorter on the lowerjaw. It sometimes grows to six feet in length, and weighs three hundred pounds. 

 It is found in the slow-running rivers of Central Europe, and lurks in the mud to watch for it.s prey. Its llcsh is 

 greasy, ami is sometimes employed as hog's-lard. [It is named as a British fish, but its visits to these shoi-es are 

 ■\-ery rare.] Is found in the rivers of Asia and Africa. 



^cMWiis, have the body vertically compressed, a strong toothed spine in the dorsal, the head small and depressed, 

 the nape sudderdy raised, and the eyes low down. They have eight cirri, are found in the Nile, and their flesh is 



