MALACOPTERYGII SUB-BRACIIIATL 321 



Nofopferus. Gill-lids and clieeks scaly; the suborbitals, pre-operculum, and operculum have two crests ; the lower 

 jaw is keeled, the belly toothed, and the palatals and jaws have tine teeth ; the upper jaw formed in great part of 

 the maxillaries. Their tong-ue is set with strong: crooked teeth ; they have one strong and bony gill-ray ; ventrals 

 hardly visible, followed by a long anal, which occupies three-fourths of the length, and is united, as in Gymnotus, 

 with the fins of the tail and back; opposite the middle of the anal there is a small dorsal with soft rays. They 

 are found in the stagnant fresh waters of India, being the Gymnotus noiopterus of Pallas. 



EngraidiSyihG i\r\ch(i\ieB, distinguished from the 

 Herrings by the mouth being more deeply cleft, the 

 gilhopenings wider, and ten or twelve gill-rays. 

 The small intermaxillaries are fixed under a little 

 pointed snout, in advance of the mouth, and the 

 maxillaries are long and straight. E. enchrasicko- 

 lus, the Common Anchovy, so well known for its 

 rich and peculiar flavour, is about a span long, 

 bluish above, silvery below, the abdomen not trenchant, the anal short, and the dorsal over the ventrals. Taken 

 in vast numbers in the Mediterranean, and less abundantly in the ocean. E. mcletta is a Mediterranean species. 

 E. ede7)iuhts, an American species, without teeth. 



T/ity.ssa, differs from the Anchovies in having the belly toothed, and the maxillaries very long. It is an East 

 Indian subgenus. 



Megalops. Fins and jaws generally formed like those of the Herring, but the belly not trenchant, nor the body 

 compressed; teeth in the jaws and palate very small and nunierous; from twenty-one to twenty-four gill-rays ; 

 and the last ray of the dorsal, and often of the anal, extended in a filament. One American species, the Apalite, is 

 found twelve feet long, has fifteen rays in the dorsal, and a filament to that in the anal. An Indian species has 

 seventeen dorsal rays. 



Slops, resembles the former, but is rather longer, wants the dorsal filament, has more than twenty gill-rays, 

 and the caudal with a flat spine above and below. 



Butei'iiuis, has jaws like those of a Herring, a round and lengthened body, and prominent snout ; the mouth 

 shallow ; the jaws with small, crowded teeth ; and the tongue, vomer, and palate, have rounded ones, also closely 

 set. There are twelve or thirteen gill-rays. This and the former genus are beautiful fishes, of a silvery colour, 

 with many bones and coeca, and they grow to a large size. 



Chirocenfriis, has the upper jaw as in the Herring, with a row of stout conical teeth in both jaws, the two middle 

 ones in front vei7 long; the tongue and gill-arches toothed like a card, but not the palatal or vomer; seven or 

 eight gill-rays, the latter ones vei-y broad ; a pointed scale above and beneath each pectoral ; body long, com- 

 pressed, and sharp, but not toothed on the belly; ventrals very small, and shorter than the anal, which is opposite; 

 stomach and air-bladder long and slender. Only one known species, of the Indian Ocean, and silvery. 



7///o(/tf/j, has the form of a Herring, but the belly not toothed, eight or nine gill-rays, and the teeth and the 

 mouth like those of a Trout. Found in the fresh waters of North America. 



Erythrinus. Upper jaw almost entirely formed of the maxillaries; conical teeth in the edges of each jaw ; crowded 

 teeth ill the palatals ; five broad gill-rays ; head round, blunt, with hard bones, but no scales ; body oblong, com- 

 pressed, with scales like Carp ; dorsal opposite the ventrals; stomach and air-bladder large; cceca small. Found 

 in the tropical rivers, and esteemed as food. 



Am/a, have the head like the last, but twelve gill-rays, and a hard buckler on the under-jaw; pavement-teeth 

 behind the conical ones ; nosti'iis tubular ; stomach large; intestine wide, and with no cceca ; air-bladder cellidar, 

 like the lung of a Reptile. Found in the rivers of the southern states of America, feeds on Crustacea, and is 

 rarely eaten. 



•Sudis, — fresh-water fishes resembling Erythrinus, but having the dorsal and anal placed opposite each other, and 

 occupying the last third of the body. They inhabit the rivers of tropical countries. 



Osterylossum, ditlers from the last by having two cirri suspended from the lower jaw, and the tongue closely 

 toothed like a rasp. A large species inhabits Brazil. 



Lephosteus, ha\e long teeth in the edges of the jaws, and their anterior surfaces rasp-like ; the scales as hard 

 ns stone; the dorsal and anal opposite, and far back ; the intestine with two folds, and numerous cceca; air-bladder 

 cellular. Of tropical America, grow large, and are good eating. 



Ponjptenis. Sides of the upper jaw immoveable ; head covered with sharpened bony plates; body with strong 

 scales ; one gill-ray ; a number of separate fins on the back ; the teeth like a rasp, with long ones in front ; the 

 stomach large; double air-bladder, with large lobes, the left one opening freely into the gullet. They ai'e found 

 in the African rivers, and are eatable. 



TUE THIRD ORDER OF BONY FISHES,— 



MALACOPTERYGII SUB-BRACHIATI,— 



Have the ventrals under the pectorals, and the pelvis suspended to the shoulder- bonea. 



[They are thus better adapted for ascending and descending than the abdominal fishes. J 



Y 



