CHAPTEE XIII. 



LABYRINTHIFORM PHARYNGEALS, OR 

 CAMEL FISH. 



f\F the nextj or ninth exotic family, of Surgeon fish, 

 ^ Thentycs (all of whom are addicted to a vegetable 

 diet, and some, in justification of the name, carry lan- 

 cets in their tails to Weed the unwary,) as they were 

 apparently unknown to the ancients, we have nothing to 

 communicate, but shall pause to say a few words on cer- 

 tain members of the more generally interesting group, 

 the tenth family of Labyrinthiform Pharyngeals. 



All the world is more or less familiar with the forms 

 of various fossil fish, having seen them exhibited, either 

 in bony skeleton; or Niobe-like, converted into stone; 

 or intaglioed in a calcareous matrix ; or presenting a da- 

 guerreotype outline in sUex, the mere shade of what they 

 once were. Most of the specimens, when in a fit con- 

 dition for diagnosis, are traceable to known species, and 

 are found to belong, in by far the majority of instances, 

 to that grand ichthyological section called abdominal, of 

 which the leading characteristic is to have the belly-fins 

 suspended behind the pectorals or side-fins. A large part 

 of Europe teems with these singular productions, and it 

 seems by no means improbable, from the great number 

 of already ascertained habitats, that the whole contour 

 of the earth's crust may conceal, at different depths, vast 

 stores of potted ichthyolites. The yield however of the 

 several mines containing these subterranean treasures is 

 extremely variable : in some instances specimens of one 

 or two genera only turn up ; in others the number is 



