152 Apodal Fishes of Bengal. 



3. Thoracic. — Gills bony, ventral fins placed directly un- 



der the throat. 



4. Abdominal. — Gills bony, ventral fins placed behind the 



throat. 



5. Branchiostegius. — Gills without bones. 



6. Chondropterigius. — The skeleton cartilaginous. 



The number prefixed to each order is not here to be sup- 

 posed as having any reference to its relative rank in regard 

 to organization ; the arrangement of Linnaeus had for its 

 object merely the convenience of students, and not the ar- 

 rangement of Species according to their natural affinities. In 

 order however, to render the series more natural, the Apodal 

 fishes should stand 5th in accordance with the scale proposed 

 by Cuvier, in which case the 6th order should then become 

 1st in place of apodes, in accordance with the views of Mr. 

 MacLeay and of Mr. Swainson. To render the series perfectly 

 natural, the orders themselves would require revision, toge- 

 ther with the families and genera of which they are composed. 



The object of the present paper is a revision merely of the 

 Apodal order, founded on the results o£ an examination of 

 Asiatic, but particularly of Bengal, species. 



The results will shew how highly essential such a revi- 

 sion had become, and that it could not be any where better 

 effected than upon the spot where such numerous undes- 

 cribed and unknown forms of the peculiar animals in question 

 occur. 



It may indeed have fallen into hands unfitted for the task, 

 but the advantages of position, and the extensive assistance 

 derived from friends who have supplied specimens from 

 many distant places, more than counter-balance the author's 

 incapacity, as compared with the nature and object of the 

 undertaking. 



The Apodal order in the Systema Naturcc of Linnaeus, 

 consists of all bony fishes without ventral fins, as follows : — 



