78 CLASSIFICATION OF FISHES. 



parity : the one containing the Plectognathes , or our che- 

 loniform fishes, answering to the Branchiostegi of Artedi; 

 these having the maxillary bone and the palatine arch 

 fixed to the cranium : the whole of the remainder, or 

 the vast multitude of ordinary fishes wherein the upper 

 jaw is not fixed, form the osseous division. In this 

 latter, observes M. Cuvier, "' there remains an immense 

 number of fishes to which no other character can be 

 applied than those of the external organs of motion. 

 After an extensive research, I have found that the least 

 objectionable of these characters is the one employed by 

 Artedi and Ray, drawn from the nature of the first rays 

 of the dorsal and anal fins. Thus the ordinary fishes 

 are divided into (1.) Malacopterygii, in which all the 

 rays are soft, with the occasional exception of the first 

 of the dorsal, or of the pectorals : and (2.) Acanthop- 

 terygii, in which the first portion of the dorsal, or of 

 the first dorsal where there are two, is always supported 

 by spinous rays, some of which are also found in the 

 anal, and at least one in the ventral fins." 



(77.) The Malacopterygii, or soft-rayed fishes, " may 

 be conveniently divided," observes Cuvier, " by a re- 

 gard to the position of their ventral fins, which are 

 either situated behind the abdomen, as in the Abdo- 

 minales; sometimes placed adjoining the shoulder, as in 

 the Subbrachiati j or altogether wanting, as in the Apodes 

 (Linn.). It is impossible, however," as Cuvier thinks, 

 " to apply this mode of division to the Acanthopte- 

 rygii; and their subdivision in any other way than by 

 that of natural families is a problem that I have hitherto 

 vainly endeavoured to solve. Fortunately, many of these 

 families are possessed of characters nearly as exact as 

 those that could be given to orders." 



(78.) ^Ye shall first concentrate the foregoing out- 

 lines of Cuvier's system in the following table, and then 

 proceed to enumerate more particularly the genera com- 

 prised in the families. 



