THE PLEGTOGNATHES. 189 



wherein the back is furnished with spines. The genus 

 Anacanthus, as its name imports, contains those rays 

 which have the character of Trygon, but without 

 their sting : the snout, also, if we rightly understand 

 the genus, is produced; so that it becomes at once ana- 

 logous to the RhinobatincB : it is this genus, however, 

 upon which, not having had the means of examining, a 

 slight doubt may arise ; but the connection of the 

 Trygonince to the RhinobatincB is so unquestionable, 

 that it matters very little to our present purpose, upon 

 which link in the chain we fix for a type, supposing 

 Anacanthus not to be one. We need not pursue this 

 subject further, because these analogies carry with 

 them numerous others, and will enable the reader to 

 pursue the subject through all the chief groups of the 

 class. 



CHAP. VII. 



ON THE PLECTOGNATHES, OR, CHELONIFORM ORDER. 



(167.) The order now before us, notwithstanding 

 the diversity of characters it presents as a whole, may, 

 nevertheless, be pronounced one of the most natural in 

 the whole ichthyological circle. Under the name of the 

 Branchiosteges, it was so considered by Artedi ; and 

 although that great father of our science did not detect 

 the concealed nature of the operculum, yet his views of 

 the true extent of the group appear to be more just 

 and comprehensive than those of the moderns. Our 

 own opinions, at least, are more in unison with those of 

 Artedi, who includes in this division the genera Cyclo- 

 pterus and Lophius. M. Cuvier, on the contrary, con- 

 fines it entirely to the Balistidce, or cheloniform genera 



