234 



CLASSIFICATION OF FISHES. 



Orders of 

 Fishes. 



Families of 

 Malocopteryges 



Analogies. 



Malacopteryges. Salmonidcs. 



Acaxthopteryges. Pleuronectidcs. 



■ Squalidce. 



■ Raidce. 



Apodes. 



Gadidcs. 



Plegtognathes. Siluridce. 



Cartilagines. 



Cobitidce. 



Families of the 

 Cartilagines. 

 rBody lengthened;"} 

 \ dorsal fins fully ( 

 ~\ developed,one or ( 

 (. two. 



f Body depressed, 

 (_ flat, rhomboid. 

 Tail long, nearly^ 



surrounded by > ChimcEridce . 



the ventral fin. J 

 r Body mailed, teeth f 

 < small ; mouth £ Sturionidte. 

 C with cirri. j 



fMouth beneath the~| 



muzzle ; partak- 

 ■{ ing of the carti- yPrionidce. 



laginous 

 ture. 



struc- | 

 J 



We have already compared the primary orders of 

 fishes with those of the great classes of the animal 

 kingdom, and also with the families of the Cartilagines ; 

 nothing further, therefore, need he said on this subject, 

 than to remind the reader, that these analogies give 

 him a clue by which he can trace the most remote rami- 

 fications of these relations in the classes of birds and 

 quadrupeds. In the present instance, nevertheless, we 

 have introduced the orders of fishes in a separate column, 

 to show more perfectly the wonderful harmony and unity 

 of design — far greater than the wit of man could de- 

 vise — which pervades these otherwise singularly varied 

 groups. Here, in fact, we see that, by simply placing 

 the soft- finned fishes in juxtaposition to the cartila- 

 ginous order, we have the Pleuronectidce standing op- 

 posite to the Raidce, as their bona fide representatives. 

 The Gadidce represent the slender- tailed Chimceridce, — 

 the latter being the only cartilaginous fish, yet discovered, 

 having an eel-shaped tail — that is, gradually attenuated 

 from the belly to a point, and bordered beneath by a 

 long ventral. The mailed SiluridcE so completely repre- 

 sent the mailed sturgeons, that the Loricai'ia rostrata 

 of Spix might easily be taken, at the first glance, for an 

 Acipenser; and what is still more singular, the sturgeons, 

 and the genera which represent them*, are the only 



* Squatina, Crossarchus, &c. 



