SALMONIN^J. LAURIDA. 



247 



do not see in what manner it bears any relation to the 

 Gadidce, in any other respect than its small teeth. It 

 has the large and firm scales, the ample ventrals, the 

 small pectorals, and the adipose dorsal of Laurida ; from 

 which it chiefly differs in the smallness of the teeth, 

 and in having (like Laurida microps Sw.) the ventral 

 placed immediately under the first dorsal; two charac- 

 ters which bring it closer to Salmo than to any other 

 group. The singular protrusion of the point of the 

 chin, in the lower jaw, establishes a remote relation of 

 analogy between Aulopus and Sphyrcena ; and all these 

 circumstances tend to confirm us in the views we have 

 taken on its true affinities. It should here be observed, 

 that as Laurida stands as an aberrant group, so we find 

 it loses one of the typical characters of the European 

 salmons, and begins to assume another of the American 

 ones : the anal fin, instead of being short, is always 

 longer than in Salmo ; and the teeth differ from all 

 others of the group, by being excessively crowded, of 

 unequal lengths, and pointed or moveable at their 

 roots. The two groups appear connected by such fish 

 as Laurida minuta {fig. 50.), where the anal and ven- 



tral fins more resemble those of the true salmons. The 

 species of Laurida are not numerous, and appear to 

 be altogether marine, without growing to more than two 

 or three feet in ■ length : they do not ascend or enter 

 freshwater rivers, like the salmons ; but, being oceanic, 

 are found both in the Mediterranean and Atlantic 

 Oceans. Following Laurida we place the genus Anasto- 

 mus Cuv. ; not because there are any species of one or 

 the other which evince any affinity to each other, but 

 because this is the only genus which, possessing the 



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