GADIDjE. 



MOTELLA. PHYCINjE. 



321 



unique among fishes : the rays are excessively slender, 

 and are composed of fine fleshy filaments, without any 

 internal bony support ; so that they can scarcely be dis- 

 cerned when the fish is out of the water : the first ray 

 is always the longest; and it exactly resembles in shape, 

 appearance, and substance, the cirri or beards on the 

 snout. Several species occur on our own coasts, and 

 others inhabit the Mediterranean : one of these {Motella 

 fusca Sw., fig. 74.) is here represented, as a perfect type 



of the whole group ; its description will be found in 

 the Appendix. 



(269.) The Phycincs, or forked hakes, form a natural 

 succession to the rocklings : they are not so much 

 distinguished by their greatly depressed head and their 

 two dorsal fins, as by the peculiar construction of the 

 ventrals, which consist but of one long and cylindrical 

 ray, divided about half way into two unequal parts 

 Between these and the last we have the intermediate 

 genus Raniceps of Cuvier, whose first dorsal is like that 

 of Motella, but whose depressed head may perhaps place it 

 within the confines, as an aberrant genus, of the present 

 group. Its ventrals also partake of this intermediate 

 character : there are, indeed, six rays, as authors assert, 

 in each fin ; but three of these are so minute as to be 

 nearly obsolete, while the two outer are long and de- 

 tached, so as to resemble the forked single ray of the next 

 genus. Raniceps thus becomes the link of connection 

 between Motella and Phycis ; and the possession of a 

 single cirrus on the lower jaw makes the passage more 

 gradual from the bearded rocklings to the forked hakes, 

 which have none of these appendages. There seems to 

 be much confusion among the species of Phycis, ori- 



vol. 1. Y 



