SILURID^. 



THE L0RICAR1N.E. 



337 



a very distinct type, whether we regard the compres- 

 sion of its head and body, or the singular scales with 



which it is covered. It is followed by another, to 

 which a variety of names has been applied, with little 

 regard either to priority, or propriety, of nomenclature. 

 To give, for instance, the name of Callichthys, implying 

 a beautiful fish, to one of the most ugly in the whole 

 family, is manifestly absurd : we shall, therefore, fol- 

 low Bloch and Lacepede, and retain the old name of 

 Cataphractus to ' that strange-looking fish, figured by 

 Bloch (pi. 377« £ !•) "with the specific name of depres- 

 sus. Its eyes are very small and nearly vertical ; the 

 head large and greatly depressed ; and it possesses, 

 altogether, the strongest possible resemblance to the 

 Aspredince : the mouth, indeed, can scarcely be said to 

 be beneath ; but the dentated plates which cover the 

 whole body, in two series on each side, are precisely of 

 the same pattern and structure as those of Hoplisoma, 

 and plainly distinguish it from all the types of the Aspre- 

 dince. Last of all, we have the new genus Sturisoma 

 Sw., represented by the Loricaria rostrata of Spix, dis- 

 tinguished at once from all the foregoing, by its long- 

 obtuse snout, which projects so considerably beyond the 

 mouth, that it has the greatest possible analogy to the 

 sharks. On looking to the slender form of this type, 

 and of the Loricaria maculata of Bloch, we see at once 

 that the series of this sub-family forms a most perfect 

 circle : the last-named fish, in fact, would be a Sturi- 

 soma, had it not the short muzzle of Loricaria. 

 vol. i. z 



