56 



CLASSIFICATION OF FISHES. 



examples^, notning can be said beyond that tbey are all 



clothed with, very hard scales^ and that they appear 



analogical representations of the faniLlies composing this 

 tribe. Tradiichtys, indeed,, may eventually prove to be 

 related to Monocentris by affinity rather than by ana- 

 logy. It may be placed, however, in the present divi- 

 sion, as the only aberrant form where the lateral line is 

 armed with spinous plates analogous to Caranx, but we 

 believe it is truly connected to Holocentrum. 



(57-) The ScorpcEiiidcE, or spine-heads, hke the gur- 

 nards, have the head covered with spines, but their 

 bodies are generally destitute of those rasp-like or 

 prickly scales possessed by the Triglidce. They are 

 certainly, with the exception of the Chironectid<T, the 

 most ugly and repulsive fishes in existence, many of 

 them, like those of the genus Pelor (^fig, 11.), but more 



\x 



especially the Synanchincp, or toad-fish, appear more like 

 fanciful monsters of the artist's imagination than crea- 

 tures having a real existence. Independent of the head 

 being often enormously large, it is always armed with 



