ANALOGIES OF THE SCORP^XIDiE. BQ 



in like maner, ■with their small mouths, and prickly 

 bodies_, equally typify the Balistidce. The ichthyolo- 

 gistj however^ understanding these relations_, can easily 

 pursue the analysis of the others. 



(60.) The two typical divisions of the ScarpcBnideB 

 are so numerous and remarkable in the forms they con- 

 tain, that we are compelled to view them as sub-families 

 rather than as genera. We shall therefore call them 

 the ScorpcEnince, or spine hsais^ and the SynanchincB, or 

 toad-fish ; for by this latter name we shall not only de- 

 signate their direct analogy to the true amphibians^ but 

 convey some faint idea of their disgusting and hideous 

 ughness. The power of leaping from the water^, which 

 so many of the TriglidcB and some of the ScorpcBnincB 

 possess, is another and a most remarkable point of 

 analogy they bear to the frogs^ while the warty fungous- 

 . like skin^ and hideous shape,, of the SynanchincB^ devoid^ 

 as they are^ of leaping like the gurnards^ render them 

 no less strikingly analogous to the toads. Thus we have 

 another verification of our views regarding the station of 

 the entire order, which corresponds to that of the am- 

 phibians in the vertebrated circle, and to the order 

 Plectognathes in that of fishes ; but we must leave these 

 distant analogies, and look to those more immediate. 



(61.) The Scorpcsnina, or spine heads, are so named 

 because the greater part were comprised by Linnaeus 

 under this name ; but the genus Scorpcena, as restricted 

 by modem ichthyologists, has unluckily been given to a 

 group which is not typical of the whole. They are at 

 once distinguished from the SynanchincB, or toad fish, 

 by the mouth opening horizontally, as in the generality 

 of fishes, and the eyes being situated in the middle of the 

 sides of the head; whereas, in the latter, the mouth opens 

 almost vertically, and the eyes are close together, and 

 inserted nearly on the crown. The first are generally 

 furnished with scales on their bodies, but the latter have 

 none. These distinctions are obvious to every one, and 

 save us a world of circumlocution and anatomical de- 

 tails. The ScorpcBnince, thus characterised, are again 

 resolvable into five groups, or genera : 1 . Apistes, 2. 



