CLASSIFICATION OP FISHES, ETC. 



270 



the second, and the anal, 

 long and linear ; caudal 

 truncate ; scales small, 

 hard : ventral fin hardly 

 before the pectoral. 



T. draco Linn. 

 Yarrell. (Jig 80.) 



^^^^ 



5. SuBFAM. PLATICEPHALIN^. Flatheads. 



Head and body broad and depressed ; ventral fins and 

 eyes large, the latter vertical ; form slender ; dorsal fins 

 two ; body scaly ; no tubercles or filanlents on the head. 



Platycephalus Cuv. Head large, long, very broad ; 

 armed with acute spines ; muzzle produced ; mouth 

 opening horizontally, but the under jaw longest ; 

 dorsal fins two, nearly equal ; pectoral broad, and 

 reaching to the sides of the throat ; ventral fin 

 very large, as long as the pectoral, and placed behind 

 it ; caudal rounded ; gill membrane seven rayed ; 

 palate with sharp teeth. 



asper. Cuv. and Val. pi. 82. grandispinis. Griff, pi. 16. f. 1. 



Bembras Cuv. General form of Platycephalus, but 

 the head is only as broad as it is high ; pectoral fins 

 ratlier small, and not much longer than the ventrals ; 

 which latter, as in Trachinus, are placed before the 

 pectorals ; mouth horizontal ; both jaws equal ; dorsal 

 fins two ; tail rather lengthened ; caudal fin truncate ; 

 velvet-like teeth in the jaws, palatines, and vomer. 

 B. Japonicus. Cuv. and Val. iv. 282. pi. 83. 



Family 4-. COTTID.E. Bull-heads. Miller's Thumb. 



Ventral fins small, imperfect, generally of three, but 

 never more than four, rays, and placed behind the pec- 

 torals ; body naked, or with patches only of minute 

 scales ; head large, broad, depressed, armed with spines 

 and tubercles ; mouth large ; small teeth on the jaws and 



