204) CLASSIFICATION OF FISHES. 



with cirri : the branchia are only three^ and the spiracle 

 small; in other respects, their skeleton, — the situation 

 of the pectoral and anal fins^ the vertical position of the 

 eyes and of the mouthy — all approximate these hideous 

 fishes to the Chironectidce, with which they were placed 

 by Linnaeus in his genus LopMus. The angler^ or fish- 

 ing frog, of Britain, is a good example : it is said to 

 hide itself among weeds and mud, where, by agitating 

 the long filiform processes on the head, it attracts the 

 small fishes upon which it preys. How far the genus 

 Batrachus of authors, as it now stands, forms a part, 

 if any, of this group, it is almost impossible to deter- 

 mine. It seems clear to us, that several distinct types, 

 naturally belonging to groups in the acanthopterygious 

 order, have been placed in this ; the essential characters 

 of which are, that the skeleton is semi -cartilaginous', the 

 skin invariably destitute of true scales, and the pectoral 

 and ventral fins pedunculated. M. Agassiz has not 

 failed to remark the affinity of such fish as his Batrachus 

 punctulatus* to Coitus, Uranoscopus, and Trachinus, 

 with which we believe they are truly connected ; but so 

 much obscurity hangs over this group, that we shall 

 restrict it, for the present, to those which are destitute 

 of true scales, however small, and whose ventral fins 

 are, in some measure, pedunculated. 



(182.) We place the Syngnathid^ as the last and 

 most aberrant type of this order, to which it is to be 

 referred on account of its imperfect skeleton, its spi- 

 raculated aperture, and the slight development of all 

 those characters which constitute the typical perfection 

 of fishes. Place these singular-looking creatures where 

 we will, they remain, at present, a very detached 

 group ; while, if the modification of their branchia, 

 partly composed of little tufts, is of such primary im- 

 portance^ the Silurian Heterohranchi of Geoffroy Saint- 

 Hilaire have an equal claim to be classed as the re- 

 presentatives of a distinct order. The mode of re- 



* Spix and Agass. Brazilian Fishes, pi. 1^. 



