234 



CLASSIFICATIOX OF FISHES. 



Orders of 

 Fishes. 



Families of 

 Malgcopteryges. 



Analogies. 



Families of the 

 Cartilagixes. 



Malacopteryges. SalrnoyiidiB. 



AcAXTHOPTERYGEs. PleuTonectidcE, 



Afodes. 



Plegtogxathes . 



Cartilagixes. 



Gadi(ke. 



S'duridce. 



Cobitidcs. 



{ 

 { 



■ Squalidce. 



' I Raidcs. 



Body lengthened , 



dorsal fins fully i 

 developed, one or ( 

 two. 



f Body depressed, 

 \_ flat, rhomboid. 

 Tail long, nearly t 



surrounded by V ChimcBridcs . 



the ventral fin. j 



Body mailed, teeth T 

 small : mouth >■ SturionidcB. 

 ■with cirri. j 



fMouth beneath the"] 

 I muzzle ; partak- j 

 ■\ ing of the carti- yPrionidce. 



1 laginous struc- 

 L ture. 



■J 



We have already compared the primary orders of 

 fishes with those of the great classes of the animal 

 kingdom_, and also with the families of the CartUagines; 

 nothing further, therefore, need be said on this subject, 

 than to remind the reader, that these analogies give 

 him a clue by which he can trace the most remote rami- 

 fications of these relations in the classes of birds and 

 quadrupeds. In the present instance^ nevertheless, we 

 have introduced the orders of fishes in a separate column, 

 to show more perfectly the wonderful harmony and unity 

 of design — far greater than the wit of man could de- 

 vise — which pervades these otherwise singularly varied 

 groups. Here, in fact, we see that, by simply placing 

 the soft-finned fishes in juxtaposition to the cartila- 

 ginous order, we have the Pleuronectidce standing op- 

 posite to the Ra idee, as their bond fide representatives. 

 The GadidcE represent the slender- tailed CMmcEridcE, — 

 the latter being the only cartilaginous fish, yet discovered, 

 having an eel-shaped tail — that is, gradually attenuated 

 from the belly to a point, and bordered beneath by a 

 long ventral. The mailed Siluridce so completely repre- 

 sent the mailed sturgeons, that the Loricaria rostrata 

 of Spix might easily be taken, at the first glance^ for an 

 Acipenser; and what is still more singular, the sturgeons, 

 and the genera which represent them*, are the only 



* Squatina, CrossarcAus, &c. 



