THE SALMONIDiE. 



CHIEF DIVISIONS. 



237 



(212.) W"e shall now take a more particular view of 

 the several families composing this order; always noticing 

 the most remarkable or prominent forms in each^ and 

 occasionally pausing to trace the analogies of such as 

 appear more particularly interesting, or as necessary to 

 show the reasons of our arrangement being so different 

 from those of our predecessors. The families will be 

 reviewed in the same order as we have already noticed 

 them, viz. — 1. the Salmonidce ; 2. the Pleuronectidcs ; 

 3. the GadidcB; 4. the SiluridcB; and, 5. the Cohitidce. 



(215.) The Salmonid^, or salmons, appear to resolve 

 themselves into five principal groups or sub-families, 

 all of which are represented by the Linnaean genera 

 Cyprinus, Salmo, Clupea, Esox, and Mormyrus. The 

 few characters common to them all have been already 

 intimated : where so much diversity of structure exists, 

 a corresponding difference of habits will be found ; and 

 these had better be noticed under the separate divisions 

 of the family. 



(214.) The CyprincB, or carps, form a most exten- 

 sive division of fish, entirely confined to fresh waters. 

 Their numbers are much more abundant in the old 

 world than in the new, and many species inhabit the 

 rivers and lakes of temperate Europe. The carp (^Cy- 

 prinus Carpio Linn., fig. 46.), perch, roach, and several 



other native fishes, are familiar examples of the genera 

 construction of the whole. They are the most herbi- 

 vorous of all fish — feeding chiefly upon aquatic vege- 

 tables, like their prototypes the eels ; to which, although 



