percoide^e. 35 



The preceding table presents a general view of the diffusion of the Percoidese. 

 We have found it convenient to divide the ocean into nine districts, the divisions 

 being made, as far as we could, to suit the distribution of this family of fish. To 

 shorten the table, twenty-two genera peculiar to the Indian Ocean and tropical 

 regions of the Pacific, enumerated above, are omitted, the aggregate number of 

 their species merely being inserted. The fresh-water species are included under 

 the head of the seas into which the rivers flow. 



Cuvier, considering the Mulli to have some relations to the Percoidese, has placed 

 them as an appendix to that family, though he says they constitute a perfectly 

 natural genus, which is so isolated that it may be considered as a peculiar family in 

 itself. The genus Mullus is distinguished from other groups of Acanthopterygii 

 by two distinct dorsals ; large and easily detached scales on the head and body ; 

 but principally by two barbels attached to the chin or symphysis of the lower jaw. 

 The term Mullus is retained for a sub-genus which wants teeth on the upper jaw, 

 and that of Upeneus is given to one which has teeth in both jaws. Mullus, in its 

 geographical distribution, is confined to the Black Sea, Mediterranean, and Euro- 

 pean Atlantic, including the Baltic. Upeneus has twenty-seven species in the 

 Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and Pacific *, including the seas of Australia and Japan ; 

 four in the West Indies and Brazils, and one at the Cape Verd Islands, but none 

 of either sub-genus belong to North America. 



* A new species of Upeneus is indicated in Mr. Bennett's Appendix to Beechey's Voyage, as occurring at Oahu, one of 

 the Sandwich Islands. 



f2 



