64 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



Few forms, or even species, exist in the European seas. Scicena and Umbrina 

 have each a species common to the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of Europe, 

 Corvina, one peculiar to the Mediterranean, and Glyphisodon and Heliases, one 

 each in the sea of Madeira, making but five European species in all. None of the 

 Scisenoideae appear to have a wide range ; none cross the Atlantic, and none are 

 common to that sea and either the Indian or Pacific oceans. 



[34.] 1. Sclena (Corvina) Richardsonii. (Cuvier.) TJie Malashegane. 



Family, Sciaenoideae. Genus, Sciaena. Sub-genus, Corvina. Cuvier. 

 Le Corb de Richardson. Cuv. et Val., v., p. 100. 

 Malasheganeh. Cree Indians. 



Plate lxxvii. 



Corvina belongs to the first series of the Scicenoidece, or those which have a 

 double dorsal fin and seven branchiostegous rays. We have here followed the 

 Regne Animal in considering this series as constituting one large genus, named 

 Scicena, and divided into sub-generic groups, which are raised to the rank of genera 

 in the Histoire des Poissons. The characters of the series, or of the extended 

 genus Scicena, are given at some length in a preceding page (61). Corvina differs 

 from the sub-genera Scicena and Otolithus, in the robust form of its anal spine, 

 and from the latter by a second character, viz., the want of canine teeth : the 

 absence of barbels on the lower jaw distinguishes it from Umbrina and Pogonias. 

 The teeth of Corvina also, when closely examined, present a peculiarity of distribu- 

 tion ; they form stripes " en velours " on both jaws, but the outer rows, though 

 even and pointed, are stronger than the others. Boridia and Conodon have the 

 form and other exterior characters of Corvina, but differ in the teeth, the latter 

 having a row of conical teeth exterior to the stripe " en, veloursp and Boridia, the 

 jaws armed with several rows of short, thick, blunt teeth, which ally it to the Spa- 

 roidece, and render it a connecting link between that family and the Scicenoidece. 

 The form of the air-bladder varies considerably in different species of Corvina, 

 being quite simple in some, while in others it sends out horn-like processes which 

 are pointed, branched, or even fringed. The remarkable drum-like noise which 

 the Maigres, or true Scisenae have the power of producing, at a considerable depth 

 in the water, has not been ascribed to the Corvinae. In some Corvinse the pre- 

 operculum has merely a slightly undulated edge, in others it is denticulated or even 



