SPAROIDE^E. 71 



This family is characterised by the oval form of the body, a spiny, undivided, 

 scaleless dorsal, jaws not protractile, a toothless palate, unarmed opercular pieces, 

 gill-rays not exceeding six, and few caeca. It is distinguished from the Scisenoidese 

 by the unarmed gill-covers and the form of the cranium, which is not cavernous 

 and does not bulge out : from the Cheetodontoidese by the vertical fins not being 

 enveloped in scales ; and from the Scomberoidese by the largeness of the scales on 

 the body. The dentition supplies characters for the division of the family into four 

 tribes, or genera as they are reckoned in the Regne Animal. The first (Sparus) 

 has the sides of the jaws armed with molars, or round teeth like paving stones. 

 The anterior teeth may be either cutting, or conical, or like the pile of velvet, and 

 the molars may be in many rows, or in two, or in a single row, and very small — 

 the sub-genera being characterised by the combination of these various kinds of 

 dentition. The second tribe, or genus (Dentex), has conical teeth, even on the 

 sides of the jaws, several (two, four, or more) of the anterior ones being longer and 

 more or less hooked, resembling canines. There are also generally narrow strips 

 of card-like, or velvet-like teeth, behind the others. The third tribe ( Cantharus) 

 has the teeth in form of velvet pile only, or in card-like plates. Lastly, the fourth 

 (Boops and Oblatd) has the edges of the jaws armed with cutting teeth in a single 

 row, either with or without velvet-like plates behind, or small tubercular teeth, but 

 never accompanied by rounded molars. 



The Sparoidese belong more to the European and Indian or South seas, than to 

 the American side of the Atlantic. Four species, viz., Sargus ovis, S. rhomboi- 

 dalis, Chrysophrys acideata, and Pagrus argyrops, frequent the coasts of the 

 United States as high as New York ; and some of these, it is probable, may range 

 as far north as the British possessions, but we have no evidence of such being the 

 fact. Some of the trivial names by which these fish are known in the United 

 States, such as " Sheepshead," or " Tete de mouton" are used in the Canadas to 

 designate fish of other families. No one Sparoid species is known to exist on both 

 sides of the Atlantic. 



