SCOMBEROIDE.E. 83 



Fauna of Greenland ; but, in the first place, it cannot now be determined what 

 the species was to which Linnaeus gave that appellation, as in his list of Synonyma 

 he has referred to fish of different genera * and from various seas. In the second 

 place, Fabricius did not see the fish himself, but merely learned from the Green- 

 landers, who called it " Kolliooseuternak," that it was extremely rare, and was 

 furnished with four very long threads or tendrils, two of them placed forwards, 

 and two behind. Cuvier thinks that it may have been the Lampris guttatus, 

 winch forms the subject of the next article. 



The following fish of the fourth tribe of Scomberoideee frequent the Atlantic 

 coasts of the United States : — Seriola Boscii, fasciata, leiarchus, zonatus, and 

 cosmopolita, Temnodon saltator, Coryphcena Sueurii, Pteraclis Carolinus, and 

 Rhombus longipinnus and cryptosus. 



[39.] 1. Zeus (Lampris) guttatus. (Retzius.) The Opah. 



Family, Scomberoideae, Cuvier. Genus, Zeus, Linn. Sub-genus, Lampris, Retzius. 



Piscis maculis anreis aspersus, non scriptus. Sibbai.d, Scotia III., t. vi., f. 3. An. 1683. 



A curious fish, &c. Bigland and Mortimer. Phil. Tr., xlvi., p. 518. An. 1750. 



Opah doree. Penn. Br. Zoo/., iii., p. 299, t. 46. 



Zeus opah. Idem, Arct. Zoo/, suppl., p. 419, No. 102. An. 1785. 



" Zeus guttatus. Brunnich in Nya Sanding, iii., p. 398, t. A." 



" Lampris guttatus. Retzius, Nya Hand/., iii., p. 91. An. 1799.'' Cuv. Reg, An., ii., p. 21 1. 



Zeus luna. Schneider, Blochii ' syst., p. 96. An. 1801. 



The Linnean genus Zeus, as restricted by Cuvier, comprehends fish which have 

 a compressed body, a very protractile mouth, small scales, and few and feeble 

 teeth. In the protrusive jaws it resembles the Msenoideee, and differs from the 

 Scomberoideae, with which, indeed, it is not connected by many other external 

 characters than the smallness of the scales. It is divisible into several sub-genera, 

 as Zeus (Cuv.), in which the spines of the notched dorsal are accompanied by long 

 strips of membrane, and there is a row of forked spines along the base of that fin 

 and of the anal. The type of this sub-genus is the well-known " John Dory " 

 (jaune doree), which has stood high in the estimation of English epicures, since 

 the time that Quin made the discovery of its excellent flavour. A second sub- 

 genus, the Capros of Lacepede, contains only the Zeus aper of Linnaeus, a Medi- 

 terranean fish. It has the notched dorsal of the dories, with still more protractile 

 jaws, but wants the forked spines at the bases of the dorsal and anal : its whole 

 body is covered with rough scales. The sub-genus JEquula contains small fishes, 



* Ga/lichthys, Aryyreyo&us, Vomer, &c. 



M 2 



