MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES. 



The second division of osseous fishes is named Malacopterygian, or Soft-finned, 

 because all the rays of the fins are articulated, excepting sometimes the first of the 

 dorsal or pectorals. It can be conveniently divided into three orders, named 

 Abdominal, Jugular, and Apodal, from the position of the ventrals on the hinder 

 part of the belly, their suspension to the humeral bones, or their total absence. 

 The first order, or that in which the ventrals are attached to the belly behind the 

 pectorals, but unconnected with the humeral bones, is the most numerous of the 

 three, and includes most of the fresh-water fish. It contains five families, of which 

 the first is the 



CYPRINOIDE.E. 



Fish of this family are readily distinguishable by their slightly-cleft mouth, fur- 

 nished with weak and frequently toothless jaws bordered by the intermaxil- 

 laries ; by their strongly-toothed pharyngeal bones ; and by the fewness of their 

 gill-rays. They have a scaly body, no adipose fin, a stomach destitute of a cul de 

 sac, and no pyloric caeca. They abound in the fresh waters of all quarters of the 

 world, and are the least carnivorous of fishes. They exist in the arctic regions of 

 the North American continent, as high as the 68th parallel, though it is remark- 

 able that none occur in the Fauna Grcenlandica, nor were any detected on the 

 North Georgian islands, or Boothian peninsula, by the recent expeditions. The 

 following North American species are indicated in the Regne Animal : — Barbus 

 species novce ; Labeo cyprinus {Catastomus cyprinus, Le Sueur); Catastomus, 

 17 species; Leuciscus species novce ; Pcecilia muliilineata, Le Sueur; Lebias 

 ellipso'idea, Lie Sueur ; Fundulus ccenicolus, Valenciennes (Cobitis heteroclita, 

 Linn., Mud-fish, Schcepf.) ; Fundulus fasciatus, Valen. (Esox pisciculus et 

 zonatus, Mitch.) ; Molinesia latipinna, Le Sueur; Cyprinodon flavulus, Valen. 

 {Esox flavulus, Mitch., Pcecilia majalis, Schn.) ; Cyprinodon ovinus (Esox 

 ovinus, Mitch.). In Dr. MitchilPs paper on the New York fish, we find the fol- 

 lowing, which are not in the above list: Cyprinus oblongus, very probably a Labeo; 



