230 ZOOLOGY. | 
deposit, even in the presence of man, or other fish. The young, when 
hatched, fasten themselves to the back and sides of the parent, who thus. 
transports them to safer localities than the shallow water in which the eggs 
were deposited. The genus Liparis, found in the seas of Arctic America, 
with somewhat the same structure of the sucking-disk as lumpus, is 
without the fleshy ridge on the back, and has a more elongated and 
smooth body. There is a single, rather lengthened, dorsal fin. Echeneis 
is by some included in this family. The genus Callionymus has the ven- 
trals separated and broader than the pectorals. The gill-openings are 
reduced to a small hole on each side of the nape. There are no species in 
American waters. : 
The first genus of the family Buennip# is constituted by Blennius, 
with a single elongated dorsal, the ventrals before the pectorals, and dis- 
tinct, consisting of two rays, united at the base. Teeth slender, in a single 
row. The species of this genus are small, lively fish, living among sea- 
weeds, and possessing, some of them at least, curious crests or cirri over 
the eyes. They derive their name from the shining mucus with which 
their skin is clothed. They are numerous in species on the coast of the 
United States, and form several subdivisions of the old Linnean genus 
Blennius proper, Pholis, Chasmodes, &c. One genus, Zoarces, with the 
dorsal, anal, and caudal united, is ovo-viviparous, a peculrarity in all proba- 
bility shared with it by others. Of this latter genus there are three 
American species. The genus Gunnellus, or butter-fish, has an elongated 
compressed body, and the ventrals rudimentary. The most conspicuous 
fish of this family, however, is the wolf-fish, or sea-cat, Anarrhichas lupus, 
armed more formidably with teeth than any other known species of equal 
size. The dorsal fin is composed of simple rays, and extends from the 
nape to the tail; the anal likewise reaches to the tail. The body is smooth 
and shining. The palatines, vomer, and mandibles, are armed with stout, 
prismatic, grinding teeth, the interiér being longer and conical. The wolf- 
fish is exceedingly voracious, and is the pest of the Arctic seas, where it 
sometimes attains a length of eight feet. It is likewise quite abundant as 
far south as Massachusetts, on the one continent, and England, on the 
other. The flesh is highly esteemed by some, although from its exceed- 
ingly repulsive appearance, it is not often eaten, except by the inhabitants 
of Iceland and Greenland. 
The conclusion of Miiller’s order Acanthoptert is furnished by the family 
Loruiups, characterized by the elongation of the carpal bones, upon which 
the pectoral fin is supported, as on an arm. The branchial apertures 
are small, in the form either of a circular aperture or a vertical slit. 
This family includes genera which are among the most repulsive in 
appearance of all fishes. Conspicuous in this respect is Lophius, known 
by the very large broad head, slender body, broad and thick pectorals, and 
other characters. Lophius piscatorius, or the fishing-frog, angler, wide-gap 
(pl. 81, fig. 28), found in European waters, and L. americanus, are fishes 
which attain to a considerable size, and are objects of interest to fisher- 
men; not so much on their own account, as for the other fishes which 
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