702 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
found it much inferior to the latter. The flesh of older 
specimens is tough and rank. “As the Sheatflsh has ; 
no scales,” says Holm, “the Jews are not allowed to eat 
it — a privation which, in my opinion, they need not 
regret. To render the flesh eatable, the fat must first 
be boiled away, and the tish then boiled again in wine 
and with plenty of spices to remove its nauseous flavour.” 
In Sweden, however, the Sheatflsh is so seldom caught 
that it is of little economical importance. To the fish- 
mongers of Stockholm it seems to be almost unknown. 
In Russia the case is different. From Astrachan for 
example, according to Grimm, about 1 2 / 3 million kilo- 
grammes of salted Sheatflsh are annually exported. In 
1881 three-fifths of this quantity was taken in the River 
Koora and one-fifth in the Black Sea. The total annual 
catch of Sheatflsh in the Black and Caspian Seas, in- 
cluding the nearest parts of the Russian rivers that flow 
into them, is estimated by Grimm at 4 1 / 5 million kgm. 
of flesh and 16,000 kgm. of fish-glue, the latter manu- 
factured from the air-bladder. This is a tough glue, but 
inferior to (more impure than) genuine isinglass. The 
skin of the Sheatflsh is used by the Russians and Tar- 
tars to glaze their windows; and they boil down the 
fat into lamp-oil (Pallas). 
The usefulness of the Sheatflsh is counterbalanced 
by the damage caused by its voracity, and Day con- 
gratulates his country on the failure of the attempts to 
introduce the Sheatflsh into England. 
CYPMNOMORPHI. 
Physostomes with the shoulder-girdle (as usual among the Teleosts ) suspended to the head. Coracoscapular disk 
strengthened internally by an arch formed by a special bone (os prcecoracoideum) from the coracoid bone to the 
clavicle or the upper (anterior) margin of the scapula. The first four abdominal vertebrce deviating more or less 
distinctly from the normal vertebral form , and partly metamorphosed into so-called acoustic bones. ITyomandibular 
and ptery go-palatine arches as well as the opercular apparatus complete. Maxillary bones fully developed. No 
jaw-teeth. Body naked or covered with cycloid scales. Head generally naked , at least on the sides and snout". 
This series of families was established, as Ave have 
mentioned above, by Cope under the name of Plecto- 
spondyli , but according to his definition thereof is far 
less natural than the preceding series. On the one hand 
it includes in his Avorks the so-called Salmon-Carps 
(Characinidce), inhabitants of the tropical regions of 
Africa and America, with the posterior part of the edge 
of the mouth formed, as in the Salmonidce , by the ma- 
xillary bones and, in the great majority of the genera, 
Avith an adipose fin on the posterior part of the dorsal 
margin, as in the Salmons. On the other hand the series 
excludes the so-called Toothed Carps (Cyprinodontidce), 
a tropical and subtropical Carp-like family Avith range 
extending round the globe, destitute, it is true, of the 
osseous connexion between the air-bladder and the sac- 
cate extensions of the cranial cavity and also Avithout 
praccoracoid bone, but with the edge of the mouth 
formed, as in the Carp-fishes, by the intermaxillaries 
alone, though these bones, in contradistinction to those 
of the Carp-fishes, are furnished Avith teeth. If we add 
to this that the Salmon-Carps, like the Salmons, have 
Avell-developed pyloric appendages, Avhile the Toothed 
Carps, like the Carp-fishes, are destitute thereof, Ave 
have sufficient anatomical grounds for breaking up the 
series Plectospondyli. The series then acquires, with the 
above characters, the same limitation as Gunther’s fa- 
mily Cyprinidce , its members being restricted to the 
chiefly Asiatic Loach-fishes (Cobitidce) and Stone Carps 
(Homaloptericlce), the Carp-fishes (Cyprinidce) of the 
Old World and North America, and the Suckers (Cato- 
stomidce), chiefly from North America. All these fishes 
have the edge of the mouth formed, at least for the 
most part, by the intermaxillary bones, Avith the maxil- 
laries lying above and behind them, and all are Avith- 
out jaAV-teeth. Only tA\ r o of these families are re- 
presented in the Scandinavian fauna. 
A: Air-bladder entirely or partly enclosed in 
an osseous capsule; at least six barbels... Fam. Cobitidce. 
B: Air-bladder without osseous capsule; at 
most four (or no) barbels Fam. Cyprividce. 
a The genera Lepidocephcdus and Lepidocephalichthys , Cobitidce from India and Further India, are furnished, however, with scales on 
the sides of the head. See Bleeker, All. Ichth. hid. Or., tome III, p. 12 and Day, Fish. Ind ., p. 601*. 
