2 
CYPRINIDJE. 
of stomachs as in quadrupeds of the ruminating order; as indeed 
rumination seems to take place in some of them, in ■which the 
stomach is of the more simple form. Professor Owen remarks 
that the muscular action of a fish’s stomach consists of vermicular 
contraction, creeping slowly in succession from the upper orifice 
to the lower, and impressing a two-fold gyratory motion on 
the contents; so that while some portions are proceeding to the 
lower, other portions are returning towards the upper; but 
only portions of digested food are permitted to pass into the 
intestine. Coarser portions of the food return into the gullet, 
and are brought again within the sphere of the pharyngeal 
jaws. The fishes which afford the best evidence of this 
ruminating action are the Cyprinoids — Carp, Tench, Bream. 
In them the successive regurgitations of the contents of the 
stomach produce actions of the pharyngeal jaws as the half- 
bruised food comes into contact witli them, and excite the 
singular tumefaction and subsidence of the irritable palate, often 
termed the tongue, as portions of the regurgitated food are 
pressed upon it. 
The species of this family which are inhabitants of the warmer 
portions of the world, and especially those which are described 
by Mr. Maclellan, as found in India, (in the second part of the 
nineteenth volume of “Asiatic Ecsearches,”) are very numerous; 
and so closely are they joined together in affinity of form and 
habits that much difficulty has been experienced in arranging 
them in lesser sections or genera. In doing this, Cuvier appears 
to lay much stress on the length or shortness of the single 
dorsal fin, or on its situation forward or behind; and in a less 
degree on the presence or absence of barbels at the mouth, 
which ai'e organs we might suppose to be of importance, .as 
being fitted to some particular habits in these fishes, as we know 
them to be in the fiimily of Codfishes. jMr. Maclellan remarks 
on this subject, that in none of the Barbels, Cirrhins, or 
Gudgeons, nor in any of the groups which feed on plants, 
shell-fish, or other objects obtiuned by scraping or rooting in 
mud, do we find anything like a soft or sensible tongue, the 
office of which is in many cases better performed by the barbs; 
■which organs are soft and capable of being contracted or 
lengthened, as well as the loose muscular appendages to which 
they are attached. 
