90 ACANTHOPTERYGII. SCIiENAD^E. 
glassy substance, branching from a central one 
like the veins of a leaf ; these lines correspond 
with indentations in the outline. 
When alive in the water, the Gurnards are 
described as being very beautiful ; the gay hues 
with which they are generally adorned possessing 
a glittering brilliancy heightened by the trans- 
parency of the element through which they are 
seen ; more particularly in the rays of the sun, 
when every motion and every turn brings out 
some new play of colour or flash of radiance. 
Family V. SciiENADiE. 
The Maigres are an extensive Family, in- H 
eluding, according to the Prince of Canino’s esti- 1 1 
mate in 1831, two hundred and thirty one If 
species ; but now considered by the same Zoolo- i 
gist to contain but one hundred and sixty five. ) 
Of this large number, four only are found in the i 
European seas, and two are British. The tro- I; 
pical parts of the Atlantic, including the West |' 
Indian Seas, are the great home of the Family; 
some are found in the Indian Ocean, but scarcely 
a single species in the Pacific. I 
In many respects the Maigres resemble the |: 
Perches ; the operculum is armed with spines, j i 
and the pre-operculum is cut into notches like j ! 
the teeth of a saw : they have strong teeth, but |i . 
none in either the vomer or the palate, where |j) 
the Perches are furnished with them; the muz- h 
zle is thickened and obtuse ; the mouth compara- 
tively small ; the back much arched ; the tail 
