106 ACANTHOPTERYGII. — CPI^TODONTID^E. 
by which they are encrusted like the rest of the 
body ; and thus their origin is not readily dis- 
tinguished. Their form is generally exceedingly 
thin, but being greatly dilated in the vertical 
direction, and much shortened longitudinally, 
their appearance, at least in the typical genera, 
approaches to that of a piece of money, more or 
less nearly, that is, round and thin. The teeth are 
fine, long, and slender, resembling hairs collected 
in several close row^s, like the bristles of a brush. 
The name Chcetodon^ by which Linnaeus desig- 
nated the whole Family, signifies hristle-tooth^ 
and describes this peculiarity of dentition. The 
mouth is small, and usually projects in a pro- 
minent and pointed snout. The fins are usually 
much developed, particularly the dorsal and anal, 
the former of which sometimes terminates in one 
or more free filaments of great length and slender- 
ness, as in the genera Heniochus and Zanclus^ for 
example. In the genus Psettus, the body is so 
drawn out above and below, and the dorsal and 
anal fins are so pointed and hooked, that the fish 
when laid on its side, bears no slight resemblance 
to the figure of a bat with expanded wings. 
Platax has these fins still more enormously 
lengthened and pointed, as are, in this genus, the 
ventrals also. 
The beauty of these fishes, which are generally 
of very small size, never fails to evoke the admi-, 
ration of those who, with eyes opened to the 
wonderful works of Grod, visit the shores of the 
tropical seas. In the Chaetodons,” observes an 
eloquent naturalist, the seas of the torrid zone 
possess animals not less ornamented by the hand 
of Nature [rather by the hand of Nature’s Lord], 
