RIBBON-FISHES. 
141 
, these two characters, thinness and length, are 
found in so extraordinary a degree, as to suggest 
j the idea of a piece of tape, or ribbon ; each of 
which fabrics has given a name to its members. 
So gradual indeed, is the transition from the 
I ScombridcB to the Cepoladcs, that certain of the 
I connecting forms have been placed by some na- 
turalists in the one, and by others in the other, 
j Thus Pteraclis^ that singular American fish be- 
i fore referred to (see the engraving on page 55), 
! has the compressed silver-plated body of the 
' Ribbon-fishes, with the fins (in excess) of the 
: Coryphenes ; and is, by Cuvier, assigned to the 
: latter ; by Swainson to the former ; while of the 
I Silvery Hair- tails {Trichiurus)^ and the Scabbard- 
; fishes {Lepidopus) the reverse is true ; the French 
1 zoologist marshalling them in the ranks of the 
, Ribbon-fishes, the English giving them com- 
i panionship with the Coryphenes. 
i The technical characters, as indicated by 
Cuvier, which belong to this Family, are some- 
what vague; being simply the following : these 
: fishes are long, fiattened sidewise, and have very 
I minute scales.” Each of these characters, how- 
1 ever, we have seen to belong to some of the 
i Scombridce, only in a rather less extreme degree. 
Thirty-four species are at present included in the 
Family ; the majority of which have been made 
known at a comparatively recent period. They 
are for the most part pelagic in their habits ; that 
is, they rove in the open sea, far from the land, 
i The warmer parts of all the oceans produce them, 
and not a few are natives of the Mediterranean. 
I Some extend their range into the colder seas of 
I the north, and two or three species are occa- 
