146 ACANTHOPTERYGII. — CEPOLAD^. 
inducing a habit of keeping near the ground, or 
occasionally seeking cavities among rocks for 
shelter, thus render them liable to be left dry by | 
the retiring tide, or destroyed by the force of 
waves dashing them against such opposing sub- j 
stances ? The combination of great length with j 
extreme tenuity of body, by diminishing the | 
quantity of muscle, and at the same time pre- i| 
venting its being brought into concentrated | 
action upon a single centre of motion, must | 
necessarily leave them at all times much at the | 
mercy of the currents, amid which they may [| > 
wriggle or float, but against which they are evi- j 
dently incapable of swimming with any vigor- i : 
ous effort ; by their struggles in the ocean, they j 
cannot fail to be speedily exhausted, and they i 
are rejected by the waves like inanimate matter, 
upon any coast towards which the winds may 
have driven them. All observers agree that the | 
taenioid [or ribbon-like] fishes are decidedly i 
pelagic/’ ^ 
According to Mr. Swainson, one species at ! 
least of the genus is quite commonly met with on 
the coasts of Sicily, and is habitually exposed for i 
sale in the fish-shambles of that island. From i 
other sources, however, we learn that the flavour !| 
of its flesh is not held in much esteem. M. Risso [! 
asserts that on the Mediterranean coasts of 
France, the Band-fish lives principally among I 
sea-weeds in the vicinity of the shore, feeding on ^ 
crustaceous and molluscous animals. The state- 
ments of these naturalists, therefore, do not seem 
to confirm the general opinion of the oceanic 
habits of this Family; or at least imply a less 
* British Fishes, i. 227. 
