SPINE-TAILS. 
147 
exclusive applicability of it to this particular 
genus. According to the last named authoritjj 
1 the common species has obtained at Nice, the 
names of Fire -flame and Red-ribbon ; the former 
of v^hich appellations it owes to its glittering ap- 
I pearance, as it shoots, meteor-like, through the 
I water. 
The appropriateness of the term Ribbon-fish to 
this species, is well-shown by an incident re- 
corded ill the Magazine of Natural History for 
I 1838, A specimen, which had been obtained 
on the Irish coast, was sent to Mr. W, Thompson 
I of Belfast, through the post-office. The penny 
j stamp was not at that time introduced, but the 
|i fish, though nineteen and a-half inches in length, 
I having been carefully folded up like a ribbon^ 
I passed in a franked letter of the ordinary size, 
!; and legal weight, viz., less than an ounce, 
i 
I 
Family XI. Teuthidid^. 
(Spine-tails,) 
This is a compact and very natural Family, 
[ containing a great number of species, many of 
which are remarkable for the beauty of their 
forms, and for the brilliancy of their colours. 
About eighty species are enumerated, excluding 
the extensive genus Siganus^ placed here by 
Cuvier, but which seems rather to belong to the 
Mackerel alliance. They are exclusively natives 
j of the warmer parts of the globe; the tropical 
j seas of both hemispheres, especially those of the 
I East and West Indies, being the chief homes of 
I the Family. 
