5 12 Anacantiis. FISHES. Leptocephai.ids. 
bread mixed with oil, spices and Cretan wine, and 
then boiling them carefully for some time in a cloth. 
In Pennant’s day, vast quantities of lampreys were 
OltDER II.— ANACANTHS 
Fins supported by flexible or jointed rays ; ventrals 
present in some groups, absent in others; when present, 
most commonly beneath the pectorals. Skeleton soft 
or indurated, but in the latter case, having merely an 
osteoid structure, differing from true bone in the 
absence of radiated or fusiform bone - corpuscles.— 
{Kdlliker.) Dermal skeleton in the form of cycloid 
scales in some, in others as ctenoid scales. Swim- 
bladder having no air-duct ; often wholly absent. 
With this order we enter on the Fishes Proper 
of Agassiz, which have one gill opening on each side 
with an operculum, though in a few instances the 
openings are so approximated on the mesial line of the 
throat, as to appear single externally. The heart 
consists of a linear series of four cavities, viz., the 
venous sinus, the auricle, the ventricle, and the arterial 
hull). This bulb has generally a pair of semilunar 
valves at its orifice, but wants the interior rows of 
valves which exist in the Ganoids and Placoids or 
Plagiostoines. 
Family I.— LEPTOCEPHALIDS.— (Plate3,fig. 12.) 
Kolliker, who has examined skeletons of the Lepto- 
cephali or Tape-fishes under the microscope, says, that 
the bones are structureless homogeneous substances, 
and, indeed, in most of the species the induration is 
confined to the jaws, teeth, and some portions of the 
skull, so that, when one of these delicate creatures is 
laid out on paper, and suffered to diy, it becomes a 
mere film, in which, nevertheless, the internal structure 
may be traced. One species, named the Morris, occurs 
on the British coasts; and the others which much 
resemble it, are fishes of a small size, greatly com- 
pressed, with a lancet-shaped profile, destitute of scales, 
and so diaphanous that the arrangements of the mus- 
cular fibres and of the internal organs are distinctly 
visible. The dorsal and anal fins are narrow cutaneous 
seams which unite at the point of the tail to form an 
acute or a bluntish, and, in one species, a forked caudal 
fin, with generally perceptible rays. Some members 
of the family have pectorals, others want these fins, 
and only one known species (Esunculus) has ventrals. 
Some Tape-fishes have a series of strong acute teeth 
on the jaws ; others appear to be toothless. The 
genera belonging to the family, which is co-extensive 
with the sub-order of Helmichthyans are charac- 
terized by Dr. Kaup in his catalogue of the apodal 
fishes in the British Museum, under the following names, 
Esunculus, Hyprorus, Oxystomus, and Leptocephalus, 
and are generally diffused over the temperate parts of 
the ocean in both hemispheres. The British species 
called Morris {Leptocephalus Morrisii), inhabits the 
Mediterranean sea also ; and in the museum of Haslar 
taken in the Thames, near Mortlake, and sold to the 
Dutch, who salted them for use as baits in the Turbot 
fishery. 
(No Spinous Fin-rays.) 
Hospital there is a specimen, which, having been 
brought up from the deep in the eruption of Graham’s 
i.sland, was picked by a naval officer from the smoking 
cliffs of that short-lived volcano. Stoma siunculus and 
Porohranchus are two new Leptocephalid forms 
recently discovered by Dr. Kaup. 
Family II.— OPHIDIOIDS.— (Plate 2, fig. 9.) 
These Apodal Anacanttis are elongated cycloid- 
scaled fish, more or less compressed and lancet-shaped 
posteriorly, without ventrals, and having the tip of the 
tail edged by the vertical fins without a break. 
The genera are — M achcerium, Opliidium, Gymnelis, Fierasfer, 
and Encheliopliis, the last-named being destitute of pectorals as 
well as ventrals. 
None of these fish are of importance in an eco- 
nomical point of view, though tlieir transitional char- 
acters, and the uncertainty of their true affinities have 
directed the attention of systematic ichthyologists 
towards them. The Bearded Ophidium, which is a 
Gymnelis, and Drummond’s Fierasfer, itdiabit the 
British seas. 
Family III.— AMMODYTIDS.— (Plate 2, fig. 10.) 
This family is composed of Sand-launces, which 
are elongated, scabhard- shaped, apodal fishes, with 
large lateral gill-openings, cycloid scales, three sei)arate 
vertical fins, supported by unbranched but jointed rays, 
and having the anal opposite to the posterior half of 
the long dorsal. They have neither pyloric coeca 
nor a swim-bladder. Ammodytes is the only genus ; 
and two species, known on our coasts by the names of 
Sand-eels, Horn-eels, Sand-launces, and Biggies, bur- 
row in the moist sands when the tide ebbs, and are 
raked out by fishermen to serve as bait. 
Family IV.— GADOIDS.— (Plate 6, figs. 29, 30.) 
These Thoracic Anacanths are second in importance 
to no family of fishes, the fisheries established for their 
capture yielding a great quantity of nutritive food, and 
being the means of training up many thousands of 
able and hardy seamen. The members of the family 
are more or less elongated, generally with tumid 
bellies. The ventrals are suhbrachial or jugular, have 
seldom much spread, and are sometimes mere fila- 
ments; the dorsals are one, two, or three in number, all 
anacanthous ; the scales are cycloid, small and soft. 
Card-like or rasp-like patches of teeth cover tho 
jaws, front of the vomer, and occasionally the palatines. 
The branchiostegals are seven in number ; the air- 
