Cycloid Acanthoptekes.- 
-FISHES.- 
-COKYPH^MDS. 
137 
well-known works we must refer the reader. Want 
of space compels us also to omit the details of the 
klackerel fishery, in which British capital and industry 
are so largely employed. 
The Coulizou or Chicaro {Caranx Plumieri) of the 
West Indies becomes so venomous at times when its 
bones are red, that it is used as a poison for rats. The 
Shoemaker of Martinique is the Blepharis sutor of 
ichthyologists ; and the Skip-jack of English mariners 
is the Temnodon saltator. The Pilot-fish (Naucrates 
ductor) is in the habit of accompanying sharks, not, we 
apprehend, as a guide or monitor, according to vulgar 
report, but for the purpose of picking up any morsels 
of food that may escape from the jaws of the monsters. 
The same instinct leads it to follow ships for many 
days, to pick up offal. 
Family XXX.— CORTPH^NIDS 
( Coryphmnoidai) , 
These are thoracic Scomberoids, furnished with a 
long dorsal supported by flexible rays, the majority of 
which are not jointed. Scales cover the three vertical 
fins partially. Body long and compressed, with the 
head trenchant above. In some members palatine 
teeth are present; others have these bones smooth. 
Some genera are apodal. The scales are small. 
The family consists of Coryphcsna ; Lampugm ; PteracUs ; 
Astrodermus (or Diana, Risso) ; Ausonia (Risso) ; Lampi-is 
(or Apolectus) •, Stromatem; Stromateoides (Bleekev); Peprihis; 
and Ceniroloplms. 
Two species of Centrolophus have been detected in 
the British seas — one the rare Black-fish {C. pom- 
pilus), and the other the C. hritannicus, of which a 
solitary example was taken in the sea off Polperro, 
and described by Dr. Giinther. The Coryphsenas, or 
Dolphins of modern seamen, are exceeded in beauty 
by none of the finny tribes; and the elegance and 
rapidity of their movements, the purity and brilliancy 
of their varying colours — in which rich blues and 
emerald greens predominate — together with a kind of 
sociability which causes these fish to accompany a 
ship for many days together, render them pleasing 
objects of study to the voyager in the tropical seas. 
Being oceanic fishes that rarely approach the coast, 
they are not objects of any special fishing, yet they 
furnish an agreeable change of diet to seamen tired of 
salt meat, their flesh being firm though somewhat dry. 
No ancient author has given a description of these 
fishes by which they can be recognized. The Dolphins 
of Orion are cetaceans. The Pomfrets {Stromateus) 
are much esteemed articles of diet in the East Indies, 
as is also the Harvest-fish {Peprilus) of the Caribbees. 
The King-fish {Lampris), a third British member of 
the family, attains the weight of two hundred pounds 
or more, and is remarkable for the beauty of its skin 
and the excellence of its flesh, which is like that of 
the salmon in flavour. It is only too rare. 
Family XXXI.— ZEIDS (.HeHie).— Plate 11, fig. 54. 
These are thoracic fishes, with very protractile 
mouths, armed with feeble and not numerous teeth. 
VoL. II. 74 
Their skin is either naked, or clothed with small scales 
imbedded in the skin, and sometimes carrying small, 
bony, spiniferous shields along the bases of the fins or 
elsewhere. They are closely allied to the Scomberoids 
by their cranial crests, their complicated pancreatic 
caeca, and by other parts of their internal structure. 
Their bodies are high and compressed, and are sur- 
mounted by one or two dorsals. 
Tlie genera are — Zeus ; Capros ;* Cnprnphonus (MUller and 
Troschel) ; Lampris ; Equula ; and Mene. 
The Dory or John Dory {Zeus faber) is a British 
fish, which has maintained a considerable repute ever 
since Quin pronounced it to be a good fish. The spots 
on the sides are vulgarly supposed to be the marks 
made by St. Peter’s thumb when he took the tribute 
penny from its mouth ; and according to Belon it is 
called Christopsaron in modern Greek, and is fre- 
quently suspended in the Greek churches by fishermen. 
The words Zeus and faber are used synonymously by 
Pliny, and occur in other Latin authors ; but they did 
not, as far as can be judged by the little that is said of 
them, mean the Dory. The Boar-fish {Capros aper) 
is another British fish, much less common than the 
Dory, and of very inferior value for the table. 
Family XXXIL— XIPHIADS or SWORD-FISHES 
{Xiphicedce) — Plate 10, fig. 53 — 
Are elongated fishes, with a long tapering acute snout, 
composed for most of its length of the vomer and pre- 
maxillaries, but supported at its base by the nasals, 
frontals, and maxillaries; the prefrontals lie between 
the snout and the orbits. The dorsal fins are single 
or double, long and high, but wearing down in the 
middle by age, so that a single one becomes two. 
Some genera have ventrals, others are apodal; none 
have detached finlets. The intestines resemble those 
of the Tunny. 
This group forms a division of the Scomberoids in the 
Bistohe des polssons, and contains the following genera — • 
Xiphias; Tetrapiurus; Makaira; Histiopliorus; and Nemichthys 
(Richardson). 
The Sword-fish {XipAias gladius) has been observed 
at various times in the British seas, but is much more 
common in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, and was 
well known to the ancients. Brydone says that “ the 
taking of the Pesce spada., or Sword-fish, is a much more 
noble diversion than the killing of the Tunny. No art 
is used to ensnare him, but with a small harpoon fixed 
to a long line the fisher attacks him in the open seas, 
and will often strike him from a very considerable dis- 
tance. It is exactly the whale-fishing in miniature. 
The Sicilian fishermen have a Greek sentence which 
they use as a charm to bring him near their boats, and 
they pretend that it is of wonderful efficacy ; but if the 
fish should unfortunately overhear them speak a word 
of Italian, he plunges under water, and will appear no 
more.” Kircher took down the words of the charm 
* Microzeus of Blyth (1859), placed by its describer among 
the Zeidoe, seems to resemble Capros in many of its external 
characters. Its mouth is not protractile, hut the mandible 
projects when depressed. 
