SiLUROiDS. FISHES. Glanidians. 155 
coid. There are no pancreatic c^ca. There is some- 
times only one dorsal, but more commonly two ; the 
second being adipose, or in a few species only supported 
in front by a bony ray; the caudal is forked, crescentic, 
or rounded at the epd. In almost all cases the first 
pectoral is a strong, bony serrated ray, which is sus- 
tained by a stout scapulo-coracoid arch ; and a similar 
strong ray often stands in front of the dorsal,' and is not 
unfrequently furnished with a trigger-like apparatus 
for fixing and releasing it at the pleasure of the fish. 
Fossil bones of this kind are abundant in some strata, 
and are known by the name of Ichtliyodorulites. When 
the air-bladder is present, it is furnished with a pneu- 
matic tube ; hence those who consider the Siluroids to 
be merely a family group, place it among the Physos- 
tomi of Muller. 
Family I. — GLANIDIANS {SiluridcB). 
Plate 4, figs. 22, 23. 
To avoid using the same designation for the family 
that Agassiz has applied to the order, we have bor- 
rowed an epithet from Aristotle. The Glanidians iire 
a very large family, and resemble the Malacopteres 
and also the Ganoids, in having a pneumatic tube to 
the air-bladder. Their skins are either naked, or 
encased in the expanded plates of the lateral line ; the 
mouth is bordered above by the premaxillaries, the 
maxillaries being reduced to mere vestiges, or elongated 
into soft, flexible barbels : all have barbels either at 
the nostrils, or on the borders of the mouth. The 
swim-bladder is connected to the acoustic organs by 
Fig. 41. 
chains of ossicles ; the cavity of the cranium is closed 
laterally, as in the Cyprinoids; and the posterior bones 
of the skull are generally prolonged to furnish sutures 
with the first vertebral spines. The stomach has a 
sac-like protuberance below the pylorus ; and the 
branchiostegals vary in number from nine to eighteen. 
The genera are — Silurus ; Glanis (Agassiz) ; Sckilbes ; Ce- 
topsis ; Bagrus ; Cephalocassis (Bleeker) ; Gargota (id.) ; Hara 
(Blyth); Plafgstoma ; Galeiehihys ; Pangasivs ; Silundia ; 
Sciades (Miill. nnd Trosch.) ; Ariodes (id.) ; Eutropius (id.) ; 
Osteogeneiosus (Bleeker); Arius; Asterepbgsus (Kner); 
Batracliocephalus (Bleeker) ; Clarotes (Kner) ; Pime- 
lodus; Hemipimelodus (Blyth); Pimelonotus (Gill); 
Syneckoglanis (id.); Amhlyceps; Rita (Bleeker); Baga- 
rim (id.); Euanemus (Miill. und Trosch.); Erethistcs 
(id.); Auchenipterus ; Ketengus (Bleeker); Callophysus 
(Mull, und Tr.) ; CentromocJilna (Kner) ; Trachy- 
lopterm ; Hypopthalmus ; Ageneiosus ; Glypiosiemon 
(Blyth); Glyptoihorax (id.); Pseudec/ieneis (id.); 
Exostoma (ii.)-, Synodontis; Doras; Callichthys ; Hop- 
losternum (Gill); Uoplosoma (Swains.); Arges; Brontes; 
Astroblepus; Clarias; Heterohranchus; Saccobranchiis ; 
Plotosus ; Trychomycterus ; (Rheinhardt); 
PorejWora (Kner); Bunocephalus(\dy,Aspredo; Chaca; 
Sisor; Malapterurus; Ailia; Eremophtlus. 
The Rita represented by the woodcut is very 
strongly mailed, and is a fish of a disagreeable 
aspect, common in the mouths of the Ganges, 
but few of the natives venture to eat it. It 
grows to the length of four feet. 
The Sheat-fish {Silurus glanis) is considered to be 
the largest of European fresh-water fishes. Pliny 
describes it as second in size to the marine Tunny 
alone, as devouring all animals that it meets with, and 
as frequently drowning horses that attempt to swim 
across the rivers that it inhabits. The “ Histoire des 
Poissons” mentions that in modern times one was taken 
in the Bug which measured sixteen feet in length ; and, 
quotes Grossinger, who relates that, on the confines of 
Turkey, a poor fisherman captured one of those omni- 
vorous fishes which had in its stomach the entire corpse 
of a woman, with a ring and a purse filled with money ! 
Sibbald mentj‘^>'\s the Sheat-fish in his list of Scottish 
Fig. 42. 
The Kita (Arius rita). 
fishes, but gives no details, and no other ichthyologist 
has seen a British example. 
The Glanis of the ancient Greeks, which inhabits 
the river Achelous in Acarnania, and at this day bears 
