60 
ROOM XI. 
Nat. Hist. 
getable food, especially seeds. Their flesh is very fat, 
and much used as food; but that of some species, as 
the Shals (iSynodontis ) of Senegal, is reputed to be dan¬ 
gerous. The skin of some of the genera, as the Callichtes 
( Callichtys ), is covered with four rows of large imbricate 
scales, which protect the body, like scale-armour ; and 
others, as the Loricaria ( Loricaria ), have the body en¬ 
tirely covered with a hard coat, formed of angular 
scales. 
The family of Salmons ( Salmonidce ) has, like most 
of the Siluri , a soft, false, rayless, hinder dorsal fin, 
but the body is covered with regular scales. They 
principally ascend rivers to spawn. They are voracious, 
and prey on insects and small animals. This family has 
been divided into several genera, according to the form 
and presence of the teeth, and the position of the fins. 
Cases 5 and 6. The family of Herrings (Clupeidce) 
have a scaly body like the Salmons, but no soft dorsal 
fin, and their upper jaw is formed in the middle by 
the intermaxillary, and on the sides by the maxillary 
bones. 
With the Herrings are placed the Bony Pike 
(Lepisosteus'), which has many of the characters of 
the Pike, with the structure of the head of the Herrincf. 
The body is covered with a case formed of square 
scales, almost as hard as stone, and the two outer 
rays of the tail and of the other fins, are fringed with 
similar scales. They live in the warm parts of South 
America, and afford good food. 
The second division of this order contains those 
fishes whose ventral fins lie immediately under the 
pectorals. It contains three families, distinguished 
by the shape of the body. 
The Cod-Fish family ( Gadidce ) have a lance-shaped 
body, covered with small scales. The head is without 
scales, and the back has generally two or three dorsal 
fins; the ventral fins are always slender. They gene¬ 
rally live in the seas of cold and temperate climates. 
and 
