NATURAL HISTORY. 
49 
ROOM XI.] 
The Beaked Angler (Malthe) has its head flattened, and 
the muzzle produced into a short horn. 
Cases 3 and 4. The Labroid fish, so called from the 
large size of the fleshy lips which coyer their teeth, have 
the general form of the Percoid, the body being covered with 
large scales, and having only a single dorsal fin, which is 
spinous in front. Their colours are generally exceedingly 
brilliant, and from usually living on rocky shores they are 
commonly called Rock Fish. 
The Parrot Fish ( Scarus ) is peculiar in this family, 
for the bones of the jaws being very large, and convex 
externally. The jaws are covered on the front part with 
teeth placed one over the other like scales ; and as fast 
as those at the edge are worn away, they are succeeded 
by a new set. 
The last family of the Acanthopterygians are the tubu¬ 
lar-mouthed fishes, so called from the mouth being elon¬ 
gated into a tube. It consists of only two genera, distin¬ 
guished by the shape of the body, which in the Tobacco- 
pipe Fish ( Fistularia ) is cylindrical, and in the Sea Snipes 
(Centriscus ) compressed. 
The Malacopterygians, or soft-finned fish, which form 
the second division of this Class, are characterized by all 
the rays of the fins (except the first of the dorsal and 
pectoral fins) being soft, jointed, and usually divided at 
the end into several branches. This division has been 
separated into orders, according to the position of the 
ventral fin. 
Those of the first group, containing most of the fresh 
water fish, have the ventral fins situated behind the pec¬ 
torals. 
The first family ( Cyprinidce ) have a small mouth, feeble 
and generally toothless jaws, whose margin is formed by 
the intermaxillary bones ; a strongly-toothed pharynx, and 
a soft, false fin on the back, but no adipose dorsal fin. 
These fish mostly feed on water-plants. Amongst them 
are the Carp ( Cyprinus carpio), Tench {Cyprinus tinea), 
Bream {Cyprinus brama), Barbel ( Cyprinus barbus), Loach 
(Cobitis ), and the Anableps, which is peculiar for the eye 
being divided across, so that it appears to have four eyes, 
similar to the Gyrini among the water-insects. The fe¬ 
male is viviparous. 
