362 
SPINY-FINNED GROUP. 
Hair-Tails. 
shortly before dawn (the untimely hour chosen by the fish for self-destruction),, 
and keeping a sharp look-out in the surf for the silver streak which betokens the 
advent of the frost-fish. When a fish is seen struggling in the waves or on 
the sand, all that remains to be done is to catch hold of it, and drag it up out of 
reach of the backwash (if it does not wriggle up by its own motion), and there 
despatch it with a stick or knife.” 
These scaleless fish ( Trichiurus ) take their name from the 
absence of a caudal fin, the body tapering posteriorly into a fine 
point. The single dorsal extends the whole length of the ribbon-like body 
the pelvic fins are represented merely by a pair of scales, or are completely 
wanting; and the anal is rudimental, its spinous portion being reduced to a 
number of very small spines scarcely projecting above the skin. The jaws are 
provided with long tusks, and there are teeth on the palatine bones, although 
none on the vomer. Essentially tropical fishes, generally found in the vicinity 
of land, they appear to be sometimes carried by currents out to sea, which will 
probably account for the occasional appearance of the West Indian T. lepturua on 
the British coasts. These fishes attain a length of from 3 to 4 feet; arid one of 
the Indian species is described as extremely voracious, preying on crustaceans and 
various fishes, among which members of its own kind are included. 
The local name for a New Zealand representative ( Thyrsites 
atun ) of another genus may be taken as the popular title of all its- 
members. These fishes, in which the rather elongate body is covered with minute 
scales, are characterised by having from two to six finlets behind the dorsal and 
anal, and the presence of teeth on the palatines. Barracudas, which grow to as 
much as 5 feet, form important food supplies in the Cape, South Australia, New 
Zealand, and Chili; when the flesh has been dried or otherwise preserved, it is 
exported from New Zealand in quantities to Mauritius and Batavia. The genus 
is unknown in the Indian seas, where the family is represented by the hair-tails. 
Allied Extinct Two extinct genera, namely, Palceorhynchus from the Eocene of 
Forms. Switzerland, and Hemirhynchus from the Oligocene of France, re¬ 
present a separate family (Palceorhynchidce), distinguished from the last by the 
production of the muzzle into a long beak, which may be either provided with 
small teeth, or toothless. The dorsal fin occupies nearly the whole length of the 
compressed body; and the anal fin is also elongated, and extends nearly to 
the forked caudal. 
The Surgeons,—F amily Acronueid& 
Barracudas. 
With this family we come to a group of spiny-finned fishes, including some 
thirteen others, which present the following characteristics in common. The dorsal 
fins are either placed together or continuous, the spinous portion being, when fully 
developed, shorter than the soft part, while it may be modified into tentacles, 
detached spines, or an adhesive disc ; and the anal is similar in characters to the 
soft dorsal, and in some instances both these fins are modified posteriorly into 
finlets. The pelvic fins, if developed, are always thoracic or jugular in position, 
and are never modified into a sucker; and there are no papillae in the neighbour¬ 
hood of the vent. Nearly the whole of the members of the group are marine. 
