3 86 
SPINY-FINNED GROUP. 
Dragon-Fishes. 
known is D. volitans, which may be commonly met with in the Mediterranean. 
Very similar in their habits to the true flying-fish, the flying gurnards are more 
heavily built, and measure as much as 18 inches in length. 
In this place may be noticed the curious little dragon-fishes 
(Pegasus), from the Indian, Chinese, and Australian seas, which 
although referred by Dr. Gunther to a distinct family are included by Day in 
the present one. In these strange little fishes the broad and depressed body is 
covered with bony 
plates, which are 
movable, although 
those investing the 
tail are firmly 
welded together. 
The narrow gill¬ 
opening is situated 
in front of the 
pectoral fin; the 
gill-cover is formed 
of a single plate, 
and the gills them¬ 
selves are four in 
number. The single 
O 
short dorsal fin is 
placed opposite an 
anal of similar 
size; the pectorals are long, horizontal, and composed of simple rays, some of which 
may be spinous; and the pelvis comprises one or two rays, the outer one being 
elongated. Both teeth and an air-bladder are wanting. The figured species 
(P. natccns ) is an Australian one, and is less well known than the Indian P. draco 
and the Chinese P. volens ; dried specimens of the latter being familiar objects 
on Chinese insect-boxes. Nothing seems to have been ascertained as to the habits 
of these fish, although it has been suggested that they probably frequent sandy 
shores. With this family we take leave of the great Cotta-Scombriform section, 
as it is called, and pass on to another containing only two or three families. 
AUSTRALIAN DRAGON-FISH (nat. size). 
The Lump-Suckers, —Family Gyclopterida f. 
With the lump-suckers we come to a small section characterised by the 
spinous dorsal fin being short, and either composed of flexible spines, or much 
less developed than the soft dorsal, or soft portion of the same ; the soft dorsal 
being equal in extent to the anal. If present, the pelvic fins are either thoracic 
or jugular in position, with one spine, and generally five (rarely four) soft rays. 
There is a prominent papilla in the neighbourhood of the vent. In no case is 
there a bony stay to the preopercular from the infraorbital ring. As a family, 
the lump-suckers are characterised by the thick or oblong body, which may be 
either naked or tuberculated; the small teeth; and the presence of a circular 
