ened with additional muscles and bones, and very large for the animal's size.

20. The Cottus or Bull-head. The body wedgelike; the head flat and broader than the body; the fin covering the gills with six spines; the head furnished with prickles, knobs, and beards.

21. The Zeus or Doree. The body oblong; the head large, bevil; the fin covering the gills with seven rays; the fins jagged; the upper jaw with a loose floating skin depending into the mouth.

22. The Trachipterus or Sabre. The body sword-like; the head bevil; the fin covering the gills with six spines; the lateral line straight; the scales in a single order; a loose skin in both the jaws.

23. The Gasterosteus or Stickleback. The body broadest towards the tail; the head oblong; the fin covering the gills with three, six, or seven spines; prickles starting backward before the back fins and the fins of the anus.

PRICKLY-FINNED ABDOMINAL FISH.1

24. The Silurus or Sheat-fish. The body oblong; the head large; the fin covering the gills from four to fourteen spines; the leading bones or spines in the back and pectoral fins toothed.

25. The Mugil or Mullet. The body oblong; the head almost conical; the upper jaw with a furrow, which receives the prominence of the under the fin covering the gills with seven rays. 1 vi fi 26. The Polynemus. The body oblong; the header with a beak; the fin covering the gills with from

five to seven spines; the bones that move the pectoral fins not articulated to those fins.

27. The Teuthys. The body almost elliptical; the head abruptly shortened; the fin covering the gills with five rays; the teeth in a single row, close, strong, and even. Remiant

28. The Elops or Sea-serpent The body slender; the head large; the fin covering the gills double, with thirty spines, and armed externally with five bones resembling teeth.

1.2

Soft-finned Fishes.

SOFT-FINNED APODAL FISHES.

29. THE Murana or Eel. The body round and slender; the head terminating in a beak; the fin covering the gills with ten rays; the opening to the gills pipe-fashion, placed near the pectoral fins; the fins of the back, the anus, and the tail, united in one.

30. The Gymnotus or Carapo. The body broadest on the back, like the blade of a knife; the headsmall; the fin covering the gills with five rays; the back without a fin; two beards or filaments from the upper lip; an inhabitant of Brazil.

31. The Anarhicas or Wolf-fish. The body: roundish and slender; the head large and blunt; the fore-teeth above and below conical; the grind ing-teeth and those in the palate round; the fin covering the gill has seven rays. bed

32. The Stromateus. The body oblong; the head small; the teeth moderately sharp; the fin covering the gills with five or six rays.

33. The Ammodytes or Launce. The body slen der and roundish; the head terminated by a beak; the teeth of a hair-like fineness; the fin covering the gills with seven rays.

SOFT-FINNED JUGULAR FISHES.

34. The Lepadogaster. The body wedge-like; the head oblong, forwarder than the body, flattish, the beak resembling that of a duck; the pectoral fins double, two on each side; the ventral fins joined together; a kind of bony breast-plate between the pectoral fins; the fin covering the gills with five rays; the opening to the gills pipe-fashion.

35. The Gadus or Cod fish. The body oblong; the head wedge-like; the fin covering the gills with seven rays; several back and anal fins.

SOFT-FINNED THORACIC FISHES.

36. The Pleuronectes or Flat-fish. The body elliptical; the head small; both eyes on one side of the head; the fin covering the gills with from four to seven rays.

.37. The Echineis or Sucking-fish. The body almost wedge-like, moderately round; the head broader than the body; the fin covering the gills with ten rays; an oval breast-plate, streaked in form of a ladder, toothed.

38. The Lipidopus or the Garter-fish. The body sword-like; the head lengthened out; the fins covering the gills with seven rays; three scales only

on the whole body; two in the place of the ventral fins; the third from that of the anus. Y

SOFT-FINNED ABDOMINAL FISH.

39. The Loricaria. The body crusted over; the head broad, with a beak; no teeth; the fin covering the gills with six rays..

40. The Atherina or Atherine. The body oblong; the head of a middling size; the lips indented; the fin covering the gills with six rays; the line on the sides resembling a silver band.

41. The Salmo or Salmon. The body oblong; the head a little sharp; the fin covering the gills from four to ten rays; the last fin on the back, with out its correspondent muscles, fat.

42. The Fistularia. The body angular, in formTM of a spindle; the head pipe-fashion, with a beak; the fin covering the gills with seven rays; the under jaw covering the upper.

43. The Esox or Pike. The body round; the head with a beak; the under jaw pierced longitudinally with small holes; the fin covering the gills with from seven to twelve rays.

44. The Argentina or Argentine. The body a little round and slender; the head with a beak, broader than the body; the fin covering the gills with eight rays; a spurious back fin.

45. The Clupea or Herring. The body a little 7

oblong; the head with a small beak; the fin covering the gills with eight rays.

46. The Exocœtus or Flying-fish. The body oblong; the head almost three-cornered; the fin covering the gills with seven rays; the pectoral fins placed high, and as long as the whole body; the back fin at the extremity of the back.

47. The Cyprinus or Carp. The body elongated, almost round; the head with a small beak; the hinder part of the bone covering the gills, marked with a crescent; the fin covering the gills with three rays.

48. The Cobitis or Loche. The body oblong ; almost equally broad throughout; the head small, a little elongated; the eyes in the hinder part of the head; the fin covering the gills with from four to six rays; the covers of the gills closed below.

49. The Amia or Bonito. The body round and slender; the head, forehead, and breast, without skin; the fin covering the gills with twelve rays; two beards from the nose.

50. The Mormyrus. The body oblong; the head elongated; the fin covering the gills with a single ray; the opening to the gills is linear, and has no bone covering them

་

Such is the system of M. Gouan; by reducing to which any fish that offers, we can know its rank, its affinities, and partly its anatomy, all which make a considerable part in its natural history. But, to show the use of this system still more apparently, suppose I meet with a fish, the name to me unknown, of which I desire to know something more. is first to see whether it be a cartilaginous

The

way

VOL. V.

K