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Show 110 PISCES. IV, xv, s, and Cuv. and Val. III, lvii. From the north of the Pacific.( 1) SILLAGo, Cuv. H ea d so mew hat elongated and pointed; mouth small; sm.a ll c.r owd. ed teeth in the jaws, and before the vomer; operculum termm.atmg m a small spine; six branchial rays; two contiguous dorsals; spmes of the first, slender; the second, long and low· They are all from the Indian Ocean, and much esteemed for the flavour and lightness of their flesh. The most remarkable species i5 . . . . Sill. domina, Cuv. Brownish, and d1stmgu1shed by the first ray of its dorsal, which is drawn out into a filament as long ~s the body. Its head is scaly, and the eye very small. There1s another, Sill. malabarica; Scirena malabarica, Bl. Schn.; Soring, Rus· -sel, 113, not above a foot long, and fawn·coloured, which is considered one of the best fishes of India.(2) We now pass to those Percoides which have more than seven rays to the branchire. Three genera are known, all of which present the following peculiarity: their ventrals have a ·spine and seven or more soft rays, while in other Acanthop· terygii there are never more than five soft rays. HoLOCENTRUM, Artedi.(3) The scales of these beautiful fishes are brilliant and dentated; oper· culum dentated and spinous; preoperculum dentated with a stout spine at the angle, which is directed backwards. They are found in the hot parts of both oceans.( 4) (1) This Fish having neither jugular ventrals, nor an elongated posterior dor· 'Sal, nor a strong spine on the operculum, nor seven rays in the branchia:, cannot be a Trachinus, as was thought by Pallas and Tilesius. (2) Add .lltherima sihama, Forsk., or Platicephalus siltamus, Bl. Schn. Ruppel, Poiss., pl. iii, f. 1; Sillago maculata, Quoy et Gaym. Freycin. pl. iii, f. 3. (3) We restrict this genus to species answering to the definition of it given by Artedi, Seb. III, ad tab. 1, xxvii, and like him, we give a neuter termination to this name to prevent it being confounded with the Holocentrus of Bloch and of Lacepede, which contains various other species, Serrani particularly. . (4) Holocentrum longipinne, Cuv., which is the Hol. sogho, Bl., 232; an~ IllS Bodianus pentacanthus, or the Jaguaraca of Marcgr., 147; it is also the Scwma rubra, Bl., Schn., Catesb., II, ii, 2; and the .llmp!tiprion matejuelo, Bl., Schn., Parra, XIII, 2;-Hol. ·erientale, Cuv., Seb., Ill, xxvii, 1;-Hol. rubrum, Bennet, ACANTHOPTERYGII. 111 MYRIPRISTis, Cuv. The brilliancy, shape and scales of the ~olocentra, but the pre· operculum has a dentated double border, and there is no spine at the angle. This genus is remarkable for a natatory bladder divided into two chambers, the anterior part of which is bilobate and attached to the cranium in two places, where the latter is only closed by membrane, and which correspond to the sacs of the ears. They inhabit the hot parts of both oceans.( 1) BERvx, Cuv. Differs from Myripristis in having but a single short dorsal, with but a few small spines, almost hidden in its anterior edge; ten soft rays in the ventrals.(2) It is impossible to remove from it the TRACHICHTHYs, Shaw, In which, with the same roughness that exists in the three preceding genera, and the same little dorsal that is seen in Beryx, we find a flat spine at the lower part of the preoperculum, and one on the shoulder; the abdomen and sides of the tail are covered with large carinated scales.(3) All the Percoides of which we have hitherto spoken, have their ventrals inserted under the pectorals ; there are some genera, however, in which they are differently located. In the PERCOIDES J UGULAREs, they are placed on the throat further forwards than the pectorals. TRACHINus, Lin. A compressed head, approximated eyes, and an oblique mouth; the Fishes of Ceylon, pl. iv;-Hol. leo, Cuv., Ren., I, xxvii, 148, a very bad ligure;- s,· . ;r. Cltena sptn~Jera, Forsk;-Hol. hastatum, Cnv. et Val., III, lix;-Hol. diadema, l.acep., llll ix, 3, or Perea pulchella, Bennet, Zool. Journ. III, i:x:, 3;-H. sammara or 8,~ ·a ma sammara, Forsk, or Labre anguleux, Lacep., III, :x::x:ii, 1, and the other' species described in our third volume. . (1) Miy n.p n.s t ~'a J.a cobus, Cuv., Desmar., Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat.;-M. japcm.- ;~' Cuv. et Val.,, HI, lviii;-M. botche, Cuv., Russel, 105;-M. parviden8, Cuv., hi., ~09 ;-the Lutjan h.ezagone, Laeep. IV, 213; his Holocentre Thunberg, lb. 367; 8 tntropome rouge, lb., 273; the &irena murdjan, Forsk, also belong to this genus. See Vol. Ill of our Icthyology. ~;) B~ ~cadactylua, Cuv. et Val. III, 222;-B. lineafus, Ib. 226, and pl. ]x:x:. art ) Tr tchthys australis, Shaw, Nat. Misc., No. 578: and Gen. Zool.~ IV, P II, p. 260. \ |
