OCR Text |
Show 120 PISCES. 278 Internal ed.ge of the first spine of Peters b. III, 1811 • P·h. h ·. s nearly as long as the head, furnish· the preoperculum, w lC 1 . b ( ) . . h . kles recurved towards 1ts ase. 1 ed with s1x or e1g t pr1c A NUS Bl Schn.-PHALANGISTA, Pall. AsPIDOPHORUS, Lacep.- GO ' . 1 arated from Cottus. Their body is Has been very proper y sep . . d h 1 l'ke that of a Per1stedwn, an t ere are defended by angular p ates 1 no teeth in the vomer. n 1 A spec1• es 1• s 1r oun d o n the coast of Europe, tJOtt. cataptLractus, 11 fish but a few inches long, whose mouth opens L. Asma . b · d h h le of whose branchwstegous mem rane 1s beneath, an t e w 0 furnished with little fleshy filaments. . The nort h of the Pacific produces several others, .m one of · h h tl 1· wh1c , t e mou 1 5 also beneath, and the brancluostegous membrane villous.(2) In others, the lower jaw projects beyond the upper one, and the branchiostegous membrane is smooth.(3) The jaws of some are equal, and the two dorsals ~epa rated.( 4) Finally, there is one in India tha.t has. but a smgle dorsal. Lacepede has formed a genus for 1t wh1ch he calls AsPIDO· PHOltOIDES. ( 5) Other groups have lately been observed, which are partly allied to Cottus and partly to Scorprena. HEMITRIPTERus, Cuv. The head depressed and two dorsals as in Cottus; no regular scales on the skin, bu't teeth in the palate. The head is bristly an.d spinous, and has several cutaneous appendages. The first dorsalis deeply emarginate, a circumstance which has led some authors to believe they had three. . But one species is known, (from North America,) Cottus trtp· terygius, BI., Schn. ( 6) which is taken along with the Cod. (1) Add, 0. pistilliger, Pall, Zool., Russ., III, 143. N.U. The Oottus anostomus, Pall., Zool., Russ., III, 128, is the Uranoscopus. (2) Phalangi.&tesacipenserinus, Pall. or .Og. acip., Tiles. . . (3) Phal. loricatus, Pall., or .Ogrmus dodecaedrus, Tiles.;-Phal. fusifo:m~· Pall., or .Og. rostratus, Tiles. ;-.Bg. laJVigatus, Tiles., or Syngnathus segalttnS16, Id., Mem. Nat. Mosc. II, xiv. Til (4) Cottus japonicus, Pall., Spic. Zool., yn, v, or .Bg. stegophthalmus, ' Mem. Petersb., IV, xiii, and Voy. Krusenstern, pl. 87 ;-.Bg. decagonus, Dl., Scbn., pl. xxvii. (5) Coitus '11W'fWJJierygiw, Bl., 178, 1 and 2. tl (6) It is also the Oottua acadianua, Penn. Arct. Zoo!., VIII, 371; the Co u& ACANTHOPTERYGII. 121 From one to two feet long, tinged with yellow and red, varied with brown. HEMILEPIDOTus, Cuv. The head nearly similar to that of a Cottus, but there is only one dorsal; the palatines furnished with teeth; longitudinal bands of scales on the body, separated by others which are naked. A thick epidermis prevents these scales from being seen until the skin is dried. The species known are from the north of the Pacific.( 1) · · PLATYCEPHALus, Bl. This genus has been separated from Cottus for still stronger reasons. The ventrals are large, six-rayed, and placed behind the pectorals; the head is much depressed, with trenchant edges, and armed with spines, but is not tuberculous; the branchire have seven rays and they are covered with scales; a range of sharp teeth in the palatines, &c. They inhabit the Indian Ocean, and bury themselves in the sand to watch for their prey. It is on this account that one species has been called inaidiator,- Oottua insidiator, L.(2) ScoRPJEN~, Lin: The head, like that of a Cottus, mailed and roughened, but com· pressed on the sides; body covered with scales; several rays in the branchire, and but a single dorsal. If we except the armature of the cheek, and the tubercles which frequently give them an odd ap· pearance, they closely approximate to certain Percoides, such as the Acerinre and the Centropristes; but though the inferior rays of their hiapidus, Bl., Schn., 63; the Swrpamajlava, Mitchill, Ann. New York Lye. I, ii, 8; and perhaps the Swrprena americana, Gmel., Duhamel, Sect. V, pl. ii, f. 5; but thia figure must be very incorrect. (1) Oottua hemilepidotua, Tilesius, Mem. Ac. Petersb., Ill, pl. xi, f. 1, 2, which is probably the Oottua trachurus, Pall. Zoog., Russ., III, 138. (2) It is also the Cottus spatula, Bl., 424, the Ootte madegasse, Lacep., ill, ii, 12; the Oallionymus indiCU8, L., Russel, 46, or Oalliomore indien, Lacep.;-Add, Platye.endrachtenais, Quoy et Gaym., Voy. Freycin. p, 353;-Cott. scaber, L., Bl. 189, Russel, 47 ;-the two species or varieties of Krusenstern, pl. 59 :-the Sandkruyper of Renard, part II, pl.11 f. 210, and ten new species described in the fourth volume of our Icthyology; but the Plat. undecimalis, Bl. Scbn., is a Centro· ]10mu1; his Pl. aa;eatilis a Oychla, and bis..PlJ dormitator an Eleotria. N. B. The only foundation of the genus C!E'N'r.RANODON, Lacep., i:. the pretended Silurw imberbis of Houttuyn, which is a mere Platycephalus. VoL. ll.-Q \ |