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Show 182 PISCES. spotted with violet. The Call. dracunculus, Bl. 162, only differs from it in the first dorsal being short and without the filament; several authors consider it the female. Some others are found in the Mediterranean, such as Call. lacerta, Cuv.; Rand. 304·, and not so well, Call. pusillus, Laroche, Ann. Mus. XIII, xxv, 16. First dorsal low; these. cond much elevated in the male; silvery points, and white, black· edged lines on the flanks; the caudal long and pointed.( I) The TRIOHONOTus, Schn. Appears to be a mere Callionymus, with a very elongated body, whose single dorsal and anal have a corresponding length. The two first rays of the dorsal, extended into long setre, represent the first dorsal of the Common Callionymus. The branchire, however, are said to be well cleft.(2) CoMEPHORus, Lacep. First dorsal very low; the muzzle oblong, broad and depressed; gills much cleft, with seven rays; very long pectorals, and what constitutes their distinguishing character, a total absence of ventrals. But one species is known, from lake Baikal, the Callionymtu baicalensis, Pall. Nov. Act. Petrop. I, ix, 1; a foot long, of a soft fatty substance, from which oil is obtained by compression. It is only to be had when dead, after a storm. PLATYPTERus, Kuhl and Van Hassel. The broad and separated ventrals of a Callionymus; a short de· pressed head; the mouth small, and branchire open; scales broad; the two dorsals short and separated.(3) It is with some hesitation that I close this family with age· nus which will one day probably form the type of a separate family; I mean the (1) The Call. diacanthus, Carmich., Lin. Trans. XII, pl. xxvi, does not appear to me to belong to this genus. The Call. indicus, Lin. is nothing more than the Platycephalus spatula, Bl. 424. Add, Call. cithara, Cuv.;-C. jaculus, and other new Mediterranean species; and of species foreign to Europe, the C. orientalil, Schn., pl. vi; C. ocellatus, Pall. VIII, pl. iv, f. 13;-C. sagitta, ld. Jb., f. 4, 5; and some others to be described in our Icthyology. (2) Trichonotus setigerus, Bl., Schn., pl. 39. (3) Pl~typtera melar:ocephala, K., and v. H.; Pl. trigonoceplwla, Jd., two fishes from Indta to be descrtbed in our Icthyology. ACANTHOPTERYGII. 183 CHIRus, Stell.-LABRAx, Pall. Fishes with a tolerably long body, fu:r:nished with ciliated scales; a small unarmed head; slightly cleft mouth, provided with small, unequal, conical teeth; the spines of whose dorsal are almost always very delicate, the fin itself extending the whole length of the back. Their distinguishing character consists in several series of pores, similar to the laterallin.e, or, as it were, in several lateral lines. There are no creca to the intestines, and they frequently have an appendage on the eye-brow, as is the case with certain Blennies, but their ventrals consist offive soft rays, as usual. The species known are from the sea of Kamschatka. ( 1) FAMILY XIII. PECTORALES PEDICULATI. This family consists of certain Acanthopterygii whose carw pal bones are elongated so as to form a sort of arm, which supports their pectorals. It comprises two genera, which are closely approximated although authors have generally placed them at a distance from each other, and which are closely allied to the Gobioides. LoPHius, Lin.(2) The general character of this genus, independently of the semicartilaginous skeleton and the naked skin, consists in the pectorals being supported by two arms, as it were, each of which is formed of two bones that have been compared to the radius and ulna, but which in reality belong to the carpus, and which in this genus are longer than in any other; in the ventrals being placed very far before these pectorals; in opercula and branchiostegous rays enveloped in the skin, and, finally, in the only opening of the gills being a hole situated behind the said pector'als. They are voracious fishes, with a wide stomach and short intestine, which survive a long time out of water, on account of the smallness of their branchial apertures. (1) Labrax lagocepltalus;-L. decagrammus;-L. superciliosus;-L. monoptery• giua;-L. octogrammus,·-L. hexagrammus; all described and figured by Pallas, Mem. Acad. Petersb. vol. XI, 1810. (2) Lopltius, a name rnnde by Artedi, from >..ocpt~t (pinna), on account of the crests. ortheir head. The ancients called them ~tt.'f'p~tX,or, and Rana or Frog. \ |
