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Show 236 PISCES. Shad, and has well mal·ked teeth in both jaws; five or six black spots along the flank. It is found as far as the Nile, but is much inferior to the vulgaris.( l) CnATOEssus, Cuv. The Chatoessi are true Clupea:!, whose last dorsal ray is prolonged into a filament. In some the jaws are equal, and the snout is not prominent; the mouth small and edentated.(2) In others the snout is more prominent than the jaws, their mouth also is small. The superior combs of the first branchia unite with those of the opposite side, forming a singular pennated point under the palate.(3) Next to the true Clupero come some foreign genera, which approach them in the trenchant and indented abdomen. OnoNTOGNATHus, Lacep.-GNATHonoLus, Schn. A strongly compressed body, with very acute dentations, as far as the anus; the anal long and low; a very small frail dorsal, which is almost always destroyed; six rays in the branchia:!; the maxillary somewhat extended into a point, and armed with two small teeth directed forwards; ventrals have never been perceived on it.( 4) But a single species is known; the Odontognathe aiguillonne, Lacep. II, vii, 2, which resembles a small Sardine in form, but is still more compressed. From Cayenne. (1) Bloch, pl. 30, under the name of finta, gives an Alosa the posterior part of whose abdomen had been deprived of scales. Add: Cl. vernalis, Mitch., V, 9;-Cl. restivalis, Id., V, 6;-Cl. menhaden, Id. V, 7;-Cl. matowalca, Id. V, 8;Cl. palasah, Cuv., Russ., 198;-Cl. kelee, Id., 195; Clupanodon ilisha, Elam. lluch., XIX, 73;-C/upan. cl~ampole, H. Buch., XVIli, 74, and his other species, p. ~46-251. The genera, PoMoLonus, DoRosoM.A, NoTEllnooNus of Hafin., (Ohio fishes) must approach the Alosa more or less; they have no teeth, but we are not sufficiently acquainted with them to assign their definitive situation. (2) The Cailleu-tassard of the Antilles ( Clup. tltrissa, Bl., 404, f. 3,) Duham., Sect. III, pl. xxxi, f. 3 ;-Peddakome, Russ., 197 ;-Megalops oglina, Lesueur, Ac. Nat. Sc. Phil., I, 359;-M. notat~,J,IJ, Id., 36;-M. cepedianus, Id., lb. (3) Clupea nastts, BI., 427, or Kume, Russ., 196. (4) M. de Lacepede having only seen one badly preserved specimen, thought that its maxillaries naturally projected in front of the mouth like two horns; this, however, was an accidental circumstance, fo1· they are placed in this genus as in all the others. It is ft·om this e1·roneous idea that arose the name of Gnatlwbolus, i. e. shooting out its jaws. MALACOPTERYGII ADDOMINALF.So 237 PRISTIGASTER, Cuv. Head and teeth of an ordinary Herring; four branchial rays, and apparently no 'ventrals; the abdomen strongly compressed, forming a trenchant, convex, and dentated arch. From both Oceans.(!) N OTOPTERus, Lacep. The Notopteri, which for a long time were placed among the Gymnoti, approach nearer to the Herrings. Their opercula and cheeks are scaly; their suborbitals, the lower part of their preopercula and interopercula, the two ridges of their lower jaw, and the carina of their abdomen, dentated; both jaws and the palatines armed with fine teeth; most of the upper jaw formed by the maxillary; the tongue furnished with strong hooked teeth. The branchiostegal memb1·ane has a single, but strong and bony ray; two almost imperceptible ventrals are followed by a very long anal, which occupies threefourths of the length and unites, as in Gymnotus, with the fin of the tail; on the back, opposite to the middle of this anal, is a small dorsal with soft rays. A species is known which inhabits the fresh water ponds of India; it is the Gymnotus notopterus, Pall. Spic., VI, pl. vi, f. 2; the Clupea synura,Sch., 426; or theNotoptere kapirat, Lacep.(2) ENGRAULrs, Cuv. A genus suffici.endy distinguished from that of the Herrings by the mouth, which is cleft far behind the eyes, and by the greater opening of the branchire, which have twelve or more rays; a little pointeel snout, under which a1·e fixed the very small intermaxillaries, projects in front of the mouth; maxillaries straight and elongated. The common species have not even the trenchant abdomen; their anal is short, and the dorsal corresponds to the ventrals. E. encrasicholus, Cl. encrasiclwl., L.; Bl. 302. (The Common Anchovy.) A span long; back, a bluish brown; flanks and belly silvery; is taken in countless numbers in the Mediterranean, and as far as Holland. E. m~letta, Cuv. Duham., Sect. VI, pl. iii, f. 5. A small species with a more convex profile; also from the Mediterranean. (1) Pr. tardoore, Cuv., Russ, 193;-Pr. cayanus, Cuv., a new species. (2) It is tt·uly the Sea- Tench of llontius, Ind., 78, but not the Capirat or Pangais, lten, feuille 16, f. 90, which has long ventrals. \ 'I I |
