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Show 142 PISCES. PLAT AX. A row of trenchant teeth, each divided into three points, in front o£ t h e ot he rs, Or bl·ush -like teeth·' the body, strongly compresse.d , seems to be continued into thick, vertical, elevated and scaly fins, m whose anterior edge some few spines are concealed, so that the whole ~sh is much higher than it is long; very long ventrals. The Ind1an Ocean.(l) . . . . One species, Ch. arthnt~cus, Bell. Plul. Trans., 1793, pl. v1, of a more orbicular form, is remarkable for the knots or en· lar ements in some of its interspinals and spinous apophyses.(z) I 'fossil species of this subdivision has also been discovered at Mount Bolca.(3) PsETTus, Commers. Fi ure similar to that of a Platax, but the teeth are very small and cr!wded, and the ventrals reduced to a single small spine, without soft rays. The form of some is elevated;( 4) that o£ others round or oval;(s) they are all from the Indian Ocean. PIMELEPTERus, Lacep. Distinguished from all other fishes by a single range of teeth placed in a horizontal base or heel, on the anterior edge of which is a part vertical and trenchant. The body is oblong, the head obtuse, and the fins thickened by the scales which cover them; from which cir· cumstance their name is derived.( 6) They are oval, smooth, and covered with brown scales; they inhabit both oceans.(7) (1} Ohret. vupertilio, BI., 199, 2;-0h. tei'ra, lb., 1;-0h. guttulatus, Cuv. Ren., II, xxiv, 129. (2) It is also the Oh. pentacanthe, Lacep., IV, xi, 2, and the Olt. orbicularit, Forsk., or .!J.cantltinion or6iculaire, Lacep. IV, 500. (3) Ittiol. Veron., pl. 4 and 6. (4) Psett. Sehre, Cuv., Ohretodon rhombe1ts, Bl., Schn., Seb., III, xxvi, 21;-P8• rlwmbeu.~, Cuv., or Scomber rhombeus, Forsk., or Oentroga8ter rhombeus, Gm., or Centropode rhomboi'dal, Lacep., Russ., 59. (5) Psett. Commersonii, Cuv., or Monorl<utyle falciforme, Lacep., II, v, 4, and m, 131, which very probably does not differ from the Chret. argenteus, L., or Jcantfw. pode argente, Lacep. (6) Pimelepteros (fat fin). This genus of Lacepede, IV, 429, formed from Bose, is the same as that of XIBTEREs, V, 484, formed from Commerson; and there is every reason to believe that the Dorsuaire, Lacep., v, 482, which ia certainly identical with the Knnon, m, 114, may very possibly also be the same as the XxsTERus. (7) The Pimeloptere bosquien, La.cep. IV, ix, 1, or OlUIJtodon cyprinaceus, Brous- ACANTHOPTERYGII. 143 DIPTERODON.(l) A neighbouring genus, in which the teeth are also trenchant, but cut sloping and not geniculate; the spinous portion of the dorsal separated from the soft part by a deep emargination. Dipt. capensis, Cuv., is the only species known. The following genera, which we place next to Chretodon on account of their scaly fins, differ greatly from it, however, in the teeth with which their palatines and vomer are furnished. The genus BRAMA, Bl. Schn.(2) Is connected with this family by the scales covering the vertical fins, which have but a small number of spinous rays concealed in their anterior edges; but they have slender, bent teeth (en cardes) in the jaws and palatines, an elevated profile, very short snout, a forehead descending vertically, and a mouth, when shut, that is almost vertical; the scales extend on to the maxillaries; there are seven rays in the branchire; a dorsal and low anal, but commencing in a salient point; a short stomach; a small intestine and only five creca. But one species is known, Sparus Raii, Bl. 273; it inhabits the Mediterranean, and sometimes strays into the ocean; an excellent fish of a burnished steel colour which attains a large size, but is infested with various species of intestinal worms. PEMPHERis, Cuv. A long and scaly anal, the dorsal short and elevated; head obtuse; the eye large; a small spine on the operculum; small crowded teeth on the jaws, vomer and palatines. From the Indian Ocean.(3) sonet;-the Pim. marciac, Quoy et Gaym., Voy., Freycin., pl. 62, f. 4;-Pim. du Cap, or Kiphose double bosse, Lacep., III, viii, 1 ;-a Ilra.zil species formerly named byBanks Chretodon ensis. (1} This genus, the name of which is borrowed from Lacep., does not, however, contain the same species. (2) I strongly suspect, that it is the Brama which M. Rafi.nesque has in view, in hisLepodussaragus, Nuov. Gen. No. 144. Shaw makes two species of it, but why, it is impossible to say, the Sp. Raii, and Sp. ca8taneola; the latter after Lacep.; but Lacep. made his genus only for the species of Bloch and Ray. (3) Pempheris tooea, Cuv., Sparus argenteus, J. White, App. 267, or Kurtus argenteus, lll. Schn., 164;-P. mangula, Cuv., Russ., 114;-P. molucca, Cuv., Ren., I, xv, 85, and Valent., No. 46. \ |
