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Show 156 PISCES. LAMP&Is, Retzius.-CHRYSoTosus, Lacep. Has but a siugle dorsal, highly elevated before, as is the case with 1 I and Which has but one small spine at the base of its ante-t 1e ana ; rior edge. There are ten very long rays to each ventr~l; the lobes of their caudal are also very long, but all these prolongations become worn away with age; sides of the tail carinated. Lamp. gutta/us, Retz. Violet spotted with white, and red fins.( 1) It attains a large size, and inhabits the Arctic seas; the only species known. EQUULA, Cuv. A single dorsal, but with several small ~pines, the an~erior of which are sometimes very long; the snout htghly protracttle; body compressed; edges of the back and belly dentated along the fins. They are small fishes, several species of which inhabit the Indian Ocean.(2) The snout of some of these species, when in a state of quiescence, is singularly retracted; by suddenly protruding it they are enabled to seize upon such small fishes or insects as may pass within reach.(3) MENE, Lacep. · Snout of nn Equula, and the entire body more compressed; abdo· men trenchant, and very convex beneath; a circumstance resulting from the development of the bones of the shoulder and pelvis, while the dorsal line is almost straight; which throws the ventrals behind the pectorals. But one species is known; the Jlltnl .'J.nne-Caroline, Lacep., ACANTHOPTERYGII. 157 v, xiv, 2, or the Zeus maculatus, Bl., Schn. pl. xxii, Russell., 60. It is of a fine silver colour, spotted with blackish near the back. From the Indian Ocean. STROMATEus, Lin. The same compressed form as in the different species of Zeus, and similar diminutive and slightly apparent scales, under a satiny epidermis; but the snout is obtuse and non-protractile; a single dorsal whose few spines are concealed in its anterior edge; no ventrals. The vertical fins are sufficiently thick to tempt us to approximate them also to the Squammipennes. Independently of the ordinary lateral line, there is a stria on the flank which has been considered as a second one. The cesophagus is armed with a number of spines which are attached to the velvet by radiating roots. S.fiatola, L.; Belon, Aquat., 153; Rondel. 493.(1) A pretty, oblong species, inhabiting the Mediterranean, remarkable for spots and interrupted bands of a golden tint, on a lead coloured ground. 8. stellatus, Cuv., from the coast of Peru, is nearly similar in form, but is sprinkled with black spots; it is common in the markets at Lima. Several other species inhabit the Indian Ocean, called by the French colonists Pamples. They are generally more elevated than the fiatola, and spines or trenchant blades are frequently found before their dorsal, and even their anal.(2) We may distinguish from among them the PEPRILus, Cuv. Where the pelvis forms a trenchant and pointed blade, before th~ anus, that might be taken for a vestige of ventrals.(3) Besides th1s, there are the trenchant blades of which we have just spoken, and there is even one species in which these blades are crenated.( 4) (1) This fig., in which the left pectoral is bent downwards, being mistaken by Lac6p. for a ventral, gave rise to his genus Chrysostrom;us, which must consequently be suppressed. a (2) The Stromateus niger, Bl. 422, and better 160, under the false name of Str. P ru, Russ. 43;-the Str. albus, Cuv., Russ. 44;-Str. candidus, Cuv., Russ. 42;Str. arge:nteus, Euphrasen, New Stockh. Mem., IX, pl. ix, or Str. aculeatus, Bl., Schn.;-Str. griseus, Cuv . . (3) Chmtodon alepidotus, L., or Stromateus longipinnis, Mitch. ;-Str. cryptosus, Mttch.;-Str. part~, Sloane, Jam. II, pl. eel, f. A. (4) Peprilus crenulatus, Cuv., a small and new species. \ |