OCR Text |
Show 166 PISCES. AxiNURus, Cuv. More elongated and without horn or k~ob, but with the s.ame branchial and ventral rays as in the precedmg genus; e~ch stde of the tail armed with a single, square, trenchant blade, Without a shield; the tnou th very small and the teeth very slender. ( 1) PRIODON, Cuv. The notched teeth of Acanthurus, the three soft ventral rays of Naseus, and the unarmed tail of Siganus.(2) FAMILY X. This family is distinguished by · LABYRINTHIFORM PHARYNGEALS. By this we mean, that part of the superior pharyngeals of these fishes are divided into small irregular lamellre, more or less numerous, intercepting cells containing water, which thus flows upon and humects the branchire, while the animal is re· moved from its proper element. By this it is enabled to quit the rivulet or pool, which constitutes its usual element, and crawl to a considerable distance from it, a singular faculty, not unknown to the ancients,(3) and which induces the people of India to believe that they fall from heaven. ANAnAs, Cuv. It is in this genus that we find the greatest degree of complication in these labyrinths; the third pharyngeals, however, have teeth en paves, and there are others behind the cranium. Their body is Cuv., badly dt·awn, Uen. I, 178;-Nas. incornis, Cuv., Ren. I, f. 128, and not so well, f. 147, probably the JJ.cantlturus lwrpuras, Shaw;-Nas. carolinarum, Quoy and Gaym. op. cit. pl. 63, f. 1;-Nas. tuber, Commers., or Nason-Loupe, Lactp., III, vii, 3, or Jlcantlturus nasus, Shaw, Renard, I, f. 79, Valent., No. 119 and 478. (1) Jlxinurus tltynnoides, Cuv., a new species brought by Quoy and Gaymard from New Guinea. (2) Priodon annularis, Cuv., a new species brought from Timor by the same gentlemen. (3) Theophrastus, in his treatise upon fishes which live out of water, speaks of small ones which leave their native streams for some time and then 1·cturn to them, and says that they resemble a Mugil. ACANTIIOPTERYGII. 167 . round and covered with strong scales, their head broad, muzzle short and obtuse, and mouth small; the lateral line is interrupted at its posterior third. The borders of their operculum, suboperculum, and interoperculum strongly dentated, but not that of the preoperculum. There are five rays in the branchire, and many spinous ones in the dorsal, and even in the anal. The stomach is moderate, rounded, and their pylorus has but three appendages. But one species is known, .!ln. tcstudineus, Cuv.(l), called the Paneiri or Tree-Climber· highly celebrated because it not only leaves the water, but, ac-' cording to Dalclorf, even climbs up the shrubs on its banks; this latter assertion, however, is denied. Found throughout all India. PoLYACANTHus, Kuhl. Rays spinous; as numerous as in Anabas, and more so; the same mouth, scales, and interrupted lateral line; but neither of the opercula is dentated; the body is compressed, and there are four rays in the branchiro; a narrow band of small, short, and crowded teeth in the jaws, but none in the palate; the branchial apparatus is more simple, and their pylorus has but two crecal appendages. Found in rivers, &c. throughout all India.(2) The MAcRoPonus, Lacep. Only differs from Polyacanthus in a less extended dorsal, which terminates, as well as the caudal and the ventrals, in a slender point, more or less elongated. The anal is larger than the dorsal. Fresh-water fishes, found in India and China.(3) HELOSTOMA, Kuhl. In addition to the characters of Polyacanthus;the fishes of this genus have a small compressed mouth, so protractile that it seems to advance from the sub-orbitals and to retreat between them; their very ~mall teeth are attached to the borders of the lips, and not to the Jaws or palate: there are five rays in the gills. The arches of the (1) It is the .!l.mpltiprion scansor, Bl., Schn., p. 204 and 570, or Perea acandena Daldo~, Lin. !rans. III, p. 62. It is also the .!J.ntldas testuaineus, Bl., pl. 322, and the Cmus cobotus, Ham. Buchan, pl. xiii, f. 38. 11~~) Tricltop.odus colisa, H. Buchan.;-Trich. bejeus, Id. 118;-7Hck cotra, Id. '.-Tr.laltus, Id. 120;-Tr. sola, Id. Ib.;-Tr. cltuna, Id. 121;-Trichogaster ~~~at;:• Bl., Schn., pl. xxxvi, p. 164;-Clta3todon cMnensis, ni., pl. ccxviii, f. 1. r~ 1 ) he Macropode vert dore, Lacep. III, xvi, 1, and a new and much more beau· liU species with alternate red and green bands. \ |