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Show 204 PISCES. G. vulgaris; Gyp. gono?'ltynchus, Gm.,, Gronov., Zooph., t>l. x; f. 24• The only species known is found at the Cape of Good Hope.( I) CoBITis, Lin.(2) The head small; body elongated, invested with small scales and covered with mucus; ventrals very fa.r back and above them a single small dorsal; the mouth at the extremity of the snout, but slightly cleft without teeth, but encit·cled with ~ips fitted for sucking, and wit~ cirri; but three rays in the branchice, the apertures of which are small· the inferior pharyngeals strongly dentated. There is no crecum; a~d the small nata tory bladder is enclosed in a bilobate, os· seous case which adheres to the third and fourth vertebrre.(3) Three species inhabit the rivers of France. C. barbatula, L., Bl.; 31, 3. A small fish four or five inches in length, clouded and dotted with brown on a yellowish ground, with six cirri; common in brooks, &c. C. Jossilis, L.; MrsGURN, Lac.;( 4) Bl., 31, 1. Sometimes a foot long with longitudinal brown and yellow rays, and ten cirrl. It lives in the mud of marshes, even long after they have been dried up or covered with ice. In stormy weather it rises to the surface of the water, which its restlessness keeps constantly agitated; when it is cold, it descends more deeply iotothe mud. It is constantly inhaling atmospheric air, which, according to the interesting observation of M. Ehrman, after having been converted into carbonic acid, is discharged per anum. The flesh is soft and smells of ooze.( 5) C. tamia, L., xii; BI., 31, 2. Six cirri; the body compressed, orange-coloured, and marked with a series of black spots; dis· tinguished from the two others by a forked and movable spine, formed before the eye by the suborbital. It is the smallest of the three, and is found in rivers, among stones, &c.; it is not much esteemed.(6) (1) lladly copied, Schn., 78. (2) KtXJ(!.'i'T'"' the Greek name of some small, undetermined fish. (3) See Schneider, Syn. Pisc. Arted., 5 and 337. (4) I do not separate the Misgurns from the Cobites; there is no diffe:ence whatever in their organizatioil, and the number of jaw teeth is not greaterm the former than in the latter; I have vainly sought for those described by Bloch. (5) Add the three species of Cobitis with unarmed cheeks described by Buchan· an, Pisc. Gang, p. 357-359. (6) Add; Cob. geta, Buch., XI, 96, and the other seven species with armed cheeks described by that Ichthyologist, op. cit., p. 350-356. MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMIN ALES. 205 ANABLEPS Bl.,(l) The fishes of this genus, for a long time and very improperly united with the Cobites, possess very peculiar characters; the cornea and iris of their very prominent eyes, which are placed under a roof formed on each side by the frontal, are divided into two portions by transverse bands, so that the organ of sight has two pupils, and appears to be double, although it has but one crystalline and one vitreous humour, and but one retina,(2) a peculiarity of which there is no other example among vertebrated animals. In the next place we find that the excretory canal of the organs of generation antl of the bladder, in the male, is situated in the anterior edge of the anal fin, which is thick, long, and scaly; its extremity is perforated, and that it serves for the purpose of copulation is indubitable. The female is viviparous, and the young are considerably advanced in growth at the moment of their birth. The body of these fishes is cylindrical and covered with stout scales; there are five rays in the branchice; the head is flattened, the snout truncated, and the mouth transversely cleft at its extremity; both jaws are armed with small and crowded teeth; the intermaxillaries have no pedicle, and are suspended under the nasal bones which form the anterior edge of the snout. The greater part of the pectorals is scaly, and there is a small dorsal on the tail, and nearer to its extremity than the anal. The pharyngeals are large, and furnished with very small globular teeth; the natatory bladder is very large, and their intestine ample, but without creca. But a single species is known; the .IJ.nableps tetrophtalmus, BI., 361, Cobitis anableps, L.; it inhabits the rivers of Guiana. PmciLIA, Schn. The two jaws horizontally flattened, protractile, slightly cleft, and furnished with a row of extremely small and slender teeth; top of the head flat; large opercula; five rays in the branchire; the body is but little elongated, and the ventrals not far back; the dorsal above the anal. Small viviparous fishes from the rivers of America.(3) The (1) From ct.vct.,aA.s7r~», to raise the eyes, a name given by Artedi. (2) See Lacep., Mem . de l'lnstitut, tom. U, p. 372. (3) Precilia Sclmeideri, Val., or P. vivipara, Schn., 86, 2;-P. multilineata, Lesueur, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sc. of Philad., 1821, pl. 1;-P unimacula, Val., App. Humb., Zool. Obs., II, pl. li, f. 2;-P. surinamemi3, Id., lb., f, 1. I \ |