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Show 276 PISCES. 1 · b'cb 1• pe VlS, w 1 5 completely bidd•e n under the sk• in and is without t h at spm· ou s proJ'ection observed m the other Bahstes.( 1) TRIAOANTHus, Cuv. Is distinguished from all other Balistes b~ a kind of ventra!s, each of which is supported by a single large spmous ray, adbermg to a non-salient pel vis. The first dorsal has three or four small spines behind a very large one. The skin is crowded with small scales, and the tail is longer than in the other subgenera. But a single species is known; it inhabits the Indian Ocean.(2) OsTRACioN, Lin. The bead and body of these fishes, instead of scales, are covered with regular bony plates soldered in such a manner as to form a sort of inflexible shield, which invests them, so that the only movable parts are the tail, fins, mouth, and a sort ~f small lip with .whi~h the edge or their gills is furnished, all passmg through holes m thts coat of mail. The greater number of their vertebrre are also sol· dered together and each of their J. aws is armed with ten or twelve , . f conical teeth. The external branchial aperture is a mere sht ur· nished with a cutaneous lobe, but internally we find an operculum and six rays. Both the pelvis and ventrals are wanting, and there are but a single dorsal and ventral, both small. They have but little flesh; their liver, however, is large and pro· duces much oil. Theit· stomach is membranous and large; some of them are considered poisonous. They may be divided according to the form of their body and the spines with which it is armed; we are not certain, however, that there is not, in this respect, some sexual difference.(3) (1) Bal. monoceros, L., Cate~b., 19;-the monoceros of Bl., which is different, 147;-Bal. kvis, Bl., 414;-.dcaramucu, Marcgr., 163, also differing from the three preceding ones;-Bal. Kleinii, Misc. IIJ, pl. iii, f. 2;-.ll.l. cryptatanthw, Cuv., Ren., II, part of pl. xlii, f. 284. (2) Bal. biaculeatus, HI., 148, 2. Numerous species of all these subgenera will be described in our Hist. des Poissons. (3) 1st. A triangular body without spines. Ost. triqueter, Bl., 130;-0st. conca· tenatus, BI., 131. 2d. A triangular body armed with spines behind the abdomen. Ost. bicaudalia, Bl., 132;-0st. trigonus, Bl., 135. 3d. A triangular body armed with spines before and behind the abdomen. Oat. quadricornis, BL, 134. 4th. Triangular, the ridges armed with spines. Oat. atellifer, Scbn., 97; the same as the Oat. hicwpis, Blumenb., Abb., 58. 277 CHONDROPTERYGII. The second series of the class of fishes, or the Chondropterygii, can neither be considered as superior nor inferior to that of the ordinary fishes, for several of its genera approach the Reptiles in the conformation of the ear and of the genital organs, while in others the organization is so simple, .and the skeleton so much reduced, that we might be excused for hesitating to place them among vertebrate animals. It is therefore a suite somewhat parallel to the first, as the Marsupialia, for instance, are parallel to the other unguiculated Mammalia. The skeleton of the Chondropterygii is essentially cartilaginous; that is, it contains no osseous fibres, the calcareous matter being deposited in small grains, and not in filaments; hence the absence of sutures in their cranium, which is always formed of a single piece, but in which, by means of projections, depressions, and holes, regions analogous to those in the cranium of other fishes may be distinguished. It sometimes happens that movable articulations, which are found in other orders, are not met with in this one ; part of the vertebrre of certain Rays, for instance, being united in a single body. Some of the articulations of the bones of the face also disappear, and the most apparent . character of this division consists in the absence of the maxillaries and intermaxillaries, or rather in 5th. Triangular, without spines. Ost. cubicus, HI., 137 ;-Ost. punctatus and lentiginosus, Schn., Seb., III, xxiv, 5; Lacep., I, xxi, 1, or meleagris, Sh., Gen. Zoo!., V, part II, pl. 172;-0st. nasus, Bl. 138, Will., I, ii;-Ost. tuberculatus, Will. I, 10. 6th. A triangular body armed with spines before and behind the abdomen. Ost. cornutus, BI., 133. 7th. A quadrangular body, the ridges armed with spines. Ost. diaphanus, Schn., p. 501;.-0st. turritus, Bl., 136. 8th. A compressed body, with a carinated abdomen and scattered spines. Oat. auritU8, Sh., Nat. Misc., IX, No. 338, and Gen, Zool., V, part 11, pl. !viii, 1, and some neighbouring species. N.B. The Ost. arcus, Seb. III, xxiv, 9, is perhaps a mere variety of the cornutus, and the gibbosus, Aldrov., 561, appears to me to be a badly drawn triqueter. \ |
