The natural history of fishes, amphibians, & reptiles, or monocardian animals . lect, that the name of Acanthonotushad been already used. t The Arabians call these fishes Schilbe, but Cuvier, by some oversight,has omitted to give them a classic name : their humped back has sug-gested that of Pusichthys- THE SILLRINiE, OR EEL SILURES. 549 we see in the genera Mormyrus, Chironectes, Uranosco-pus, Trachinus, and numerous others. So completely,indeed, do these Silurinee remind the ichthyologist ofthe chironectiform type, that Dr. Riippell has given thespecific name of Uranoscopus to a species he h
The natural history of fishes, amphibians, & reptiles, or monocardian animals . lect, that the name of Acanthonotushad been already used. t The Arabians call these fishes Schilbe, but Cuvier, by some oversight,has omitted to give them a classic name : their humped back has sug-gested that of Pusichthys- THE SILLRINiE, OR EEL SILURES. 549 we see in the genera Mormyrus, Chironectes, Uranosco-pus, Trachinus, and numerous others. So completely,indeed, do these Silurinee remind the ichthyologist ofthe chironectiform type, that Dr. Riippell has given thespecific name of Uranoscopus to a species he has recentlydiscovered in -the Nile. This testimony of its analo-gical relation to the order Plectognathes is highly satis-factory, since it is given, as it were, incidentally, or asan insulated fact, without any idea of the inference wehave drawn from it. (285.) We now pass on to the fourth division orgenus of the Silurinee, to which we retain the name ofPlotosus Bloch. With but one exception * (Heterobran-chus bidorsalis Geoff., fig, 87.), all the fishes it contains 87 ^-^^. have but a single dorsal; but then this fin, instead oibeing short and high, is very long and low,—so long,indeed, that it extends to nearly the whole length of theback; the anal fin is nearly of the same length; andboth either terminate just before they reach the caudal,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, booksubj, booksubjectfishes, booksubjectreptiles
