. The animal creation: a popular introduction to zoology. Zoology. FISHES. 315 deformed, wliile others are very paragons of elegance and beauty. Many fishes, indeed, are adorned W the hand of Nature with every kind of embellishment— variety in their forms, elegance in their proportions, diversity and vivacity in their colours; nothing is wanting to attract the attention of mankind. The splendour of every metal, the blaze of every gem, glitter upon their surface; iridescent colours, break- ing and reflecting in bands, in spots, in angles, or in undulating lines always regular or symmetrical, gr
. The animal creation: a popular introduction to zoology. Zoology. FISHES. 315 deformed, wliile others are very paragons of elegance and beauty. Many fishes, indeed, are adorned W the hand of Nature with every kind of embellishment— variety in their forms, elegance in their proportions, diversity and vivacity in their colours; nothing is wanting to attract the attention of mankind. The splendour of every metal, the blaze of every gem, glitter upon their surface; iridescent colours, break- ing and reflecting in bands, in spots, in angles, or in undulating lines always regular or symmetrical, graduating or contrasting with admirable effect and harmony, flash over their sides: for whom have they received such gifts, they who at most can barely per- ceive each other in the twilight of the deep, and even if they could see distinctly, what species of pleasure can they derive from such combinations ? The teeth of fishes are very numerous, and are attached to almost every one of the bones that enter into the composition of the mouth. They are generally simple spines, curved backwards ; but in- numerable modifications of structure occur. Thus the teeth of the deadly Shark are flat and lancet-hke, the cutting edges being notched like a saw; the front teeth of the Flounder are compressed plates ; some, as the Wrasse, have flat grinding teeth, and. Fig. 244.—skeleton of haddock. others, as the genus Chrysophrys, have convex teeth, so numerous and so closely packed over a broad surface, as to resemble the paving-stones of a street. p 2. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Jones, Thomas Rymer, 1810-1880. London : Society for Promoting Knowledge
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectzoology
