The natural history of fishes, amphibians, & reptiles, or monocardian animals . rrangement being so differentfrom those of our predecessors. The families will bereviewed in the same order as we have already noticedthem, viz.— 1. the Salmonidcs ; 2. the Pleuronectidce ;3. the Gadidce; 4. the Siluridce; and, 5. the Cobitidcs. (213.) The Salmonid^, or salmons, appear to resolvethemselves into five principal groups or sub-families,all of which are represented by the Linnaean generaCyprinus, Salmo, Clupea, Esox, and Mormyrus. Thefew characters common to them all have been alreadyintimated : where s
The natural history of fishes, amphibians, & reptiles, or monocardian animals . rrangement being so differentfrom those of our predecessors. The families will bereviewed in the same order as we have already noticedthem, viz.— 1. the Salmonidcs ; 2. the Pleuronectidce ;3. the Gadidce; 4. the Siluridce; and, 5. the Cobitidcs. (213.) The Salmonid^, or salmons, appear to resolvethemselves into five principal groups or sub-families,all of which are represented by the Linnaean generaCyprinus, Salmo, Clupea, Esox, and Mormyrus. Thefew characters common to them all have been alreadyintimated : where so much diversity of structure exists,a corresponding difference of habits will be found ; andthese had better be noticed under the separate divisionsof the family. (214.) The Cyprince, or carps, form a most exten-sive division of fish, entirely confined to fresh numbers are much more abundant in the oldworld than in the new, and many species inhabit therivers and lakes of temperate Europe. The carp (Cy-prinus Carpio Linn., fig. 4(5.), perch, roach, and several. other native fishes, are familiar examples of the generaconstruction of the whole. They are the most herbi-vorous of all fish—feeding chiefly upon aquatic vege-tables, like their prototypes the eels j to which, although 238 I CLASSIFICATION OF FISHES. they have not the same shape, they appear reallyanalogous : like them, also, they have thick fleshy fins,and a slimy mucous substance spread over their body :they further resemble the eels in having few or no realteeth, and both feed on the same substances. Themouth of the CyprincE is always very small, and thejaws destitute of teeth* ; but they have strong powersof mastication, from the inferior pharyngeal bones beingprovided with a few large teeth, adapted for pressingtheir vegetable food: the stomach is simple, and with-out caeca. In external characters, they differ from thesalmons, by having a single dorsal fin ; the majority,also, have very thick flesh
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, booksubj, booksubjectfishes, booksubjectreptiles
