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With much in their form and characters that resemble the preceding Family of the Sparidæ, the Mænadæ differ from them in the extreme extensibility, and retractibility of the upper jaw, a peculiarity dependent on the length of the intermaxillary pedicels, which withdraw between the orbits of the eyes. They have teeth in the jaws, which are very fine and close set, resembling the pile of velvet; in general, the palate is toothless. The body is furnished with scales, some of which, very small and delicate, often, but not always, extend upon the dorsal fin; the ventrals are placed beneath the pectorals. Their air-bladder is large, simple, and rounded in front; commonly divided posteriorly into two long horns, which penetrate into the muscles of the tail, on each side of the internal spines of the anal fin.

The four genera which compose this Family, comprising, according to the Prince of Canino, sixty-one species, are thus distributed. Mæna is confined to the Mediterranean; Smaris inhabits the same sea, but less exclusively, a few species being found in the East and in the West Indies; Cæsio is confined to the Indian Ocean and its gulfs; and Gerres spreads itself over all the tropical seas. The Family is of little importance to man; the Common Mendole (Mæna vulgaris, .) of the Mediterranean, is considered so utterly worthless, that its name in Venice is a