Page:Natural History, Fishes.djvu/139

Rh that it was caught by St. Christopher, while wading through an arm of the sea.

6. Coryphænina. Here also the body is greatly compressed, but it is also lengthened; the body is either destitute of scales, or clothed with such as are very minute; the head forms a sharp edge along its summit; the mouth is small, not protrusile. There is one dorsal extending nearly all along the

back, and furnished throughout with flexible rays; the ventrals are small, or absent. Sixty-seven species are enumerated in this sub-family, chiefly inhabitants of the warmer parts of the ocean, but a beautiful one (Coryphæna hippuris, .) is found in the Mediterranean. Its beauty is extraordinary, especially when beheld in the activity and brilliancy of life, glittering in the crystal