Page:Philosophical Transactions - Volume 096.djvu/17

Rh range obliquely backwards. They are all joined together by cellular membrane, and shining fasciæ, which resemble the tendinous expansions in quadrupeds.

Towards the middle of the fish the flakes are thicker, and stand more perpendicular to the surface, becoming oblique and thin as they approach the tail; whilst the intervening fasciae are most dense at each extremity. This series consists of forty-five flakes, a number corresponding with that of the spinous processes to which they are attached, and which does not vary with the growth of the fish.

The muscular fibres constituting each flake, run nearly at right angles with its anterior and posterior surfaces, and parallel to the length and surface of the fish; except that their posterior extremities incline somewhat inwards.

As the skull affords the ultimate fixed attachment of this series, and its moveable insertions are on the vertebræ, and the tail, it follows, that its combined action is to bend the whole body and tail towards one side; or, if the flakes contract partially, to give it a serpentine motion. To produce these effects all the other series co-operate.

The superior external edges of the flakes of the vertebral series ($$gg$$) form acute angles with the inferior external edges of those of the dorsal series, the apices of which point towards the tail: the flakes are larger, but their number is the same. The lower margin of this series is bounded by the central membranous partition, which has already been noticed to be more conspicuous than the other longitudinal divisions, and it apparently admits of greater motion.

The abdominal series ($$hh$$) is composed of flakes similar to the preceding. They range towards the tail, forming an angle