exterior teeth, ossification extends along the ligamentous base of
the matrix and they are thus fixed, as in the pharyngeal teeth of
the barbel and many other fishes, by continuous anchylosis to the
substance of the supporting bones | but it is peculiar to the Lophius
to have this process arrested in certain teeth, which continue to be
attached by elastic fibres instead of osseous piles, whereby the
ordinary prehensile and destructive armature of the mouth is
rendered still more effective by the additional mechanism of a
spring-trap.
An exterior view of the maxillary teeth in situ is given bv Mr.
Yarrell, at p. 274, vol. 1 , of his excellent work on British Fishes ; I
have figured a portion of the anterior part of the left premandibular
bone and teeth, of the natural size, viewed from within, at PI. 56,
fig. 1 ; the second tooth of the inner row is represented as bent
backwards, and the elastic ligaments at the inner side of the base
are shortened and curved by the pressure; the dotted line shows
the ordinary position to which the tooth is returned by the resiliency
of the ligaments when the bending force is removed. Some of the
shorter, inflexible exterior teeth are shown at« a; and the larger,
moveable, inner teeth at b b.
The smaller species of Lophioids, forming the genera Antennarius,
Malthcea and Halieutcea, have the teeth reduced to the rasp-like or
villous character, and in the latter genus, which includes the Lophius
muricatus of Shaw, the palatines and vomer are smooth and edentulous.
BLENNIOIDS.
61. The fishes of this family, like those of the preceding, have no
common condition of the dental system. The Blennies (Blennius,
Cuv.) present a close-set single row of long, fixed teeth, of which one
is commonly more developed than the rest, and stands up, like a canine
tooth, at the posterior extremity of each semi-circular series: there
are no palatal or lingual teeth; those of the pharyngeal bones are
similar to the maxillary teeth, hut are moveable and disposed in
two pectinated rows. In the Blennechis ancylodon the number of
elongated maxillary teeth is greater than in the true Blennies. In
the Chasmodes, the teeth of the maxillary row, which extends along
only the anterior part of the jaws, are of equal size. The maxillary
teeth of the Salarias, with the exception of the single canine which
terminates each end of the dental series of the lower jaw, are extremely
thin and slender, and are hooked at the extremity; but they are
chiefly remarkable in being attached, like the teeth of the Squaloids,
to the gum only, or membrane covering the intermaxillary and premandibular
bones, so that they readily yield to pressure; there are
about two hundred of these teeth in each jaw. The palatine and
lingual bones are edentulous. In the genus Clinus there are always
teeth on either the vomer or palatine bones, in addition to those
supported by the jaws ; the latter are of two kinds, an outer close-set
row of longer pointed teeth, and behind these a band of villiform
teeth. The Myxodes are devoid of palatal teeth; and have only a
single row of teeth on the jaws, the largest being in the middle, and
not at the ends of the row, as in the true Blennies. The butter-fish,
(Gonellus vulgaris), has a row of conical, but rather blunt teeth on
each jaw, and behind the middle of that of the upper jaw there is a
second short row. There are some very small teeth in front of the
vomer ; the membrane covering the tongue and palatine bones is
beset with firm papillae, but the calcifying process has not converted
them into teeth.
The viviparous Blenny, (Zoarces), has conical teeth arranged in
two or three rows at the middle of the upper and lower jaws, and in
a single row at their sides : the vomer, palatine, lingual and branchial
bones are edentulous.
In the Opistognathus, the teeth are villiform and arranged on a
narrow band in each jaw ; the exterior ones are a little stronger and
more separated than the rest. Of the other bones of the mouth,
the pharyngeals alone have teeth, which are ! en cardes.’
But the chief subject of interest to the anatomist in the
present family of fishes is the singular and powerfully developed
dental system of the Wolf-fish (Anarrhichas Lupus.) The general character
and physiological relations of the teeth in this species had not
escaped the attention of Hunter. In his paper on the Gillaroo trout