288 



Cavallas and Pampanos 



formed by the ossified cover of the air-bladder and with the 

 hypocoracoid obsolete. Kurtus indicus is the principal species. 



The Menidae. Near the Kurtidcz we may perhaps place the 

 family of Menida, of one species, Mene maculata, the moon -fish 

 of the open seas of the East Indies and Japan. This is a small 

 fish, about a foot long, with the body very closely compressed, 

 the fins low and the belly, through the extension of the pelvic 

 bone, a good deal more prominent than the back. The ventral 



\ 



FIG. 223. Mene maculata (Bloch & Schneider). Family Menidae. Japan. 



fins have the usual number of one spine and five soft rays, a 

 character which separates Mene widely from Lampris, which 

 in some ways seems allied to it. 



Another species of Menidcs is the extinct G aster onemus 

 rhombeus of the Eocene of Monte Bolca. It has much the same 

 form, with long pubic bones. The very long ventral fins are, 

 however, made of one spine and one or two lays. A second 

 species, Gasteronemus oblongus, is recorded from the same rocks. 



The Pempheridse. The Pempherida, "deep-water catalufas," 

 or "magifi, " are rather small deep-bodied fishes, reddish in 

 color, with very short dorsal, containing a few graduated spines, 



