ACANTHOPTERYGII 669 



* 



23, with sessile ribs and no parapophyses, the epipleurals inserted 

 on the ribs. Body covered with very small scales. Vertical 

 fins elongate, with strong spines, 6 or 7 in the anal. Ventrals 

 with 2 spines and 3 soft rays between them. 



A single recent genus, Teuthis, with about 30 species, herbivor- 

 ous fishes from the Indian and Western Pacific Oceans. Accord- 

 ing to Bottard l the sting from the spines of these fishes is much 

 dreaded. Archaeoteuthis, from the Oligocene of Switzerland. 



Fam. 31. Osphromenidae. Second suborbital with a more or 

 less developed internal lamina ; entopterygoid present ; palate 

 toothed. Most of the praecaudal vertebrae with transverse pro- 

 cesses, to which the ribs are attached. Two nostrils on each 

 side. Gill-membranes attached to isthmus ; 4 to 6 branchio- 

 stegal rays ; gills 4, a slit behind the fourth ; pseudobranchiae 

 absent. Lower pharyngeal bones separate. Vertical fins very 

 variable in extent, the spines sometimes very numerous, some- 

 times absent. Ventral fins with not more than 5 soft .rays, 

 sometimes reduced to a filamentous ray.' A superbranchial re- 

 spiratory organ, situated in a cavity above the gills. 



Freshwater fishes having much in common with the Anaban- 

 tidae, and likewise confined to South-Eastern Asia and Africa. 

 Only 22 species are known, referable to 7 genera: Helostoma, 

 Poly acanthus, Osphromenus, Trichogaster, Luciocephalus, Betta, 

 and Micracanthus. The latter, the only African representative 

 of the family (one species from the Ogowe), hardly differs from 

 the Malay genus Betta. Most of the Osphromenidae are notable 

 as aquarium fishes. The largest species, the Gourami (Osphro- 

 menus olfax), growing to a length of 2 feet, from the Malay 

 Archipelago, is one of the best flavoured fishes of the Far East and 

 has been acclimatised in India, the Guianas, and Mauritius. A 

 domesticated variety of the Chinese Polyacanthus opercularis, 

 known as Macropodus viridi-auratus, remarkable for the beauty 

 of its form and colour, readily breeds in our aquariums. Like 

 the Gourami, the male constructs a nest of air-bubbles, strengthened 

 by a buccal secretion, and watches over the eggs and young. The 

 little Betta pugnax, from South-Eastern Asia, derives its name from 

 its excitable nature, which causes specimens to be kept by the 

 Siamese in glass vessels where they engage in fights, special 

 breeds being cultivated for the purpose. According to Cantor, 

 1 Poissons venimeux (Paris, 1889), p. 169. 



