692 TELEOSTEI CHAP. 



sucker to boats or to sharks, turtles, cetaceans, and other large 

 swift-swimming animals. On the East Coast of Africa they are 

 employed by the natives for catching turtles, to the carapace of 

 which they stick with extraordinary tenacity, being held by a 

 line attached to a metal ring round the caudal peduncle. 1 The 

 largest Sucking-fish grows to a length of three feet. 



DIVISION VII SCLEROPAREI. 



Second suborbital bone more or less produced towards or 

 ankylosed with the praeoperculum ("" suborbital stay "). 2 Ventral 

 fins thoracic. 



The " Cheek-armoured Acanthopterygians," " Joues cuirassees " 

 of Cuvier, after the exclusion of the Sticklebacks, form a perfectly 

 natural association, evidently derived from the Serranidae, with 

 which the more generalised forms have much in common. From 



FIG. 422. Skull of Ophiodon elongatus. sor, Suborbital stay. 



the Perch-like genus, Sebastes, a continuous series can be traced 

 towards the Triglidae, especially through such forms as Apistus, 

 Minous, and Choridactylus, in which one or more of the lower 

 pectoral rays are detached from the rest of the fin. Through 

 the Comephoridae the Scorpaenidae are connected with the 

 Cottidae, whilst the latter merge insensibly into the still more 

 aberrant Cyclopteridae. These conclusions, which are apparent 

 enough from a mere comparison of the external characters, become 

 fortified by a study of the skeletons. The passage between the 

 various groups here accepted as families is so complete that no 



1 Cf. Holmwood, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1884, p. 411. 



2 This character suffers one exception, to be found in Comephorus, a degraded 

 form otherwise closely related to Cottocomephorus, in which the skeleton is typical 

 of the present division. 



