CHARACTERS OF THE ORDER HAPLOMI. 257 



large supplemental bone ; a large preorbital and four suborbitals 

 present ; posttemporal a wide plate bent longitudinally at a right 

 angle ; its posterior edge concave, not typically forked ; its lower 

 limb connected by ligament to exoccipital ; a broad ribbon of 

 connective tissue connecting the inner surface of the supraclavi- 

 cle with the first vertebra ; l hypercoracoid simply notched by its 

 foramen, which opens against cartilage between the coracoid ele- 

 ments ; - lower pharyngeals elongate, not in contact at their inner 

 edges ; an ankylosed epipleural on each of the two first vertebrae ; 

 vertebrae number 36 -f 17 = 53 ; all abdominal neural processes 

 attached by suture ; parapophyses developed as processes only 

 posteriorly. 3 



Family UMBRID^. 



Characters as indicated by Umbra lima. 



Cranium short and normal in shape ; interorbital septum 

 double, with the sides widely separated 'throughout ; no myo- 

 dome ; parietal separated from pterotic by an area of cartilage ; 

 supraorbital absent ; parasphenoid not sending a lateral wing up 

 to alisphenoid ; vomer very small, scarcely larger than its patch 

 of three or four teeth ; loosely attached to the surface of the 

 parasphenoid, and nowhere reaching to the edge of that bone ; 

 no septomaxillaries or nasals present ; a preorbital but no sub- 

 orbitals present ; l basisphenoid absent ; a very small loosely 

 attached opisthotic present in usual position ; 2 palatine with a 

 process hooking over the maxillary ; no open space between 



1 The connecting band does not appear to be of the same compact ligamentous 

 nature as in Umbra, but is composed or more loosely connected fibers. It does not 

 join the tip of a lateral process, but is attached directly to the side of the vertebra. 



2 In a specimen examined of Eso x htciits, about the same size as the above (40 

 cm. in length) the foramen is entirely contained by the hypercoracoid. 



3 The parapophyses are represented by small ossicles attached to the centra by 

 suture, and set in sockets so that the ribs appear to be attached directly to the verte- 

 brae until careful examination is made. They first appear on the third vertebra, but 

 are little developed in front of the ninth or tenth. Posterior to the twenty-eighth they 

 develop outward and downward as small processes in front of the base of each rib. 

 Posteriorly they grow longer and the last two or three are ankylosed to the centra. 



4 The sensory tunnel which is usually continued from the frontals by the nasals, 

 opens to the exterior as soon as it leaves the former bone and extends no further 

 forward. 



5 It is easily pulled away with the posttemporal, remaining attached to the lower 

 ligament of that bone. 



