508 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



Crown depressed and not relieved by crests or ridges. Preorbital bones large ; 

 infraorbital chain very narrow, and not articulated with the preoperculum. 

 Opercular bones all present; the interoperculum and suboperculum are mode- 

 rately developed. Mouth terminal, with the cleft lateral and large, extending 

 to the vertical of the eye. Upper jaw with its arch formed in front almost en- 

 tirely by the intermaxillary bones, whose pedicles or posterior processes are very 

 short. Supramaxillary bones with their articulations entirely posterior to the 

 intermaxillary slender and gradually enlarged towards their extremities. 

 Teeth developed on the jaws. Palate smooth and unarmed. Branchial apertures 

 capacious. Branchiostegal membrane inferiorly deeply emarginated behind, 

 and provided on each side with six rays. Pseudobranchiae developed. Dorsal 

 fin with its spinous portion short and usually distinct from the soft. The rays 

 of the latter are (often) simply articulated and not branched. The anal fin is 

 little shorter than the dorsal, and its rays are divided, with the membrane 

 notched behind each. Caudal fin not forked. Pectoral fins well developed, and 

 with their inferior rays divided. Ventral fins jugular or subjugular, separated by 

 a rhomboid area ; each with a spine and five rays, the first of which are fre- 

 quently thickened and entire. The cranium is flattened behind, and the crests 

 are little developed or obsolete. The spatuliform snout i3 principally formed by 

 the elongated frontal bones. The stomach is of moderate size and caecal. The 

 pyloric caeca are in very small number. 



The chief distinctive characteristic of this family is doubtless the spatuliform 

 extension of the snout. This combined with the extent of the fins, structure of 

 the head and general form, distiaguish the group from all others. It appears 

 to be most closely allied to the Harpagiferoids and Notothonioids. From the 

 former, it is separated by the form of the head as well as by that of the body. 

 From the Htter, by the same features, and also by the naked skin. 



The representatives of this family, or at least Chcenichthys, were at first 

 placed by Sir John Richardson ia the Cuvieran family of Gobioids, between 

 Hameroccetes and Comephorus. Subsequently, in his memoir on Ichthyology 

 published in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, he removed Hcemeroccetes to his family 

 of Uranoscopoidce, and retaining Chcenichthys in that of Gobiidae, placed it after 

 Comephorus as the last of the family. 



Dr. Bleeker, in his " Systemalis Piscium Naturalis Tentamen," widely sepa- 

 rated the two groups which are here referred to the family, thus distributing 

 them. 



Caterva 2. Platycephalichthyes. 

 Ordo 33. Platycephali. 



Familia 118. (2d of order) Callionymoidei = Callionymini, Bp. 

 Gen. Callionymus L., Harpagifer, Richds., Chcenichthys, Richds. 

 Caterva 3. Blennii. 

 Ordo 34. Cotti. 

 Familia 123 (3d of order) Blennioidei. 

 Subfamilia 4. Comephoriformes. 



Gen. Comephorus Lac, Pagetodes, Richds., an huj loc. 

 Dr. Giinther at first referred Chcenichthys to the group Trachinina of his family 

 of Trachinidffi, but subsequently transferred it to that of Nototheniina, formed 

 for Notothcnia, Harpagifer and Chanichthys. 



The family has scarcely any affinity to either the Callionymoids or Blennoids. 

 Besides the form of the head as well as that of the body, it differs from the 

 former, especially by the relative situation of the ventral fins and the extent of 

 the branchial apertures. It is also still distinguished from Comephorus, which 

 is the type of a peculiar family little allied to Blennoids, by the structure of the 

 head, the presence of ventral fins, and the development of the pubic bones. It 

 appears, however, to be allied to the Comephoroids, but certainly not as much 

 so as to the Harpagiferoids, or even the Notothenioids. Like its nearest rela- 

 tions, all the representatives of this family are inhabitants of high southern 



1 [Dec 



