110 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OP 



soft portion acute and elevated in front, low and rounded behind. Anal fin 

 with three spines, the second of which is elongated ; soft portion rounded be- 

 fore and behind, and with seven or eight rays. Caudal fin emarginated and 

 with pointed lobes. Pectoral fins irregularly rhomboidal, and with none of its 

 entire rays produced. 



Type. Oxycirrhites typus Bleeker. 



This genus is almost peculiar among fishes by the extension of the intermax- 

 illary bones and the armature of their ascending branches. It also differs from 

 Cirrhitkhthys and Cirrhitus by the more elongated body and head, and the form 

 of the caudal. 



A single species is known. 



Oxycirrhites typds Bleeker. 



Oxycirrhites typus Bleeker, Achtste Bijdrage tot de kennis der Vischfauna 

 von Amboine, p. 40, in Acta Societatis Indo-Nederlandicae, vol. ii. 

 Habitat. Amboyna and Isle de France. 



Subfamily HAPLODACTYLIN^E Gunther. 



Haplodactyliformes Bleeker. 



Haplodactylina Gunther, Catalogue of the Acanthopterygian Fishes, &c, vol. 

 ii., p. 434. 



Teeth compressed, trenchant and lanceolate, or tricuspidate. Dorsal fin 

 nearly equally divided into spinous and soft ; the former with fourteen to seven- 

 teen spines. Ventral fins generally with the second branched ray longest. 

 Caudal fin truncated or emarginated. 



Tne vertebral column is composed of an increased number of vertebra?. 

 Richardson having found sixteen abdominal and eighteen caudal ones in the 

 Dactylosargus arctidens. Gunther, however, adopts the correctness of that 

 number. 



This subfamily is distinguished principally by the dentition ; the physiognomy 

 of its representatives is also rather peculiar. The group is divisible among 

 three genera, which may be thus distinguished. 



Teeth of jaws compressed, tricuspidate or lanceolate. 



Vertebras |j^ HAPLODACTYLINA. 



Vomerine t^eth present. 



Teeth in both jaws tricuspid Haplodactylus. 



Teeth in both jaws sublanceolate, or with lateral 



lobes small Dactylosargus. 



Vomerine teeth obsolete. Teeth tricuspid in jaws...Crinodus. 



HAPLODACTYLUS Cuv. et Val. 

 Synonymy. 



Aplodactylus Cuv. et Val. Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, vol. viii., p. 476, 



1831. 

 Aplodactylus Guichenot. 



Haplodactylus Gunther, Catalogue of the Acanthopterygian Fishes, &c, vol. ii., 

 p. 434. 



Denies tricuspidati et velutinae in maxillis ambobis ; in maxilla superiori tricus- 

 pidati, triseriati ; inferiori biseriati. Dentes vomerini velutini. 



Body oblong, highest above or behind the ventral fins, covered with small 

 scales. Head scarcely longer than high, with the profile behind the eyes ob- 

 liquely straight or little concave, before eyes very oblique and high. Eyes 

 high and mostly anterior. Preorbital bones higher than long. Preoperculnm 

 with an entire membranous border. 



Mouth small, transverse and terminal. Teeth villiform or cardiform in each 



[March, 



