NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 227 



also by the presence of scale-like spines in place of the ventrals. It thus shows 

 a tendency towards Lepidopus, and perhaps further by a more perfect develop- 

 ment of the tail than occurs in Lepturus. 



According to Giinther, the Trichiurus muticus and T. intermedins of Gray 

 are not specifically distinct, and, if this opinion is correct, the typical species 

 of the genus is the only one known. Both forms inhabit the East Indian and 

 Chinese seas. 



Subfamily LEPIDOPODINjE Gill. 



Genus LEPIDOPUS Gouan. 



Synonymy. 



Lepidopus Gouan, Historia Piscium, p. 185, 1770. 



Vandellius Shaw, General Zoology, vol. iv. p. 199, 1803. 



Scarcina Rqfinesc/ue, Caratteri di alcuni Nuovi Generi, &c, della Sicilia, p. 20, 



1810. 

 Zipotheca Montagu, Memoirs of the Wernerian Society, vol. i. p. 81, (1809), 



1811. 

 Lepidopus Cuv., Giinther, et al. 



Body naked, very long and thin, gradually decreasing backwards till within 

 a short distance of its extremity, when it rapidly tapers into a slender com- 

 pressed caudal peduncle, on which is set a small, but completely developed, 

 caudal fin. Anus subcentral. 



Lateral line simple, little decurved from the scapular region and continued 

 along the middle of the side to its end. 



Head much compressed, oblong, conic, with the profile nearly straight or 

 constricted behind the forehead, and with the snout gibbous near its end ; 

 forehead narrow, with an elongated triangular depression between two frontal 

 ridges. Eyes moderate, situated nearly in the middle of the head. Opercu- 

 lum oblong, not extending as far back as the bases of pectoral fins, fimbriated 

 on its margin. Nostrils oblique, in front of the eyes. 



Mouth moderate, the supramaxillars extending to about the vertical from 

 the front of the eye ; intermaxillars and supramaxillars free, the former 

 highest near the middle and arched above, again widened towards the ends, 

 with a terminal expansion downwards truncated in front. Lower jaw narrowed 

 to its extremity and bluntly produced at the chin. 



Teeth, two or three long, simple, (or barbed ?), compressed ones on each 

 side of the intermaxillars in front,* and behind a row of small ones. Lower 

 jaw with a similar row ; palatine teeth minute. 



Dorsal fin commencing above or behind the preoperculum, nearly uniformly 

 high and continuous almost to the caudal fin. Anal spines numerous and 

 minute ; behind enlarged and connected by a membrane to form a fin. 



Caudal fin small but normally developed, deeply forked, and with subacute 

 lobes. 



Pectoral fins inserted almost horizontally, with the lower rays longest, and 

 above emarginated. 



Ventral fins represented by scale-like spines inserted behind the pectoral fins. 



D. C CV. A. XX XXV. 



Vertebras 41 | 71 pm. 



Caeca pylorica 23 pm. 



Type. Lepidopus caudatus White ex Euphrasen. 



Only one species of this appears to be known. It has been only found in 

 the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern parts of the Atlantic Ocean. 



Genus EVOXYMETOPON Poey. 

 Body naked, very long and thin, very gradually decreasing backwards till 

 within a short distance of the extremity, when it more rapidly tapers into a 



* I see none with barbed points, like those represented by Cuvier, in the specimen before me. 



1863.] 



