SUB-CLASS VI 



TELEOSTEI 



109 



the Upper Eocene Menilite shales of Galicia (Fig. 189), and the Meletta shales 

 in Upper Alsace and the Vienna Basin. 



Family 26. Blochiidae. 



Elongated fishes with very long beak- shaped snout, which is formed by the equal/// 

 produced and finely toothed jaws. The entire trunk covered with cordiform or 

 rhombic bony scales, which are mostly keeled and overlap each other. Pelvic fins 

 small, beneath the pectoral pair ; dorsal fin arising at the occiput and extending 



Fig. 190. 

 JJlochius longirostris, Volta. Upper Eocene ; Monte Bolca. Ve na t- size (after Agassiz). 



almost to the caudal fin, composed of a spaced series of long spines; anal fin also 

 much extended ami consisting of similar spines ; caudal fin large. Eocene. 



The only known genus is Blochius, Volta (Fig. 190), from the Upper 

 Eocene of Monte Bolca. 



Sub-Order 4. LOPHOBRANCHII. Cuvier. 



Gills arranged in tufts on the branchial arches and protected by an operculum. 

 Snout with tubular extension, and jaws toothless. Pelvic fins, often also the anal 

 and caudal fins wanting. Skin armoured with thin bony plates. 



Only very few fossil representatives of the two families of this remarkable 

 group are known. The elongated Solenostomidae, in which all the fins are 

 developed, have an Eocene forerunner in the genus Solenorhynchus, Heckel, 

 from Monte Postale. Extinct species of Siphonostoma, which is still common 



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Fig. 191. 

 Siphonostoma albyi, Sauvage. Upper Miocene ; Licata, Sicily (after Sauvage). 



in the Mediterranean, also occur in the Upper Miocene of Licata, Sicily 

 (Fig. 191), and of Tuscany. Several Tertiary forms of Syngnathidae are 

 known ; Syngnathus, Pseudosyngnathus, and an extinct genus Calamostoma, Ag., 

 occur in the Eocene. 



Sub-Order 5. PLECTOGNATHI. Cuvier. 



Skin covered with roughened scales, bony spines or plates, rarely naked. Skeleton 

 incompletely ossified. Maxillae and premaxillae fused together into a solid beak. 

 Gills pectinate. Pelvic fins wanting or represented by spines ; dorsal fin with 

 articulated rays opposed to the anal fin. 



