Miscellaneous. 151 



pidosaurus, and the abdominal position of its ventrals, which consist 

 of one simple and nine branched rays, we cannot but come to the 

 conclusion that this fish is a true Malacopterygian. The swimming 

 bladder is wanting, as in many other Physostomi. 



I have obtained evidence to which family of Physostomi Alepido- 

 saurus is to be referred, by the examination of its skeleton*. 1. The 

 suboperculum is wanting ; it is replaced by the interoperculum, 

 which equals the operculum in size. 2. The margin of the upper 

 jaw is formed entirely by the intermaxillary bone ; it is armed 

 throughout its length with a row of small teeth ; it is very weak, 

 and dilated only in front into a nearly transparent lamella. 3. The 

 maxillary bone is rudimentary : whilst in freshwater Siluroids with 

 a short skull it is diminished in length, in Alepidosaurus it certainly 

 imitates the cranial bones in its elongated form, but is not thicker 

 than a needle, and can only be retained by careful preparation of the 

 skull. 



These osteological characters distinctly indicate a near alliance of 

 our fish with the Siluroidei, notwithstanding any difference of form ; 

 and to this we may add that it is destitute of scales, and predatory ; 

 that, like most species of this family, it has an adipose fin, and that, 

 like all of them, it is destitute of caeca. The relationship betrays 

 itself even in some less important characters, — for example, in the 

 outer ray of the pectoral fins, which is thickened and toothed. We 

 have thus in Alepidosaurus the first example of a marine Siluroid 

 fish ; and if there be an objection to destroy the unity of the fresh- 

 water Siluroidei by the interpolation of Alepidosaurus, we may form 

 for it a peculiar family (Alepidosauridce) with the characters of the 

 genus, which will then take its place in the immediate vicinity of the 

 Siluroidei. 



It is to be expected that Alepidosaurus ferox will not remain the 

 sole species of this group. The fish described by Richardson, from 

 the fragment of a cranium from Van Diemen's Land, as Alepisaurus 

 sp. (Voy. ' Erebus' and 'Terror/ Ichthyol. p. 34, pi. 22. figs. 1-4), is 

 identical with that from Madeira, as I have convinced myself by 

 personal examination of the specimen, as far as the characters can 

 be ascertained from the existing materials. His assertion that Ale- 

 pidosaurus belongs to the Sphyrcenidce rests upon a very superficial 

 investigation. But Mr. Lowe has told me of another species, very 

 similar to our fish, which the fishermen in Madeira not unfrequently 

 take with the hook at great depths. The union of the vertebrae, of 

 the bones of the skull, and of the muscular segments is, however, so 

 loose that, by its own efforts to free itself, the fish breaks up into 

 fragments, and those portions which can be brought up to the sur- 

 face become broken up in the air as though they had been dissolved 

 by boiling. — Wiegmanrfs Archiv, 1860, p. 121. 



* I will give a detailed description of the skeleton in the course of my ■ Cata- 

 logue of Fishes.' It is remarkable in general for the singular deficiency of earthy 

 constituents, as the muscles are for the extremely small development of the 

 ligamentous tissue. 



