BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 559 



admit that there is an obligation imposed upon us to arbitrarily 

 derive the name of a family from that of the elder genus, 

 which may not be the most widely distributed and typical 

 association of species. Berg also, when proposing the name 

 Phriais, quotes the synonymy as '' Aphritis, Cuv. 1817." I can- 

 not ascertain that Cuvier ever established such a genus in the 

 earlier edition of his " Regne Animal," but even if it were so it 

 does not affect the matter here brought forward, since Latreille's 

 use of the name would still retain its priority. 



1 gen. innom. 



Aphritis sp. Giinther, Ann. & Mag. JSTat. Hist. (3), vii. 1861, p. 88. 



Head compressed and elevated, the snout long; mouth large, 

 the maxillary wide and extending to the vertical from the middle 

 of the eye ; lower jaw somewhat prominent;* palatine teeth 

 present ; opercle with a spine ; gill-membranes ? "f Dorsal fins 

 contiguous, elevated, the first originating well in advance of the 

 insertion of the pectorals; dorsal rays simple; anal without spine, 

 originating well behind the second dorsal; lower pectoral rays 

 simple; scales cycloid; an orbital tentacle; sides of body with 

 cutaneous appendages. 



Type : — Aphritis cjohio, Giinther, Ann. ife Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 

 vii. 1861, p. 88. 



Distribution : — Marine fishes from the Straits of Magel- 

 haen. 



PSEUDAPHRITIS. 



Aphritis (not Latreille) Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. 

 viii. p. 483, 18.:31 ; Giinther, Catal. Fish. ii. p. 24, 1860. 



* According to the letterpress of Giinther's earlier description ; this 

 statement is neither corrected nor corroborated in his later description 

 (Zool. Challenger, Shore Fish. p. 21 , 1880), nor in Cunningh.Tm's note (Trans. 

 Linn. See. London, xxvil. p. 469, 1871), but in the Challenger figure (I.e. 

 pi. ix.) the upper jaw is appai'ently considerably longer than the lower. 



t Probably free from the isthmus. 



