﻿86 48 



to the front end of the nasal; further, a quite short canal pierces the anterior 

 end of the prominent lateral ridge on the pterotic; one seems to pass through the 

 poslfrontal. There is also a canal in the preoperculum in under the above-men- 

 tioned ridge; this is continued as is usual on to the mandible. On the other hand, 

 there is no canal on the antorbital nor on any of the other cranial bones, and I 

 have not been able to lind a lateral line on any part of the body. 



The hyoid arch (iig. 28 and 29) consists of the typical number of bones; as 

 in- Aniphisile it is short and extends posteriorly here also only as far as almost to 

 the front margin of the hypobranchial of the first gill-arch; the resemblance with 

 the condition in Amphisile is on the whole very great; here also the stylohyal 

 (st) is only seen from the outer side, is small, rounded and articulated into the 

 epihyal (eh), with a depression on the outer side, supplemented by the epihyal, 

 for the ligament; the epihyal is only seen but little from this side, but forms a 

 part so much the more prominent on the inner side (fig. 29). By far the greater 

 part of the arch seen from the outside (fig. 28) is composed of the ceratohyal 

 {ch), which in contrast to Amphisile here overlaps most of the hypohyal I, and a 

 small part of the hypohyal II {hyll) is here seen from the outer side. The 

 bra nch iostegal rays are also fastened here in a deep groove (**) formed by 

 the epi- and ceratohyal and overhung above by a prominent ridge. Viewing the 

 hyoid arch from the inner side (fig. 29) the stylohyal is seen to be covered by the 

 large epihyal, which here appears as the second largest piece, whilst the hypohyal 

 I is by far the largest; the hypohyal II has a similar size as in Amphisile, as also 

 the ceratohyal. Both genera are thus remarkable for the great development of 

 the lower hypohyal and the great shortening of the stylohyal. The branch i- 

 ost égals are 4 in number, the first short and much thinner than the others, the 

 last the longest and broadest. In a projection of the margin near the point of the 

 lower hypohyal (at x, fig. 29) is attached the ligament for the urohyal {V\. II, 

 fig. 2, u), which is of good size and has a high ventral keel. Posteriorly the urohyal 

 becomes broader and on each side runs out into a short, prominent corner from 

 which springs the muscular tendon, which in Amphisile is ossified. 



The glossohyal is long, fiatlened above, with a longitudinal keel below, 

 and extends backward a little behind the posterior end of the hyoid arch. Behind 

 this comes a long basibranchial, which extends to the hind end of the hypobran- 

 chial on arch II; then comes a short and thin basibranchial lying between the 

 hypobranchials of arch III which are arched somewhat over it; as in Amphisile 

 there is no basibranchial for arch IV, the two sides of which meet in the middle 

 line, but immediately behind there is here also a small cartilage. 



The whole region of the gill-arches is less elongated than in Amphisile, the 

 part lying above the gullet especially is shortened, and more like the condition in 

 most of the bony fishes. The upper three pharyngobranchials 11 — IV bear teeth, 

 but corresponding to the relatively much shorter skeletal structure than in Am- 

 phisile the tooth-plate is placed transversely, pear-shaped in circumference, with 



