PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 487 



OIV THE FAMIIiY ANO !mJBFA:TII£,IX:S OF CARANOIDJC:. 

 BY THEODORE OILL. 



The family of Carangidae, as limited by me iu the ''Arrangement of 

 the lamilies of Fishes" (also as iu the Proc. Acad. Xat. Sc. Phila., for 

 18C2, p. 430, after the exclusion of Pomatomns) is an exceedingly natural 

 one, notwithstanding the differences iu external form. I have examined 

 skulls of representatives of all the groups hereinafter named, and their 

 common characters are so numerous, while their severally peculiar ones 

 are so insignificant that the so-called subfamilies are scarcely entitled to 

 that rank. The most characteristic skull is manifested in Tracliynotus ; 

 in that form, the orbito-rostral portion is shorter in comparison, the post- 

 frontal bones larger and more projecting, the inner lateral crests more 

 produced forwards than in any others, and the ethmoid is abbreviated 

 and markedly and abruptly declined. Analagous characters in many 

 families, however, are of inferior systematic value. It is to be also re- 

 marked that the Caranginte and Seriolinse are especially nearly allied, 

 so far as their crania are concerned, and there is even less superficial 

 difference between the skull of Seriola and most Carangina* — e. g. Car- 

 angus — than between it and the related genus Elagatis. 



Greatly as the elongated Trachurus and the high Selene differ, even 

 they essentially agree as to the structure of the skull, that of Selene 

 differing from the Carangine chiefly in being compressed, with its crest 

 elevated and extended backwards and its rcstral portion attenuated and 

 produced forward. Its ethmoid especially is characteristic in being much 

 compressed and carinated above instead of flattened and double- 

 headed. If, therefore, the subfamilies already indicated are retained 

 in the present communication, it is rather in order to epitomize the his- 

 tory expressed in their nomenclature than because I insist on or per- 

 sist in their retention. The haernal canal is perhaps more characteristic. 



CARANGID^. 



Synonyms as families. 



X Centronotides, Bisso, Hist. Nat. de I'Europe Merid., t. 3, pp. 110, 426, 1826. 



> Carangoidei, Bleeker, Emim. Sp. Piscium Archipel. Indico, p. xxiii, 1859. 

 X Lichioidei, Bleelcer, Enum. Sp. Piscium Arcliipel. Indico, p. xxii, 1859. 



X Serioloidei, Bleeker, Ennra. Sp. Piscium Arcliiiiel. Indico, p. xxiii, 1859. 



X Carangidse, GUnflier, Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus., v. 2, p. 417, 1860. 



X Carangid.-B, Guniker, Archiv fiirNatnrg., 28. Jahrg., B. 1, p. 59, 1862. 



< Carangoidffi, Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., [v. 14,] p. 430, 1862. 



< Carangida?, Cope, Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci., v. 20, p. 342, 1872. 

 = Carangida?, &ill, Arrangement Families Fishes, p. 8, 1872. 



= Carangida;, Poey, Anal. Soc. Esp. Hist. Nat., t. 4 (Enum. Pise. Cub., p. 7), 1875. 



> Caranges, Fitzinger, Sitzungsber. K. .Akad. der Wissensch. (Wien), B. 67, 1 Abth., 



p. 33, 1873. 



