560 TROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MlSEr.M. 



(not Blkr) and Cluvtodipterus hnc. { = rarcpJiipi)us Gill). 7>>>Tj;aH<?, ac- 

 cording to Cape, is a Caraugid, and Scatojjhafjiis, jiidgiugfrom the figure 

 of its skeleton (Agassiz's Poissons Fo.ssi/e.s, t. -i, pi II. f 1), belongs U> 

 a peculiar family — the Scatophogida' — the ribs of which are simple and 

 received in sockets co:!;])aratively high on the centra, and, apparently,* 

 the post-temporal is forked. In Wmx, Scntophagm appears to have no 

 direct affinitv with the Cha'todontids. 



«IV THE RES.ATI3©.\M OF THK FAITSCI.V «,OR©Tin^E. 



BY Ti^HEODOKE CilJLlL. 



Among those families which :iie '' iticerta^ scdis" has been that desig- 

 nated as LobotidiC. Its type — Loboies .'^Hri namensis—has been almost, 

 universally placed with the Pristipomids except by American authors. 

 There was, however, nothing in its physiognomy or characteristics, ex- 

 cept the unarmed i)alate, to Justify such a reference, and recent examin- 

 ation shows that the skepticism as to the propriety of such association 

 was amply warranted. On the whole it appears to be most nearly re- 

 lated to the Serranida' of the families whose characters are to some ex- 

 tent known, and nuiy be i)rovisionally defined as follows: 



LOBOTID.E. 



Synonym!/. 



<^ [LobotoidiP] (riU, Pvoc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Pbila.. [v. 14,] p. 238 (not uamed or de- 



fiuedt), 1862. 

 ? Lobotidi Foey, Repertorio Fisico Naf. «U' Cuba, t. 2, p.:!J4 O'ot (h'liiicd). 18;)8. 

 = Lobotida', Gill, Cat. Fisbcs E. ('oast N. Am . p.— (nor <b'biu<l), 1S7;!. 

 Scienoides gen., Ciirier, etc. 

 Pristipo'ivlda- gou., Giinther, etc. 

 Pei-coi(b'i gca., Bhvler. 



Percoidea with an oblong compressed body equally developed above 

 and below, a short snout and anterior eyes, edentulous palate, dorsal 

 and aval with the soft portions equal and opposite, the former pre- 

 ceded by a much larger spinous portion, the latter with three spines, 

 vertebme 24, 12 abdominal and 12 caudal ;i: the fifth to eleventh with 

 short but gradually lengthening parapopliyses projecting sideways and 

 behind downwards, and the twelfth with the parapophy.ses elongated, 

 converging at their extremities, and fitting into a groove of the first lup- 

 mal spine, the costiferous pits excavated obliquely in the developed para- 

 pophyses.and gradually ascending forwards on the vertebrse, and finally 



*The figure given by Professor Agassiz is ambiguous. 



t "Zoi!>o<es Cuvier and Datnioides, Blkr., ratber represent a family, perhaps, some- 

 what allied to the Nandoidai." Gill, oj). cit. 



t Dr. Giinther has attribnted to the "X. auctorum^' "Vert. 13 | 11" (Cat. Fishes B. 

 M., i,338). 



