61 327 



statemenls I am able to confirm for embryos in that slage of developnienl at 

 which they leave the marsupium. 



The anterior part of the testis (te), situated under the posterior part of the 

 air-bladder, is somewhat irregularly coiled, the remaing part being straight and 

 gradually tapering into a narrow thread lying close to its fellow from the other 

 side below the kidney; above the rectum the testis (or vas deferens, no boundary 

 between the two being observable) widens a little again. If tlie two male ducts 

 are united at all it can only be at the junction with the urethra, like the case in 

 Syngnathids. (As stated p. 825 [59] this part unfortunately has been somewhat 

 damaged.) The male organ is of the same peculiar type as that of Syngnathids, i. e. 

 it forms a simple hollow sac or tube. 



I regret that the scarcity of my material did not allow me also to dissect a 

 female specimen. I have only had the opportunity lo look at a partly dissected 

 specimen in the British Museum (probably the one which had been used by 

 GiJNTHER for his anatomical statements) and to write down the following note: 

 "The ovaries are situated in the anterior part of the body cavity, each with a 

 long narrow oviduct; the two oviducts seem to unite into an enlarged portion 

 above the rectum"^'. 



Family Solenostomidœ. 



Two dorsal fins, the anterior spinous. Ventrals present, very large. Tail short, 

 caudal fin very large. Skin with star-like dermal ossifications in transverse and 

 longitudinal rows. No visible lateral line. Gill-openings wide, opercular membranes 

 free of isthmus. Nasals, infraorbitals and metapterygoid wanting. Hyoid complete; 

 branchial skeleton reduced. Supraclavicie present, postclavicle absent; scapular 

 foramen closed. Vertebrae without articulai processes, upper and lower spines long 

 and well developed. The 3 anterior vertebræ immovable, suturally united. Ribs 

 absent. Pseudobranchia present, well developed. Gills 4, gill-rakers absent, branchial 

 slits 5. Air-bladder present, without duct. Intestinal canal simple, straight; without 

 stomachal sac or pyloric appendages. 



Genus Solenostomns Lacép. 

 General form laterally compressed. Snout tubular, very long and strongly 

 compressed. Mouth an oblique slit, bounded above by the premaxilla, toothless. 

 Chin with a barbel, more or less concealed. Olfactory organ an open pit, smooth 

 in the female, provided with radiating lamellæ in the male. 3 opercular bones pre- 

 sent, subopercular extremely thin, bristle-like; inlcropercular lamellar, concealed. 

 One bifid branchiostegal. Septum between the branchial cavities perforated by a 

 large opening. Anterior part of body high, forming a thorax, posterior part slender; 

 tail very shorl, its anterior part high, dorsally and ventrally forming a kind of 



