338 72 



qu'une masse continue sans articulation. Les vertèbres ne commencent à être distinctes que 

 près des ventrales. " 



Figures of tlie wliole skeleton arc given by Rosenthal (47, Tab. 9, Fig. 8) CFist. serrata", 

 if F. petimha or depressa I am not able to decide) and Agassi/ (1, Atlas, Vol. 4, Tab. 35, Fig. 1) 

 (F. /a/)«co;7(/, wrongly on the plate designateil as Aulostoma chinensc); in both figures the system 

 of ossified tendons along the vertebræ is omitted. Separate figures of the anchylosed anterior 

 part are given by Brühl (6 a. Tab. 9, Fig. 38, 40; (i b. Tab. 10, Fig. 10, 11 ; in both works F. lalm- 

 caria') and Owen (38, p. 41, Fig. 35, F. tabacaria; copied by Goodrich 15, p. 412). A very detailed 

 and elaborated description of the anterior coalesced vertebræ is found in Klein (26 a, p. 327 

 —28); nevertheless K. declares that he was not able to find "real sutures" between the com- 

 ponent vertebræ, and therefore he feels not quite sure about their number, but supposes it 

 to be four. Brühl furthermore has figured other parts of the vertebral column (csp. in 6 b. 

 Tab. 10, F'igs. 9— 15, 17—23), but some of his figures are not quite correct le. g. 13. 19 and others). 

 He seems to be the only author, who figures anything of the ossified tendons, of which one 

 only is represented in 6 b. Tab. 10, Fig. 23; the text says: "r— r': an die spina angelegter, sehr 

 langer, knöchener Flossenstrahl." I suppose that Günther is speaking of these structures 

 when he states (16 a, p. 533): ". . . the interneurals long, horizontally situated, so that they form 

 together one continuous bony strip." Evidently G. has not observed the paired symmetrical 

 arrangement of the structures in question. Also Agassiz possibly has these bones in view 

 (and not only the nuchal plates?) when he writes (1, T. 4, p. 278): "Enfin, il y a de semblables 

 pièces allongées, sur la ligne médiane du dos, qui semblent rappeler la tendance qui règne 

 généralement chez les Aulostomes, à avoir une dorsale épineuse."" The "pièces semblables" 

 are evidently the spindle-shaped bones imbedded in the skin of Fist, tabacaria, forming the 

 strip along each ventral side peculiar just for this species and mentioned on p. 281 [15] of this 

 work; this will be seen from the words immediately preceding the above quotation: "En 

 avant des ventrales, et depuis leur insertion jusqu'au bout de la queue, on remarque en outre 

 une série de lames cornées, acérées, et qui paraissent avoir quelque analogie avec les écus- 

 sons abdominaux des Belones." 



The 3 nuchal plates seem first to have been sjiecially noticed by Günther (16 a, 

 p. 532), who describes: "A narrow strip [of shields] along the median line of the back behind 

 the skull; they are, in fact, confinent neural spines, belonging to the anterior portion of the 

 vertebral column")." This interpretation I think niust now be given up. Later they are 

 described by Klein (26 a, p. 326' as one narrow plate, behind drawn out into a long point 

 "welches gespalten sich auf die Dornfortsätze der 3 vorderen abgesonderten Wirbel legt." 



The large lateral bones, which are fastened to the epiotics, are well described by 

 Agassiz (1, p. 278) and still better by Günther (16 a, p. 532). In comparing them with the 

 similar structures in Muç/il which Günther (cfr. 1. c. p. 412) regards as " processes of the 

 paroccipital", he apparently does not consider them simply as ossified tendons. The same 

 comparison with Miigil is found in Dareste (11, p. 1089): "Les occipitaux externes présentent 

 de très-grand prolongements osseux, qui s'extendent dans la région dorsale et sont l'exagéra- 

 tion d'une disposition qui se rencontre chez les Mugiloides." 



13 p. 284 [98]. While already Lacépède supposed the caudal filament to be a ray (31, T. 10, 

 p. 93: "Cet appendice .... ressemble entièrement par sa contexture aux rayons articulés des 



■ In the work (i b Brühl believes lie is dealing witli Aulostoma chinense; the mistake I think is 

 due to the wrong labelling of a skeleton in the Paris Museum, probably the same which served Agassiz 

 for his figure, mentioned above, and wrongly designated as Aulostoma chinense on his plate; but while 

 Agassiz in his text has corrected the mistake Brühl lias not been aware of it. 



" They are at all events figured on the fossil F. Koenigii |1, T.4, PI. 35, Fig. 5), and Ag. remarks 

 in the description of this species: "Au dessus de la colonne vertébrale on remarque quelques osselets 

 qui paraissent correspondre au pièces impaires du milieu du dos, que j'ai mentionnées en décrivant la 

 charpente solide du F. tabacaria." 



