no. 3647 PERCIFORM FISHES — GOSLINE 39 



Plesiopidae, the pelvics are sometimes behind and sometimes in front 

 of the pectorals. Under the circumstances, it seems impossible to 

 adopt pelvic position alone as a basis for distinction. As an additional 

 character, Regan (1912d) used reduction in the pelvic to four or fewer 

 rays to separate out a group (table 1), which he called the Suborder 

 Blennioidea. Various aspects of the artificiality of Regan's Blennioidea, 

 however, have been pointed out by Starks (1923), Regan himself 

 (1929), Hubbs (1952), Smith (1952), Gosline (1955), and Makushok 

 (1958). In this paper, a different supplementary character to define 

 the Jugulares will be adopted, namely, the presence of an exact 1 : 1 

 ratio between the vertebrae and the dorsal and posterior anal soft rays. 



One result of adopting this additional criterion is to exclude from the 

 Jugulares a number of fishes with anterior pelvics such as serranids and 

 serranid-like families and the Opistognathidae. It also excludes from 

 the Jugulares some almost certainly extraneous elements such as the 

 Mastacembeliformes and Gadopsidae and three "Series" included by 

 Jordan (1923), namely, the Brotuliformes, Ophidiiformes, and Carapi- 

 formes. If this supplementary criterion clarifies the limits of the 

 Jugulares, it adds certain phylogenetic complications that will be 

 noted below. 



Even if the Jugulares are defined as acanthopteran fishes with the 

 pelvics ahead of the pectorals and an exact correspondence between 

 the dorsal and anal rays and the vertebrae, certain groups would be 

 included that do not seem to belong there. These are the champso- 

 dontoids, the ammodytoids, the schindleroids, certain gobioids, the 

 Pleuronectiformes, and possibly the Symbranchiformes. Of these, the 

 Symbranchiformes can be at least technically excluded because they 

 have no dorsal and anal rays at all. The flatfishes are set aside easily 

 on the basis of asymmetry. The schindlerioids have no pelvics, but 

 neither do a number of specialized Jugulares. Under the circumstances, 

 it is easiest to exclude Schindleria on the basis of its fused caudal 

 vertebrae. Among the gobioids, certain burrowing forms, e.g., Trypau- 

 chen, Microdesmus, Kraemeria, have anterior pelvics; these may be 

 removed on the basis of their lack of parietals. 



The champsodontoids and ammodytoids provide more serious 

 problems. In the first place, it is not absolutely certain, in my opinion, 

 that they should be excluded from the Jugulares. On the assumption 

 followed here that they should be, the best means of doing so would 

 seem to be their forked caudal fin preceded by a long, constricted 

 caudal peduncle supported by bladelike neural and hemal arches. 



The only remaining problem in defining the Jugulares is that of 

 certain specialized groups that may well hve been derived from them. 

 Such groups are the batrachoids and lophioids, the Callionymidae, 

 Draconettidae, and Gobiesocidae. What the batrachoids and lophioids 



