Jordan and Evermann. — Fishes of North America. 1757 



Osteology also corroborates the nearer relationship of those forms to the normal Aean- 

 thopteryglan fishes. If we look among those normal forms for the nearest relatives of the 

 mail-cheeked fishes, in the present state of our knowledge, we appear to at least approxi- 

 mate the truth in claiming for them a nearer relationship with the Cirritids tlian any 

 others. This view, however, is simply hypothetical, and can not be considered to be 

 established until we become better acquainted with the anatomy of the various members 

 of the suborder Acanthopterygii. Which of the Scorpcenoidea are the most generalized is 

 a more difiicult question to answer. 



In some respects the Cbirids, or Hexagrammids, appear to be more generalized than the 

 Scorpsenids. They are less armed with spines than the other representatives of the great 

 group of mail-cheeked fishes, and, what is still more significant, the dichost or basi- 

 sphenoid is more developed and approaches in form that exemplified in the normal Acan- 

 thopterygians ; nevertheless, the parietal bones converge toward the front so as to almost, 

 if not quite, touch over the front of the supraoccipitine. The parasphenoid sends elon- 

 gated processes upward to meet corresponding processes of the subtectals or orbitosphe- 

 noids. In both of these characters they deviate from the Scorpsenids and approach the 

 Cottids. For this reason, therefore, they are placed after the Scorpfenids and before 

 the Cottids. The comparatively slight value of the approximation or separation of the 

 parietals thus appears and demonstrates that it is inadvisable to separate widely groups 

 resembling each other in so many characters because of such differences. 



An elongate spinous portion of the dorsal fin and an inversely short raj-ed portion are 

 developed in the Hemitripterids ; nevertheless, those fishes agree in most osteological as 

 well as most external characters with the Cottids; consequently, the unnaturalness of 

 removing tliem far from the Cottids and associating them with the Scorprenids, as well 

 as tlie slight value of the relative proportions of the spinous and rayed portions of the 

 dorsal fin, becomes evident. 



The osteological characters of the Platycephalids and Hoplichthyids are imperfectly 

 known, and it remains for future investigation to determine what are their exact relation- 

 ships and characteristics. 



The Triglids and Peristediids depart very widely from the other groups, as will become 

 hereafter manifest ; but, notwithstanding, their relationships appear to be more intimate 

 with the generalized mail-cheeked fishes than with any other group. 



The Dactylopterids depart still more from all other fishes than do the Trigloidea. We 

 look in vain, however, for any nearer relation of those fishes than the Trigloidea, and 

 consequently it may be assumed that they are the derivatives from a type from which 

 the Triglids have least diverged. 



In tine, the relationships of the various families of mail-cheeked fishes, in the present 

 state of our knowledge, may be expressed in the following genealogical tree, in which the 

 left-hand branch in each case represents the more generalized type of each pair: 



CirritidsB 

 Caracanthidffi ? 



(lorica, a cuirass.) 



