514 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Family I. ZEID.E. 



JOHN DORIES. 



Body short, deep, much oompres.<ed and elevated, naked or covered 

 with minute, smooth scales, or with Ijony protuberances. Mouth 

 large, terminal, the upper jaw protractile. Teeth small, in narrow 

 bands or single series on the jaws and vomer, and sometimes on the 

 palatines. Eyes lateral, placed high; opercle much reduced; some 

 of the bones 'of head usually with spines; preopercle not serrate. 

 Post-temporal very firmly attached to the skull; lower limb adnate for 

 its whole length; the distal end only of its upper limb is attached. 

 The supra-clavicle short and trianglar, bearing a short spine near its 

 anterior angle, its posterior edge divided into three spines, two or 

 three of which stand out above the surface of the skin. Ventral edge 

 often serrate, with strong bony plates. Lateral line well developed, 

 concurrent with the back. Branchiostegals, T or 8. Gill-openings 

 wide, the membranes little united, free from the isthuuis. Pseudo- 

 branchia' large. Air bladder large. Gill rakers usually short; gills 

 ■i, no slit behind the fourth. Dorsal tin emarginate or divided, the 

 anterior part with spines, which are often strong, the posterior part 

 longer, its highest rays behind the middle; soft anal entirely similar 

 to s^'oft' dorsal, usually preceded by 1 to 4 spines, which are not gradu- 

 ated and which often form a separate fin; pubic bone short; ventral 

 fins thoracic, well developed, their rays usually I, 6 to I, 8; pectorals 

 small; caudal fin rounded, on a moderate peduncle. Lateral line 

 obscure, unarmed. Pyloric cseca exceedingly numerous. Vertebra^ 

 about 32 [Zem). Fishes of singular appearance, inhal>iting warm seas, 

 often at considerable depth. The species undergo great changes in 

 the course of development. The "John Dory" {Zensfahc?') is a well- 

 known food-fish of southern Europe. The increased number of 

 ventral rays and the armature of the belly in this family suggest 

 relationship with the Berycoids; the adnate post-temporal suggests the 

 Cha?todonts. AYe follow^Mr. Starks in associating the Zeid^p with the 

 Ch^todonts, removing them from all association with the Scombroid 

 forms, to which they bear only the most superficial resemblance. The 

 actual place of Zeus in the system is still uncertain, but it should not 

 be separated far either from the Berycoids or the Cha?todonts. 



a. Dorsal spines verv strong, sometimes filamentous; anal spines 3 or 4. Bony 

 spinous plates present along bases of vertical fins, and between ventrals an<l 



anal. 

 h \nal spines 3; both dorsals with strong bony spinous plates at base; ventral 



rays I, 6, or I, 7 Zenop.m, 1. 



bb. Anal spines 4; no plates at base of spinous dorsal; scales evident. . ..Zeus, -'. 



bbb Anal spines 2, the first strong, immovable; bony plates very small; scales 



obsolete Cyttopsis,3. 



