PLECTOSPONDYLI. 
Ill 
shaped band. Barbels!. Maxillary barbels band-like, very long. Chin 
with two short barbels. Nostrils close together, the i)osterior with a 
valve; nnchal region with a grannlated, bony buckler. Fontanelle 
large, well forward. Dorsal tin short, in front of the veutrals, with 1 
sharp spine and 7 rays. Pectorals with a similar sinne; both pectoral 
and dorsal spines ending in a long, striated, band-like filament. Adipose 
fin moderate, free behind. Caudal fin widely forked. Anal moderate 
or rather long. Ventral rays G. Gill membranes somewhat connected. 
Tropical waters of America; the species all marine. [aDMupoz^ cat; 
ixOuq, fish.) 
112. marimis (Mitchill) B. & G . — Sea Cat-fish; Gaff-top-sail. 
Dusky bluish, silvery below. Head rather short and broad, rounded 
anteriorly. Eye rather large, low, anterior. Occipital buckler subtrian- 
gular, tapering behind. Maxillary barbels extending about to the end of 
the pectoral sinne. Pectoral spine longer than the dorsal spine, two- 
thirds the length of the head, its filament reaching the vent. Dorsal 
filament reaching adipose fin. Upper lobe of caudal much the longer. 
Anal fin falcate. Baud of palatine teeth nearly continuous. Head 4^. 
D. I, 7 ; A. 23; P. I, 12; B. 6; Vert. 20 -j- 30. Cape Cod to Mexico; 
common southward. 
(Silurus viarinus:sutchi]l, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y. i,433; Gunther, v, 178.) 
Oeder L.-PLECTOSI’ONDYLI. 
{The Plectospondyloiis Fishes.) 
Physostomous fishes with the parietals broad, distinct ; pterotic nor- 
mal; symplectic present; opercular bones all present; no interclavi- 
cles, and the four anterior vertebrte much modified and with ossicula 
auditus. This group consists principally of fresh-water fishes, and in- 
cludes about six families. Two strongly marked divisions are included 
in it, the one the suborder Fventognathi of Professor Gill, and the other 
the Characius, referred by Professor Gill to the Isospondyll. Tbe Chara- 
cins resemble the Isospmdyli in general appearance and in the structure 
of the pharyngeals, but ditfer in the modification of the anterior ver- 
tebrae. (-Aezro?, joined together ; vertebrae.) 
ANALYSIS OF FAMILIF.S OF PLECTOSPONDYLI. 
* Brain case produced between orbits ; basis cranii simple; only two superior pharyn- 
geal bones ; lower pharyngeals falciform, parallel with the gill-arches ; jaws 
toothless. (Eventof/nath i. * ) 
* ev, well; hroc, within; yvd0of, jaw. 
