845 
125 (a). AXTEXNARI 1 D.E AXTEXNARIUS. 
Family CXXV W-— ANTEXXArillD.E. 
(T/te Frog-fishes.) . 
Head and body more or less compressed. Mouth vertical or very 
oblique 5 lower jaw projecting ’ 5 jaws with cardiform teeth 5 ])remaxilla- 
ries protractile. Gill-openings small, pore-like, in or behind the lower 
axils of the pectorals. Xo pseudobrauchim. Skiu naked, smooth, or 
prickly. Pectoral members forming an elbow-like angle. Pseudo- 
brachia long, with three actinosts. Ventral fins present, jugular, near 
together. Spinous dorsal of one to three separated, tentacle-like spines ; 
soft dorsal long, larger than anal. Pyloric coeca none. Genera about o ; 
species nearly 40. Inhabitants of troiiical seas, “living on lloating sea- 
weed, and enabled, by filling the capacious stomach with air, to sustain 
themselves on the surface of the water” j therefore, widely dispersed 
by currents in the sea. 
(Pediculati pt. Giluther, iii, 182-200.) 
a. Head compressed; a rostral spine or tentacle, followed by two larger spines; pala- 
tine teeth developed. 
b. Dorsal spines disconnected. .......... Antexxarius, 467 . 
aa. Head cuboid; a single rostral spine or tentacle; soft dorsal low. ..Cuauxax, 468. 
467.— AN'TE^’XARirS Lac^pede. 
(Chironectes Ciiv.) 
(Commersou; Laceptule, Hist. Xat. Poiss. i, 421, 1793: type Anfennarius chironedes 
Cominerson.) 
Body oblong, compressed, very deep through the occipital region, 
tapering behind; breast tumid. Mouth rather large, more or less 
oblique, or even vertical ; cardiform teeth on jaws, vomer, and pala- 
tines. Eye small. Skin smooth, granular or spinous, with numerous 
fleshy slips. First dorsal spine developed as a small rostral tentacle; 
second and third dorsal spines strong, covered with skin, with nu- 
merous fleshy filaments; soft dorsal high and long; anal short and 
deep; caudal fin rounded; pectoral fins moderate, with a more or less 
slender wrist, at the lower posterior angle of which are the ver^- small 
gill-openings; ventral fins well developed. Fantastic-looking fishes; 
very numerous in warm seas. (Latin antenna., a feeler or tentacle.) 
a. Ventral fins long; skin smooth or nearly so ; mouth oblique. {Pteroplirijnoidi's* G'xW.) 
1303. A, SjBSlrao (L.) J. & G. — Mouse-fish; Toad-fish. 
Yellowish, marbled with brown; 3 dark bands radiating from eye; 
* Plerophryne GiW, Proc. Acad. Xat. .Sci. Phila. 1863,90: type Chironedes boiiyaiuviUei 
C. V.; i)reoccupied as Plerophrijnus: Pterophrynoides Gill, Proc. U. S. Xat. Mus. 
1878, 216. (Ttrepov, wing; (ppvvg, toad; etdo?, resemblance.) This genus is per- 
haps worthy of retention. 
