580 CLASSIFICATION OK THE MAIL-CHEEKED FISHES. 



by all Ins predecessors. His diagnoses of the several families are as 

 follows: 



I Sr,)Ki'KMi..i:: Dentition faible, dents en velours, pas de canines. Sons-orbitaires 

 s'articulant d'uue maniere mobile avec le prebpercule, ne couvraut jamais tonte la i| 

 joue; osnasauxlibresel petits. Peau, ounue on revetue d'ecailles, parfois epmeuse, ,' 

 'jamais cuirassee; ventrales tboraciques supporters par no os dn bassin long, lea deux 

 os 6tant en contact el sondes. Des pseudobrancbies: trois brancbies entieres et une 

 demi . b ranchie; quatre fentes brancbiosteges [brancbiaux]. Pas de tub.rcules sur 

 la inoelle, en arriere du calamus scriptorius. _ 



A. Scorpjsni: Corps revetu d'Scailles ordinaires (Sebastea, Scorpasw, Pterois, Tarn*. 



onotu8, groupe des Apistea). ,„.,., 



B Cottini: Corps on nu on portant des failles ^pmenses ( ILmitnptcrus, Synan, 

 ddium, Synanceia, Minous, Pelor, groupe des Cottea, Icelus, Triglops, Polycaulus, Hem* 



II Pi vTYCEPHALlDjsiTeteaplatieetcommegcrase-e. Corps aplati anterieurernent. 

 Dentition faible, pas do canines. Deux dorsales; la premiere epinc separee des 

 autres. Ventrales tboraciques, largement separSes ; os dn bassin jamais renins m son- 

 des laissant entre enx un tres grand intervalle (Platycephalic). 



III Tkhoide: Sous orbitaire, s'articulant d'une maniere presque fixe, on du 

 moins a peine mobile avec le prcopercule, et couvraut toute la joue. Nasaux soudfl 

 en -ramie plaque, couvraut la plus grande partie dn mnseau. Veutrales thoraciquej 

 et r€unies. Pseudobrancbies; arcs brancbiaux complets; cinq fentes brancbiostegej 

 [brancbiaux]. De quatre a six tubereules ganglionnaires a l'origine de la inoelle. 



A Tiuglini. 1« groupe, Trvjli : corps revetu d'ecailles ordinaires [Tngla, Lep,do~ 

 tHgla, Priomtus, Bembras); 2 e groupe : corps ayant des ecailles et des plaques: HoM 



lichthyi (HopHchthyn). J 



15 Catapiiracti. 1" groupe: un interparietal: Dactylopten (Bactylopterus, Cephal- 

 acanthus); 2 e groupe: pas d'interpari6tal : Periatethi (Agonua, Agonomalus, Ptristhc 

 dion). 



JORDAN AND GILBERT. 



Among the most recent investigators of the mail cheeked fishes have 

 been Professors Jordan and Gilbert. They have added greatly to our 

 knowledge of the American species and have unveiled the richness of 

 the group represented in the North Pacific. In their « Synopsis of the 

 Fishes of North America" (p. 040), they have advocated the natural- 

 ness of the group. They maintained that " the CMrida, Scorpcenida', Cot- ' 

 tidce, Agonidw, TriglidcB, Liparididce, and Cyclopteridce form a closely-! 

 related series (Cataphracti), and are distinguished from all the other 

 Acanthopteri by the presence of the suborbital stay. Different writers 

 have widely separated some of the members of the group from the others, 

 but the relations of each, especially of the Scorpamidw, Agonidcc, and 

 Liparididee with the Cottidce are so close that it is difficult to draw satis- 

 factory boundary lines." Detailed descriptions are given of each of the 

 families thus enumerated; but, inasmuch as their work is confined to 

 the North American fishes, they did not take cognizance of the types 

 which form the families Caracanthidoe, Platycephalida:, and EopUchthy- 

 idee, and, from their descriptions, it is not certain what would be done 

 by them with the representatives of those families. The cardinal char 

 actors Riven to the families recognized by them are the comparative 

 ai mat ore of the head, the development or want of slit behind the fourth 



