A REVIEW OF THE HEMIBRANCHIATE FISHES OF JAPAN. 



By David Stakr Jordan and Edwin Chapin Starks, 



Of the Li'Iwid Hkmford Junior Uniirrsltii 



In the present paper is given a review of the Hemil)ranchiate fishes 

 known to inhabit the waters of Japan. It is based on material in the 

 Leland Stanford Junior University and in the U. S. National Museum, 

 most of it collected by Jordan and Sn3'der in the sunnner of 1900. 

 In a previous paper in these Proceedings" ]\lr. Starks has discussed 

 the osteolog}^ of the suborder Hemibranchii and of its component 

 families. 



Order ACANTHOPTERGII. 



Suborder HEMIBRANCHII. 



Opisthotics absent; parietals usuall}^ absent; exoccipitals never 

 meeting over surface of basioccipitals; myodome usually al»sent or 

 rudimentary, sometimes well developed; posttemporal never typically 

 forked, sometimes united to cranium suturely; a portion of the hypo- 

 corcacoid sometimes enamelled, appearing- externall}" as a sepjirate ])one 

 on either side (interclavicle); supraclavicle usually al)sent, small when 

 present; postclavicle when present composed of a single bone; superior 

 pharyngeals and usually elements of branchial arches reduced in num- 

 ber; inferior pharyngeals present, not united; four anterior vertebras 

 more or less elongate, sometimes united; transverse process present 

 on all abdominal vertebrje; snout more or less produced and tube- 

 like with a small mouth at its end; ventrals abdominal, sometimes 

 anteriorly placed. These fishes are allied to the Percemces^ from 

 ancestors of which it is probably descended. Their relations to the 

 Lopho])ranchii are close, the characters of the Lophobranchii being 

 largeh' extremes of the same modifications. 



(V/<«, half; ftpayxos, gill.) 



In the following analysis of families we adopt the arrangement of 

 families as given in Dr. Gill's valuable discussion of ''The Mutual 

 Relations of the Hemibranchiate Fishes."* 



«Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XXV, 1902, p. 618. 

 ?'Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1884, p. 154. 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXVI— No. 1308. 



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