1895. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 173 



In 1878 Professor Cope' defiued the Belonidw in the following terms: 



i'ho genus Belone must be ])laeed iu a family gronj) distiuct from that which 

 lucludes the geuus Exocwtiis and its allies. I have already pointed out the fact that 

 it possesses a distiuct coronoid boue; iu addition to this, the vertebra' display zyo-a- 

 pophyses, a character unusual among fishes. On these two characters I propose the 

 family Belonid;e. Professor Gill has already created this uaiiie, but bo did uot 

 defiue the group to which be applied it. 



These views were not adopted for some time by other authors, Messrs. 

 Jordan and Gilbert and others preferring the older compound. 



In 1885 Dr. Jordan ' accepted the two families, Belonidjc and Soom- 

 beresocidfe, although, by a typographical slip, all were placed under 

 the former name, the latter having l)een forgotten. 



In 1888 Dr. Jordan-' reverted back to the old views, combining all 

 the Synentognaths in one family designated as ExoccetUJce. 



Other historical data may be obtained by reference to the sj^nonymy 

 ol' the various types. 



IX. 



The gars have a lower jaw peculiar iu that, in addition to the normal 

 three bones (articular, angular and dentary), a fourth is devel()i)ed 

 C(mtinuous from the articuhir and lying mostly inside of the upper 

 portion of the dentary. This element appears to have been unnoticed 

 by most naturalists aiul to have been lirst observed by Dr. B. C. Bruhl. 



In 1847 Bruhl ^ published a figure of the disintegrated right mandible 

 in which the supplementary bone is marked "ZK". I have, however, 

 been unable to find any reference to it in the text. In his observations 

 on the lower jaw,^ Bruhl indeed stated (erroneously) that an excess 

 over three bones was found only in two fishes, Lepklosteus and 

 Osteoglossum. ^' 



In 1878 Professor Cope' recalled that he had " already pointed out 

 that [Belone] possesses a distinct coronoid bone'", and considered the 



'Synopsis of the Fishes of the Peruvian Amazon, etc." (Proc. Am. Pliil. Soc, 

 XVII, 695.) 



-Catalogue of the Fishes of North America, p. 59. 



3 A Manual of the Vertebrate Auimals of the Northern United .States, fifth edition, 

 p. 91. 



•* Aufaugsgruade der vergleichendeu Anatomic aller Thierklasseu, Atlas, pi. xi. 

 fig. 17. 



» § 39. Der Uuterkiefer. 



'■ Vermehrung der Unterkiefertheile findetsich wirklich nur bei zwei Fischen: bei 

 Lepidosteus osseus und Osteoglossum (nach Miiller), die sechs Stiicke iu jeder 

 Unterkieferhiilfte ziihlen. Bei Auarrbichas lupus befindet sich (uach Duvernoy's 

 Angabe, c. I.Tom. IV, Part I, pag. 20) die Geleukfliiche des Gelenkstiickes an eiuem, 

 vom iibrigen Gelenkstiicke getrenuten Knochelchen, das er subangulaire nennt. Das 

 Vorkommeu vou vier Theilen in jeder Uuterkieferbiilfte bei Polypterus . . . bildet 

 keiue Ausuabme von der Normalzahl, [etc.]. — Aufaugsgruude der vergleichendeu 

 Aiuitomie aller Thierklasseu, p. 90. 



"Proc. Am. Phil. Soc, XVII, 695. 



