146 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.84 



family belong to only two species, each of which appears to have a 

 world-wide distribution in the depths of tropical and semitropical 

 seas.^ 



Unfortunately, the rarity of the material in my hands and the nec- 

 essary apportionment of the Philippine Albatross fishes to three in- 

 stitutions have not permitted the desired osteological re-investigation 

 of the family. It is to be hoped that future specimens will allow of 

 this. 



Family GRAMMICOLEPIDAE 



Grammicolepidi Poey, 1873, p. 405 (description). 



Granimicolepididae Giix, in Kingsley, 1885, p. 207 (name only). — Giix, 1893, 

 p. 134 (name only). — Goode and Bean, 1895, p. 218 (description). — Jordan 

 and EvERMANN, 1896, p. 973 (description). 



Grammicolepidae Shufeldt, 1888, p. 274 (translation of Poey's paper). — Jordan, 

 1905, vol. 2, p. 249 (brief mention) ; 1923, p. 171 (name and included gen- 

 era). — Barnard, 1925, p. 370 (description). 



Zeidae (part) Boulengee, 1902, p. 300 (critical remarks). — Regan, 1910, p. 483 

 (critical remarks). — Weber, 1913, p. 409 (remarks). 



The true relationship of the family Grammicolepidae was not 

 appreciated at first. Poey asserted that Grammicolepis was related 

 to the Berycidae and the Carangidae. Shufeldt agreed with Poey in 

 relating the fish to the carangids, but he noted many important differ- 

 ences in the skeleton. In 1885 Gill placed the grammicolepids, along 

 with Lampris^ Luvarus, Mene, Kurtus, Capros, and Zeus, as a distant 

 ally of the Scombroidea. His inclusion of the Caproidae and Zeidae 

 in this category does not seem to imply that he had any distinct un- 

 derstanding of their closeness to Grammicolepis. In 1893 Gill placed 

 the Grammicolepidae, together with most of the fishes mentioned 

 above, in his group Scombroidea, but he stated that this assemblage 

 was not a natural group and would doubtless be split up after further 

 study. Goode and Bean and Jordan and Evermann merely left 

 Gram^micolepis where Gill placed it. 



Boulenger appears to have been the first to recognize the really close 

 similarity of Grammicolepis to the Zeidae, and he placed it in that 

 family. Eegan similarly placed it in the Zeidae, mentioning particu- 

 larly its resemblance to the genera Cyttus and Neocyttus in the pres- 

 ence of the basisphenoid and in the prominence of the supraoccipitals. 



The genera that are now usually referred to the Zeidae, although 

 few in number, seem to me to be considerably divergent in many de- 



1 J. L. B. Smith (1931, p. 145, 2 figs.) has recently de.scribed a supposed new genus and 

 species of South African grammicolepids as Prionolepia heti'itti. I am Indebted to Dr. 

 Smith for the information that he now considers this flsh to be a juvenile acanthurid. 



