78 BULLETIN 189, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



been considered important in the recognition of species. According 

 to Garman (1911, p. 97), at least, the specimen described above, on 

 the basis of the length of the pectoral and the origin of the first dorsal 

 with respect to the insertion of the pectoral, is C. capensis Dumeril, 

 recorded only from southern Africa. The tritors of the palatine 

 lamina, however, are as described for C. callorynchus, that is, the 

 outer prongs of the U-shaped tritors are much shorter than the inner 

 ones. The identification of the specimen here described with either 

 of the species named requires the assumption that its caudal filament 

 was lost during life and that the broken surface healed without pro- 

 ducing a new filament. 



Two other species, C. smythii Lay and Bennett and C. tritoris 

 Garman, the latter being based on a "nearly complete skeleton," 

 have been reported from Peru. However, there has been disagree- 

 ment among ichthyologists as to their validity. After discussing 

 variations occurring with age and among individuals in the dental 

 laminae in connection with variations in the length of the pectoral 

 fins, Norman (1937, p. 35) concluded, "It is probable that the exami- 

 nation of an adequate series of specimens would show that the nomi- 

 nal species capensis, from South Africa, and milii, from Australia, 

 Tasmania, and New Zealand, are nothing more than varieties of 

 C. callorhynchus." 



Range. — Off coasts of South America from southern Brazil to Peru 

 (Norman, 1937, p. 35). 



Family ELOPIDAE: Big-eyed Herrings 



Body elongate, more or less compressed; belly not compressed, its 

 median line covered with ordinary scales ; eye large, with adipose tissue 

 in large examples; mouth large, terminal or superior; maxillary 

 extending far beyond eye; premaxillaries not protractile; an elongate 

 bony plate (gular plate) between branches of lower jaw; teeth all 

 small, often bluntly villiform, present on jaws, vomer, platines, ptery- 

 goids, tongue, and basibranchials; branchiostegals about 25 to 35; 

 gill membranes separate, free from the isthmus; opercular bones with 

 membranous borders; gill rakers moderately long; last several seg- 

 ments of spinal column directed upward; scales large or small, with 

 membranous borders, not extending on head, the median row in 

 front of dorsal not enlarged or modified; dorsal fin over or somewhat 

 behind ventrals; caudal forked; pectorals and ventrals similar, each 

 with a long scale in axil. 



The Elopidae generally are considered as among the most archaic 

 of the existing teleosts. A single genus and species is known from 

 Peru. 



