TKACHINID.'E. 225 



Fam. 11. TRACHINIDtE*. 



Percoidei, pt., Scirenoidei, pt., et Gobioidei, pt., Cuv. Rf'gne Anini. ; 



3nmer, Bed. Abhandl. 1844. 

 Uranoscopidffi, pt., Sciaenidse, pt., Gobiidse, pt., et Blenniid:T3, pt., 



Richardson. 



Body elongate, low, naked, or covered with scales. Teeth in 

 villiform bands, with pointed and conical canines in some of the 

 genera ; no molars or trenchant teeth. The infraorbital ling does 

 not articulate with the j)raeopercnlmn. One or two dorsal fins, the 

 spinous portion being always nmch less developed and shorter than 

 the soft ; the anal similarly developed as the soft dorsal ; ventrals 

 with one spine and five raysf. Gill-opening more or less ivide ; five, 

 six or seven branchiostegaLs ; pseudobranchiaj. jSTo prominent pa- 

 pilla near the anus. Air-bladder generally absent ; p^-loric append- 

 ages in moderate number, or wanting. Vertebrae '°°^ ^o+.v ^ 



Carnivorous fishes, living at the bottom of the shores of nearly 

 all the seas. 



Synopsis of the Groups. 



Eyes on the upper siu-face of the head ; lateral 

 line continuous a. Uranoscopina. 



Eyes more or less lateral ; lateral Kne con- 

 tinuous ; no larger tooth on the posterior 

 portion of the intermaxillary b. Trachinina. 



Eyes lateral ; a larger tooth on the posterior 

 portion of the iatermaxUlary ; lateral line 

 continuous o. Pin^pedina. 



Lateral line interinipted, or not continued to 



the caudal d. Pseudochromides. 



Appendix Heterostichus. 



First Group. URANOSCOPINA. 



Eyes on the upper sui'face of the head ; cleft of the mouth vertical ; 

 head generally cuii-assed -n-ith bony plates. Body sometimes naked, 

 sometimes partly or entirely covered with small scales. Lateral line 

 continuous. 



* 1. Pagetodes, Richards. Voy. Ereh.Sj Terr. Fishes, p. lo. pi. 8. f. 3. 



2. Hemerocoetes acanthorhjnichus. wliieli has been placed by its deseriber 

 close to fishes of tliis family, is not an Acanthopterygian fish, all its fin- 

 rays being articulated, 

 t In Epicnpvs with one spine and six rays. 

 VOL. II. Q 



