59 



ing tlie lower or parotic limb), which is connected by a 

 ligament with the skull at the region of the jvmction of 

 the pterotic and opisthotic. In the Sole, according to 

 Cunningham, the forking is more marked, imd the lower 

 limb is connected with the opisthotic only. The post- 

 temporal in the Plaice is tunnelled by the lateral sensory 

 canal. 



Scapula (Sc). — A thin plate, which for some time 

 remains largely cartilaginous, but which is completely 

 ossified in very large fish, having an oblique shelving 

 articulation with the clavicle. Almost one-half of its 

 outer surface lies internal to, and articulates with, the 

 clavicle. It is perforated by the usual scapular fenestra 

 for the R. ventralis of the first spinal nerve. 



Goraooid (Co.). — Consists of two parts which are, how- 

 ever, continuous : a dorsal part (corresponding to the 

 meso-pre-coracoid of W. K. Parker*), which calcifies late, 

 is thicker than the ventral part, and gives articulation to 

 fin rays ; a ventral thin laminate part (the coracoid of 

 Parker) which calcifies early and projects downwards for 

 some distance as a ventral spine. Owing doubtless to the 

 long articulation with the clavicle the connection between 

 these two bones is here a simple and not a shelving one as 

 is the case with the scapula. The ventral part of the 

 coracoid is absent in the Sole according to Cunningham's 

 figure. 



Brachial Ossicles. — These are doubtless absent, but 

 may be represented by three structures : (1) a wedge- 

 shaped piece of cartilage attached mostly to the coracoid 

 but partly also to the scapula (cp. fig. 8) — this is present 

 in the Sole according to Cunningham's figure ; (2 and 3) 

 two sub-cartilaginous pads, one of which works over the 

 free surface of (1), and the other the free surface of the 

 * " Shoulder Girdle." Ray Society, 1868. 



