210 



DEEP-SEA FISHES OF THE ATLANTIC BASIN. 



origin under the i)o,ctorals less fiirtlier backward tlian in C. fqidsetis, is one of the best means 

 of separating the yonng of the two forms, and corresponds also to one of the best distinc- 

 tive characters of the ailnlt. The small individnals of both species not only have the 

 ])reoperculiiin provided with spines, bnt also a scapular spine and snpraorbital spine on 

 each side. Tlie larger spi'cimens have the body very elongate, but are at the same time 

 less thick, without being compressed, as they are in advanced age. The dorsal is rela- 

 tively as low as in C. eqiii.srtis: in the adult, its origin at a point scarcely behind the anterior 

 margin of the eye; in tiie young, above the posterior margin of the preoperculum; in those 

 still younger, between the preoperculum and the opening of the gills; in G. hippurus, adult, 

 above the posterior margin of the pupil; in the younger specimens of the same species, 

 above the branchial opening, and so on. The system of coloration is a marked character 

 in the different ages. 



Family BRAMID.yE. 



Bramida;, Lowe, Pise. Syu. Maderensium, etc. (1834) ; Trans. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 183B, 197. — Gill, Arrange- 

 ment Families of Fishes, 1872, 9; Century Dictionary, 659. — Jordan and Gilbert, Bull, xvi, U. S. Nat. 

 Mus.,1883, 455 (in part). 



Bramhii, Bonaparte, Catalogo Metodico, 1846, 76 (Subl'am. 132). 



Bramd formes, Bleekek, Teutameu, 1859, xxii. 



Scombroids with short, oblong, compressed body. Head rounded; snout, obtuse, con- 

 vex; month wide, oblique. Vertical iins, long, elevated, anteriorly continuous, with but 

 few spinous rays. Ventrals thoracic. Teeth on vomer and palatines. An exterior row of 

 strong teeth in the jaws. Premaxillaries protractile. Branchiostegals 7. Pseudobranchise 

 present. 



THE POMFRET (Braiitd l\au.) 



A single genus Brama, of which Taractes (without spinous jjortion to dorsal and anal) 

 is the young. 



They are strictly pelagic, and it would seem probable that they descend to considerable 

 depth. 



BRAMA, Schneider. 



Bmmn, Schneider, Bloch's Systema IclithologiiB, 1801, 1.98 (type, B. alropos Sclm.).— Risso.Hist. Nat.Eur. 



M^rid. HI, 433.— CuviEuand Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., vii,281.— GOnther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., 



u, 408.— Jordan and Gilbert, Bull, xvi, U.S. N. M., 455. 

 Taractes, Lowe, Proc. ZoGl. Soc. 1863, 82.— Poey, An. Soe. Esp., v, 148.— Gunthei:, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mug., 



II, 410. 



Pterycomhiis, Fr.iE.s, Vet.Akad. llandl., 1837. 



P>ody coin])resse(l and more or loss elevated, covered with rather small scales; cleft of 

 the mouth very oblique, \\ith the lower jaw longest. Dorsal and anal fins elongate, the 



