COMrARAXn'E STUDY OF SCOMBBOID FKHEa 347 



o|»ixijil micl liypiixLvl portious Las some breadth in the Scombrklao aud Cybii(Lie 

 (fi«. 6), thurefori; wo find two pamllol traces of couuoctivo-ti&siie fibres, wliich 

 «)nuect fmuly with tlu3 vortical a^iouourosis, oiishiaitliiiiu; tho axial skoloton 

 from both sidos of it, just at tlio oud of tho uoiiral aud lu'oiuaJ processus, 

 where the uiyotomos are very sliarply beut. lu the Plocostei, however, myotomes 

 are \ei*v tliiu at the poiuts of extoiiiaJ bonihuij; aud thoy aro iuserted to the 

 axial skelotou at oue liuo of tiiicos. Iii Cijhhim ll»! iiniiilK3r of couos of 

 myotomes iu cross-sectiou of tlio lateral mnsc-lo is only a httle more numerous 

 tlian hi Scomber, Imt in S^inJ'i tho uumljcr is almost as mauy as in the 

 Thmuiida«;. At tlio anterior oud of the Ijcxly the ajxjx of the cones is uciiror 

 tho axis tlum to tho sm"f;ic-o of tho body ; but iu tho caudal portion it gi'aduaUy 

 approju'hos the surface. In the KatsuwouitLie (fig. 19) a pari of some imtorior 

 myotomes envelopes a large teudinous chord from the second vertebra, or rather 

 a pirt of some anterior mj'otomes forms a smaJl auxihiay coue of concentric 

 myotomes, which ooids iu a strong tendon attached to the second vertebra. 

 In Evthynnus and Aiixis another" smaller auxiharj- cone of myotomes round a 

 tendon Ls hiserted iuto the snpraclavicle (fig. 2). 



In the ScombricLie and Cj'biidao and also in tho Elatsuwouidae the dorsal 

 and vonti"al limbs of the myotome aro more or loss wide at the insertion into 

 the mediiiu septum ; but in the Thuunidae the dorsal and ventral limbs of the 

 myotome are veiy thin. 



The doi-sal limb of some anterior myotomes always reaches the fi'ont mai^in 

 of the frontals in the Plecostei, but in the Teleostei it is not always the case. 



In fishes the median superficial Litei-al muscle is generally diurker in 

 colour. Its extent is sometimes very well defined, but sometimes more or loss 

 indistinct. It is thin aud uaii-ow at the anterior jxirt, but thick aud wide at 

 tho posterior. This cWk colom^ed portion is ti"i:iugular iu cross-section, and is 

 bomidod by membi"aues of connective tissue, which are united to the line 

 connecting the distal end of intermuscular bones. In the Teleostei tendons of 

 the great Literal muscle ai'o mostly found in the superficial dark coloured 

 portion ; but in the Plocostei they are found in deeply seated dark coloured 

 muscles. The deeply seated dark red portion of the lateral muscle is charac- 

 teristic to the Plecostei. It is called "chiai " or " chimi " in onr country, from 

 very old times. In 1712 Ryox.vN' Tek.\jima desciibed " chiai " as being foimd 



