260 SCOMURESOCIDiR. 



plate. ]5()tli jaws with a narrow band of minute teeth*. Body 

 clonp;ate, slender, covered with scales of large or moderate size. All 

 the doisal and anal lays connected by a membrane. Gill-openings 

 very wide. Intestinal track simjjle, A,vithout pyloric appendages. 

 Ail-bladder large. 



Seas between and near to the tropics ; many species entering 

 fr(\sh waters. 



Very young specimens have the lower jaw not prolonged. 



The numerous species may be subdivided thus : — 



A. Pectoral short. 



a. Caudal forlced or omarginato, p. 200. 

 h. Caudal rounded, p. 27''2. 



au. Dorsal rays much more numerous than anal ; bofilc with 

 minute teeth along each edge : llcmirliamphodon (Blkr.), 

 p. 272. 

 hh. Number of dorsal rays not much exceeding that of anal ; 

 dorsal fin conimeiicing hef(U"e or above the origin of tlie 

 anal ; males witli dorsal and anal rays modilied. Vi- 

 viparous : ZcinnTlioptcriiH (dill), p. 27''{. 

 re. An.al rays more; nunun-ous than dorsal ; anal conmi(;ncing 

 before dorsal fin : iJcnnuUxjciiys (v. liass.), p. 275. 



M. Pectoral elongate. 



(I. IJeak very long: Ji!u/c/)iorJia»iphHs (Cill), p. 27<5. 

 h. ]?('ak sliortenud : Oxt/porhantphtoi (Gill), p. 270, 



A. Pectoral short. 

 a. Caudal forlced or cmarginate. 



1 . Hemivhamphus intermedius. 



llemirhamphus intermedius, Catd. Ann. ^- Mai/. Nat. Hid. 1842, ix. 



]). 485; Jtirhards. Irhth. Chin. p. 204. 

 Jlemirhaniphus melauochir, Cuv. iSf- Val. xix, p. 41. 



D. 15-17. A. 18-20. IMl. 

 Scides of moderate size, very deciduous. The length of the entire 

 head is contained twice and three-fourths or twice and four-fifths in 

 the total (without caudal), the length of the lower jaw (beyond the 

 extremity of the upper jaw) five times and a half. The triangular 

 part of the upper jaw, formed by the intermaxillaries, is longer than 

 broad. The diameter of the eye equals the width of the interorbital 

 space, and is contained once and a half or once and two-thirds in the 

 length of the postorbital part of the head. I'rtcorbital as long as 

 high. The root of the ventral fin is midway between the base of the 

 caudal and that of the pectoral. Dorsal and an;d fins scalcless, the 

 origins of both being nearly opposite. Caudal fin cmarginate, the 



* These tcotli are in many species tricuspid, either in both jaws or in tlic lower 

 only. No Kystomatic value can be attached to such a difference when it is observed 

 in ft rudiuicnfal orfjjan like the teeth of llan.irh(imj)hns. 



