BRAMOIDS. 



71 



Cuvier" and Boxapaute'' ret'crrcd Urama to t\m 'ac-Ah- 

 tinned' fishes {Squamipinnes or C'luctodontidce) and I'te- 

 raclls to the ScomhrUke, each genus, however, in its 

 own subfaiiiily {Bi(i)iilni and Coryplifenlnt). But Lut- 

 KEN, to whom belongs the merit of having first given 

 an explanation of the changes of age within the faniily'", 

 maintains tlie near relationship between Pteraclis and 

 the other members of the family, which he unites in 

 the "Sub-group Bramiihe." Tliat the higli and com- 

 paratively short, large-scaled IJ)aiii(i-iy\)Q lias l)cen 

 combined ^vith the elongated and small-scaled type of 

 the Borades {Coryplueita), is an echo of Cuvier's re- 

 mark as to the analogy in th(> structure of the skull 

 between Brama and Corypluena, an analogy which may 

 also be extended, however, to the Carangidce. But 

 that Cuvier was still justified in uniting Brama with 

 the scale-finned fishes, is an expression of the natural 

 relationship which also exists between the great series 

 of the Scomliroid and Percoid families. Here, in the 

 Bramidaj, this relationship has its expression in a fa- 

 mily type which is probably very old, even from a 

 geological point of view, in spite of tlie fact that as 

 yet we know of no fossils of this family. In their 

 covering of scales the BramidcB display one of the most 

 distinct traces of the oldest Teleosteous forms, which 

 amounts even to an explanation of the so called 'der- 

 mal ribs' or 'pleurolepidal lines'' of the P3'cnodont 

 fishes, as the scales, in Pterycomhus as well as Brama, 

 but most clearly in the former, repeat the structure 

 described by Agassiz, Egerton and Wagner, and after- 

 wards employed by Lutken as a- character for the 

 "series" Lepidopleurini or Fycnodonta (fig. 19) and by 

 GiJNTHER for the "suborder" Pycnodontoidei among the 

 Ganoids. Cuvier' described, and Costa and Luxel'' 

 both described and figured this structure of the scales 

 in Brama; and we find it still more complete in Pte- 

 rycombus brama (fig. 20). There too, the scales are 

 of very dissimilar forms on different jjarts of t'.ie body, 

 but if we follow these dissimilar forms from the dorsal 



in a transverse row, we find them 

 all alike in one respect, namely, that the hind (un- 



^ 



vM' 



Fig. 19. Sketch of a Pycnorloiit from the .Jurassic period. From 

 Lutken's treatise on the distinction and division of the Ganoids. 



^' 



..-CS:fl 



,-?l 



r^ 



Fig. 20. From the iirst to the si.xtli scale, together with tlie scale 

 of the lateral line (h) in a transverse row from the back to the 

 middle of the side, in Pterycombtis brama. Half as large again as 



the natural size. 



covered) pai't of each scale is thin, covered with fine 

 striations longitudinally radiating in the direction of 

 the body, and pierced by irregularly distributed, round, 



" Cuv., V.4L., Hist. Nat. PoUs., vol. VII, p. 281 and vol. IX, p. 359. Cf. also Cuv., Regn. anim., ed. 2, torn. II. pp. 194 and 21(5. 



*" Isis, 1883, pp. 1207 and 1209. 



' Spolio Atlanli,-a, 1. c. p. 491. Cf. too Gu.n-theii. Cat. Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. II. pp. 408 to 411. 



<* Cuv., V.\L., 1. c, VII, p. 291. 



« Agassiz, Poiss. Foss., vol. II, part. 2, ]). 184, tab. 67; 08; 69, fig. 2 et 3; 69. b; 69, c. Egerton, Qu.art. Journ. Geol. Soc. 

 Lond., vol. v. jmrt. I, p. 330. Wagner, Abh. Math. Phys. CI. Akad. Wiss. Miinchen, Bd. VI, .\hth. I, pp. 8 to 10. LCtken, Gan. Degr., 

 Indil.. Vid. Mcddcl. .Valurh. For. Kbhvn. 1868. ].. 48 (sep.) and Geol. Mag. vol. V (1868). GC.nther, Study of Fishes, p. 366; Handh. 

 IchthyoL, p. 254. 



/ Cl-v., Val., Hist. Xat. Poiss., vol. Vll, p. 289. 



^ Costa: Fauna del regno di yapoli, Pe-id, parte prima, .\cantotterigii Squamipenni, pp. 13 etc. tab. LII. Lixel: Rev. Castagne., 

 .Mem., Phys. et D'Hist. Xat. Geneve, Tome 18, pp. 174 and 188, pi. I, fig. 1, b — 1, f; pi. II, fig. 1, b — 1, e. 



