r.oPHKllDS. 



lo7 



the place of wliicli in llic s\-.stein accdi'diiig to ('uviF.li's" 

 (iliinioii is near the (tobioids, hut accordiiip' to (tOn- 

 'I'iikk's'' here by the side of the 'I'rachiiioids. To raise 

 the famih' to the rank of an or(h'r, and thus ij_'ive it 

 an independent place in the system, is indeed the most 

 convenient course for the systeinatizcr — and on this 

 ])oint it is ])rol)able that some freedom must always 

 be granted to individual taste — but the procedure 

 is to a certain degree misleading, if it places us in 

 danger of overlooking the natural connexion ])et\veen 

 tlie forms. But Cope, as well as his successors Gill 

 and .ToKDAN and Gilbert, although they created such 

 an ordci-, have reminded us of the connexion between 

 these fishes and the rest of the Eleutherognates". 

 Furthermore, the most distinctive characters of the 

 Pediculati have their original ])atterns in the Batra- 

 choids. Even in the latter the branchiostegal rays are 

 extraordinarily long; and it is, in the first place, a 

 greater (even if it be considerably greater) elongation 

 of these rays — in conjunction with an increase of 

 the membrane extended ])y them — which in the Lo- 

 phioids gives the gill-cavity so great a, width and length 

 posteriorly that it extends under the base of the pectoral 

 fins, and, in Lopluus, even behind it. This membrane 

 is also extended, however, by other rays: in Loph'ms 

 from the upper part of the operculum goes a long and 

 narrow process, which at the top assumes the form 

 of a ray, and curves down through the branchiostegal 

 nuMubrane to^vards the angle of the pectoral fins''; and 

 other rays, about 20 in lunnber, form a finlike conti- 

 nuation of the suboperculum in the branchiostegal mem- 

 brane. The great elongation of the basal bones of the 

 pectoral fins is also prefigured, as we have already 

 seen, in the^ Batrachoids. In the Lophioids the lowest 

 basal bone is always Avanting, and in Lopluus the 

 uppermost as well; but the lowest of the remaining 

 ones has taken the lead in development, and supports 



tlie whole of the broad pectoral fin on the hind margin 

 of its wide, upturned top. Tiie breaking-up oi' the 

 first doi'sal fin into free tentacles and spinous rays 

 and its removal towards the head, so far that the first 

 ray may be set right out on the snout, is in fact no 

 greater diflf'erence from the preceding family than that 

 between the Sucking-fish {Eclicneis), with its sucking- 

 disk, and the typical Scombroids. The singular ex- 

 tension of the mastoid b<;nes {ossa epiotica) in the Lo- 

 phioids, Avhere these bones, as Bkuhl' has shown, 

 force themselves between the supraoccipital bone and 

 other parts of the occipital region and there unite, a 

 peculiarity which Copk has mentioned as a charactei- 

 of the Pediculati, appears both in Batistes (among the 

 Plectognates) and in AnarrhicJias (among the Blennioids). 

 Again, the character which has been assigned by Cope to 

 the Plectognates, namely the union of the posttemporal 

 bone to the skull by means of an osseous connexion with 

 the mastoid bone {epioticum), has been shown b\- Lill.je- 

 borg' to l)elong also to Lophius. In the Lophiidee, as 

 in the Batrachidce, there are only two upper pharyngeals. 

 The family Lophiidce is further distinguished by 

 the most fantastic forms assumed by the bodj-; and, 

 as usual, the form of the body is adapted to the man- 

 ner of life. Some forms are bottom-fishes with the 

 body, in most cases at least, flattened; others again 

 prefer to swim, or literally to crawl, among seaweeds 

 and coral, and thus have the 1)ody strongly compressed 

 laterally. All are comparatively ];)Oor swimmers; but 

 some travel long distances by drifting with loose tufts 

 of seaweed which are borne away by wave and tide, 

 or by independently floating in the same way at the 

 surface, by the help of the air with which they have 

 inflated their stomach. All are voracious fish of prey, 

 the small ones being naturally restricted in ordinary 

 circumstances to smaller victims; but as a proof of 

 their capacity in this respect we may mention the fact 



" Mem. Mus. Hist. Nat. Tome III (1817) p. 420. Cf. also Cuv., Bhine AnimaU ed. 2, tome II, p. 249 and Cdv., \M..,Hist. Nat. 

 Poifs.. tome 12, pp. 3.35 etc. 



'' Systematic Synopsis, 1. c; I/itrod. Study of Fisches, p. 469, Haiidli. [clilliijol.. p. 332. 



'■ "Tliey connect with tlie Percomorplii by the Blenniida^ and BalracliidcF" Cope. "Their relations are more intimate with the 

 Batrachoid and Blennioid forms, and doubtless they have descended from the same common progenitors," Gill. 



'' Bleeker rejjards this process as coirespondinp: to the whole operculum. The larse, tliick and anjrular bone of fairly uniform size 

 which articulates superiorly with the hyomandibnlar bone — with the outside of which the preopercuhnn has coalesced like an irregular, 

 longitudinal bar — would then correspond to the suboperculum, while this bone, according to the general opinion, could be represented only 

 by the triangular bone, furnished witli strong spines in front and with rays beliiud, which is attacheil to the lower end of the operculum. 

 The intcroperculum. in LopliiuK a triangnlar, foliate bone, armed with a spine at the middle of the posterior margin, and. as usual, joined 

 by a ligament to the angular part of the lower jaw, is not subject to this dift'erence of opinion. 



' Osteologm-hes <ius dem Pariser Pfiamemjarten. taf. 2. fig. 3, 4, 8, 13; taf. 6, fig. 4. 



■'' iS'i'., Xorg. Fiskar. vol. I. 707. 



Scandinai'ian Fishes, 18 



