fi9e> 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



(•ipiilly Jitter ('ori:", hut witli uaiiu'S muiv iidajitcd to 

 our previous treatment ot the Pliwsoehsts: 



I : The sliouldev-irii'dle suspoudcil I'rom the 

 head. 



.1: An internal supporting hone (os pr;e- 

 eoracoideum) for the eoraeo-scapular disk 

 rises from the coracoid bone to the in- 

 side of the claviele or of tlie scapuhi. 

 <(; Anterior vertebra more or less con- 

 fluent; air-bladder connected with 

 the hearina-a|)paratus by a row of 

 ossicles. 



(c Xo distinct os svin])lecticum ; no 

 suboperculum; nia.xillary bones 

 rudimentary, forming in most ca- 

 ses the base of a maxillary bar- 

 bel on each side (jhinomorjilti''. 



(i: Os symplecticum distinct; sub- 

 operculum present; maxillary 



bones normal Ci/prinomorplii'. 



b: Anterior vertebrae normal; air-bladder 

 without osseous connexion with the 



hearing-apparatus... Tltriasomorphi'. 



B: No os pnecoracoideum lUsociformes' . 



II: The shoulder-girdle suspended from the 



spinal column Enchdipnorphi'. 



GLANOMOKPHI. 



TliC sJioiil(/cr-i/irdIe suspended from the liead (as usual in the Teleosts). Coraco-scapidar disk lidenialli/ stroii/fh- 

 ciied hi/ (III mill formed bij a special hone (os prcBcoracoideum) from the coracoid hone to the clavicle or the upper 

 (anterior) man/in of tlie scajnda. Jfost of the frsf fintr or five rertehrce more or less altered from the ordiiiari/ 

 form and more or less rompletelij confluent with each other or even ivith the occipital hone. Some of the ribs 

 helongini/ to these rertehrat metamorphosed into a connectinf/ chain of hones hetireen the air-hladder and the audi- 

 tory apparatus. Xo os si/mplecticum in the hijomandilndar arch. Each jialatinr arch composed of only two bones, 

 OS pteri/ffoideum and os palatinum. Opercular apparatus ivitJioiit suboperculum. JIarillari/ bones reduced, generally 

 formini/, toyethcr icitli their supjilcmentary bones, the mobile base of a ma.iillari/ barbel on each side. Xo true 



sriiles. body naked or covered with plates. 



V.\LE.\CIEXNES'' raug'ed tlie (_ilaii()Uior]jlis at the head of oidy two bones, os hyomaiidihidare and os ijuadratiiin, 



of tlie .Malaeopterygians (nearest to the Aeanthopterv- and lastlv of the palatine areli, whieh is ;dso composed 



gians), because they possess the most strongly ossified on each side of oidv two bones, os pteryyoideum and 



fin-rays. This character — the possession in the fore- | os pjalatinuin. 



most joectoral rays and the first (second) dorsal ray of j The systematic arrangement of the (Tlanoiuorphs 



admirable weapons of defence and attack — is indeed ' has always ])resented great difficulty. Bleekeu* based 



fairly constant in its appearance, l)nt still variable his division of tliis series into families in the first place 



enough to render it useless to the systematist. The j on the singular respiration of certain forms. Apart 



(ilanoiiiorphs also var\' so greatly both in the rest of ! from tiie fact tliat some {Plotosus) are fnrnislied behind 



their structure and in the form of the boih- tiiat the ' the vent with ramified dermal excrescences', which 



distinction between tliem and the next series of fatni- Bleekek explains as respiratory organs, others {Hetero- 



lies con.sists principally in the negative characters given 

 above, the simpler (less complete) structure of the oper- 

 cular ap])aratus, whicli is without suboperculum, of the 

 liyomandibular arch (tlie suspensory arch of the lower 

 jaw and the hyoid IioikOi which is made u]) on each side 



hranchus and Clarias) possess similar growths of the 



mucous iiiciiibraiic of the branciiial ca\it\', on the se- 

 cond, third, and fourtii Ijrancliial arches, tiiis apparatus 

 lieing concealed in a, cavity behind the branchial cavity 

 proper. (_)tiiers again (Sinrobninchus) arc destitute of 



" Trans. Amer. Philos. Sue, vol. .XIV, n. st 



' Nematognatin, Copk. 



' Pleciospoiidijli, Cope. 



'' Isospondyli, Cope. 



' Haplomi. Cope. 



-'' Apndes, Lin., aiictt. 



■" Cuv., Val., Hist. Nat. I'oiss., vol. XIV, ] 



* All. Mall. Ind. Or. AVer/., tome II, p. 2. 



' Of. Valenciennes in Cuv., Val., ///s•^ ynt. Poiss 



(1871), p. 452. 



.••>09. 



i-ol. XV, p. 411. 



