164 CLASS XIV. 



in tlie lateral line. Teeth small in both jaws, crowded in a narrow 

 zone; some very small teeth in vomer. In pharyngeal bones small, 

 globose, crowded teeth. Rays of branchiostegous membrane seven. 

 Dorsal fins either two, the anterior low, or short disjoined rays in 

 place of anterior fin; the second, like the anal fin, with rays often 

 elongate, filiform. Ventral fins thoracic. 



Olistus Cuv. Lateral line ahnost parallel to back. The middle 

 rays of second dorsal fin and of anal fin not branched, produced into 

 very long filaments. 



Sp. Olistus maldbarieus Cuv. et Val. Poiss. ix. PI. 251. 



Vomer {Scyris, Blepharis, Gallichthys Cuv., Argyreiosus Lac, 

 Cuv., Vomer Cuv.). Lateral line convex above pectoral fins, almost 

 semicircular, then running straight in the middle of body to the 

 caudal fin. 



Sp. Vomer vomer nob., ZeiLS vomer L., Abacatuia Maecge. Hist. Nat. Brasil. 

 p. 161, Linn. Mus. Ad. Frkl. Tab. 31, fig. 9, Bloch Iclith. Tab. 193, 

 fig. 2 ; the second ray of the dorsal fin is prolonged into a filament longer 

 than the body. This species lives on the East Coast of America, from New 

 York to Brasil. 



Vomer Gallus, Gallichthys major Cuv., Zeus Gallus (L. 1) Russell, Bloch 

 Ichth. Tab. 192, fig. i, Cuv. et Val. Poiss. ix. PI. 254 ; in the Indian Sea 

 at the Sunda Islands, &c. ; — Gallichthys yEgyptiacus Eheenb., Gube. 

 Iconogr., Poiss. PI. 31, fig. 3. In this species the ventral fins also have 

 much elongated rays. The ventral fins on the contrary are very short in 

 Vomer Broumii Cuv., and the rays of the dorsal and anal fins are not 

 prolonged ^. 



Hynnis Cuv. Dorsal fin single, opposite to anal. Lateral line 

 at the posterior part of tail loricate with spined shields. Remaining 

 characters those of the preceding gemis. 



Sp. Ilynriis Goreensis, Cuv. et Val. Poiss. ix. PI. 257. 



II. Mouth protractile. Body compressed, high. Ventral fins thoracic 

 in all. 



A. Two contiguous dorsal fins. Caudal fin rounded. 



Zeus L. (in part), Cuv. Teeth very small, acute, subulate, 

 crowded in a narrow belt in jaAvs, teeth few in vomer. Branchioste- 



^ There are difiierent fossil species from the tertiary formation, which belong to the 

 Scomberoids, especially in Monte Bolca. Very common amongst these is Gasteronemus 

 rhombeus AgaSS., Poiss. foss. v. Tab. 2, with strongly projecting inferior margin of the 

 belly, as in Mene (see below, p. 166), and the second ray of the ventral fin filiform, far 

 surpassing the length of the body. 



