ACANTHOPTERYGII. 241 



Fam. 103. Kurtidoe. Body compressed, deep in front, attenuated 

 behind. Snout short. Vilhform teeth on the jaws, palatine and vomer 

 Indian and Pacific Oceans. One genns. Kurtus. 



Tribe 5. GOBIIFORMES. 



The sub-orbital ring is without a bony stay for the operculum. Tlie 

 gill-membrane attached to isthmus ; gills 4, a slit behind the last ; 

 pseudobranch present. Pelvics inserted below pectorals with 1 spine 

 and 4 or .5 soft rays ; first dorsal of a few weak spines, sometimes 

 absent ; usually no air-bladder nor pyloric caeca. Carnivorovis bottom 

 fishes, some marine, others f. w. 



Fam. 104. Gobiidae, as above. Gohius Ai-t., the gobies, temp, 

 and trop. coasts, 600 species, males of some species construct nests. 

 Several British species. Aphia Risso {Latrunculus Gthr.), A. pellucida, 

 laterally compressed, transparent fishes said to live only one year ; 

 Crystallogohius Gill, C. Nilssonii ; Euctenogohius , Lophiogobius, Doliich- 

 ihys, Apocryptes, Evorthodus, Gobiodon, Triaenophorichthys. Sicydium 

 C. and v., small f. w. fishes in rivulets of islands of trop. Indo- 

 Pac. ; Lentipes ; Periophthalmus Schn., coasts of trop. Indo-Pac, 

 leave the water at low tide and hop over the wet ground by means of their 

 pectoral and pelvic fins and tail, the eyes are very movable and protrusible ; 

 Boleophthalmus very similar ; Eleotris, Trypauchen ; Callionymus L. 

 dragonets, the mature males have the fin-rays produced into filaments 

 C. draco, skulpin ; Mistichthys luzonensis from the Philippines measures 

 only half an inch, and is the smallest known vertebrate. Vulsus, Bentho- 

 philus irora the Caspian, Amhlyopus, Orthostomus, Platyptera, Lucio- 

 gobius. Oxymetopon. and a large number of tentative Amer. and Asiatic 

 genera. 



Tribe 6. DISCOCEPHALI (ECHENEIFORMES). 



With characters of the family. 



Fam. 105. Echeneididae : The Remoras. With a suctorial trans- 

 versely laminated oval disc on the upper surface of the head (the spinous 

 dorsal fin modified), thoracic pelvics, with external spines ; no air-bladder, 

 no pseudobranch, no finlets ; fomid in all seas ; attach themselves to 

 floating objects and other fishes. Echeneis Art. ; Phtheirichthys, Remi- 

 legia, Remora, Rhombochirus. 



Tribe 7. SCLEROPAREI (TRIGLIIFORMES). 



Acanthopterygians with the pectoral girdle normal. The third sub- 

 orbital bone extends across the cheek to or towards the preoperculum. 

 This group — the mail-cheeked fishes — is a heterogeneous one, and subject 

 to gi'eat variation. 



Fam. 106. Scorpaenidae. Body oblong, more or less compressed ; 

 mouth large with villiform teeth, usually without canines ; gills 3^ or 4, 

 usually no slit behind the 4th gill ; pelvics thoracic, of the percoid 

 form with one spine and 5 soft rays ; sometimes small ; with air- 

 bladder (usually) and large pseudobranchs ; found in all seas as non- 

 migratory fishes living about rocks ; many with the skinny appendages 

 resembling the fronds of seaweeds : many are viviparous. Sebastes 

 C. and v., S. noricegicus C. and V. ; Sebastodes Gill, shores of the N. 



