i6 



The ventral part of this armour, rcacliing from the isthmus to the 

 anus, broken only by the groove for the ventrals, produces the 

 sharp ventral keel. The dorsal cuirass is formed by 2 rows of 

 bony plates, the lower of which are partly connected with the 

 transverse processes of the vertebrae. The 5 anterior vertebrae 

 are elongated and much stouter than the others. Spinous and 

 soft dorsal continuous with or separated from each other, or both 

 are connected by a series of short, isolated spines. Anal as 

 also the soft dorsal are of moderate extent. Ventrals small, 

 abdominal, without spine. Pectorals inserted more or less midway 

 the height of the body. Their 4 pterygials are stout but short. 

 The cleithrum is suspended from the posttemporal, which forms 

 part of the skull. Four branchiostegals. Four complete pecti- 

 nate gills; pseudobranchia large; gillopening wide. 



Small fishes living in temperate and tropical part of Atlantic, 

 Indo-Pacific and Mediterranean. 



I. Macrorhamphosus Lacepede. 



(Lacepede, Hist. nat. Poissons V. 1803, p. 136). 

 Centrisctis Cuvier, Regne anim. II. 1817, p. 350 (nee Linne). 

 Orthkhthys Gill, Proc. Acad. Sc. Philadelphia 1862, p. 234. 



Dorsal armour consisting on each side of two series of 

 bony plates, each series formed by 3 well-developed and a 

 fourth much smaller plate. Dorsal fins not continuous but 

 separated by an interspace or connected by a series of short 

 isolated spines. First dorsal spine short. No patch of bristles 

 on nape. For other characters see those of the family. 



Distribution: Tropical and temperate seas of both hemi- 

 spheres. Pelagic fishes with weak power of swimming and able 

 to be transported and distributed by currents. 



I. Macrorhamphosus velitaris (Pallas). [Fig. 7, p. 17]. 



Centrisctis velitaris Pallas, Spicileg. Zool. VIII. 1770, p. 37. 

 Centrisctis suinpit Lacepede, Hist. nat. Poiss. II. 1800, p. 93. 

 Centrisctis velitaris Bloch, Schneider, Syst. ichth. 1801, p. 113. 

 Centriscus velitaris Giinther, Cat. Brit. Mus. III. 1859 — 1861, p. 524. 

 Ortliichthys velitaris Bleeker, Ned. Tijdschr. Dierk. II. 1865, p. 274 (no description). 

 Centrisctis brevispinis Kner & Steindachner, Sitzb. Akad. Wien LIV. 1866, p. 374. 

 Centrisctis velitaris Ltitken, Spolia Atlantica, Dansk. Vidensk. Selsk. Skrifter 



(V.) 12, 1880, p. 585. 

 "^.Centrisctis gracilis Giinther, Fische d. Siidsee, 1881, p. 222. 

 Macrorhamphostis hawaiensis Gilbert, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm. (1903) 1905, p. 613. 



