62 ilEMOIES OF THE QVEICXSLAXD MUSEUM. 



1 am unable to liiul anyoiu' who has ever seen a baby jewtish ; when tlu y make 

 their first appearance in our estuaries they are about a foot louir, but wliere tliey 

 came from is a (juestion to which I can find no answer. 



About thirty genera and one hundred and fifty species of scieenoid fishes 

 are recognized by Jordan and Everniann'' and Boulenger/'' the majority of whii'li 

 belong to the tyjneal genus Sciana. 



Key to the Auflriilinn Cli mm. 

 a'. Precaudal vertebrae more numerous than those of the caudal (Otolothinw). 



6'. Canine teeth present in both jaws . . . . . . . . . . 1. Otolithus. 



b-. Xo true canine teeth in either jaw .. .. .. .. .. :;. Atraetoscion. 



a". Precaudal vertebra; fewer than those of the caudal (Scimnina). 



c'. No true canine teeth in either jaw . . . . . . . . . . 3. Scicena. 



OTOLITHUS Cuvier. 



Otolithus part. Cuvier, Regne Aiiim. (rk'bcr) ; Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. I'oips., v. 1830, 

 p. 59; Cantor, Catal. Malay. Fish., 1S50, p. 56; Giiuthcr, Brit. Mus. Catal. Fish., ii, 1860, 

 p. 305; Day, Fish. India, pt. 2, 1876, p. 195. 



Bod.y elliptical or elongate-elliptical, compressed. Scales moderate or 

 small, adherent, cj'cloid. Lateral line gently curved to below the middle of the 

 soft dorsal, thence straight along the middle of the tail, and extending to the tip 

 of the caudal fin ; tubes profusely ramose, not quite reaching to the border of the 

 .scale. Head moderate, with pointed snout and rather narrow preorbital, almost 

 wholly scaly, the nnieigerous system well develoiied. Mouth terminal, with wide 

 oblique cleft, the lower jaw projecting. Premaxillaries with a narrow band of 

 villiform teeth, an outer enlarged row of subulate teeth, and a strong curved 

 canine on either side of and .some distance from the symphysis; mandibles some- 

 what similarly armed, but the villiform band, if pi'esent, is reduced to a small 

 anterior patch, while there may be only a single median canine, or if a pair 

 inserted close together, so as to fit between the prema.xillary pair and enter a 

 groove or even a socket in the upper lip when the mouth is clo.sed; roof of 

 mouth and tongue smooth. Nostrils approximate, close in front of the eye, the 

 posterior the larger. Eyes rather small and anterior. Preopercle feebly denticu- 

 late in the young, smooth or creinilate in the adult ; opercle with two weak points. 

 Two dorsal fins, united at their bases, with x (larel.v ix or xi) i 25 to 111 rays, 

 the spines weak and lli'.xililc; second dorsal lower but iiuicli longer than the first. 

 Caudal cuneate. Anal short, with ii 7 to 11 rays, tiie spines weak. Pectoral 

 obtusely ])ointed, with 10 to 18 I'ays. Ventrals thoracic, close together, each with 

 a feeble sjjine and five .soft rays, the outer the longer; a small accessory ventral 

 .scale. Gill-rak(;rs in rather small tnimbei', sliort and slender. Pyloric 

 appendages few. 



Shore fishes of moderate or rathii- huge size, inhabiting the warmer parts 

 of the Indian and We.stern Pacific Oceans, freely ascending rivers for predatory 



'• Fish. North and Mid. Amer.,. pt. 2, ]8»S, p.. ]30S.. 

 ■•' Cambr. Nat. Hist., vii, 1904, j). 663. 



