604 TELEOSTEI CHAP. 
being feebly developed and the skeleton imperfectly calcified. The 
mouth, furnished with rather long but feeble, or even minute teeth, 
and the pharynx and stomach are capable of great distension, 
these Fish being able to get outside a prey very much larger than 
themselves; the eyes are situated far forward on the head; the 
tail is extremely slender and elongate. Four genera are known, 
each with a single species, from the Atlantic: Saccopharynx, 
Fic. 364.—Saccopharynx ampullaceus, 4 nat. size. (After Giinther.) 
EHurypharyne, Macropharyna, and’ Gastrostomus. The depths at 
which they have been obtained vary between 589 and 1467 
fathoms, but three out of the four known specimens of Sacco- 
pharynz were brought to the surface by having swallowed a 
Fish too large for the capacity of the stomach. The length of 
the largest specimen is about 6 feet, of which the tail constitutes 
nearly three-fourths. 
per n sor is pif P see 80 
ar g@ 
Fig. 365.—Skull of Thyrsoidea meleagris, side view. ar, Articular ; d, dentary ; eof, 
epiotic ; eth, ethmoid ; f, frontal; hm, hyomandibular ; ‘op, interopereulum ; 7, nasal ; 
op, operculum ; os, orbitosphencid ; p, parietal ; pop, praeoperculum ; por, prae- 
orbital ; ppt, pterygo-palatine ; ps, parasphenoid ; ptf, post-frontal ; g, quadrate ; 
So, Supraoccipital ; sop, suboperculum ; sor, suborbitals ; sy, squamosal ; v, vomer. 
Fam. 5. Muraenidae.—Maxillaries absent, replaced by the 
palato-pterygoid, the mouth bordered by the latter and the 
