620 ; TELEOSTEI CHAP. 
bears to that of the Berycid Melamphaes may be merely a case of 
convergence, and it must be borne in mind that this appearance 
is approached by some species of Scopelus, with which both 
Malacosarcus and Melamphaes were originally confounded. The 
praecaudal vertebrae are provided with parapophyses. I have 
ascertained on a specimen of Stephanoberyx monae that the air- 
bladder is connected with the dorsal side of the stomach by a 
short and comparatively wide duct. 
Fic. 377.—Stephanoberyx gillii, nat. size. (After Goode and Bean. ) 
Fam. 14. Percopsidae.—Margin of the upper jaw formed 
by the praemaxillaries; mouth small, not protractile, toothed ; 
palate toothless. Supraoccipital in contact with the frontals, 
separating the small parietals. Basis cranii simple. Most of 
the praecaudal vertebrae with parapophyses, on the upper surface 
of which the ribs are inserted; no epipleurals. Post-temporal 
forked ; post-clavicle present; scapular foramen in the scapula, 
on which three hour-glass-shaped pterygials are inserted, a 
fourth being inserted on the coracoid. Dorsal fin with two 
true spines; anal with one or two; ventrals far forward, with 
9 rays; pectorals inserted rather high. A small adipose dorsal 
fin. Body covered with strongly ctenoid scales. Air-bladder 
present (with open duct). 
This is a most interesting group of Fishes, from the resem- 
blance which they bear to the Perches, and they have therefore 
been raised to the rank of a sub-order, Salmopercae, by Jordan 
and Evermann, who regard them as “archaic fishes, relics of 
some earlier fauna, and apparently derived directly from the 
extinct transitional forms through which the Haplomi and 
Acanthopteri have descended from allies of the Isospondyli 
[Malacopterygii].”. On the other hand, an analysis of their 
characters shows them to belong to the Haplomi, of which they 
