XXII CATOSTEOMI 629 
Atlantic and Mediterranean and from distant points in the 
Pacific; specimens are occasionally captured on our coasts. It 
feeds on other fish, but little is known of its habits and nothing 
of its development. 
The affinities of the Lamprididae are very doubtful. Lampris 
has usually been placed with the Acanthopterygians, a view which 
is still upheld by Gill* I now agree with this high authority in 
regarding the bone which I took for an infraclavicle as a much 
developed coracoid, and the bone termed by me the coracoid as 
a pterygial. But it has also been shown, by Starks, that such 
a thing as an infraclavicle does not exist in the Stickleback, the 
bone so-called being only a part of the coracoid; and as in most 
of the Sticklebacks the pelvic bones join the latter, the resemb- 
lance between them and Lampris remains, As I have previously 
pointed out, the absence of spines in the fins, and the position of 
the ventral fins, together with the great number of rays in the 
latter, which is only met with in the lower Teleosteans, are 
characters which necessitate the removal of Lampris from the 
Acanthopterygians, and I cannot find a better place for them 
than near the Gastrosteidae. 
The whole question of the arrangement of the Physoclists 
with abdominal ventrals (Catosteomi and Percesoces) is, I feel, 
much in need of revision, and it may be found advisable to 
break up this group into a greater number of sub-orders, in 
which case the Selenichthyes would stand by themselves; the 
Hemibranchii and Lophobranchii would be united under the former 
name, as proposed by Woodward, or under that of Thoracostei 
(Swinnerton) or Phthinobranchii (Hay). The position in the 
system of the Pegasidae is still somewhat doubtful. This family 
is regarded by some authors as related to the mail-cheeked 
Acanthopterygians. 
Fam. 2. Gastrosteidae.— Body more or less elongate, naked 
or protected by bony shields, tapering to a slender caudal 
peduncle. Head moderate, with short or elongate and tubiform 
snout; mouth small, terminal, toothed; opercular bones well 
developed ; suborbitals in contact with praeoperculum, protecting 
the cheek. Gills four, pectinated. Praecaudal vertebrae with 
strong transverse processes and slender, free ribs.  Spinous dorsal 
represented by isolated spines. Pectoral fins with short ptery- 
1 Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xxvi. 1908, p. 915. 
