652 TELEOSTEI CHAP. 
Rays of the caudal fin not strongly forked at the base ; ventral fins with one 
spine and six to eight soft rays, or cranium asymmetrical 
II]. Zeorwomst. 
Il. No suborbital stay ; basis cranii double ; scapula absent, the pterygials 
inserted on the coracoid ; ventral fins thoracic. TV. KURTIFORMEsS. 
III. No suborbital stay ; basis cranii simple; scapula and coracoid more 
or less reduced, sometimes vestigial; pterygials large, only one or two in 
contact with the coracoid ; ventral fins thoracic . V. GOBITFORMES. 
IV. No suborbital stay; basis cranii simple; a perforate scapula; three 
pterygials in contact with the coracoid ; ventral fins thoracic; a suctorial 
laminated disk on the upper surface of the head. VI. DiscocrEPHALt. 
V. A suborbital stay, the second suborbital bone more or less produced on 
the cheek or joining the praeoperculum ; ventrals thoracic 
VII. ScLEROPAREI. 
VI. No suborbital stay ; ventrals usually jugular or mental; if thoracic, 
structure of the pectoral arch differing from that ascribed to the first five 
divisions of this Synopsis. 
Pectoral fin with vertical or subvertical base; anal fin usually elongate, 
rarely small. : : : . ; . VIII. Juguares. 
Pectoral fin with horizontal or sub-horizontal base ; body exceedingly com- 
pressed ; dorsal fin with all the rays simple; anal fin absent or very 
small . : : : ; . IX. Tarnrosomt. 
Division I.—PERCIFORMES. 
No bony stay for the praeoperculum. Basis cranii double. 
Spinous dorsal usually well developed. None of the epipleural 
bones attached to the centra of the vertebrae in the praecaudal 
region, Pectoral arch with well-developed scapula and coracoid, 
the former pierced by a foramen or fenestra; pterygials longer 
than broad, more or less regularly hour-glass-shaped, four or five 
in number, one or two of which are in contact with the coracoid. 
Ventral fins thoracic. 
This large group, consisting chiefly of marine forms, has 
members in all parts of the world, with the exception of the 
Arctic and Antarctic regions, and was already represented by 
numerous Berycidae and a few Serranidae and Scorpididae in 
the Upper Cretaceous. The division into families is a task of 
considerable difficulty, and the necessities of a linear arrangement 
result in the breaking up of some natural sequences. Thus it 
appears highly probable that the Scorpididae, themselves derived, 
together with the Serranidae, from the Berycidae, lead to the 
Carangidae in the division Scombriformes, whilst a nearly perfect 
passage can be traced between the Acanthuridae of this division 
and the Balistidae among the Plectognaths. 
