676 TELEOSTEI CHAP. 
regards external features, it may be stated that the dorsal and anal 
spines, if present, are either weak and slender, or, if strong, short 
and detached ; the caudal peduncle is constricted, and the caudal 
fin, if well developed, is usually deeply forked, and with the 
forked bases of the very numerous rays much longer than in 
most of the Perciformes, embracing at least a considerable portion 
of the expanded hypural bones, a character by which the Chaeto- 
dontidae, Acanthuridae, and several extinct types which have 
been placed with the Carangidae are at once excluded. All are 
carnivorous and marine, and many are pelagic and of very wide 
distribution. No praetertiary members of this division, as here 
defined, have yet been found. 
SYNOPSIS OF THE FAMILIES 
I. Praemaxillaries more or less protractile, not beak-like ; scales small or 
absent, sometimes with enlarged lateral scutes; spinous dorsal fin short or 
replaced by a series of isolated spines; anal usually with one or two spines 
detached from the rest of the fin. 
Praecaudal vertebrae with transverse processes behind which the ribs 
are attached ‘ ; z . L. Carangidae. 
Praecaudal vertebrae without mele devéloped parapophyses, ribs and 
epipleurals inserted close together on the centra 2. Rhachicentr adie. 
II. Praemaxillaries not protractile ; scales usually small or absent ; body 
more or less elongate; dorsal fin elongate, single or divided, without free 
spines; no free anal spines. 
A. Pseudobranchiae present. 
Vertebrae without transverse processes ; soft dorsal fin longer than the 
spinous ; pectoral fins high up the sides . 38. Scombridae. 
Vertebrae without transverse processes ; soft dorsal fin shorter than 
the spinous, if the latter be distinct ; pectoral fins low down the 
sides . : : : . 4. Trichiuridae. 
Vertebrae without transverse preceees ; snout produced into a spear 
5. Histiophoridae. 
Vertebrae with transverse processes bearing the ribs ; snout produced 
into a sword; no ventrals”. : : . 6. Xiphidae. 
Vertebrae without transverse processes ; gill-membranes attached to 
isthmus; dorsal and anal fins formed of unarticulated, widely set 
rays; dentition very feeble . : : . 7. Luvaridae. 
B. Pseudobranchiae absent ; no well-developed transverse processes to the 
praecaudal vertebrae; the ribs and the epipleurals inserted close 
together on the centra; snout short and very deep 8. Coryphaenidae. 
III. Praemaxillaries not protractile, or if slightly protractile, scales large ; 
dorsal and anal fins elongate, without distinct spinous division ; most of the 
praecaudal vertebrae with strong haemapophyses, to which the ribs are 
attached . 2 ‘ : : : : : . 9. Bramidae. 
