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15 [From ‘Tn Transactions of the Zootocioat Sociery of Lonpon.’—Vol. xvu1. Part 111., October, 1904. | 

III. A Monograph of the Fishes of the Family Loricariide/ 
By C. Tate Reaan, B.A., F.Z.S. 
? 
Received October 13, read November 17, 1903. 
[Prares IX.—XXT.] 
ry * . . . . 
THE Loricariide are a family belonging to the suborder Ostariophysi, and are found 
a only in the rivers of South America, ranging from Panama and Trinidad or Porto Rico 
to Montevideo. The Ostariophysi resemble the Malacopterygii, the most primitive of 
Teleostean Fishes, in having the air-bladder, if well developed, provided with a duct, the 
ventral fins abdominal in position, and a mesocoracoid element present in the pectoral 
arch; they are, however, distinguished by the modification of the anterior vertebre, 
which are usually fused, some of their lateral and superior elements forming a chain of 
ossicles (ossicles of Weber) connecting the air-bladder with the auditory organ. The 
Ostariophysi are arranged by Boulenger in 6 families—Characinide, Gymnotide, 
Cyprinidz, Silurid, Aspredinide, and Loricariide, the last being equivalent to the 
Siluride Hypostomatina of Giinther, with the exception of the genera Callichthys, 
Sisor, Erethistes, Exostoma, and Pseudecheneis, or to the Loricariide and Argiide of 
Kigenmann. 
The Loricariide share with the Siluride most of the characters which serve to 
distinguish that family from the more generalised Characinide, the most important 
of which are the reduced maxillary, the absent symplectic and suboperculum, and 
the union of supraoccipital and parietals to form a single parieto-occipital bone ; 
but they present certain features of still greater specialisation—such as the absence of 
parapophyses, the sessile ribs, and the compressed caudal vertebre—which warrant 
their separation as a distinct family. 
Most of the fishes of this family can be recognised by the armour of bony plates 
protecting the body, although the degenerate Argiine are naked; the inferior sucker- 
like mouth is also characteristic !. 
It seems not improbable that the Loricariide may have evolved from the Siluride 
in the neighbourhood of the Doradina, which they resemble in many respects. 
1 Tt appears that in nature these fishes fasten themselves to stones by means of the sucker-like mouth, 
whilst in captivity they have been observed to adhere to the bottom or sides of the vessel in which they 
are placed. Respiration seems then to be effected by taking in water through the gill-openings and 
expelling it again by the same passages in a reverse direction. 
VOL, XVII.— PART 111. No. 1.—October, 1904. 2D 
és ZIZ7 24 
