578 H. H. SWrNNKWTON. 



metai)terygoid process^ it mnst be tlie metapteryg-oid bone. 

 a is probably the nasal. The palatine is insignificant and 

 edentulous. In Fistulai-ia the inner lamina of tlie suborbital 

 bone alone remains, the quadrate is much larger posteriorly, 

 and the pterygoid bone bears a close resemblance to that 

 of Gasterosteus. Between the hinder process of the last- 

 named bone and the suborbital is the undoubted metaptery- 

 g'oid, which thus occupies a similar position to, but is much 

 smaller than, a in Syngnathus. 



Thus once moi'e this fish exhibits a much closer resem- 

 blance to Syngnathus than to Gasterosteus. At first sight 

 one is inclined to think that this may be in some way 

 associated with the long snout. That the formation of such 

 a feature does not, however, of necessity produce the same 

 characters, is well shown by the differences which existed in 

 the pterygoid and metapterygoid of the two fishes. Again, 

 the long-snouted Morniyroids do not possess the acrartete 

 condition, but one which might be most aptly described 

 as an elongated panartete condition. 



Add to this the fact that forty years ago Kner and 

 Steindachner (63, p. 28j were driven to conclude that the 

 extinct Pseudosyngnathus was intermediate between Lopho- 

 branchs and Fistulariidte, and to prophesy that these two 

 groups would some day have to be relegated to the same 

 order. 



Again, consider the latest diagnoses of these two ordei-s 

 (Jordaii and Everman, 96, pp. 741, 759). After the elimina- 

 tion of those characters common to both ; those mentioned as 

 characteristic of one, though equally characteristic of the 

 other, e. g. bony plates; those based upon error, e. g. condition 

 of branchial apparatus in Syngnathus ; those not common to 

 all members of the order, e. g. for Hemibranchs, the elongated 

 anterior vertebras, which are not even indicated in Aulorhyn- 

 chus and Gasteros.teus ; the only distinctive features left are 

 the tufted gills and single opercular bone for the one, as 

 opposed to the pectinate gills for the other. 



To retain these two groups of fishes as distinct orders in 



