326 Dr Handyside on (he History of the Sternoptixince, 



of fishes, to submit the species under consideration as a new 

 genus, although (as we have shewn) the characters peculiar to 

 it might justify such a course, and rather, as the species of the 

 family of Sternoptix which we now know, do not exceed three, 

 I propose to confine myself at present to attempting to sup- 

 ply what is manifestly a desideratum in the natural history of 

 this tribe of fishes — a description of the anatomical peculi- 

 arities of a family of fishes, which, from its extreme rarity, 

 has been left hitherto unnoticed, adopting in my description 

 that subdivision of it into two genera, which Cuvier antici- 

 pated, we have seen, would eventually be found justifiable. 



Selecting, then, the character of presence or absence of 

 pellucidity in the caudal region, and making the distinction to 

 depend on that, — a character indeed which serves accurately 

 to distinguish the two already known genera of this family, I 

 shall, from the existence of pellucidity in the example before 

 us, classify it with Hermann's species, naming it simply from 

 its locality. Thus, adopting Cuvier's classification of fishes, 

 we find the position occupied by the Sternoptix Celebes in the 

 following analysis : — 



OSSEOUS FISHES. 



SuBDiv. MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES. 

 Fam. IV. (a) Salmonid^. 

 (Fam. V. ?) (b) Steknoptixin^. 



Gen. I. Sternoptix diaphana. 



Specm a, S. Hermannii. 

 /3, S. Celebes. 

 Gen. 2. Sternoptix OlfersiL 



Sect. II. On the SternoptixitKs Family in general. 



Locality. The Sternoptix is a small osseous fish, of a very remarkable 

 form, and of rare occurrence, confined apparently to the East andWest 

 India islands, and the warmer parts of the Atlantic. 



Size. When full grown, it does not exceed from two to three inches 

 in length, exclusive of the tail ; its height, exclusive of the fins, is almost 

 equal to its length ; while in thickness it does not exceed three-quarters 

 of an inch, that is, about one-third of its height.* 



FoKM. Its lody is high, and greatly compressed, supported laterally 



• See Plate III. fig. 1. 



