WESTERN ATLANTIC PERCOPHIDID FISHES GINSBURG 627 



to determine the proper limits between the families. The two genera 

 mentioned fall into the larger groups that Regan designates as Tra- 

 chiniformes and Jordan as Percophidiformes. 



Regan (1913, pp. 140-144), subdivides his "Division 10. Trachini- 

 formes," which is a subordinate category in his "Suborder Percoidea" 

 and apparently roughly corresponds to the superfamily category of 

 other taxonomists, into 13 families, 9 of which contain only 1-3 

 genera each. However, such splitting of the relatively few, seemingly 

 more or less related genera into an excessive number of families is not 

 based on an adequate comparative study of their morphology; at least 

 such a study is not included in the published record. After an exam- 

 ination of the external characters of a number of the genera concerned, 

 it seems that Regan's family category as applied to these fishes is 

 equivalent to the category designated as subfamily or even tribe by 

 other modern taxonomists, or, in other groups, by Regan himself. 



A classification published later by Jordan (1923, pp. 228-231) agrees 

 in the main with that of Regan. Jordan likewise divides these genera 

 among many families. But the two classifications differ in some 

 particulars, two of which may be mentioned here: Jordan also groups 

 the families into a next higher category which he calls "Series" that 

 corresponds roughly with Regan's "Division," but the families that 

 Regan includes in his Trachiniformes are placed by Jordan in four 

 "Series;" and, in some instances, Jordan shuffles the genera from one 

 family to another so that the content of some families is different from 

 that of Regan. These differences cast some doubt on the adequacy of 

 both classifications. 



The genera that are of immediate concern in this paper are placed 

 in three families in both classifications, but the genera are differently 

 distributed and the two authors use different names for one of the 

 families. Both recognize the family Percophididae with one genus, 

 although Regan does not expressly state so. Besides that family, 

 Regan recognizes the Bembropsidae with two genera, Bembrops and 

 Chrionema, and the Hemerocoetidae with Hemerocoetes and Acantha- 

 phritis. He also indicates that Pterosaron Jordan and Snj'-der is the 

 same as Acanthaphritis Gunther. This suggested synonymy is open 

 to question. 



In Jordan's classification, the Hemerocoetidae includes only the 

 type genus; while the third family, which is designated Pterosaridae 

 instead of Bembropsidae, contains Bembrops, Chrionema, Acantha- 

 phritis, Pterosaron, and Osopsaron. The last-named genus is possibly 

 the same as Acanthaphritis, while the other two genera placed by 

 Jordan in his Pterosaridae, Hypsicometes Goode and Bathypercis 

 Alcock, are presumably synonyms of Bembrops. 



