Key to Families. 



Bony plate between branches of 



lower jaw 

 No bony plate between branches of 



lower jaw 

 I Lateral line well developed 



I Teeth present, no accessory 



branchial organ 

 2. Teeth absent, an accessory 

 branchial organ 

 2. Lateral line absent. 



1. Mouth terminal 



2. Mouth inferior, long snout 



P^LOPID.E 



Albulid.e. 



Chaxid.e. 



Clupeid.e. 

 Engraulid.e. 



Family i. ELOPID/E. 



Margin of upper jaw formed of premaxillaries and maxil- 

 laries, which extend backwards beyond the eye, a bony plate 

 between branches of lower jaw. Pharyngeal teeth . Branchio- 

 stegals numerous. Gill rakers rather long and slender. Body 

 not keeled. Lateral line present. Parietal bones meet above 

 head. Widely distributed in tropical and sub-tiopical seas. 



Key to Genera. 



A. Scales, small ; dorsal a little longer 



than anal. . . . . Flops, L. 



B. Scales, large ; dorsal a little shorter 



than anal, with last ray much produced . . Magalops, Lacep. 



I. ELOPS. Linnaeus. 



Linn. syst. Nat. Ed. XII, p. 518 (1766). 



Mugilomorus, Lacep. Hist. Nat. Poiss. V, 398 (1803). 



Body elongate with thin small scales. Lateral line straight, 

 with simple tubes. Mouth very large, small teeth in pre- 

 maxillaries and maxillaries, lower jaw, palatines, pterygoids, 

 parasphenoid and tongue. Dorsal fin slightly behind ventrals, 

 both depressible within a sheath. Pseudobranchi^e well 

 developed. The young are ribbon-shaped, like young eels. 



I. Elops saurus, Linn. 



Linuceus, Syst. Nat. Ed. XII, p. 518 (1766) ; Bloch. Aust. 

 Fische, VHI, p. 153, pi. CCCXCIII, fig. i (1794) ; Cuv. 

 and Val. Hist. Poiss. XIX, p. 365 (1846) ; Gi'mth. Cat. 

 Fish, VII, p. 470 (1868) ; Steind Sitzb. b. ak. Wien, LXI, 



