356 CHARACTERISTICS OF SCATOPHAGOID FISHES. 



rior vertebroe normal, and the foremost intimately connected with the 

 craninm and overarched by the backward extended and nearly hori- 

 zontal exoccipital condyles; the ribs sessile high np on the centra of 

 the vertebrae or bases of the neurapopbyses, and the principal epi- 

 pLaryugeals with the deutigerous surface expanded. 



SCATOPHAGIDiE. 



Synonyms asfmnily names. 



= Scatophagidw, Gill, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., V. 5, p. 560. 1883. 

 Sqtiamipennes geu., Ciivier, Giinther, et al. 

 Chatodontidw sen., Bon., et al. 

 PimeleiJteroidei gen., Bleeker, 18.')9. 

 Chwiodontoidei s. f., Bleeker, 1876. 



Synonym as subfamily name. 

 = Scatojjhagi/ormes, Bleeker, Arcb. Neerlaud. Sc. exactes et Nat., t. 11, p. 302. 1876. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Body abbreviated, high, compressed, dorsadifortn, or nuchadiform, 

 with the breast convex, and with the contour extended backwards at 

 the anal fin. 



Anus submedian. 



Scales minute, pectinate, regularly imbricated, closely adherent to 

 the skin, and ascending on the soft portions of the dorsal and anal as 

 well as the caudal fins, more or less covering the rays as well as the 

 intervening membrane, and also extending on the wider surfaces of the 

 dorsal and anal spines. 



Lateralk concurrent with the back and uninterrupted. 



JTeadsmaU, little compressed, subrhomboid, with a high and abru{)tly 

 ascending occipital crest. 



EtjCS in the aurerior half of the head, sei)arated by a verj' wide in- 

 terorbital area, with the orbital margins free. 



Nostrils double, in front of the eyes; those of eacli side moderately 

 approximated to each other; the anterior with a small tabular extension; 

 the posterior larger and a vertical cleft. 



Mouth anterior, with the cleft nearly horizontal, little extended later- 

 ally, being mostly transverse and with a semicircular contour. 



Jaivs considerably modified from the normal acanthopterygian type; 

 inter maxilUnes with short, partially consolidated and tapering branches, 

 but not attenuated behind dentiferous area; supramaxUlines deflected 

 downwards behind and with a lamelliform expansion upward before the 

 deflection; dentaries with flatfish inferior and lateral extensions; articu- 

 lar cuneiform, between the inferior and lateral extensions of the den- 

 tary, and with the cotylus very low and posterior; angular mostly in- 

 ternal. 



Teeth elongated, setiform; the shorter simple, the longer with trifid 



