344 REPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [2] 



It is but fair to say, however, that the arrangement adopted is not en- 

 tirely satisfactory to us. The genera recognized are not equivalent in 

 value, and no subdivision is possible in which they can be made so. 

 The species of Scicenince with long gill-rakers (Stelliferus, &c), and 

 those with short ones (Scicena, &c.) form together an almost perfect 

 series. The characters on which the first of these groups is by us sub- 

 divided into distinct genera (dentition, armature of the preopercle, &c.) 

 cannot apparently be used for this purpose among the Scicena}, as the 

 gradation there is more perfect and the extremes less marked. It is 

 quite true that a character may have a generic value in one section of 

 a family and not in another, yet such generic characters of partial ap- 

 plication should always be looked upon with question. 



The Sciwnidce fall naturally into two suborders, which are well dis- 

 tinguished from each other, and, so far as we know, not connected by 

 intermediate forms. These are the Otolithince and the Scicenince. The 

 extremes of the former group (Seriphus, Archoscion) have been of late 

 usually set off as a distinct subfamily — Isopisthiiuc. Dr. Bleeker has 

 even removed this group, Isopisthince, from the family of Scicenidce alto- 

 gether. There is no warrant for this arrangement. While Seriphus 

 seems quite different from the other Otolithince, Archoscion is intermedi- 

 ate between Seriphus and Cestreus, and from the latter it is scarcely to 

 be distinguished generically, so perfect is the gradation in the series of 

 species. At the opposite end of the series the genus Eques represents 

 an aberrant form of the Scicenince, and another is represented by Aplo- 

 dinotus and Pogonias. The differences existing do not apparently re- 

 quire the recognition of either of these groups as subfamilies, and we 

 refer all to the Scicenince. 



The Scicenince constitute an irregularly graduated series, the characters 

 changing by small and often scarcely perceptible gradations from the 

 forms allied to Cestreus on the one hand to those approaching Eques on 

 the other. 



We begin our series with the genus Seriphus, which is perhaps most 

 nearly related to the other percoid forms, and we close it with Eques, 

 which stands at the opposite extreme from Seriphus. In passing down 

 the series from Nebris and Odontoscion, the most Otolithus-like of the 

 Scicenince, to Scicena, Menticirrhus, Eques, and the other extreme forms, 

 we find, as has been already stated, no very sharp line of division. The 

 middle line, if we may so speak, lies between Bairdiella chrysoleuca and 

 Scicena sciera, two species closely allied to each other. 



Nothing could be more unnatural or more ineffective than the subdi- 

 vision adopted by Cuvier, whereby the Scicenince without barbels are 

 divided into three groups, Gorvina, Johnius, and Scicena, solely on the 

 strength of the second anal spine. This is large in Gorvina, very feeble 

 in Scicena, and intermediate in Johnius. Giiuther's arrangement, by 

 which the species referred to Johnius are divided between Gorvina and 



