THE BERYCOIDS OR SLIME HEADS 



2723 



blunt muzzle, the prominent chin, the strong spine at the angle of the preopercular, 

 the rather small scales, and the serration of the lower border of the body. The 

 palatines and vomers carry villiform teeth; the single dorsal fin has from three to 

 six spines, the anal six rays, and the tail is strongly forked. The allied Anoplogas- 

 ter of the tropical Atlantic is devoid of scales. In both genera the eye is very 

 large. The typical genus Beryx, which has likewise but a single dorsal, may be 

 distinguished by the smooth abdomen, and the lack of a spine on the preopercular. 

 At the present day this genus is known from the tropical Atlantic, Madeira, and 

 the seas of Australia and Japan; while in a fossil state it is abundant in the Chalk. 

 Two barbels at the throat serve to distinguish Polymixia; while in several of the 



NEW ZEALAND TRACHICHTHYS. 



(Two-fifths natural size.) 



other genera, such as Holocentrum, the dorsal fin is double. Spread over all 

 tropical seas, the latter genus is likewise one of those dating from the Cretaceous 

 epoch. 



Families CURTID^: and POLTNEMIDJE 



Each of these two unimportant families represents a group of equal rank with 

 the perch-like division of the suborder; the first being characterized by having the 

 single dorsal fin much shorter than the long and many-rayed anal. The compressed 

 body (as shown in the figure of Pempheris mangula, on the right side of the illus- 

 tration on page 2722) is oblong in form, deep in front, and sharply narrowing 

 toward the tail. If developed at all, the spines of the short dorsal are few in num- 



