Act'tnopterygii PercomorpJii. 



119 



The SparidaB, or " Sea-breams," have numerous extinct 

 congeners. They are Perciforrn Acanthopterygians with a 

 curiously specialized dentition, the front teeth being usually 

 adapted for piercing and cutting, and those at the sides of the 

 mouth for crushing. Their earliest representatives, from the 

 Cretaceous of Mount Lebanon, appear to be referable to the 

 living genera, Pagellus and Sargus ; and both these fishes are 

 again found in the Tertiaries, the former at Monte Bolca, and 

 the latter in France and at Oran, Algeria. Sparnodus (Fig. 163) 

 is an extinct genus from Monte Bolca, having the teeth some- 

 what " spaced out " hence the name. Soriddens and Capitodus 

 are founded upon detached teeth from various European Ter- 

 tiaries. Teeth of the living Chrysophrys are exhibited from 

 the Miocene of Malta, the Crag of Suffolk, and from probably 

 equivalent deposits in the Canary Islands. 



FIG. 163. Sparnodus ovalis, Ag.; Upper Eocene, Monte Bolca. 



The Squamipinnes are short, deep-bodied fishes, charac- Table-case, 

 terized, as their name denotes, by the extension of the scales No - 5e - 

 over more or less of the dorsal and anal fins. The living forms 

 (" Coral-fishes ") are mostly brightly coloured fishes which 

 abound in the neighbourhood of Coral-reefs. Platycormus, 

 from the Upper Cretaceous of Westphalia, seems to be their 

 earliest known representative ; and there are remains of 

 Scaiophagus, and the living genera Ephippium, Pomacanthus, 

 Holacanthus, in the Eocene of Monte Bolca. Pygceus, from the 

 same formation, is also placed in this family. 



The Percidse, or Perch family, may perhaps be regarded as Wall-case, 

 the highest the most specialized of Teleostean fishes ; they No. 18. 

 are well represented both in the freshwater and marine Tertiary Table-case, 

 formations. The extinct genus Smerdis, with large deeply- No< 5e - 

 forked tail (Fig. 164), occurs in the Miocene of Ulm, Wurtem- 

 berg, and Puy-de-Dome, France ; in the Upper Eocene of 

 Monte Bolca and Aix in Provence. Lates, Cyclopoma, and 

 species of the living marine genera, Dules, Serranus, Apogon, 

 Therapoii, and Pristipoma, are also found at Monte Bolca. 



