MOLID.E. XCIII. 171 



FAMILY XCIII. MOLID^E. (THE HEAD-FISHES.) 



Body deep, compressed, truncate behind, so that there is no cau- 

 dal peduncle; skin scaleless, rough. Mouth very small, the teeth 

 united, without median suture as in Diodontidce. D. and A. of 

 soft rays only, confluent around tail, elevated in front. V. wanting ; 

 pelvic bone small ; belly not inflatable. Three species, placed in as 

 many genera ; large fishes of the open sea, consisting apparently of 

 a huge fish-head to which small fins are attached. 

 a. Body ovate, not twice as long as deep; skin thick, leathery, without hexa- 

 gonal plates MOLA, 216. 



246. MOLA Cuvier. (Orthagoriscus Bloch & Schneider.) (Lat., 



millstone.) 



484. M. mola (L.). SUN-FISH. HEAD-FISH. MOLA. Dark 

 gray, silver-gray below; a dusky bar along bases of vertical fins. 

 D. and A. very high ; form varying greatly with age ; a hump or 

 snout above mouth in old specimens. Head 3 ; depth 1| (in adult). 

 D. 17. A. 16. L. 4 feet or more. Pelagic, N. to Cape Cod; not 

 rare, sometimes weighing 500 Ibs. (Eu.) 



ORDER XXIII. PEDICULATI. (THE PEDICULATE 

 FISHES.) 



Carpal bones reduced in number and notably elongate, forming a 

 kind of arm which supports the broad pectorals. Gill openings re- 

 duced to a small pore in or near the axil, behind the pectoral fins ; 

 V. jugular, if present ; first vertebra united with skull ; post-tempo- 

 ral broad, flat, simple; pharyngeals reduced in number; spinous D. 

 often reduced to isolated tentacles. No scales. 



This singular group is probably a modified off-shoot of the Haplo- 

 doci (Batrachidce) or of some similar form. It may fairly be placed 

 at the end of the fish-series, as having gone farther in its diver- 

 gence from the original fish-stock than any other of the groups called 

 " orders " among fishes. It is not however in any proper sense the 

 " highest " of the fishes, for some of its peculiarities may be due to 

 degradation. Still less is it the order most closely related to the 

 higher vertebrates. Most of the Pediculati belong to the tropics 

 or to the deep sea. (Lat., pediculatus, provided with a little foot or 

 peduncle.) 



FAMILY XCIV. MALTHID^B. (THE BAT-FISHES.) 

 Head broad and depressed, the snout elevated, the trunk short 

 and slender. Mouth small, inferior ; gill opening very small, above 

 and behind axil of P. Body and head covered with bony tubercles 

 or spines. Spinous D. a single tentacle on snout, retractile into a 

 cavity beneath a long process on snout. Genera 3; species 10, all 

 American. 



