Families of TeleosUan Fisli&s. 185 



B. Ventral fins, if present, not widely separated ; one or several of 



the pterygials in contact with the clavicle. 



Ventral fins distinct ; gill-clefts wide 5. Cottidce. 



Ventral fins united into a sucking-disk ; gill- 

 opening- narrow, above base of pectoral .... 6. Cyclopteridce. 



C. Ventral fins widely separated; none of the pterygials in contact 



with the clavicle. 



Ventral fins behind base of pectorals ; prseeaudal 



vertebrae without transverse processes 7. Platycephalidce* 



Ventral fins a little in front of base of pectorals ; 

 praecaudal vertebras with transverse pro- 

 cesses 8. Hoplichthyidee. 



II. Head completely cuirassed. 



Ventral fins narrowly separated ; no pectoral ap- 

 pendages ; pterygials short and broad 9. Agonidte. 



Ventral fins widely separated ; 2 or 3 lowermost 

 rays of pectoral fin detached as feelers ; 

 pterygials short and broad 10. Triglidee. 



Ventral fins narrowly separated; pectoral fin 

 divided into two portions ; pterygials elon- 

 gate 11. Dactylopieridee. 



Division VIII. Jugulares. 



No bony stay for the prseoperculum. Ventral fins jugular 

 or mental. Gill-openings in front of the pectoral fin, the 

 base of which is vertical or subvertical. 



In a recently published note * I have alluded to the group 

 of physoclistous fishes for which I propose to revive the 

 old name Jugulares, pointing out that some of the forms 

 previously grouped together as Trachinidge agree with the 

 Gadidae, not only in the jugular position of the ventral 

 fins, but also in the condition of the scapula and coracoid. 



Mr. Regan f has since been able to show that the Gadidae 

 and Macruridae possess certain characters in common by which 

 they may be separated, not only from the other Jugulares, 

 but even from the Acanthopterygians, and, as mentioned 

 above (p. 176), the Miillerian suborder Anacanthini may be 

 maintained, after excluding the Pleuronectidae. That the 

 Blenniidae are akin to Lycodes and allies has long been 

 admitted, and authors who have placed them in different 

 divisions of their systems have had to confess the difficulty 

 of referring certain genera to the one family rather than to 

 the other. The fact that Lycodes and many forms previously 

 associated with the Ophidiidao agree with the Macruridae and 

 Gadidae in the diphycercal vertebral column, and in the 



* Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) viii. 1901, p. 261. 

 f Op. cit. xi. 1903, p. 459. 



