388 Mr. C. T. Regan on the Anntotny and 



])edicels and jugular pelvic fins are present. Vaillant 

 (Comptes Rend. cxl. 1905, p. 1713) has recently expressed 

 the opinion that the affinities of Alabes are with the Blennioids 

 rather than with the iSyrnbranciiidfe, and, indeed^ its external 

 similarity to the Scytalinidaj and Zoarcidte is rather striking ; 

 but in its osteology Alahes differs widely from the Blennioids, 

 and although it also differs sufficiently from the Syni- 

 branchoids to be made the type of a separate suborder, its 

 relationsliip to them is quite clear ; the more imj)ortant 

 characters common to Alahes and the Symbianchoids are 

 given in the ordinal diagnosis, and the differences between 

 them will be seen on comparison of the subordiual diagnoses 

 in the following systematic account. 



Order SYMBR,ANGHII. 



Eel-shaped Teleosts, with the caudal fin very small, 8- to 

 10-vayed, and continuous with the dorsal and anal, whicii are 

 rayless folds of the skin ; no pectoral fins ; pelvics, if present, 

 jugular. No air-bladder. Mouth non-protractile, bordered 

 above mainly by the pra^maxillaries ; lower jaw of deutary, 

 articulare, and angulare. Gill-membranes united and gill- 

 openings confluent below, but more or less restricted from 

 above, typically appealing as a transverse ventral slit. 

 Palatine without maxillary process; no mesopterygoid ; 

 inetapterygoid extending upwards to sphenotic ; hyomandi- 

 bular two-headed; symplectic present; opercles norm;tl. 

 Upper surface of skull without crests or ridges ; no basi- 

 sphenoid, alisphenoid, orbitosphenoid, or opisthotic ; sphenotic 

 with a rather prominent projection directed outwards and 

 somewhat forwards; esoccipiial condyles widely separated; 

 nasals long, separated by the ethmoid ; a prfeorbitiil, but no 

 suborbitals. Only the membrane bones of the pectoral arch 

 developed, the coracoids and radials absent. Vertebral centra 

 co-ossified with the arches ; no ribs, but a series of epipleurals. 



Suborder 1. Alabetoidea. 



Vent in the anterior half of the length of the fish. Dorsal 

 and anal well developed ; pelvic fins present, very small, 

 2-rayed, just behind the gill-opening. Mouth small; palate 

 toothless. Pra^maxillaries with strong posterior pedicels 

 which reach the frontals ; palatines separated by the vomer; 

 pterygoid slender, remote from the frontal ; operculum 

 rhomboidal. Skull short, broad, depressed; parasphenoid 

 and frontal separated by an interspace ; i)arictals not meeting 



