Classification of (he Blennioid Fishes. 273 



concave anterioily ; normal parapopliyses on most of the 

 pi-fficaudal veitebr£ei Post-tempoial forked; hypercoracoid 

 and hypocoracoid well-developed, in contact or scarcely 

 separated; radials sometimes liourglass-sliaped, but usually 

 rather short and squarisli, inserted on the coracoids. Pelvic 

 bones slender, elongate, not expanded vertically. 

 The numerous genera may be arranged thus : — 



I. Dorsal with a posterior soft-rayed portion. 



Dictyosoma, Eulophias, Neozoarces, Cehedichthys, &c. 



II. Dorsal fin of spines only. 



C'hirolophus, StathmonotuSy Aiiojylarchus, Ophtho- 

 centrus, Plagiogrammus, Stichceus, Dinogimnellus, 

 Cryptacanthodes, &c. 



All are inhabitants of Arctic or northern seas. 



Family 5. Pholididae. 



Closely related to the Stichaeidse, differing in that tho 

 praicaudal parapopliyses are united to form closed liaiinal 

 arches. The body is elongate, compressed, covered with 

 very small scales ; there is no lateral line. The vertical fins 

 are confluent ; the dorsal is long and low, of 75 to 100 short 

 spines ; the anal, preceded by 1 or 2 spines, is about half as 

 long as the dorsal; the pectorals are rather small, placed low, 

 and the pelvics, when present, are formed each of a spine and 

 one small soft ray. The mouth is rather small, oblique, with 

 conical or villiform teeth in the jaws and sometimes on the 

 palate ; the gill-membranes are united, free from the isthmus. 



Pholis, Afodichthys, &c., small shore-tishes of Arctic and 

 northern seas. 



Family 6. Lumpenidae. 



Differs from the Stichseidge especially in that the prceorbital 

 is represented by the inner shelf only, the suborbitals are not 

 ossified, and the anterior surface of the first vertebra is 

 convex, fitting into the single concavity formed by the basi- 

 occipital and by the laterally placed exoccipital condyles. 



The body is very elongate, little compressed, covered with 

 small scales; the lateral line is indistinct or absent. The 

 caudal, of 13 principal rays, is free ; the dorsal is long, of 55 

 to 75 slender spines ; the anal, preceded by 2 or 3 spines, is 

 more than half as long as the dorsal ; the pectorals are well 

 developed and each pelvic is formed of a spine and 3 or 4 

 branched rays. The head is longer, the eyes larger, and the 

 mouth less oblique than in the Xiphidiontidaj or Pholididse; 



