278 Mr. C. T. Regan on the 



fins are confluent with the reduced caudal, but the latter may 

 be well-developed and free {Dinematichthys) or may be 

 absent. 'J'lie gill-openings are wide, with the gill-membranes 

 separate and free from tlie isthmus (except in Dermatopsis). 

 The mouth is usually protractile. 



This family includes the blind cave-fishes of Cuba [Sti/gi- 

 coJa and hucifugd) as well as a number of marine forms, some 

 of those inhabiting the depths of the sea being extraordinarily 

 aberrant (^Tauredophidium, Aphyonus, Typhlonus, Acan- 

 thonus, &c.). Many have been described by Giinther 

 ('Challenger' Deep-sea Fishes), and Goode and Bean 

 (' Oceanic Ichthyology ') give a useful synopsis of the genera. 



I have examined the skeleton of Brotxila jayakan, and 1 

 have already figured the skull (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) 

 xi. 1903, p. 461). The parietals are separiited by the supra- 

 occipital, the latter forms with the exoccipitals a strong 

 median crest which does not project above the level of the 

 upper surface of the skull, the opisthotic is not enlarged, the 

 basioccipital and pro-otic form a rather prominent auditory 

 bulla. 



Tiie structure of the jaws, the hyo-palatine and opercular 

 bones (fig. 2, A), and the pectoral arch (fig. 3, 4) is shown 

 by the ligures ; the lower fork of the post-temporal is directly 

 attached to the opisthotic, and the hypercoracoid and hypo- 

 coracoid are separated by cartilage. 



In Brotulajayakari there are 55 vertebra? (15 + 40) ; the 

 first two vertebrae are short and bear sessile epipleurals; the 

 third, fourth, and fifth bear sessile ribs, the first two pairs 

 being expanded j from the sixth to the fifteenth the ribs are 

 borne by strong tiansverse parapophyses. 



Emery has figured the suspensorium of Pteridlum atrum *, 

 but I find that his figure is incorrect and that the pterygoid, 

 mesoptcrygoid, and metapterygoid are exactly as in Brotula ; 

 lie has overlooki'd the suture between pterygoid and meso- 

 pterygoid, and has mistaken the anterior part of the meta- 

 pterygoid for the latter bone. 



Family 2. Ophidiidae. 



Differ from the preceding externally in the anterior 

 position of the pelvic fins, inserted between the rami of the 

 lower jaw ; behind them the gill-membranes are attached to 

 the istlimus. I have examined the skeleton of Genypterus 

 hlacodes, which differs from that of Brotula especially in the 



* Fauna u. Flora d. Golf. v. Neapel, ii. (1880). 



i 



