MESICHTHYESi (INTERMEDIATE TELEOSTS) 



Iniomi (Scopeloids) 



The scopeloids (Iniomi) are much- further advanced than the typical isospondyls in 

 the predominance of the premaxilla, in the frequent loss of the supramaxilla, and in the 

 generally more pike-like skull characters, including the frequent predominance of the inner 

 over the outer upper tooth rows. The mesocoracoid arch is lost. 



The Cretaceous genus Enchodus (Eurypholis) of the family Enchodontidae, as described 

 and figured by Smith Woodward (1901, 'pp. 6, 189-234), has a pike-like skull (Fig. 83) 

 with large mouth and long, sharp, piercing teeth on the palatine and ectopterygoid, with 



Eurypholis boissieri 



Fig. 83. Eurypholis boissieri. After Smith Woodward. 



small teeth on the premaxilla; the maxilla is either finely toothed or toothless at the oral 

 border. The teeth are firmly fused with the supporting bone, not implanted in sockets 

 (Woodward). The enlargement of the premaxilla, which in many forms finally crowded 

 the maxilla completely away from the oral border, is a process which took place inde- 

 pendently in this family as in others among the Cretaceous fishes. The genus Halec of the 

 same family was less advanced in this respect than Enchodus, since its maxilla still entered 

 the gape behind, where it bore a spaced series of relatively large conical teeth pointing 

 slightly forward (Woodward, 1901, p. 212; 1902, p. 51), recalling the conditions in the 

 stomiatoid fishes. The presence of longitudinal rows of long sharp teeth on the pterygo- 

 palatine arch and mandible is a point of resemblance to such scopeloids as Alepisaurus and 

 Omosudis (Fig. 89), and a comparison of skulls of the latter two with that of Enchodus 

 reveals a striking resemblance in many parts, as implied by Woodward (1901, p. 189). 



A conspicuous, posteriorly-directed spine at the lower end of the very narrow and deep 

 preopercular (Woodward, 1902, p. 42) recalls the conditions in the Astronesthidas and the 

 Sternoptychidse. 



According to Woodward's restoration of Enchodus boissieri (1901, p. 206), there were 

 two rows of plates behind the eye, an inner smaller set marked co and a much broader 



»0. P. Hay, 1902, p. 2S4. 



204 



