212 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 



view, when the secondary effects (such as loss of myodome and posterior temporal fossae) 

 of the great depression of the skull in Cetomimus are taken into due consideration." 



A few of Doctor Parr's numerous figures of the skulls of the above mentioned families 

 are here reproduced, with his kind permission. It will be seen that in this order, as in the 

 Isospondyli, there is a very wide range in the inclination of the suspensorium, which is 

 inclined far backward in Cetomimus but well forward in Lestidium. 



The otoliths of the Iniomi, as described and classified by Frost (1926c, p. 466), fall into 

 two types, callec^ respectively the "Elopine" and the "Scopelid." In Aulopus the sagitta 



sphot 



P^'\..L \ '^^^ ep^y bnt(] 



S)im 



r 



Myctophum humboldti 



Fig. 93. Myctophum humboltdti. Larval skull, stained by Miss Gloria Hollister for Dr. William Beebe. 



is of the "Elopine" type and also resembles that of Osmerus, but differs in certain details. 

 In several species of Synodus the otolith is also described as being markedly "Elopine," 

 the shape being elongate and cuneiform. In Ceratoscopelus maderensis we have a passage 

 from the "Elopine" to the more specialized "Scopelid" type, seen in the family Mycto- 

 phidae, which is distinguished by the heightening of the otolith, the reduction of the 

 rostrum and other characters. 



Thus the evidence of the otoliths is in harmony with much other evidence that the 

 Iniomi are derivatives of primitive Isospondyli. 



Lyomeri (Gulpers) 



The gulpers (Saccopharyngidae) are generally regarded as "degraded eels," perhaps 

 because they pass through a 'leptocephalus' larval stage. They have reached the logical 

 extreme of' moray-like specializations, since they have enormous mouths and a highly 

 distensible pharynx and stomach. The rod-like maxillae (Fig. 94) are slung from the very 

 short solid skull by an enormously long backwardly-directed rod composed of a hyo- 

 mandibular and a quadrate connected by a movable joint (Zugmayer, E., 1911). The 



