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TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 



that the otolith of Ckromis chromis is of the percid type, but differs in certain details. 

 It shows no special approach to the labrid type. 



Labrids. — The wrasses (Labridae) are grouped by Tage Regan (1913fl, pp. 132-135) 

 with the Odacidse and the Scaridae in the division Labriformes. The jaws are of the pro- 

 trusile but strong-biting type, with terminal horizontal mouth, again due to the forward 

 and downward elongation of the snout. The lower pharyngeals are fused into a triangular 



pmx 

 pf Apareth 



Lachnolaimus maximus 



Fig. 130. Lachnolaimus maximus. 



plate and generally bear rounded blunt teeth. The possession of this pharyngeal dental 

 mill formerly led to the allocation of the wrasses and scarids to a separate order, Pharyn- 

 gognathi, but they are now generally recognized as a division of the Percomorphi. Possibly 

 their nearest relatives are not the cichlids and pomacentrids but the haemulids and sparids. 

 In Tautogolabrus (Fig. 129), as in other labrids, the ascending processes of the premaxillse 

 are longer than the alveolar branch. The latter is attached at its distal end to the lower 

 end of the maxilla, which in turn is fastened to the side of the mandible. Hence a lowering 

 in the mandible draws the premaxillae downward and forward. 



