356 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 



Trachinoidei (Notothenes, Weavers, Star-gazers, Dragonets) 



If hard and fast definitions were to be sacrosanct, this group would not have any more 

 standing than the old " Jugulares." Nevertheless the fishes in it show rather strong affini- 

 ties with each other, now in certain characters and again in others. 



What , 



Malacanthus parvispinnis 



Fig. 235. Malacanthus. 



Malacanthus. — Of this family, Malacanthidae, Jordan (1923, p. 202) says that "it 

 bears strong resemblance to the trachiniform fishes, differing mainly in the thoracic insertion 

 of the ventrals." The skull (Fig. 235), however, hardly affords convincing support for this 

 view, as the presence of a spike on the opercular may be a mere parallel both to the cottids 

 and trachinoids. 



The skull of the related genus Lopholatilus is quite percoid in general features and so is 

 the shoulder-girdle. Nevertheless it is rather evident from comparison with the subsequent 

 figures that Malacanthus indicates the structural path leading to the notothenes and 

 trachinoids. 



Pinguipes. — A skull (Fig. 236^) of Pinguipes chilensis (No. 286, Brit. Mus. Nat. Hist.) 

 conforms in general to the percoid type and the family Pinguipedidae, consisting of Pinguipes, 

 Neopercis and Parapercis, is assigned by Tate Regan (1913a, pp. 112, 139) to the perciform 

 division of the Percoidea. Nevertheless, in certain features it suggests several of the higher 

 teleosts, especially the notothenioids and the batrachoids. The mouth has large well- 

 toothed premaxillae with stout ascending processes, thin rod-like maxillae not unlike those 

 of the batrachoids and clinids. In the top view the long straight interorbital bridge and 

 large orbits also rather suggest the batrachoids, and the same is true of the hyomandibulars, 

 which flare somewhat laterally and bear lateral oblique ridges. The small occipital crest, in- 

 distinct parietal crests and expansion of the skull behind the orbits are suggestive of such 

 primitive notothenioids as Cottoperca. The pectoral girdle (Fig. 237) and actinosts, al- 



