GEMPYLIDAE, LEPIDOPIDAE AND TRICHIURIDAE 21 



the Scombridae. Its lower fork is attached to the posterior edge of the 

 opisthotic. A well developed supraclavicle is present. Above the pec- 

 toral the clavicle is bent at a considerable angle, allowing the body of 

 the shoulder girdle to extend forward even more horizontally than in 

 the Scombridae. The hypocoracoid foramen is large and at the center 

 of the bone. The hypocoracoid differs from that of the Scombridae in 

 reaching downward to the end of the clavicle. The actinosts are a lit- 

 tle longer and more slender than in Scomber, but arranged the same in 

 relation to the coracoid elements, the third from the top being opposite 

 the coracoid suture. There is no wing from the clavicle above the pec- 

 toral fin to support the postclavicle. The superior element of the post- 

 clavicle is very short and firmly attached to the clavicle; the inferior 

 element is long, slender and slightly expanded below, the two portions 

 appearing as a single piece. 



The pelvic girdle is very long and slender, extending forward to 

 between the clavicles and attached in the way usual to thoracic ven- 

 trals. 



As in the Scombridae, there are three basibranchials ; the anterior 

 one remote from the hypobranchial of the first arch. Four pairs of 

 superior pharyngeals are present; the first toothless; the second long 

 and narrow and lying beside the third; the third the largest; and the 

 fourth in line behind it, and lying so close that the third and fourth 

 form an almost continuous tooth patch, though they are not so closely 

 connected as in the Scombridae. 



The glossohyalt and urohyal are both present; the latter without 

 lateral ridges. A pair of very large hypohyals are present on each 

 side; a long ray of bone from the ceratohyal extends under them to 

 support the anterior branchiostegal ray. Four branchoistegal rays are 

 upon the ceratohyal and three upon the epihyal. 



There are 20 abdominal vertebrae and 13 caudal, or a total of 34 

 with the hypural. There are no parapophyses, but on the llth verte- 

 bra there is a small, round, haemal arch, formed by connected para- 

 pophyses, as in the Scombridae. It is without a spine, is inclined for- 

 ward, and is longitudinally flattened. Posteriorly the abdominal luvinal 

 arches gradually develop a spine and incline backward. The ribs are 

 set in sockets anteriorly low on the centra of the vertebrae, and poste- 

 riorly are carried at the tips of the haemal arches, each pair with their 

 bases in contact as in the Scombridte. Each rib or ha?mal arch is 

 placed almost directly at the middle of the vertebra. The neural arches 

 are more posterior, but still at some distance from the ends of the 

 vertebrae. 



