226 SUB-CLASS (AND ORDER) TELEOSTEI. 



E. lucius L., common pike, pickerel, jack, luce, hake, Eur., N. 

 Asia and northern parts of North America ; extremely voracious, does 

 not refuse frogs, voles, house rats, puppies, kittens, weasels, foxes, ducks, 

 geese, has been found with a human infant in its stomach, has been 

 known to lay hold of a swan, a tame cormorant, and to attack otters, 

 dogs, asses, mules, oxen, horses, men, and to catch swallows, dislikes 

 sticklebacks. Umbra Kramer, Austria, Hungary (Hundsfisch), and 

 United States (mud-minnow). 



Fam. 28. Dalliidae, f. w. fishes from Alaska and Siberia. 

 Fam. 29. Scopelidae. Naked or scaly. Margin of upper jaw formed 

 by premaxillary only ; opercular bones thin but complete. Barbels none. 

 Pseudobranchs usually well developed. Air-bladder small or none. 

 Adipose fin present. The eggs are enclosed in the sacs of the ovary and are 

 extruded by oviducts. Intestine short. All marine, mostly inhabiting 

 shore waters, some descending to the deep sea. The following fossil forms 

 are probably allied here : Hemisaurida, Parascopeltis, Anapterus. Saurus 

 Cuv., Med., trop. Atl. and Pac. ; Bathysaurus Giinth., deep sea, 

 Pac., 1,100-2,400 fms. ; Harpodon Les., Ind. and China Seas, H. 

 nehereus, Bombay duck ; Scopelus Cuv., lantern-fishes, luminous 

 spots along sides of body, pelagic fishes, taken at any depth to 

 2,500 fms. ; Ipnops Giinth., 1,600 to 2,150 fms., phosphorescent 

 organs extending along the median line of the snout, have been regarded 

 as modified eyes, which are otherwise absent, pseudobranch absent ; 

 Paralepis Risso, small, pelagic, from Med. and Atl. ; Sudis Raf. ; 

 Plagyodus Pall. (Alepidosaurus or Alepisaurus Lowe), one of the 

 largest deep-sea fishes ; other genera are Aulopus, Chlorophihalmus, 

 Scopelosaurus, Odontostomus, Nannobrachium, Bathypterois ; Trachino- 

 cephalus Gill, Synodus Bloch and Sch., Benthosaurus Goode and Bean ; 

 Myctophum Raf., pelagic fishes coming to surface at night, taken at any 

 depth to 2,000 fms. 



Fam. 30. Cetomimidae. Rondeletia Goode and Bean, deep sea ; Ceto- 

 mimus, Goode and Bean, deep sea. 

 Fam. 30 a Chirothricidae. extinct. 



Fam. 31. Kneriidae. Small loach-like fishes from f. w. of trop. 

 Africa. Kneria. 



Fam 32. Cyprinodontidae (Poeciliidae J. and E.). Head and body covered 

 with scales ; barbels absent. Margin of upper jaw formed by premaxil- 

 laries only. Teeth in both jaws ; upper and lower pharyngeals with 

 cardiform teeth. Adipose fin absent ; dorsal fin on the hinder half of the 

 body. Stomach without blind sac ; pyloric appendages absent. Pseudo- 

 branch absent ; air-bladder simple. Sexes usually unlike, the fins being 

 larger in the males, which however are often much smaller in size than 

 the females ; mostly viviparous, the young being well developed at birth. 

 The anal fin of the male is frequently modified as a copulatory organ. 

 Freshwater fishes of S. Eur., Asia, Afr. and Amer., some of them 

 occurring in arms of the sea. Some are carnivorous and some live on 

 organic substances in mud. Fossil remains in tertiary strata. 



I. Carnivorae. Bones of each ramus of the mandible firmly 

 united, intestine short or but little convoluted ; carnivorous. Cyprin- 

 odon Lacep., in Mediterranean region and N. Amer., are able 

 to live in brine pools, e.g., of Dead Sea and Sahara, and at high tem- 

 peratures ; sometimes lose their ventral fins and then known as 

 Tellia ; oviparous. Allied are Fitzroyia from Monte Video, and 



