132 Anatomy and Classijication of the Order Inioini, 



Suborder 3. Ateleopoidea. 



Body elongate, naked ; dorsal short, just behind the head ; 

 anal long, united to the reduced caudal ; pectorals lateral ; 

 pelvics in advance of the pectorals, well separated, each of a 

 simple or bifid ray with or without a vestigial ray in its axil. 

 Mouth small, snbterminal, protractile downwards ; jaws with 

 bands of small villiform teeth ; one supramaxillary. Sub- 

 operculum excluding operculum from margin of gill-opening ; 

 branchiostegals 6 to 8, curved upwards. Cranium in great 

 part cartilaginous, resembling that of Aulopus in form, the 



Fig. 7. 



A B 



Ateleopus indtcus. 



A. Pectoral arch. jj«e, post-temporal; sc/, supracleitbrum; c/, cleithrum ; 



sc, hypercoracoid (scapula) ; cor, hypocoracoid ; car, cartilage to 

 which pelvis is articulated ; r, cartilage representing radials. 



B, Pelvis, pv, pelvic ossifications ; /, foramina ; c, posterior cornua ; 



X, place of insertion of tin-ray. 



posterior surface nearly vertical with a small occipital crest, 

 the upper surface flattish, much broadened behind the orbits; 

 frontals separated by a wide fontanel except posteriorly ; 

 parietals separated by the supraoccipital ; epiotics and opis- 

 thotics absent ; pterotic large, separated from exoccipital by 

 cartilage ; sphenotic with a prominent process, as m Aulopus ; 

 basisphenoid, alisphenoids^ and orbitosphenoid absent. Pec- 

 toral radials represented by a cartilaginous plate ; pelvis 

 represented by a cartilaginous plate containing two small 



