Classijicafion of the Order 0.iUiri(>pJii/-i. 15 



Cvpi inoids are inal.jcopterous pliysostoracs * with tlie pelvic 

 fills, when present, abdominal; the head is naked and the 

 body is usually scaly ; the branchiostegals are few, 3-5. 

 Parietal bones are present, either meeting in the niiddio line 

 or separated by a fontanel, and an orbitosphenoid is always 

 present ; the mefaptcrygoid and symplectic are well deve- 

 loped ; most of the parapophyses are distinct from the centra 

 (except in Misijurniis) and the anterior vertebrae remain 

 sei)aiate, or only the centra of the second and third may 

 unite ; epi[)leurals and epinenrals are present. 



The suborder Cyprinoidoa includes three well-marked 

 divisions — Characiformes,Gymnotiformes,andCypriniforme.s. 



Division 1. CuARAClFORMESt- 



Body deep or moderately elongate ; dorsal and caudal fins 

 well developed ; pelvic fins present ; usually an adipose fin. 

 ^louth typically non-protractile ; jaws usually toothed and 

 maxillary rarely excluded from the gape. Upper and lower 

 pharyngeals dentigerous, normally opposed. An opisthotic ; 

 posterior temporal fossK well developed, with two or three 

 posterior apertures. Hyoj)alatine and opercular bones all 

 present ; palatine firmly attached to pterygoid and meso- 

 pferygoid. Post-temporal forked. Air-bladder large, free, 

 divided into two by a transverse constriction. 



This group comprises several hundred species from the 

 fresh waters of Central and vSouth America and Africa ; it 

 corresponds to the family Characida3 or Characinidoe of 

 authors ^. 



Family 1. Characidse. 



Prfemaxillaries not UiUch produced ; maxiliaries well 



developed. Teeth in jaws usually strong; palate sometimes 



toothed. Hyomandibular two-headed, the posterior head 



inserted in a groove of the pterotic, the anterior with flat or 



concave surface articulating: with a flat or convex surface on 



..11 

 the sphenotic ; pterygoid narrowed posteriorly, immovably 



attached to quadrate or mesopterygoid. Orbito-sphenoid 



* Many Cobitidae and Homalopteridje, with the air-bladder reduced 

 and eucapsuled, are physoclists. 



t Sa^^emehl, Morph", Jahrb. x. ISSo, p. 102, has written a valuable 

 memoir on the crauial osteolojry. Gill, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xviii. 1895, 

 p. 205, gives a list of some other papers of lesser importance. 



X Cf. Bouleng. Camb. Nat. Hist., Fish. p. 575 (l'J04), and Cat. Afr. 

 Freshwater Fish. i. p. 174 (1909) ; Eia-enmann, Reports Princeton Exped. 

 Patagon. iii. Zool. pts. 3 (1909) & 4 (1910). 



