Classification of the Percoid Fishes. 1 1 1 



dorsal, rather long soft dorsal and anal, no anal spines, 

 caudal with 10 or 1 1 branched rays, and pel vies well separated, 

 jugular, each of a spine and' 5 soft rays. Body scaly; 

 lateral line descending anteriorly, for most of its course 

 nearer anal than dorsal fin. Gill-membranes not united, 

 free from, isthmus ; opercular membrane produced ; 7 

 branchiostegals ; 4 gills ; pseudobranchiae. Eyes large ; 

 interorbital region narrow ; suborbitals unossified ; snout 

 broad, depressed; mouth terminal, protractile, with the 

 lower jaw prominent; maxillary exposed; villiform teeth ir 

 jaws and on vomer and palatines. In Bembrops the hyper- 

 coracoid is perforate and there are 3 radials, corresponding 

 in form and position to the 3 lower radials of Parapercis. 



Fam. 8. Henieroccetidae. 



Body scaly ; lateral line running along middle of side. 

 Spinous dorsal, if present, short ; soft dorsal and anal long ; 

 no anal spines ; caudal of 10 principal rays, 8 branched • 

 pelvics jugular, well separated, each of a spine and 5 branched' 

 rays. Mouth protractile, terminal, with the lower jaw 

 somewhat the shorter; maxillary slightly exposed distallv, 

 without supramaxillary, with a forwardly "directed spine just 

 in front of the praeorbital ; villiform teeth in the jaws and 

 in 2 separate patches on the vomer; none on the palatines. 

 Eyes rather large and close together ; suborbitals well 

 ossified. Gill-membranes not united, free from isthmus ; 

 G branchiostegals ; 4 gills ; pseudobranchiae. Head-skeleton 

 as in the Pinguipedidae, but no basisphenoid and no pro- 

 minent sphenotic process ; pectoral arch similar, but a large 

 foramen between hypercoracoid and hypocoracoid and upper- 

 most radial completely fused with the former. Vertebrae 

 (in Hemerocoetes) 48 (13 + 35); praecaudals with para- 

 pophyses from the fifth ; ribs not ossified, but a series of 

 epi pleurals. 



Two genera : Acanthaphitis (Pteropsaron) and Hemero- 

 coetes. 



Fam. 9. Trichonotidae. 



Body scaly; lateral line running along middle of side. 

 Dorsal long, with a few unarticulated rays anteriorly; anal 

 long, with a feeble spine; caudal of 13 principal rays, 11 

 branched ; pelvics jugular, separated by a narrow interspace, 

 each of a spine and 5 branched rays. Mouth protractile' 

 terminal, with the lower jaw projecting; maxillary not or 



