2274 Bulletin 4.7, United States National Museum. 



dd. Lateral line incomplete, running close to the back; caudal rounded or 



lanceolate ; dorsal fin continuous. 



e. Vertebrae about 27 ; scales cycloid ; maxillary more or less dilated 



behind, with a supplemental bone ; middle rays of ventrals 



longest. OPISTHOGNATHID^E, cxci. 



ee. Vertebrae about 50 ; scales ctenoid; maxillary not dilated, with- 



out supplement bone ; inner rays of ventrals longest. 



33ATHYMASTERID.E, CXCII. 



cc. Body naked ; snout short ; mouth very large, the maxillary much produced 



behind; jaws with sharp canines; lateral line Avell developed; dorsals 



2; caudal forked. CHIASMODONTID.E, cxcni. 



bb. Snout much prolonged and spatulate ; veutrals widely separated ; body scaly 



or naked ; lateral line near the back ; dorsal usually divided. 



CH^NICHTHYID^, cxcrv. 

 . Mouth vertical, the lips fringed. 



/. Eyes lateral; gills 4, a slit behind the last; preopercle armed; body naked, 

 compressed; caudal lunate, on a slender peduncle ; vertebra about 48. 



TRICHODONTIDJE, cxcv. 

 ff. Eyes superior; gills more or less reduced, usually 3i, the last slit smaller 



wanting ; suborbitals more or less dilated ; body scaly or naked. 

 g. Lateral line well developed, concurrent with the back anteriorly ; dorsal 



spines slender, not pungent ; vertebra) about 25 to 30. 

 h. Ventral rays I, 3. DACTYLOSCOPIDJE, cxcvi. 



gg. Lateral line obscure; dorsal spines few, more or less pungent, some. 

 times obsolete. URANOSCOPID.E, cxcvn- 



Family CXC. MALACANTHID^E. 

 (THE BLANQUILLOS.) 



Body more or less elongate, fusiform or compressed. Head subconical, 

 the anterior profile usually convex; suborbital without bony stay; the 

 bones not greatly developed ; cranial bones not cavernous ; opercular bones 

 mostly unarmed. Mouth rather terminal, little oblique; teeth rather 

 strong ; no teeth on vomer or palatines ; the premaxillary usually with a 

 blunt posterior canine, somewhat as in the Labi-idm; premaxillaries pro- 

 tractile; maxillary without supplemental bone, not slipping under the 

 edge of the preorbital. Gills 4, a long slit behind the fourth; pseudo- 

 branchia) well developed ; gill membranes separate, or more or less united, 

 often adherent to the isthmus ; lower pharyngeals separate. Scales small, 

 ctenoid; lateral line present, complete, more or less concurrent with the 

 back; dorsal fin long and low, usually continuous, the spinous portion 

 always much less developed than the soft portion, but never obsolete ; anal 

 fin very long, its spines feeble and few ; caudal fin forked ; tail diphy- 

 cercal; ventrals thoracic or subjugular, I, 5, close together; pectoral fins 

 not very broad, the rays all branched; vertebra 1 in normal or slightly 

 increased number (24 to 30). Pyloric cceca few or none. Fishes of the 

 temperate and tropical seas, some of them reaching a large size. Genera 

 about 6; species about 8 to 10, mostly American. The relationships of the 

 family are obscure, and it may be that the genera here associated are not 

 really closely allied. (Malacanthida, Giinther, Cat., in, 359,1861; Tra- 

 chinidce, part, Giinther, Cat., n, 225-264, 1860.) 



