Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 407 



along base of dorsal. Length 18 inches, the body 6 inches. Deep 

 water off Newfoundland banks, 389 to 1,467 fathoms; also taken in 

 Davis Strait. (Named for Spencer Fullerton Baird.) 



<;<i*tr:.st l ,niu!l,ainlii, (Jii.r, & KvnK.R, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vi, 1883, 271, off the Grand Banks 

 of Newfoundland. (Type, Nos. 33294, 33295, and 33386. Coll. Albatross.) 



Order S. ISOSPONDYLL 

 (THE ISOSPONDYLOUS FISHES.) 



Soft-rayed fishes with the anterior vertebrae simple, unmodified and 

 without auditory ossicles ; symplectic present ; no ihterclavicles ; oper- 

 cular bones distinct ; pharyngeal bones simple above and below, the lower 

 not falciform. Mesocoracoid* arch always well developed, as in the 

 Ostarioplnjsi and the Ganoids, forming a bridge from the hypercoracoid 

 to the hypocoracoid. Bones of jaws developed, the maxillary broad, 

 always distinct from premaxillary, and forming part of margin of upper 

 jaw ; no barbels. Shoulder girdle well developed and connected with the 

 cranium by a bony post-temporal. Gills 4, a slit behind the fourth. Air 

 bladder, if present, with a pneumatic duct. Dorsal and anal fins with- 

 out true spines. Ventral fins abdominal, sometimes wanting. Scales 

 usually cycloid, sometimes ctenoid ; occasionally wanting. No developed 

 photophores. Adipose fin present or absent. A large group comprising 

 most of the marine soft-rayed fishes, excepting those found in the deep 

 sea, these composing the degenerate group called Iniomi. Some of the 

 forms, as Elopidw, Jlbulidw, etc., show analogies with the Ganoid allies of 

 the Cycloganoidea. This seems to indicate the probable descent of the 

 Isospondyli from a Ganoid stock, but probably not from the same part of 

 the Ganoid series as that from which the Ostariophysi have sprung. (/Vof, 

 equal; crcovdvhos, vertebrae.) 



Cl.TIT.OIDEA : 



a. Adipose fin none. 



I. Dorsal fin inserted more or less before anal (rarely slightly behind it); shore fishes or 

 river fishes, usually silvery in coloration and with the skeleton firm ; air bladder 

 well developed. 



c. Gular plate present, between branches of lower jaw ; mouth largo ; teeth present, 

 all pointed ; axillary scales and sheaths large. ELOPIDJE, LVI. 



cc. Gular plate none. 



d. Lateral line well developed. 



e. Teeth present, no accessory branchial organ. 



/. Mouth small, horizontal ; posterior part of tongue and roof of mouth 



covered with course paved teeth. ALBULinjE, LVII. 



ff. Mouth large, the teeth all pointed, some of them canine, none paved 



or molar. HIODONTID/E, LVIII. 



ee. Teeth none; an accessory branchial organ behind gill cavity. 



CHANID*, LIX. 

 dd. Lateral line wanting; no gtilar plate. 



g. Mouth small, inferior, toothless, the maxillary simple or nearly so; 

 stomach gizzard-like. DOBOSOMIDJE, LX. 



* Precoracoid of Cope; "Spangenstiick " of Gegenbaur. 



