THE SHOULDER-GIRDLE IN FISHES. 21 



Referring to these figures, it will at once be seen that there are more things in this limb- 

 girdle than a pair of scapulas and a pair of coracoids, and that the limb will keep its place even 

 if the " occipital pleurapophyses " be not regarded. (See ' Osteol. Catal./ vol. i, No. 381, 

 p. 86.) Fig. 1 b. o. represents part of the basi-occipital cartilage ; e. o. part of the " ex-occipital ;" 

 pa. s. the termination of the "para-sphenoid" (of Huxley) ; p. b. 1 the large first " pharyngo- 

 branchial," which is well ossified as a shaft-bone ; and p. b. 2 the small, unossified second 

 " pharyngo-branchial." 



As to these autogenous upper parts of the first and second branchial arches, I claim the 

 discovery of the second bar. With regard to their nature, it will be remembered that Professor 

 Huxley, in his 'Elements,' p. 208, left that undecided, but described the large bar in fig. 84, 

 where it is lettered y, as "the bone which gives attachment to the scapular arch." Afterwards, 

 in conversation with him, when, after the examination of a much decayed specimen, I hinted that 

 it might be a separate " supra-scapula" (as in the Sturgeon), he at once combated that view, 

 and suggested that it might belong to the first branchial arch. That was a true insight into 

 its nature; for it has, as the figure shows, another weak bar attached to it behind, and the 

 dissection of a wet specimen has shown me its true position above the first branchial arch, 

 which is at the top, and also within the Shoulder-girdle, altogether; moreover, that arch 

 has its own josewdb-supra-scapular pieces, and does not need to borrow its piers from the 

 arches that wall-in the pharynx. Any one familiar with the Ctenoid Fishes will know how 

 curiously telescopic the arrangement of the facio-faucial arches is. In the Dory (Zeus fader) the 

 corresponding first pharyngo-branchial articulates with the cross ray of the parasphenoid, close 

 below the "foramen ovale," and directly below the front margin of the head of the "hyo- 

 mandibular." 



In a similar manner, higher up amongst the Classes, the " stapes " of the Bird lies wit/tin 

 the enormous " os quadratum." 



Here, in the Lepidosiren, the first branchial pier articulates further backwards, the upper part 

 of its condyle being attached to the ex-occipital (e. o.) ; the middle with the basi-occipital car- 

 tilage (b. o.) ; and the lower part with the underlying parasphenoid (pa. s.) the great, beam- 

 shaped " basi-cranial splint." I may now throw aside these two bars (Plate II, fig. 1, p. b. 1 and 

 p. b. 2), as not belonging to the Shoulder-girdle, and therefore having no right to further 

 discussion here ; besides, we have a thoroughly ichthyic suspensorium at hand, in its right 

 place. 



The upper splint of the shoulder-cincture is the post-temporal (Plate II, fig. 1, p. t.) ; it is a 

 thin, sub-falcate, subcutaneous bone ; it does not reach the epiotic region above, but is attached 

 to it by a band of fibre ; it is also similarly tied to the bone beneath, a considerable space inter- 

 vening. This bone answers to Cuvier's " supra-scapula" in the Teleostei, and it is the exact 

 counterpart of the subcutaneous peg which grows downwards from the hinder edge of the great 

 post-temporal ganoid plate of Clarias (see Professor Huxley's ' Memoir on the Ganoids,' p. 30, 

 fig. 20, s. s.), and of the inner or lower fork of the entirely subcutaneous post-temporal of ordinary 

 Teleostei (see Plate II, figs. 6, 7, 8, p. t.). 



At some distance below the post-temporal the supra-clavicle (fig. 1, s. cl.) is to be seen; it is 

 much like the upper bone, but is straighter ; and its position, relative to the cartilage within, and 

 the clavicle below, is exactly what has been described in the Sturgeon (Plate I, figs. 6 8, s. cl.). 

 Contrary to what is found in ordinary Fishes (Plate II, figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, and 12, s. cl.), it is some- 



