50 SHOULDER-GIRDLE AND BREAST-BONE. 



ACANTHOPTERI TYPICI. 



Fam. " OPHIOCEPHALID^E." 

 Example. Channa orientalis, Schneider. 



For a description of the " Ophiocephalidae" generally, and of Channa in particular, I refer 

 the reader to Dr. Gunther's invaluable ' Catalogue of the Acanthopterygian Fishes in the British 

 Museum,' vol. iii, pp. 468 483 ; they come next after the Grey Mullets (Mugilidte). The 

 Woodcut (fig. 6 D) shows the right moiety of the Shoulder-girdle, with its splints, as seen from 

 the inside ; and this drawing may serve as a diagram for what may be found in by far the 

 greater number of the nobler Fishes, viz. the Percoids, Scisnoids, Scomberoids, Chseto- 

 donts, Mugiloids, and the Labridae. The post-temporal (fig. 6 D, p. t.) is bifurcate above ; it 

 overlaps the spatulate supra-clavicle (s. cl.), which in its turn overlaps the clavicle (cl.). 

 The clavicle has an outer and an inner lamina in front, a broad upper part, and a feeble 

 posterior plate, for articulation with the true Shoulder-bones. The upper post-clavicle 

 (u. p. cl.) is an elegant, semi-oval, foliaceous bone, with a feebler, styloid, lower post-clavicle 

 (1. p. cl.) articulated to its inside. The scapula (sc.) is an irregularly pentagonal plate, well ossified, 

 and having an horizontal ovate fenestra (sc. f.) ; its " glenoid" margin receives the brachials 

 (b.). The oblique synchondrosis between the scapula and coracoid (p. cr. cr.) is narrow, and the 

 latter bone is well ossified ; the pra-coracoid portion is oblong, and of considerable size ; the 

 coracoid proper joins the pra3-coracoid by a very narrow isthmus ; but this narrow part is supple- 

 mented by the anterior and posterior " interclavicular ala3;" the hinder of these underprops the 

 lowest brachial ; they both turn inwards. Below, the coracoid becomes thick, and it ends in the 

 concavity of the clavicle, at the top of its lower fourth. The brachials (b. 1 4) are four in 

 number ; they increase in size from above downwards, the upper being almost triangular, the 

 rest short-oblong; the lowest has an inferior wing : and all of them are thick and well ossified, 

 with but little intermediate notching. .\ 



Fam. " SCOMBERID.E." 

 Example 1. Zeusfaber, Linn. 



Cuvier (' Regne Animal') must have had good reasons for placing this Fish amongst the 

 Scomberoids ; yet it is a most aberrant form, and so is the next example which I shall give, 

 namely, the Opah (Lampris). 



The post-temporal of the Dory (Plate I, fig. 14, p. t.) is closely articulated with the skull, 

 as in Lopldus, Syngnathus, &c. ; it is a narrow dense bone, and articulates with the epiotic above, 

 and with the pterotic and opisthotic below ; two strong tubulated supra-temporals are strongly 

 clamped to it in front. It has a deep condyloid cavity for the supra-clavicle below ; and this 

 latter bone (s. cl.) has an elegant trochlea at its top, for articulation with that cavity ; its direction is 



