ON THE EAST COAST OF FLORIDA. 261 



the very broad preorbital ; premaxillaries short, not protractile, 

 Lateral margin of upper jaw formed by the maxillaries ; both jaws, 

 vomer, and palatines with bands of villiform teeth ; broad patches of 

 coarse, blunt, paved teeth on the tongue behind and on the sphenoid 

 and pterygoid bones. Eye large, median in head, with a bony ridge 

 above it, and almost covered with an annular adipose eyelid. Oper- 

 cle moderate, firm ; preopercle with a broad, flat, membranaceous 

 edge, which extends backward over the base of the opercle. Pseudo- 

 branchiae present. Gill rakers short, tubercle-like. Gill membranes 

 entirely separate, free from the isthmus, branchiostegals about 14 ; a 

 fold of skin across gill membranes anteriorly, its posterior free 

 edge crenate ; no gular plate. Lateral line present. Belly not cari- 

 nate, fiattish, covered with ordinary scales. Dorsal fin moderate, in 

 front of ventrals, its membrane scaly ; no adipose fin ; anal very 

 small ; caudal widely forked. Pyloric coeca numerous. Parietal 

 bones meeting along top of head. Vertebrae numerous, 42-28-70. 

 A single species known, found in all warm seas. In this, and proba- 

 bly in related families, the young pass through a metamorphosis 

 analogous to that seen in the Conger Eels. They are for a time elon- 

 gate, band-shaped, with very small head and loose transparent tis- 

 sues. From this condition they become gradually shorter and more 

 compact, shrinking from 3 to 3^ inches in length to 2 inches. 

 According to Dr. Gilbert, this process, like that seen in various eels, 

 is a normal one, through which all individuals pass. In the Gulf of 

 California, where these fishes abound, these band-shaped young are 

 often thrown by the waves on the beach in great masses. 



" {Culpeidce, group Albulina. Gunther, Cat. VII, 468, 469, 

 1868.)" 



" 199. ALBULA (Gronow). Bloch & Schneider." 



"(Lady-fishes.)" 

 Same work, page 411. 



" Conorhyncus. Nozeman, Act. Select., Ill, 382, 1757 (nonbi- 

 nomial). 



" Albula. Gronow, Zoophyl., 102, 763 (nonbinomial). 



"A/fat/a. Bloch & Schneider, Syst. Icth., 432, 1801 (conorhyn- 

 cus-vulpes). 



il Bitty rinas. Lacepede, Hist. Nat. Poiss. , V, 45, 1803 (banana- 

 vulpes). 



