THE DISCOBOLI. 15 



Gobioiden, die Discoboli (Cyclopterus, Liparis, Gobicsox, Sicyases, Coty- 

 lis, Lepadogaster) und die Echeneiden." Midler's family Gobiuidvi, 1846, 

 is tbe same as his Cyclopodi of 1843. Richardson's Discojwdcs, 18G0, 

 contained the Discoboli and the Gobiesocidas. The Discoboli of Giinther, 

 1861, are Midler's Discoboli after the elimination of the Gobiesocidaj. In 

 1880 an arrangement was published by Giinther, in which the Discoboli 

 and Gobiidoe were brought together to make up a division, to which was 

 given the name Acanthopterygii Gobiiformes. As specified above, the 

 Gobiesocoidea of Gill, 1872, included all of Giinther's Discoboli, and also 

 the Gobiesocidce, but his Cyclopleroidea, 1873, contained only the Discoboli 

 as limited by Giinther, 1861. 



RELATIONS. 



The adoption of the Discoboli in the present essay, with the limita- 

 tions assigned by Giinther, is not to be interpreted as an agreement 

 with the expression of relationship he indicates by placing the group, a 

 family in his system, together with the Gobiidaa for a separate division. 

 The affinities existing between these families do not seem to be of a 

 character that warrants such an arrangement. More recent systems, in 

 which the Gobies are placed farther away, and the Cottoids brought nearer, 

 better express the natural order. It may be doubted whether Pallas had 

 a clear idea of the relationships of the Cyclopteridoe, but at any rate 

 his comparisons were not far out of the way. He closes his description 

 of the anatomy of Cyclopterus ventricosus, 1769, after the enumera- 

 tion of three or four particulars, with the sentence, " Reliquae fere ut in 

 Cottis quibusdam." The hint contained in this led to nothing, for we 

 find that Hermann, 1783, after quoting Pallas and discussing the matter 

 in several places, retains the Discoboli in the Branchiostegi near Diodon 

 and the Gobies, while he puts Cottus in the Thoracici with Echeneis. 

 Retz, 1800, in his edition of the Fauna Suecica, placed Cyclopterus 

 between Gobius and Cottus, manifestly a better arrangement than that 

 originally adopted by Linne". It was Pallas again, in 1831, in his descrip- 

 tion of Cyclopterus callyodon, who first pointed out the clue by which 

 the closer alliances have finally been traced. His statement, " A maxilla, 

 superiore utrinque processus sub cute tenuis osseus, quasi zygoma, per 

 discum operculorum," called attention to a feature previously unnoticed 

 in these fishes, which, whether the disk is present or not, readily serves 



