1904.] OSTEOLOGY OF CLUPEOIB FISHES. 461 



median fontanelle occurs between the mesethmoid and the 

 frontal bones. There are no teeth on the parasphenoid and 

 vomer. 



The relations of the post-temporal are the same as in Clupea, 

 but the bone is shorter ; the vertical limb of the supratemporal 

 is longer than the horizontal limb. 



Each premaxilla bears about eight fairly large and pointed 

 teeth, but the maxilla is edentulous. The highest point of the 

 mandible is in advance of the middle of the length of the ramus. 

 At the front of the dentary are five or six rather long, pointed 

 teeth, smaller, however, than those of the premaxilla. The 

 angular bone is distinct. 



There is a single row, in places a double row, of small teeth 

 running along the middle of the convex surface of the ento- 

 pterygoid, and a row of about six larger teeth, as large as those 

 of the dentary, set transversely across the front of the palatine. 



There are six branchiostegal rays on each side ; those which 

 are attached to the cei^atohyal resemble in shape the branchi- 

 ostegal rays of the Anchovy rather than those of the Herring, 

 i. e. they are not curved rods, but have the form of plates, each 

 with a conspicuous antero- ventral projection. 



Pristigaster tartoor. 



Pristigaster tartoor (Brit. Mus. 1889.2.1.2026, Malabar, F. Day) 

 has a high, narrow skull, partaking of the general lateral com- 

 pression of the body. The parietal bones are separated ; the 

 temporal grooves are shallow, as in Cliqyea ; thei-e is a temporal 

 foramen and an auditory fenestra. In the squamosal bone is a 

 spherical vesicle of the swim-bladder, the bony envelope of which 

 projects into the large shallow pre-epiotic fossa. The vesicle in 

 the pro-otic is much larger than that in the squamosal bone, and 

 its bony envelope bulges upon the ventro- lateral face of the 

 pro- otic, and also projects in two places on the anterior or orbital 

 face of the pro-otic bone. 



There is a small opisthotic bone, a small basisphenoid, and an 

 orbitosphenoid ; the orbitosphenoid extends forward towards the 

 prefrontals, but fails to reach them. There are right and left 

 posterior wings to the parasphenoid, and the eye-muscle canal 

 opens between them. 



The post-temporal has three limbs ; the anterior or supra- 

 temporal limb is unusually long, the deep or opisthotic limb is 

 long and slender. The supratemporal is triradiate, and the 

 upright ray, passing to the parietal bone, is longer than the 

 other two. The upright limb of the preopercular is about twice 

 as long as the horizontal limb, and makes with it an angle of 

 130 degrees. 



The nasal is a small, tubular bone. Around the orbit are 

 seven bones : two narrow postorbitals, two suborbitals, the second 

 larger than the first, two preorbitals, the lower larger than the 



