Cope.] (Jan. 
open. A large lateral cavity is enclosed by the prodtic, the pterotic, the 
epiotic, etc. There are no exoccipital condyles, and that of the basioc- 
cipital isa conic cup. The pterotic and postfrontal are well developed. 
The ethmoid is well developed and slightly narrowed at its anterior ex- 
tremity. The parasphenoid is narrowed and elongate; the vomer is 
continuous with it and is slightly expanded and then contracted at the 
anterior extremity : neither it nor the parasphenoid support teeth in any 
of the known genera. 
The premaxillary bones are short, and for: but a small portion of the 
upper jaw. The maxillary is elongate and simple. The hyomandibular 
is rather narrow and does not present an elongate peduncle for the oper- 
culum. The symplectic is well developed, entering far into the inferior 
quadrate. The latter is a broad bone, largely in contact with the meta- 
pterygoid, which is itself a thin plate, not probably attaining the pter- 
otic. The superior branchihyals are short rods. 
The relations of the supraoccipital, parietals, frontals, etc., cannot yet 
be satisfactorily made out, owing to the obscurity of the sutures. Never- 
theless the following points may be regarded as probably reliable. The 
frontals have a rather broad union with the ethmoid, and are separated 
by suture throughout their length. They do not extend much posterior 
to the orbits and are succeeded by a rather narrow pair of bones which 
extend to above the foramen magnum. ‘These are not united by suture, 
but present thickened smooth edges to each other, and appear therefore 
to have been separated by a fontanelle. Each is separated by serrate 
suture, from a broad lateral bone which is perhaps the pterotic, and cer- 
tainly includes that element, as it supports the hyomandibular. It is not 
easy to determine what relation the median bones bear to the supraoc- 
cipital, but the structure looks a good deal like that characterizing the 
Siluride, or, considering the large pterotics, like the Mormyridw plus 
the fontanelle. The shorter form of the pterotic in the Oharacinide and 
the Cutostomida causes considerable difference in their appearance. There 
is no indication of fontanelle between the frontals in Portheus. 
Portions of the scapule of Portheus molossus and other species, are 
preserved. They have very stout articular surfaces, and although not 
complete, have enclosed, more or less, a very large fontanelle. The su- 
perior surface is the larger, and is followed below by two others, the up- 
per subvertical and small, the lower larger and transverse. These are 
surfaces supporting two basilar elements of the pectoral fin. There 
were perhaps three basilars, but the base of the coracoid displays no 
surface for articulation of a third. The suture with the coracoid crosses 
immediately below the lower condyloid surfaces, and passes just below 
the scapular fontanelle, leaving in the specimens a fractured surface 
which probably supported a precoracoid. There are two fractured bases 
of the coracoid, which probably unite below, enclosing a foramen. On 
the scapulo-coracoid suture just within the space between the two inferior 
condyles is a smooth hemispherical pit of considerable size, Just in front 
of it is another of crescentic form. : 
