pediculati. 469 



Eleventh Family — PsyohkolutidjE. 



Body rather elorigate, naked ; head hroad. Spinous dorsal 

 separate or absent. Ventral fins close together, thoracic, com- 

 posed of a few rays. Teeth small. Three gills and a half ; 

 pseudohranchicB well developed ; gill-openings of moderate width, 

 the gill-membranes being attached to the isthmus. 



Of this family only two representatives are known, viz. 

 Psychrolutes paradoxus, from Vancouver's Islands, without 

 first dorsal fin ; and Neophrynichihys lotus, from New Zealand, 

 with two dorsal fins. Both are very scarce marine fishes. 



Twelfth Family — Pediculati. 



Head and anterior part of the body very large, ivithout 

 scales. No bony stay for the prceoperculum. Teeth villiform 

 or rasp-like. The spinous dorsal is advanced forwards, com- 

 posed of a feiu more or less isolated spines, often transformed 

 into tentacles ; or entirely absent. Ventral fins jugular, tvith 

 four or five soft rays, sometimes absent. The carpal bones are 

 prolonged, forming a sort of arm, terminating in the pectoral. 

 Gill-opening reduced to a small foramen, situated in or near 

 the axil. Gills two and a half, or three, or three and a half ; 

 pseudobranchice generally absent. 



This family contains a larger number of bizarre forms 

 than any other; and there is, perhaps, none in which the 

 singular organisation of the fish is more distinctly seen to be in 

 consonance with its habits. Pediculates are found in all seas. 

 The habits of all are equally sluggish and inactive ; they are 

 very bad swimmers ; those found near the coasts lie on the 

 bottom of the sea, holding on with their arm-like pectoral 

 fins by sea- weed or stones, between which they are hidden ; 

 those of pelagic habits attach themselves to floating sea-weed 

 or other objects, and are at the mercy of wind and current. A 



