402 THE GARFISH FAMILY. 



the specimens subHt'(juently to be alluded to, that considerable 

 doubt arises aa to whether the forms just mentioned are not 

 older. 



The young of this species as well as that of the saury-pike 

 has a snout like an ordinary bony fish, as shown by Malm and 

 Liitken. At 13 mm. both jaws are short, like those of the 

 flying-fish, but such was not the case in an example 10 mm. 

 long (in spirit) obtained by Mr H. C. Williamson at Naples in 

 June, from a series artificially fertilized. The pigment at this 

 stage is much more dense than at the subsequent one, and the 

 head and eyes disjDroportionately large. The prow of the 

 mandible projects rather more than the long (horizontal) 

 diameter of the eye, and as in the subsequent stages, is deeply 

 pigmented. True rays occur in the dorsal and anal fins, but 

 the pectorals seem to have only coarse embryonic rays. No 

 trace of ventral fins is present. The ventral surface is as 

 deeply pigmented as the sides. In those at 15 mm. the lower 

 jaw projects, with a protuberance, bent downwards, under the 

 tip, while the upper jaw is still almost truncate. At 25 mm. 

 the lower jaw stands out considerably, and along its middle 

 inferiorly is a dermal fold, black at the margin, which much 

 resembles the corresponding growth in the true Hemiramphi, 

 for which the young were long mistaken. When 60 mm. long 

 the mandible projects much, and the upper jaw (premaxillary 

 region) also is prolonged some distance. The tip of the snout 

 is marked off by a little sinus on each side. Teeth appear in 

 the part of the lower jaw opposite the upper. At 70 mm. both 

 jaws have elongated, the upper being about a quarter the 

 length of the lower. Instead of having a slight hollow in front 

 of the eyes, the snout is now moi'e or less straight and sharp. 

 When 1.50 mm. long the snout assumes the typical form of the 

 garpike's, though the upper jaw is still shorter than the lower\ 



Other interesting features in the development of these forms 

 are the persistence of the larval marginal fin, and the late 

 appearance of the ventral fins. At 15 mm. the marginal fin is 

 present at the lower caudal margin, between the anal and 

 caudal. Again, from the vent to the end of the first third of 

 1 Abstract from the Scand. Fishes, p. 346. 



