6o4 



TELEOSTEI 



being feebly developed and the skeleton imperfectly calcified. The 

 mouth, furnished with rather long but feeble, or even minute teeth, 

 and the pharynx and stomach are capable of great distension, 

 these Fish being able to get outside a prey very much larger than 

 themselves ; the eyes are situated far forward on the head ; the 

 tail is extremely slender and elongate. Four genera are known, 

 each with a single species, from the Atlantic : Saccopliarynx, 



(After Giiiither.] 



Fig. 364. — Saccopliarynx ampuUaceus, h, nat. size. 



Eurypharyiu:, Macroxjharynx, and Gastrostomus. The depths at 

 which they have been obtained vary between 389 and 1467 

 fathoms, but three out of the four known specimens of Sacco- 

 pharynx were brought to the surface by having swallowed a 

 Fish too large for the capacity of the stomach. The length of 

 the largest specimen is about 6 feet, of which the tail constitutes 

 nearly three-fourths. 



etiiA 



^op 



'■■ion 



Fig. 365.— Skull of Thyrsoidea meleagris, side view. o.r. Articular ; d, dentary ; eot, 

 epiotic; etft, ethmoid;/, frontal; hm, hyomandibular ; iop, interopereulum ; «, nasal; 

 oy, operculum ; os, orbitosphencid ; _p, ])arietal ; pop, praeoperculum ; pm; prae- 

 orbital ; jj2;<, pterygo-palatine ; pis, par.isphenoid ; ptf, post-frontal ; (/, quadrate'; 

 so, supraoocipital ; so2), suboperculum ; sor, suborbitals ; sq, squamos.al ; v, vomer. 



Fam. 5. Muraenidae. — Maxillaries absent, replaced by the 

 palato-pterygoid, the mouth bordered by the latter and the 



