Surmullets, Croakers, etc. 363 
japonicus is the amadai or sweet perch of Japan, an excellent 
food-fish of a bright crimson color. 
The Pingutpedide of Chile resemble the Latilide, having 
also the enlarged premaxillary tooth. The ventrals are, how- 
ever, thickened and placed farther forward. 
The Bandfishes: Cepolide.—The small family of Cepolide, or 
bandfishes, resemble the Latilide somewhat and are probably 
related to them. The. head is normally formed, the ventral fins 
are thoracic, with a spine and five rays,but the body is drawn 
out into a long eel-like form, the many-rayed dorsal and anal 
fins meeting around thetail. The few species are crimson in 
color with small scales. They are used as food, but the flesh 
is dry and the bones are stiff and numerous. Cepola tenia is 
common in the Mediterranean, and Acanthocepola krusensternt 
abounds in the bays of southern Japan. 
The Cirrhitide.—The species of the family Cirrhitide strongly 
resemble the smaller Serranide and even Serranus itself, but 
the lower rays of the pectoral fins are enlarged and are undi- 
vided, as in the sea-scorpions and some sculpins. In these 
fishes, however, the bony stay, which characterizes Scorpenide 
and Cottide, is wholly absent. It is, however, considered possible 
that this interesting family represents the point of separation 
at which the mail-cheeked fishes become differentiated from the 
typical perch-like forms. Gomtistius zonatus, the takanohadai, 
is a valuable food-fish of Japan, marked by black cross-hands. 
Paracirrhites forsteri and other species of Cirrhitus and Paracir- 
rhites are very pretty fishes of the coral reefs, abundant in the 
markets of Honolulu, the spotted Cirrhitus marmoratus being 
the most widely diffused of these. Only one species of this 
family, Cirrhitus rivulatus, a large fish, green, with blue mark- 
ings, is found in American waters. It frequents the rocky 
shores of the west coast of Mexico. 
Allied to the Cirrhitide is the small family of Latridide, 
with a long dorsal fin deeply divided, and the lower rays of 
the pectoral similarly modified. Latrzs hecateia is called the 
“trumpeter ’”’ in Australian waters. It is one of the best food- 
fishes of Australia, reaching a weight of sixty to eighty pounds. 
Another small family showing the same peculiar structure 
of the pectoral fin is that of the Aplodactylide. The species 
