128 



pectorals not pediculated. Gill-opening a more or 

 less vertical slit before the pectoral, rather narrow. 

 Gills, three ; pseudobranchise absent ; an air- 

 bladder. 



" Carnivorous fishes, living on the bottom of the 

 coasts of the tropical regions, several species ad- 

 vancing into the temperate seas." 



No sorts have yet come under my notice. 



PEDICULATI. 



" Head and interior part of the body very large, 

 without scales. Teeth in carcliform or villiform 

 bands. The spinous dorsal either composed of a 

 few, more or less, isolated spines, or entirely absent. 

 Yentrals jugular, with four or five soft rays, absent 

 in Geriatias ; the carpal bones prolonged, forming a 

 sort of arm for the pectorals. Gill -opening reduced 

 to a small foramen, situated in or near the axil. 

 Gills two and a- half, three, or three and a-half; 

 pseudobranchise absent. 



" Carnivorous fishes, inhabiting the seas of the 

 temperate and tropical regions." 



Several sorts of this family, particularly of the genus Ghiro- 

 nectes, are found in the Tasmanian and South Australian seas ; 

 but I have not examined any in a fresh state. 



