FAMILY, XXIV— PEDICULATI. 271 



Family, XXIV— PEDICULATI, Cuv. 



Branchiostegals five or six : pseudobranchiae absent. Skeleton fibro-osseus. Head and anterior portion 

 of the body large, the former depressed or compressed. Gills two and a half or three and a half : gill-opening 

 reduced to a small foramen, situated in or near the axilla. Eyes superior or lateral. Teeth minute, villiform, 

 or cardiform. The spinous dorsal, when present, composed of a few isolated spines : the carpal bones 

 prolonged, forming a sort of arm for the pectoral fin : ventrals, when present, jugular, with four or five soft 

 rays. Skin smooth, or covered with small spines or tubercles. Air-vessel present or absent. Pyloric 

 appendages few or absent. 



Bleeker agrees with Gill in considering the Lophioidei, Chikojjecteoidei, and Maxtheoidei as forming 

 distinct families. Antennarius belonging to the Chibonecteoidei, and Halieutcea to the Maltheoidei. 



SYNOPSIS OF GENERA. 



1. Antennarius. Head and body compressed. Teeth on palate. Gills lateral. Three isolated dorsal 

 spines, the anterior of which may be rudimentary or absent. Air-vessel present. Seas of tropical regions. 



2. Halieutcea. Head and body strongly compressed. No teeth on palate. Gills on upper surface of 

 body. No air-vessel. Seas of India to the Malay Archipelago and beyond. 



Genus, 1 — Antennabius, (Gomm.) Guv. 

 CMronectes, pt. Cuv. 



Head large, elevated, and compressed. Only one half of the anterior "branchial arch provided ivith lamellce. 

 Cleft of mouth nearly vertical. Eyes lateral. Gill-openings lateral. Cardiform teeth in the jaws and palate. The 

 spinous dorsal in the form of three isolated spines, the anterior of which, situated upon the snout, is modified into a 

 tentacle : the second dorsal of moderate length; anal short. Body smooth, granulated, or covered with minute spines, 

 and sometimes with cutaneous tentacles. Air-vessel large and simple. Pyloric appendages absent. 



These fishes, due to their mode of progression, have a wide geographical range. Their pedicnlated 

 pectoral fins allow them to walk or hop over moist ground, or slimy rocks in quest of their prey, and even clasp 

 pieces of wood or seaweeds, attached to which they often become carried away from the shore by currents, and 

 are sometimes observed far out at sea. Although bad swimmers, M. Dussumier observes that they inflate them- 

 selves and float on the water like a Biodon. Sir Emerson Tennent gives a figure of A. nummifer, from Ceylon, 

 and observes that it belongs to the Family of "Anglers" which conceal themselves in the mud, displaying only 

 the erectile first ray, situated on the head, and which bears an excrescence on its extremity resembling a worm or 

 piece of meat. By agitating this, smaller fishes are attracted and fall a prey to the artful angler. 



These fishes, owing to the diversities of colour in the same species, to the change of the form of spines on 

 the body with age, and to the abnormal increase or decrease in the number of rays are difficult to discriminate 

 one from another. The A. nummifer, for instance, has P. 13 in Madras specimens. I have examined some in 

 the British Museum and find the following : in one from Aden 6j inches long P. 12 : in one from N.W. coast of 

 Africa P. 11 : one from St. Helena P. 10 : in others from the Malay Archipelago and China P. 10 : at once 

 showing that such variations should not be admitted in constituting species. 



SYNOPSIS OF SPECIES.* 



1. Antennarius hispidus, D. 3 | 12, P. 10, A. 7. Skin rough. Yellow, with brown spots and streaks 

 radiating from the eye and over the body and fins. Seas of India to the Malay Archipelago and beyond. 



2. Antennarius nummifer, D. 3 | 12, P. 10-13, A. 7. Skin rough. Grayish-brown, with a black ocellus 

 on the side, another at base of middle of dorsal fin. Fins spotted. East coast of Africa, seas of India to the 

 Malay Archipelago and beyond. 



3. Antennarius marmoratus, D. 3 | 12, P. 10, A. 7. Skin smooth, but with fleshy excrescences'. Colours 

 various. Bed Sea, East coast of Africa, seas of India, to the Malay Archipelago and beyond. 



1. Antennarius hispidus, Plate LX, fig. 2. 

 Lophius hispidus, Bl. Schn. p. 142, 



Lophius histrio, Russell, Fish. Vizag. i, p.. 12, and Kappa mura moia, pi. xix. 

 CMronectes lophotes, Cuv. Mem. Mus. iii, p. 428, t. xvii, f. 2. 

 CMronectes hispidus, Cuv. and Val. xii, p. 407. 



* Dr. GUnther's list of Ceylon Fishes in Sir Emerson Tennent's Nat. Hist, of Ceylon, p. 361, includes, besides those nimed 

 below, A. pinniceps, A. Commersonii, A. multiocellatus, and A. bigilbus, but A. nummifer is not included unless as A. multioceUatus. 



