1870.] 6 [Bliss. 



The amendments were rejected, and the motion of Dr. 

 Winslow prevailed. 



The ballot was ordered. Dr. J. C. White and Mr. B. P. 

 Mann were appointed scruteneers. They announced as the 

 result that thirty-three votes had been cast, thirty-one of 

 which were for Mr. Thomas T. Bouve, and he was declared 

 elected. 



The Secretary read a list of nominations for membership. 



The following communications were presented : — 



On the Osteology of the Anterior Vertebrae in Doras 

 niger, with a comparison of the structure of the 

 Dorsal Fin in Doras and Balistes. 1 By Richard Bliss, Jr. 



In the preparation of the present paper I have limited myself to 

 a discussion of the above mentioned subjects, in the hope of being 

 able at some future day to prepare, with appropriate illustrations, a 

 monographic work on the Osteology of the Doradidaa. Hence the 

 consideration of the osteology of the head, shoulder-girdle, pelvis, 

 etc . , has here been omitted. 



The tendency of the anterior vertebras to coalesce, so peculiar 

 to the cartilaginous Sturgeons andPlagiostomes, is also manifested in 

 some of the osseus fishes, it being particularly noticeable in Fistularia, 

 Dactylopterus , many Cyprinoids, the Siluroids and allied families. 



In Fistularia the four anterior centrums are greatly elongated and 

 anchylosed, their parapophyses unite to form a continuous lateral 

 ridge on each side of the centrums, and the neural spines form a 

 similar ridge above them. 



In Dactylopterus the first four centrums are united into a tube 

 sustaining a solid wall above, formed by the union of the neural and 

 interneural spines. 



1 Having been engaged in the study of fishes, under the direction of Professor 

 Agassiz, at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, for several years, I have had 

 ample opportunity of studying the different modifications of fin-structure iu the 

 various genera of Siluroids and Doroids, the collection brought by Professor 

 Agassiz from Brazil being exceedingly rich in the genera and species of these 

 families, to which valuable material I have had free access during the preparation 

 of this paper. 



