210 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE :MUSEUM. 



ventral. Ventral very small, falling a little nearer base of caudal 

 than origin of pectoral. Color pale brownish, more or less 

 brightly silvered, especially eyes and sides. Length about 15^/^ 

 inches. Atlantic City. 



This account is from the only example I have seen, which was 

 taken some years ago and recorded by Cope. 



Hemirhamphus macrorhynchus Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. 

 Phila., 1870, p. 121. 



Family EXOCCETID^. 



The Flying Fishes. 



Body oblong or elongate. Head with vertical sides. Mouth 

 moderate, terminal. Jaws not prolonged into a beak. Premaxil- 

 laries not protractile, hinged at base mesially. Margin of upper 

 jaw chiefly formed by premaxillaries. Short maxillaries enter- 

 ing lateral margin. Maxillary free from premaxillary, its edge 

 slipping under front of preorbital. Dentition various, teeth small 

 and weak. Nostrils large, double, near eye. Gill-membranes not 

 united, free from isthmus. Gills 4, a slit behind fourth. Gill- 

 rakers various. Pseudobranchias hidden, glandular. Lower 

 pharyngeals enlarged and fully united, forming a large trans- 

 versely concave plate covered with large close-set blunt tricuspid 

 teeth. Third upper pharyngeal greatly enlarged, not united with 

 its fellow, and both covered with large blunt tricuspid teeth. 

 Fourth superior pharyngeal wanting in adult. Vertebrae without 

 zygopophyses, about 50. Air-vessel very large, not cellular so 

 far as known, and extending far backward among hsemopophyses 

 of caudal vertebrae. Intestinal canal simple, without coeca. 

 Shoulder-girdle and pectoral muscles very strong. Body covered 

 with deciduous cycloid scales. Lateral line running very low 

 along sides of belly. Head more or less scaly. Dorsal fin with- 

 out spines, inserted on posterior part of body opposite anal and 

 more or less similar. No finlets. Pectoral fins inserted high and 

 used as organs of flight. Ventrals abdominal, of several soft 

 rays, inserted posteriorly. Vent close in front of anal. 



Carnivorous or herbivorous fishes abounding in all warm seas, 

 mostly pelagic, swimming near the surface, and skipping or sail- 



