BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
516 
Family CY. SOLFIM.F. The Soles. 
Body oblong or elongate, usually scaly; mouth very small, much twisted toward the eyed side; 
the teeth in villiform bands, very small or obsolete; eyes small, close together, with or without a bony 
ridge between them; edge of preopercle adnate, concealed by the skin and scales; gill openings nar¬ 
row, the gill membranes adnate to the shoulder girdle above; pectoral tins small or wanting; ventral 
tins small, one or both sometimes wanting. Small fishes living on sandy bottoms, similar to the Pleu- 
roneetidie in structure, but much degraded, the fins and teeth having lost many of their distinctive 
qualities; the vertebra- usually in increased numbers. Species numerous in the warm seas, and those 
of sufficient size valued as food. 
Genas 263. SYMPHiJRIJS Rafinesque. Tongue-Fishes. 
Body elongate, more or less lanceolate in outline, with the eyes and color on the left side; eyes 
small, very close together, with no distinct interorbital ridge between them; mouth small, twisted 
toward the blind side; teeth little developed, in villiform bands; edge of preopercle covered by tin- 
scales; gill-openings narrow, the gill-membranes adnate to the shoulder-girdle above, joined together 
and free from the isthmus below; pectoral fins wanting (in the adult); vertical fins more or less con¬ 
fluent; scales ctenoid; lateral line wanting; ventral fin of eyed side only present, free from the anal; 
head without fringes. 
The 2 Hawaiian species are fully described in Section II. 
Symphurus Rafinesque, Indice d’Ittiologia Siciliana, f>2, 1810 {nigrcwens). 
Bibnmin Coeco, Alcuni Pesci del mare do Messina, If), ls44 ( lUjulata; larval form). 
Plaf/usia Cuvier, Regno Animal, Ed. 2, II, 344, 1829 (based oji Plagusia of Brown); name preoccupied in Crustaceans, 
Latreille, 180f>. 
Plagium Bonaparte, Catalogo Metodico, 51, 1840 ( lactca ); substitute for Plagusia preoccupied. 
Aphoristia Kaup, Archiv fur Naturgesch. 1S58, 106 (nniata). 
Glos&ichthys Gill, Cat. Fish. E. Coast N. A., 51, 1801 ( plagiusa ). 
Ammopletiro]>8 Giinther, Cat., IV, 490, 1862 ( lactcus -nigrcscens). 
Iiascanius Schiodte, Natnrhist. Tydsskr., V, 269,1807 ( trrdifcr ; larval form). 
Accdia Jordan in Jordan it Goss, Review Flounders and Soles. 321, 1889 (ncbulosus). 
Order M. PEDICULATI. 
Carpal bones notably elongate, forming a kind of arm (pseudoliracbium ) which supports the broad 
pectoral. Gilbopening reduced to a large or small foramen situated in or near the axil, more or less 
posterior to the pectorals. Ventral fins jugular if present; anterior dorsal reduced to a few tentacle- 
like, isolated spines; soft dorsal and anal short; no scales. First vertebra united to cranium by a 
suture; epiotics united behind supraoccipital; elongate basal pectoral radii (actinosts), reduced in 
number; no interclavicles; post-temporal broad, flat, simple; upper pharyngeals 2, similar, spatulate, 
with anterior stem and transverse blade; basis of cranium simple, no air-duct to the swim-bladder. 
Marine fishes, chiefly of the Tropics and the oceanic abysses. The group is an offshoot from the 
Aeanthopteri, its chief modification being in the elongation of the actinosts and in the position of the 
gill-opening. The Batrachoididsc are perhaps its nearest relatives. 
a. Gill-openings in or behind the lower axil of the pectoral: mouth large, terminal. 
b. Pseudobranchite present; pseudobrnehia with 2 actinosts: head broad, depressed, the enormous mouth with very 
strong teeth: ventral's present. Lnphiidip; p. 516 
bb. Pseudobranchite none; pseltdobrachia with 6 actinosts. 
c. Ventrals present: arm ungulate, the pseudobrnehia elongate. Antcnnnriidx, p. 517 
rr. Ventrals wanting; arm hot ungulate, the pseudobrnehia moderate. ('cratiidi r, p. 523 
aa. Gill-openings in or behind the upper axil of the pectoral: mouth small, usually inferior. Ogcoccphalidd’, p. 523 
Family CYI. 1,01’H 11 il.F. The Anglers. 
Head wide, depressed, very large; body contracted, conical, tapering rapidly backward from the 
shoulders; mouth exceedingly large, terminal, opening into an enormous stomach; upper jaw pro¬ 
tractile; maxillary without supplementary bone; lower jaw projecting; both jaws with very strong, 
unequal, cardiform teeth, some of the teeth canine-like, most of them depressible; vomer and palatines 
