BRAMOIDS. 
71 
Cuvier a and Bonaparte * 6 referred Brama to the ‘scale- 
finned’ fishes (Squamipinnes or Chcetodontidce ) and Pte- 
raclis to the Scombridce, each genus, however, in its 
own subfamily ( Bramini and Coryphcenini). But Lut- 
ken, to whom belongs the merit of having first given 
an explanation of the changes of age within the family c , 
maintains the near relationship between Pteraclis and 
the other members of the family, which he unites in 
the “Sub-group Bramidce.” That the high and com- 
paratively short, large-scaled Brama- type has been 
combined with the elongated and small-scaled type of 
the Dorades ( Coryplicena ), is an echo of Cuvier’s re- 
mark as to the analogy in the structure of the skull 
between Brama and Coryplicena, an analogy which may 
also be extended, however, to the Carangidce. But 
that Cuvier was still justified in uniting Brama with 
the scale-finned fishes, is an expression of the natural 
relationship which also exists between the great series 
of the Scombroid and Percoid families. Here, in the 
Brand eke, this relationship has its expression in a fa- 
mily type which is probably very old, even from a 
geological point of view, in spite of the fact that as 
yet we know of no fossils of this family. In their 
covering of scales the Bramidce display one of the most 
distinct traces of the oldest Teleosteous forms, which 
amounts even to an explanation of the so called ‘der- 
mal ribs’ or ‘pleurolepidal lines’ e of the Pycnodont 
fishes, as the scales, in Pterycombus as well as Brama , 
but most clearly in the former, repeat the structure 
described by Agassiz, Egerton and Wagner, and after- 
wards employed by Lutken as a character for the 
“series” Lepidopleurini or Pycnodonta (fig. 19) and by 
Gunti-ier for the “suborder” Pycnodontoidei among the 
Ganoids. Cuvier 7 described, and Costa and Lunei/ 
both described and figured this structure of the scales 
in Brama; and we find it still more complete in Pte- 
rycombus brama (fig. 20). There too, the scales are 
of very dissimilar forms on different parts of the body, 
but if we follow these dissimilar forms from the dorsal 
“ Cuv., Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., vol. VII, p. 281 and vol. IX, 
6 Isis, 1883, pp. 1207 and 1209. 
edge downwards in a transverse row, we find them 
all alike in one respect, namely, that the hind (un- 
Lutken’s treatise on the distinction and division of the Ganoids. 
Fig. 20. From the first to the sixth scale, together with the scale 
of the lateral line {/>) in a transverse row from the back to the 
middle of the side, in Pterycoinbus brama. Half as large again as 
the natural size. 
covered) part of each scale is thin, covered with fine 
striations longitudinally radiating in the direction of 
the body, and pierced by irregularly distributed, round, 
p. 359. Cf. also Cuv., R'egn. anim., ed. 2, tom. II, pp. 194 and 216. 
c Spolia Atlantica, 1. c. p. 491. Cf. too Gunther, Cat. Brit. Mils., Fish., vol. II, pp. 408 to 411. 
d Cuv., Val., 1. c., VII, p. 291. 
c Agassiz, Poiss. Foss., vol. II, part. 2, p. 184, tab. 67; 68; 69, fig. 2 et 3; 69, b; 69, c. Egerton, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 
Lond., vol. V. part. I, p. 330. Wagner, Abb. Math. Phys. Cl. Akad. "VViss. Munchen, Bd. VI, Ahth. I, pp. 8 to 10. Lutken, Gan. Begr., 
Incld., Vid. Meddel. Naturh. For. Kbhvn. 1868, p. 48 (sep.) and Geol. Mag. vol. V (1868). Gunther, Study of Fishes, p. 366; Handb. 
Ichthyol., p. 254. 
f Cuv., Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., vol. VII, p. 289. 
o Costa: Fauna del regno di Napoli , Pesci, parte prima, Acantotterigii Squamipenni, pp. 13 etc. tab. LII. Lunel: Rev. Castagne., 
Mem., Phys. et D’Hist. Nat. Geneve, Tome 18, pp. 174 and 188, pi. I, fig. 1, b — 1, f; pi. II, fig. 1, b — 1, e. 
