WEEVERS. 
127 
TR ACHIN OMOK PHI. 
First dorsal fin a shorter than the second. Pectoral fins ivitli broad base and with broad and flattened or elong- 
ated basal bones. Ventral fins free and jugular. Branched rays in the caudal fin less than 15. No osseous 
connexion between the suborbital ring and the preoperculum. Jaws and palatine bones (as a rule ) with teeth. 
Between the Mackerels and the Cottoids Gunther 6 
has placed some families which do not belong in their 
entirety to this division 0 , but apparently consist of a 
series of types which connects the most abnormal Ano- 
malopterous forms with the Labromorphi, as wel 1 as 
with the Percomorphi. In the Uranoscopi the Trachi- 
noid type comes near the Batrachidce, and the latter 
in their turn form a transition to the Lophioid group; 
but within the family Trachinidce itself — provided 
it be possible to retain it with Gunther’s definition — 
the genera Percis and Pinguipes clearly point to the 
Labridce and also to the family Mai acanth idee' 1 , while 
the dental equipment of the palate led Cuvier to in- 
clude the Weevers in the Percoid family, as “Perches 
with jugular ventral fins.” The other fishes in the 
group resemble the Cottidce or, in their compressed 
form, the Blenniidce. 
The members of this group are, as a rule, poor 
swimmers, and bottom-fishes, and for the most part 
live near shore, where they lie in ambush for their 
prey or entice it by the movements of their strange 
appendages. Most of them belong to the Southern 
Hemisphere, where in the Antarctic regions they take 
the place of the Cottoids in the Arctic fauna. 
Fam. TRAC H INIA) M. 
Body long and compressed. Head without armour e . Scales ( where they exist) cycloid or granular. The eyes 
are set laterally , but high up, and admit of being turned upwards. Anal and second dor sal fins long in proportion 
to the length of the abdominal region. Basal bones of the pectoral fins broad and flat, but of ordinary shape. 
Jaw-teeth of uniform size , or with several canines interspersed’ in front. Lips without fringes. Lateral line 
unbroken. Gill-openings in front of the pectoral fins. 
With this definition the family essentially corres- 
ponds to Gunther’s subfamily Trachinini , which was 
intended to include 14 genera, only one of which is 
represented in the Scandinavian fauna. 
a Or the spinous-rayed part, where the fin is continuous. 
b Systematic Synopsis, 1. c. 
c Gunther has himself remarked the resemblance between the genus Sillago (among his Trachinidce) and the Sciamoids. 
d Cf. Cuv., Vae., Hist. Nat. Poiss., vol. Ill, p. 277 and Gunther, Cat. Brit. Mas., Fish., vol. III. p. 358. 
e In old specimens of Trachinus, however, the top of the head (the forehead and occiput) is naked and rough, as in the Uranoscopi. 
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