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pectorals not pediculatecl. Gill-opening a more or 
less vertical slit before tbe pectoral, rather narrow. 
Gills, three ; psendohranchise absent ; an air- 
bladder. 
“ Carnivorous fishes, living on the bottom of the 
coasts of the tropical regions, several species ad- 
vancing into the temperate seas.'’"’ 
No sorts have yet come under my notice. 
PEDICULATI. 
“ Head and interior part of the body very large, 
without scales. Teeth in cardiform or villiform 
bands. The spinous dorsal either composed of a 
few, more or less, isolated spiues, or entirely absent. 
Ventrals jugular, with four or five soft rays, absent 
in Geriatias ; the carpal hones prolonged, forming a 
sort of arm for the pectorals. Gill- opening reduced 
to a small foramen, situated in or near the axil. 
Gills two and a-half, three, or three and a-half; 
pseudobranchise absent. 
“ Carnivorous fishes, inhabiting the seas of the 
temperate and tropical regions.” 
Several sorts of this family, particularly of the genus GJiiro- 
nectes, are found in the Tasmanian and South Australian seas ; 
but I have not examined any in a fresh state. 
