122 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
a. Third superior pharyngeal on each side scarcely enlarged, not longer than its anterior process, and armed with compar- 
atively few (about 15) pointed teeth; fourth superior pharyngeal distinct on each side; lower pharyngeals united 
into a small linear plate, armed with small teeth; vertebra with zygapophyses; both jaws produced in a long beak 
in the adult (the upper short in the young); teeth in jaws strong, unequal; maxillaries firmly appressed to the 
premaxillaries; a distinct suture along the boundary; coronoid bone (attached to the articular) evident. Species 
carnivorous Belonidse, p. 122 
aa. Third superior pharyngeal greatly enlarged, covered with blunt.ish, tricuspid teeth; fourth superior pharyngeal 
wanting or fused with the third; lower pharyngeals large, fused into a thick triangular bone with transversely 
concave surface, covered with blunt tricuspid teeth; teeth in jaws always small conic or tricuspid; maxillary 
close to premaxillary, but not suturally joined to it, there being some open space between; coronoid bone present, 
but small; no canine teeth; no zygapophyses to the vertebra. 
b. Third superior pharyngeal solidly joined with its fellow to form an ovoid plate, which sends 2 processes forward; cleft 
of mouth narrow; lower jaw usually produced; teeth of jaws tricuspid; herbivorous species. . . IlemirampMdx, p. 126 
bb. Third superior pharyngeal more or less closely appressed, but not united; dorsal and anal without finlets; pectoral 
fins more or less produced, forming an organ of flight; species at least partly carnivorous Exocoetidas, p. 130 
Family XL. BELONIDSE. — The Needle-fishes. 
Body elongate, very slender, compressed or not, covered with small, thin scales; lateral line A-ery 
low, running as a fold along side of belly; both jaws produced in a beak, the lower jaw the longer, 
very much the longer in the young, tvhich resemble Hemiramphus; maxillaries grown fast to premax- 
illaries; each jaw with a band of small, sharp teeth, besides a series of longer, wide-set, sharp, conical 
teeth; no finlets; dorsal fin opposite anal, both fins rather long; air-bladder present; lower pharyngeals 
united to form a long, slender, narrow plate, with flat surface covered Avith small, pointed teeth; 
upper pharyngeals distinct, the third pair little enlarged, each with some 15 moderate, unequal, 
pointed teeth ( Tylosurus marinus), fourth pair Avell developed, with similar teeth, but without anterior 
processes; A’ertebrae numerous, with zygapophyses; ovary single. Voracious, carniverous fishes, bear- 
ing a superficial resemblance to the gar-pikes; found in all warm seas, sometimes entering rivers. 
Genera 4; species about 50, the majority of them American. Their habits are ordinarily much like 
those of the pike, but Avhen startled they swim along the surface with extraordinary rapidity, often 
leaping above the water for short distances. When thus leaping the large species of the Tropics are 
sources of danger to incautious fishermen, sometimes piercing the naked abdomens of the savages. 
Most of them are good food-fishes, but the green color of the bones of the larger sjrecies often causes 
them to be avoided for no good reason. 
a. Gillrakers present Belone, p. 122 
aa. Gillrakers none. 
b. Body subterete or slightly compressed, its breadth more than two-thirds its greatest depth Tylosurus, p. 123 
bb. Body much compressed, its breadth not hall its greatest depth Athlennes, p. 126 
Genus 69. BELONE Cuvier. 
This genus differs from Tylosurus in the possession of gillrakers, and is confined to the Old World 
and the islands of the Pacific. 
Belone Cuvier, B.5gne Animal, Ed. I, II, 185, 1817 (belone). 
82. Belone platyura Bennett. Fig. 38. 
Head (tip of mandible slightly damaged) about 1.88 in trunk; depth in trunk a little over 16; D. 
13; A. 19; P. 12; V. 6; scales about 177 or more to base of caudal; greatest width of head equal to its 
depth; upper jaw a little OA r er 1.5 in head; eye 2 in postocular part of head, 1.25 in interorbital space; 
pectoral about 4.3 in space between tip of snout and opercle; ventral 6.5. 
Body elongate, depressed on the back and upper surface and also below, the sides rounded; head 
long, broadened and flattened aboA r e, somewhat constrained beloAv; eye rather large and a trifle 
longer than deep; jaws A'ery long and slender, the upper much shorter than the loAver, and the groove 
of maxillary extending well beyond anterior margin of eye; teeth in mandible not extending beyond 
tip of Upper jaAV, and Avith a median asperous ridge; no vomerine teeth; tongue small, bluntly pointed, 
a rather thin fleshy flap a little free in front; nasal cavity large and close to upper surface of eye; 
interorbital space broad and flattened; gill-openings large, the isthmus A r ery narrow, long, and slender; 
gillrakers rather large, in moderate number; no pseudobranchiae; peritoneum gray, or marked with 
numerous dark dots. 
