172 
bulletin of the bureau of fisheries. 
The basal radii are excessively numerous and close together (pi. xi,, fig. 52). The ctenoid elements are 
formed essentially as in the tongue sole, Aphoristia pigra, which belongs to the subfamily Cynoglossinae. 
A truly remarkable feature, equally developed in the cycloid and ctenoid scales, is found in the basal 
(interradial) circuli, which as they leave the radii are directed obliquely apicad, and in the middle 
third of the interradial field are broken up into minute more or less pyriform bodies. In Symphurus 
(or Aphoristia) piger the beginning of this is seen in the fact that some of the interradial sections of the 
circuli are bent and V-like. The extreme and unique modification of the basal circuli in Cynoglossus 
is important, as I think it amounts to a demonstration that Cynoglossus (with cycloid scales on the lower 
side) is not a primitive member of the Soleidae and is not connected in any way with the pleuronectids. 
The general characters of the fish also support this idea. 
Suborder J ugulares.* 
BLENNIIIUE. Blennies. 
The rock eel, Pholis gunnellus (Linnaeus), from Menemsha Bight, Mass., has extremely minute 
more or less oval cycloid scales, with the nucleus a little above the middle, very widely spaced circuli, 
Fig. 47. —A chirus lineatus (Soleidae). 
Apical structures. Bureau of 
Fisheries. 
Fig. 48. —A phorislia pigra 
(Soleidse). Apical 
structures. Bureau of 
Fisheries. 
Fig. 49.— Solea so~ 
lea (Soleidae). 
Apical struc¬ 
tures. Bureau 
of Fisheries. 
and rather widely separated radii basally and laterally. Ulvaria subbifurcata Storer, taken by Mr. V. N. 
Edwards from the stomach of a red-breasted merganser ( Merganser senator Linnaeus), has similar but 
longer scales, with the nucleus more apicad, and the 3 to 6 radii all basal. The circuli fail in the apical 
region. 
These are very degenerate scales, which do not suggest any acanthopterygian affinities. 
ANARHICHADIDiE. Wolf-fishes. 
The wolf-fish, Anarhichas lupus (Linnaeus), from Woods Hole, has small nearly circular scales, with 
central nucleus and radii almost all around, in every way very like those of Pholis. 
GADOPSIDAJ. New Zealand “ trouts.” 
Gadopsis, a fresh-water genus of New Zealand and Australia, has been figured by Gunther. The 
scale is long oval, cycloid, with regular circuli, which are not dense; nucleus a little apicad of middle; 
six strong radii. All this is very close to the blenniid Ulvaria. The fact that the three families of 
See also Proceedings Biological Society of Washington, vol. xxvi, p. 89-92. 
