1132 . 
Genus Psettodes Banneto 
Psettodes Bennett . Proo. Zool. Soc. London, vol. 1, p, 147, 1831, (Type 
Pleuronectes belcheri Bennett, monotypio.) 
Sphagomorus Cope , Trans. Imer. Philos, Soc., vol, 13, p. 407, 1866 (1869). 
(Type Pleuronectes erumei Schneider , monotypic) 
Body ovoid. Caudal peduncle distinct. Mouth very wide, 
uip.^illary more then l/2 head, extends far back. Each jaw with 2 rows of 
long, slender, curved, distant teeth, front ones of inner lower row long“ 
est and received in groove before vomer. Gill membranes scarcely united 
at throat. No gill rakers or only as clusters of minute spines. Scales 
ciliated. Dorsal and anal scaleless, depressible in scaly basal sheaths. 
Caudal finely scaled. Dorsal begins at nape of neck, most rays like those 
of anal, branched. 
Apparently two species. Psettodes belcheri Bennett from West 
Africa is said to represent a distinct species with smaller scales. These 
are the most generalized of tho flat fishes, with certain percoid charac¬ 
ters suggesting ancestry from the primitive percoid stock. 
