CURTIDsE. 
355 
of the preopercular, the rather small scales, and the serration of the lower border 
of the body. The palatines and vomers carry villi form teeth; the single dorsal fin 
has from three to six spines, the anal six rays, and the tail is strongly forked. 
The allied Anoplogaster, of the Tropical Atlantic, is devoid of scales. In both 
genera the eye is very large. The typical genus Beryx, which has likewise but 
a single dorsal, may be distinguished by the smooth abdomen, and the lack of a 
spine on the preopercular. At the present day this genus is known from the 
Tropical Atlantic, Madeira, and the seas of Australia and Japan; while in a fossil 
state it is abundant in the Chalk. Two barbels at the throat serve to distinguish 
NEW ZEALAND TRACHICHTHYS (i Hat. size). 
Polymixia ; while in several of the other genera, such as Holocentrum, the dorsal 
fin is double. Spread over all tropical seas, the latter genus is likewise one of 
those dating from the Cretaceous epoch. 
Families CURTIDsE and POL YNEMIDJE. 
Each of these two unimportant families represents a group of equal rank 
with the perch-like division of the suborder; the first being characterised by 
having the single dorsal fin much shorter than the long and many-rayed anal. The 
compressed body (as shown in the figure of Pempheris mangula, on the right side 
of the illustration on p. 354) is oblong in form, deep in front, and sharply narrow¬ 
ing towards the tail. If developed at all, the spines of the short dorsal are few in 
number; the scales are small or medium in size; and both the jaws, palatines, and 
vomers bear villiform teeth. While the typical genus Curtus is confined to the 
Indian seas, Pempheris ranges over the Indian Ocean, the Malayan seas, and the 
tropical parts of the Pacific. The presence of a number of filaments, which may 
attain an enormous length, is the most distinctive feature of the second family, 
