Olistherops, from King George’s Sound, has scales of moderate size, but agrees otherwise with Coridodax.
Siphonognathus.—Head and body very elongate, snout long, as in Fistularia; upper jaw terminating in a long, pointed, skinny appendage; opercles and cheeks scaly; scales of moderate size; lateral line continuous. Dorsal spines numerous, flexible. Jaws as in Odax; the dentigerous plate of the lower pharyngeal very narrow.
S. argyrophanes, from King George’s Sound, is the most aberrant type of Wrasses, whose principal characters are retained, but united with a form of the body which resembles that of a Pipe-fish.
Third Family—Embiotocidæ.
Body compressed, elevated or oblong, covered with cycloid scales; lateral line continuous. One dorsal fin, with a spinous portion, and with a scaly sheath along the base, which is separated by a groove from the other scales; anal with three spines and numerous rays; ventral fins thoracic, with one spine and five rays. Small teeth in the jaws, none on the palate. Pseudobranchiæ present. Stomach siphonal, pyloric appendages none. Viviparous.
Marine Fishes characteristic of the fauna of the temperate North Pacific, the majority living on the American side, and only a few on the Asiatic. All are viviparous (see Fig. [70], p. 159). Agassiz describes the development of the embryoes as a normal ovarian gestation, the sac containing the young not being the oviduct but the ovarian sheath, which fulfils the functions of the ovary. This organ presents two modes of arrangement: in one there is a series of triangular membranous flaps communicating with each other, between which the young are arranged, mostly longitudinally, the head of one to the tail of another, but sometimes with the bodies curved, to the number of eighteen or twenty; in the other, the cavity is divided by three membranes converging to a point, into four compartments, not communicating with each other except towards the genital opening, the young being arranged in the same longitudinal manner. The proportionate size of the young is very remarkable. In a female specimen 10½ inches long, and 4½ inches high, the young were nearly 3 inches long and 1 inch high. Seventeen species are known, the majority of which belong to Ditrema, and one to Hysterocarpus. They do not attain to a large size, varying from three-quarters to three pounds in weight.
Fourth Family—Chromides.
Body elevated, oblong or elongate, scaly, the scales being generally ctenoid. Lateral line interrupted or nearly so. One dorsal fin, with a spinous portion; three or more anal spines; the soft anal similar to the soft dorsal. Ventral fins thoracic, with one spine and five rays. Teeth in the jaws small, palate smooth. Pseudobranchiæ none. Stomach coecal; pyloric appendages none.
Freshwater-fishes of rather small size from the tropical parts of Africa and America; one genus from Western India. The species with lobate teeth, and with many circumvolutions of the intestines, are herbivorous, the other carnivorous.
Etroplus.—Body compressed, elevated, covered with ctenoid scales of moderate size. Lateral line indistinct. Dorsal and anal spines numerous. Teeth compressed, lobate, in one or two series. Anterior prominences of the branchial arches not numerous, short, conical, hard. Dorsal fin not scaly.