■with the premaxillary. Each ligament is inserted, as in Scorpaena, on th e base of th e maxillary
process of the palatine. In one of four specimens examined, th e re was, in th e middle line, between
th e two ligaments, a small disk of bone on which th e ligaments had their origins; and it would seem
as if this bone might be th e rostral bone of Sagemehl’s descriptions, a bone which th a t author considered
as an ossification of th e rostral cartilage.
The FRONTAL has a ventral flange, b u t it is b u t slightly developed. The anterior end of
th e bone overlaps externally th e bounding edges of th e mesethmoid and ectethmoid, those bones
separating th e frontal, by a considerable interval, from th e h ind end of th e nasal. Mesially th e frontal
suturâtes, in th e m id-dorsal fine, with its fellow of th e opposite side. I ts hind edge is relatively straight,
forms a right angle with its mesial edge, and, extending from th e m iddle line of th e head to th e mesial
edge of th e pterotic, suturâtes its full length with th e anterior edge of th e parieto-extrascapular. The
posterior portion of th e short postorbital portion of th e lateral edge of th e bone suturâtes with the
pterotic, its anterior portion touching a corner of th e postfrontal and also abutting against a raised
portion of th e sphenotic th a t comes to th e level of th e dorsal surface of th e skull and has surface
markings similar to those of th e dermal bones. This little raised portion of th e sphenotic forms th e
dorso-lateral corner of the postorbital process of the skull, and between its hind edge and th e lateral
portion of th e anterior edge of th e pterotic there is a little notch which is occupied by th e small post-
frontal bone. The postero-mesial corner of th e raised portion of the sphenotic arches toward and,
in medium-sized specimens, touches, or almost touches, th e anterior corner of th e dermal portion
of the pterotic, a circular passage being left between th e two bones, which transmits th a t primary
tu b e of the supraorbital latero-sensory canal th a t anastomoses with th e main infraorbital canal as
th a t canal passes from th e postfrontal into the pterotic. The frontal is traversed by th e supraorbital
latero-sensory canal and lodges five sense organs of th a t line, th e fourth and fifth organs of th e line
lying relatively close together, without intervening primary tube, as in Scorpaena.
The PARIETO-EXTRASCAPULAR is a flat bone, and is traversed, near its hind edge, by
th e supratemporal latero-sensory canal, th a t canal uniting with its fellow in the mid-dorsal line to
form a complete cross-commissure. The bone suturâtes, in th e mid-dorsal line, with its fellow of th e
opposite side, completely covering th e supraoccipital excepting only a narrow hind edge of th a t
bone, and, slightly anterior to th a t edge, a small, variable and irregular median portion of the dorsal
limb of th e bone. Anteriorly the bone suturâtes with th e frontal. Laterally it suturâtes with the
pterotic, lateral extrascapular and suprascapular, not appreciably overlapping, in most of my specimens,
th e epiotic process of th e la tte r bone. On its dorsal surface, near th e middle of th e bone,
there is, in my medium-sized specimens, a slightly raised and granulated ridge, longitudinal in
position, which apparently corresponds to th e ridge th a t forms th e lateral boundary of th e sub-
quadrangular groove on th e vertex of Scorpaena. The section of th e supratemporal latero-sensory
commissure th a t is enclosed in th e bone lodges one sense organ of th a t canal.
The POSTFRONTAL „is a small bone th a t lies in th e angular interval between the pterotic
and th e raised; dermal-like portion of th e sphenotic. Its mesial corner approaches closely, or even
touches, between those two bones, th e lateral edge of th e frontal. I t is traversed by th e infraorbital
latero-sensory canal and lodges one organ of th a t line, innervated by a branch of th e oticus lateralis.
The LATERAL EXTRASCÀPULAR is a small subcircular bone th a t lies in th e space between
the pterotic, parieto-extrascapular and suprascapular bones, with all of which bones it is firmly
united. I t forms p a rt of th e roof of th e temporal ¡fossa; and is .traversed by th e main infraorbital
and supratempoial latero-sensory Canals, lodging one organ of each of those lines.
The SUPRASCAPULAR is bounded anteriorly by, and firmly united with, the lateral extra-
scapular and the p arieto-extrascapular, and forms p a rt of the hind edge of the casque-like dorsal
surface of th e skullfp I t has opisthotic and epiotic processes which are attached, respectively, and
in th e usual manner, to processes of th e opisthotic and epiotic bones. Immediately posterior to th e
base of th e opisthotic process there is a large articular facet, th e lateral edge of which is slightly
differentiated as an articular eminence, this being more evident in small th an in large specimens.
The two surfaces give articulation" to articular surfaces on the dorsal end of the supraclavicular.
Immediately -posterior to • the articular eminence is the posterior opening of the section of latero-
sensory chnaP&nclosed in th e bone, this section of canal lodging one sense organ of the main infraorbital
line. The bone extends some distance beyond th e opening of the canal and terminates in
a s tout point.1"
The SUPRACLAVICULAR has a small dorsal end, the anterior corner of which is entirely
occupied by a large condylar eminence. Immediately postero-lateral to this eminence, there is a
small flat or slightly concave articular surface. These two surfaces articulate with th e two articular
surfaces on th e ventral surface of the suprascapular, the supraclavicular lying beneath the suprascapular
and not extending back to the hind end of th a t bone. Immediately posterior to these articular
surfaces the posterior half of the dorsal edge of th e bone is traversed by the main latero-sensory
canal, the section of canal lodging one sense organ of th e line. The ventral end of th e bone is slightly
expanded, and has a large depression on its inner surface. The anterior and posterior edges of this
depression, and also th e thin ventral edge of the bone, re st upon and are firmly bound by tissues
to the dorsal end of th e clavicle, the supraclavicular fitting into a depression on th e outer surface
of the la tte r bone. This depression' in th e clavicle surrounds a deep notch in the edge of th a t bone,
this notch corresponding to th e notch shown in my figures of the clavicle of Scomber. The depressed
region on th e inner surface of the supraclavicular overlies this notch in th e clavicle, and th e occipito-
supraclavicular ligament, passing through the notch, has its insertion in the depression on the supraclavicular.
Nothing whatever in the arrangement of the pa rts is abnormal, as compared with Scorpaena,
nor is th e supraclavicular (postero-temporal) a t all crowded out of its normal place and
relation-to th e other bones, as s tated by Gill (’88) and by Jordan and Evermann (’98). The bone
is simply inclined backward more th a n in Scorpaena, its dorsal end is smaller, and the prolonged
hind end of the suprascapular projects backward Considerably beyond it.
The PARASPHENOID is large, with expanded anterior and posterior portions th a t are connected
by a short b u t relatively wide intervening portion. The ventral surface of the anterior portion
is deeply grooved to receive the vomer, the. dorsal surface of this portion presenting a. correspondingly
wide,.low and rounded, median longitudinal ridge. On the dorsal surface of the posterior portion
of th e bone there is a wide raised median portion, the deeply grooved lateral edge of which receives,
on either side, th e cartilaginous ventral edge of th e prootic; th e raised portion thus not only closing
th e hypophysial fenestra b u t also forming, on either side of th a t fenestra, a relatively considerable
p a r t of the floor of the myodome. The ascending process of the bone, on either side, is represented
b y a short, slender and sharply pointed dorsal extension of the thickened anterior edge of the exp
anded posterior p ortion of the. bone, and so unimportant is it th a t the process seems, a t first sight,
Zoologica. Heft 57. 16