Smithsonian miscellaneous collections . t the fish itself. To elicit new facts and indicate desi-derata is the object of the present article. What is known may bebriefly summarized. I The family of the Elopids (Elopidae) is composed of a few livingfishes which have much superficial resemblance to the herring fam-ily ; they have a compressed fusiform body, covered by smooth sil-very cycloid scales; the head is bony and scaleless ; the mouth andjaws nearly like those of Clupeids and more or less oblique; the dor-sal is submedian and the other fins are essentially like those of the 31 32 SMITHSON
Smithsonian miscellaneous collections . t the fish itself. To elicit new facts and indicate desi-derata is the object of the present article. What is known may bebriefly summarized. I The family of the Elopids (Elopidae) is composed of a few livingfishes which have much superficial resemblance to the herring fam-ily ; they have a compressed fusiform body, covered by smooth sil-very cycloid scales; the head is bony and scaleless ; the mouth andjaws nearly like those of Clupeids and more or less oblique; the dor-sal is submedian and the other fins are essentially like those of the 31 32 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [vol. 48 herrings. The distinctive characteristics are the very numerous(22-30) branchiostegal rays, an unpaired gular plate or intergularplate or bone (also called jugular plate ) between the rami of thelower jaw, and the development of the parietal bones so that theyconnect along the middle of the skull and consequently superficiallyseparate the frontal bones from the supraoccipital; the supramaxil- hm f. pnt P^P top ^ ^^ S/7V Ji^ d Fig. I.—Elops saiinis; skull from right side. (After Ridewood.) opc-/^
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