In _Myripristis_ the preopercular spine is wanting and the air-bladder is divided into two parts, the anterior extending to the ear. _Myripristis jacobus_ is the brilliantly colored candil, or "Frère Jacques," of the West Indies. Species of _Myripristis_ are known in Hawaii as _u-u_. A curious method of catching _Myripristis murdjan_ is pursued on the Island of Hawaii. A living fish is suspended by a cord in front of a reef inhabited by this species. It remains with scarlet fins spread and glistening red scales. Its presence is a challenge to other individuals, who rush out to attack it. These are then drawn out by a concealed scoop-net, and a fresh specimen is taken as a decoy. _Myripristis pralinius_, _M. multiradiatus_, and other species occur in Polynesia. _Ostichthys_ is allied to _Myripristis_ but with very large rough scales. _Ostichthys japonicus_ is a large and showy fish of the waters of Japan. _Ostichthys pillwaxi_ occurs at Honolulu. _Holotrachys lima_ is a small, brick-red fish with small very rough scales found throughout Polynesia. Fossil species of _Holocentrus_, _Myripristis_, and related extinct genera occur in the Eocene and Miocene. _Holocentrus macrocephalus_, from Monte Bolca Eocene, is one of the best known. _Myricanthus leptacanthus_ from the same region, has very slender spines in the fins. [Illustration: FIG. 205.—Pine-cone Fish, _Monocentris japonicus_ (Houttuyn). Waka, Japan. ] =The Polymixiidæ.=—The family of _Polymixiidæ_, or barbudos, is one of the most interesting in Ichthyology from its bewildering combination of characters belonging to different groups. With the general aspect of a Berycoid, the ventral rays I, 7, and the single dorsal fin with a few spines, _Polymixia_ has the scales rather smooth and at the chin are two long barbels which look remarkably like those of the family of _Mullidæ_ or _Surmullets_. As in the _Mullidæ_, there are but four branchiostegals. In other regards the two groups seem to have little in common. According to Starks, the specialized feelers at the chin are different in structure and must have been independently developed in the two groups. In _Polymixia_, each barbel is suspended from the hypohyal; three rudimentary branchiostegals forming its thickened base. In _Mullus_, each barbel is suspended from the trip of a slender projection of the ceratohyal, having no connection with the branchiostegals. _Polymixia_ possesses the orbitosphenoid bone and is a true berycoid, while the _Mullidæ_ are genuine percoid fishes. Four species of _Polymixia_ are recorded from rather deep water: _Polymixia nobilis_ from Madeira, _Polymixia lowei_ from the West Indies, _Polymixia berndti_ from Hawaii, and _Polymixia japonica_ from Japan. All are plainly colored, without red.