230 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1892. 



A CATALOGUE OF THE FISHES OF GREECE, WITH NOTES ON THE 



NAMES NOW IN USE AND THOSE EMPLOYED BY 



CLASSICAL AUTHORS. 



BY HORACE ADDISON HOFFMAN AND DAVID STARR JORDAN. 



The first-named author of the present paper spent a large part of 

 the spring and summer of 1890 in Greece. Part of this time was devo- 

 ted to making collections of the fishes found in the markets of Athens 

 and to the study of the vernacular names now applied by the Greek 

 fishermen to these fishes. Each fish as obtained was preserved in 

 alcohol, a number attached to it, and a record kept of the vernacu- 

 lar name attached to this number. 



The persistence of vernacular names of fishes and other animals 

 is known to be very great, and it may be safely assumed that the 

 most of these names now heard in Athens are derived from those 

 applied to the same species in the time of Aristotle. It has been 

 thought that a study of these names would tend to throw light on 

 those applied to fishes by classical authors. The fact that no such 

 collection or comparison of names of fishes has yet been made is 

 the justification of this paper. 



A single catalogue of the fishes of Greece is known to me, that 

 published by my friend, Professor Apostolides in 1883 (La Peche 

 en Grece : par Nicolas Chr. Apostolides). This work contains 

 numerous vernacular names and it has been largely drawn upon in 

 the present paper. 



In this paper is printed a systematic list of the fishes known from 

 Greece, either on the authority of Apostolides or from my own col- 

 lection, wuth the vernacular names and such notes on them as I am 

 able to offer. 



No one can be more fully aware than I am, of the unsatisfactory 

 character of many things in this paper. It was often difficult or 

 impossible to make out with certainty just what Aristotle meant. 

 Some terms occurring over and over and evidently having a very 

 definite meaning to him are obscure to us, and the meanings given 

 in the dictionaries are only guesses. A good illustration of this is 

 the word n-o'^iufm, usually translated diaphragm. We have no 

 right to assume that Aristotle always, or ever, meant by this term 

 the diaphragm, especially in those instances where it makes him 

 entirely wrong in regard to the anatomical facts. In those matters 



