NATURAL SCIENCES OP PHILADELPHIA. 101 



first. It may consequently be argued that the resemblance is one of analogy 

 rather than of actual affinity, but with the fishes now under consideration, 

 such can scarcely be argued. It can not be truly said that the real affinities 

 are veiled under analogical resemblances, where all of the organization save 

 one part is similar. For with the exception of the pharyngeal bones, there is 

 no difference of at most mote than generic importance between some of the 

 genera of Sciaaninae and those of Haploidonotinae. The form is similar ; the 

 characteristic peculiarities of the skeleton, the intestinal canal and the rest of 

 the viscera, the squamation, the structure of the fins, the peculiar incisions of 

 the margin of the snout between the preorbital bones, the pores of the lower 

 jaw, the number of branchiostegal rays, the dentition, and all other features, 

 are reproduced in the respective genera. Such being the case, we cannot 

 hesitate to believe that the likeness between the Haploidonotinae and the 

 Sciaeninae is truly indicative of affinity, and we are then naturally led to the 

 conclusion that Midler's Pharyngognathi are not entitled to ordinal distinction, 

 although admitting that the Acanthopteran Pharyngognathi, known to that 

 illustrious biologist, are natural associates. 



The subfamily of Haploidonotinae, so far as is yet known, is entirely confined 

 to North America. Only two genera are known, one characterized by the pre- 

 sence of small filaments beneath the chin and lower jaw, is represented by 

 two species found along the Atlantic coast of North America. They are the 

 Pogonias fasciutus Lac, and Pogonias chromis Cuv. The second has no fila- 

 ments, and its species are fluviatile and lacustrine ; the name of Aplodinotus 

 was first conferred on it by Rafinesque. 



As the name of Aplodinotus, or according to its etymology, Haploidonotus, is 

 here for the first time restored, it seems advisable to review the reasons which 

 have induced us to adopt this in face of the assertion made by Rafinesque in 

 the Ichthyologia Ohiensis. Rafinesque has there* characterized a genus 

 which he has called Amblodon, and has remarked that it was called by him 

 "Aplodinotus G. 8, of my Memoir on 70 New Genera of American animals, in 

 the Journal History of Paris, having been led into error, in supposing that the 

 remarkable teeth of its throat belonged to the Buffalo-fish, as will be seen 

 below." Under the specific description, he givesf a very good account of the 

 pharyngeal dentition, and adds that "these teeth and their bones are common 

 in many museums, where they are erroneously called teeth of the Buffalo-fish. 

 or of a cat-fish. I was deceived so far by this mistake, and by the repeated 

 assertions of several persons, as to ascribe those teeth to the Buffalo-fish, which 

 I have since found to be a real catastomus ; this error I now correct with 

 pleasure." 



Rafinesque, with accustomed carelessness, has reversed the proposition. It 

 was under the name of Amblodon that he formerly described the lower pharyn- 

 geal bones of the Sciaenoid, assigning them to two catastomoids. Under the 

 name of Aplodinotus, he indicated as correctly as was customary with him the 

 external features of the genus of Scisenoids. As the Journal in which his 

 descriptions were published, is almost inaccessible in America, the following 

 abstract is offered, the series being in the Library of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion: 



8. Aplodinotus (Thoracique). Corps oblong comprimc. Tete et opercules 

 ecailleux, prcopercules dentelts, second opercule membraneux inerme, mem- 

 branes branchiales a 6 rayons. Levres extensibles ;i petites dents en rape. 

 Deux nageoires dorsales confluentes, la premiere a rayons epineux, la seconde 

 sans rayons epineux, ecailleuse longitudinalement a sa base. Nageoires 



1861.] 



*Ichihyologia Ohiensis, p. 24. 

 tlchthyologia Ohiensis, p. 25. 



