114 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP 



named authors and the possession of specimens from the same hydrographical 

 basins as those from whence the fishes described by them were taken, leave no 

 doubt as to the identity of the species. 



Rafinesque's description of his Perca chrysops is, like almost all his des- 

 criptions, inapplicable to any known fish, but it agrees with the Morone 

 chrysops better than any other species. Rafinesque erroneously attributes 

 to his species six branchiostegal rays, a single opercular spine, eight spines to 

 the first dorsal fin, and places it under the genus Perca, all the species of which , 

 he informs us, have naked heads. He proposed for it a new genus to which he 

 gave the name Lepibema, in allusion to the scaly bases of the unpaired fins. 



Lesueur subsequently sent to the Parisian Museum two specimens of a species 

 which he called Perca multilineata, which Cuvier and Valenciennes 

 placed in their genus Labrax, but adopted for it the specific name of Lesueur. 

 Their description is mostly comparative, it being said to differ from the Labrax 

 lineatus by its higher body, shorter head, more feeble teeth, the stronger 

 asperities of the tongue, and especially the larger scales of the maxillaries, 

 which resemble those of Labrax mucronatus, while in Labrax lineatus 

 they were said to be scarcely perceptible. 



The description of the lingual dentition is very unsatisfactory, and no cor- 

 rection is made of the statement made in the second volume that the Labrax 

 lineatus has only lateral teeth. It is not in the development of the asperi- 

 ties of the tongue that the lingual dentition of the species differs, but that while 

 there are two narrow rows separated by a mesial line in Roccus lineatus, 

 the rows are broader at the middle, in proportion, and coalescent in Roccus 

 chrysops. 



There were said to be in one specimen sixteen, and in another, nineteen 

 longitudinal dark lines. So large a number is rarely seen ; the most constant 

 arrangement is five above, including the one through which the lateral line 

 runs, while sometimes there are several below the lateral line, and at other 

 times they are obsolete. These lines are sometimes straight, but often in- 

 terrupted. 



In the "Fauna Boreali-Americana " of Richardson, a Labrax is described in 

 the volume on Ichthyology, under the name of Labrax not at us (Smith), the 

 Bar-fish or Canadian Basse." This species is said to " differ from Mitchell's 

 Basse (L. lineatus Cuv.) in being much more robust, and in being marked 

 with rows of spots, five above and five below the lateral line, so regularly in- 

 terrupted and transposed as to appear like ancient church music." It has been 

 suggested by Dr. Dekay that it is the same as the Perca Mitchelli, var. 

 interrupt us of Mitchell, but the comparison will apply very well to Roccus 

 chrysops, and it is doubtless identical with that species. In the remarks 

 upon the species, it is said by Dr. Richardson apparently that "in the more 

 robust form, and in the strong scales of the head, the Canadian Bar-fish resem- 

 bles the L. mucronatus of the United States and the West Indies, and the 

 L. multilineatus of the Wabash. The latter has sixteen narrow, black, 

 longitudinal lines on the flanks." It has been attempted to show that the 

 number of lines is not a specific character, and if this is the case, the Labrax 

 n o t a t u s and L. multilineatus are probably identical with each other 

 and with Roccus chrysops. The Labrax not at us, it is true, is stated 

 by Smith to have but one anal spine and six articulated ventral rays, but this 

 statement is undoubtedly due to a lapsus calami or ati error of observation. So 

 great a variation, in the number of anal spines, from a nearly allied species, 

 would be in direct opposition to all we know of the peculiarities of the fishes 

 of this tribe, while it is one of the characters of the family to have only five 

 branched rays in the ventral fins. Smith states that he counted fifty-eight 

 scales along the lateral line, a statement which confirms the identity of this 

 . species with Roccus chrysops. 



In the abstracts of Smith's description of Labrax notatus, given by Dekay 



[April, 



