NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 115 



and Storer, tbe species is said to have the "length, one to two feet." If this 

 was so, it might militate against the idea of its identity with Itoccus chry- 

 sops, but an examination of the description of Smith and Richardson reveals 

 no mention whatever of the size of the species. 



In the number of Guerin's " Revue et Magazin de Zoologie," for April, 1853, 

 (vol. v. p. 164,) Professor Filippi, of Turin, has described a Roccus to which he 

 has given the name of Labrax s c u 1 a t i i , a traveller in America, M. Oscu- 

 lati, having obtained it from Lake Ontario. Filippi has distinguisbed this 

 species from Labrax line at us very well, alluding to the two longitudinal 

 lines of basal teeth in that species, and attributing to his own a single oval 

 patch. His other characters are the greater heighth of the body in L. Oscu- 

 latii, which equals a third of the length, while ia L. line at us it is a 



9 

 quarter; and the number of scales, which are formulated as 56 for L. 



9 15 



Osculatii, and 64 for L. 1 in ea tu s . The true teeth are also said to 



11 

 be more numerous. The distinctive characters of the species are very well 

 stated by Filippi, but his expression of surprise that a fish so common in the 

 United States should not have been noticed by any American naturalist, not 

 even by Dr. Dekay, is uncalled for. Unhappily, the species had been too often 

 noticed, and in Dekay's Ichthyology of New York it appears under no less than 

 three different names. Filippi has mentioned its habitat as the sea and rivers 

 of the United States (Mare et fluviis confederationis Americanse). I know not 

 on what authority it is said to inhabit the sea; it is probably assumed to be 

 found there because the Roccus li neat us is. So far as we now know, it is 

 confined to the great fresh water lakes and the Western rivers. 



Specimens of the Roccus chrysops are in the Museum of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, from southern Illinois, obtained by Mr. Robert Kennicott, and from 

 the Root river at Racine, Wisconsin, Toronto, &c, obtained by Professor Baird. 



The specimens from the hydrographical basins of the Ohio river and of the 

 Great Lakes cannot be specifically distinguished from each other. Nor can I 

 perceive the difference signalized by Dr. Kirtland in the caudal fins of Ohio and 

 Lake Erie specimens. 



In extreme youth, this species appears to be crossed by obscure vertical 

 bands; at a later epoch these bands are lost, and afterwards the longitudinal 

 lines are assumed. 



The best descriptions of this species have been published by Prof. Filippi 

 under the name of Labrax Osculatii, and by the late Dr. Dekay under that 

 of Labrax albidus. The best figure is that given by Dr. Kirtland in the 

 Journal of the Boston Society of Natural History, but the dorsals are errone- 

 ously represented as being connected by a low membrane. In the text they are 

 correctly described as being " distinct." 



IV. Moeone. (Mitch.) Gill. 



Synonymy. 

 Perca'sp., Bloch, Gmel. Lac. 

 Morone sp., Mitchell. 

 Bodianus sp., Mitchell. 

 Labrax sp., Raf. 



Corpus oblongo-ovatum, gibbosum ad pinnae dorsalis initium. Dentes max- 

 illares, palatini et vomerini velutini ; dentes linguales in margine totio dispo- 

 siti, ad basin carentes. Squamae in capite totio bene pectinatae. Preoperculum 

 postice subtusque pectinatum. Operculum biaculeatum. Pinnae dorsales ad 

 basin membrana paulo elevata conjunctae ; pinna dorsalis spinosa radiis 

 numero non decern superantibus. Pinna analis spinis tribus, quarum secnn- 

 da saepe major est. Linea lateralis antice convexa vix dorso concurrens. 

 I860.] 



