NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 125 



laries ; the posterior subtubular and immediately in front of the antero- 

 superior border of the eye. Branchial apertures extending forwards consider- 

 ably beyond the posterior margins of the preopercles, and separated from each 

 other by a wide isthmus. Scales cycloid, small, especially anteriorly, and 

 extending on the opercula, cheeks and forehead. 



The name of Bostrychus, which was applied to this genus by Lacepede, had 

 been previously used by Geoffrey, who, in the year 1764, applied the name, 

 incorrectly spelled Bostrichus, to a genus of coleopterous insects. The name 

 applied to that group has been universally adopted by Entomologists, and the 

 name of Bostrychus, as applied to the piscine genus, must be replaced by 

 another. The name of Bostrichthys was proposed as a substitute by Mr. Du- 

 meril, and this is accepted. 



It would be questionable to some whether a genus founded on the evidence 

 that Bostrychus was by Lacepede, and founded, at the same time, on errone- 

 ous ideas, should be adopted. Bleeker has adopted Richardson's first specific 

 name, and on the same principle, the generic name of Lacepede would also 

 have been probably ignored by him. The same objections that exist against 

 Lacepede's name would, of course, militate against the adoption of those of 

 Dumeril and Rafinesque, which were only intended by their authors to super- 

 sede his. Believing, however, that the laws of priority are imperative, and 

 require the adoption of the first given name, when the object to which it was 

 given can be identified, and unless entirely founded on false characters, the 

 name of Bostrichthys is now accepted. Against the name, however, there exist 

 the objections of an erroneous formation, and of a reference to a false charac- 

 ter. The name, in accordance with the composition, should be written Bos- 

 trychichthys, but the erroneous name is more euphonius than the correct one. 

 The name itself would imply the presence of cirrhi or barbels, but none exist ; 

 the objects that were taken for such by Lacepede are the prolonged nasal 

 tubes. These objections do not appear to be of sufficient weight to authorize 

 a change of name. 



The zoological characters by which Bostrichthys is distinguished from Philyp- 

 nus are found chiefly in the difference of the extent of the branchial apertures, 

 the cycloid structure of the scales, the distant nasal apertures, and the tubu- 

 lar form of the anterior ones. The smaller size of the scales, especially on the 

 anterior portion of the back, where they are imbedded in the skin, perhaps 

 offers another distinguishing character of Bostrichthys. 



Bostrichthys sinensis Gill. 

 Synonymy. 



p V ,' . { Lacepede, Hist. Nat. des Poissons, vol. iii. p. 141. 



Bostrychus sinensis ) * ' ' r 



Le Gobie chinois) Y&l ffigt> Nat-deg p oissons vo i. sii . p . 94> 



Gobi us sinensis ) * 



Philypnus ocellicauda Rich., Voyage of the Sulphur, Zoology, p. 59. 



Philypnus sinensis Rich., loc. cit., p. 149, pi. 56, fig. 15, 16. 



Philypnus sinensis Rich., Fifteenth Annual Report of the British Association 

 A. S., p. 210. 



Philypnus ophicephalus Blkr., Verhandelingen v. Batav. Genootschap, vol. 

 xxii., Blennoiden en Gobioiden, p. 20. 



Philypnus ocellicauda Blkr., Verhandelingen v. Batav. Genootschap, vol. 

 xxvi., Index sp. Piscium, p. 10. 



There can scarcely be a doubt that this is the Bostrychus s i n e n s i s of Lace- 

 pede, as there is no other fish of the Chinese waters known which has any 

 thing like "two barbels at the upper jaw," and an ocellus near the dorsal 

 region of the peduncle. The first specific name, P. ocellicauda, which has 



18G0.] 



