NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 435 



Caranx carangua Lac. 



Scomber chrysos Mitchill (nee Caranx chrysos Dekay et al.). 



Caranx carangus Cuv. et Val. 



" antiiliarum Bennett (fide Giinther). 

 Trachurus cordyla Gronov. (fide Giinther). 

 Carangus esculentus Girard. 



The Scomber carangus, of Bloch, is identical with the Scomber chrysos, of 

 Mitchill, as is readily seen on the examination of his figure. The length of 

 Scomber chrysos is said to be "six inches and a half; depth two ;" the height 

 would thus be contained three times and a sixth in the length, proportions 

 which are corroborated, or represented as at least equally great, by the figure 

 accompanying Mitchill's memoir. The only species living on the coast of the 

 more temperate United States which exhibit those proportions are the Caranx 

 carangus, of Cuv. et Val., and the Caranx fallax, of Cuv. et Val. 



There is said to be "a black spot frequently at the edge of the gill cover;" 

 this portion of the description thus excludes the Caranx fallax. 



Mitchill further adds that there are "no zones, stripes, or spots any where 

 about him ;" the opercular spot is, of course, to be excepted. This denial of 

 other spots additionally excludes the more oblong Caranx defensor, of Dekay, 

 which has a distinct pectoral blotch. 



The only plausible objection that can be urged against the preceding iden- 

 tification is the number of rays in the second dorsal, which is said to be "24" 

 (= I. 23), while in the Caranx carangus that number is exceptional, but as it 

 is possibly occasionally found, the objection on that score may even be unten- 

 able.* It is in any case certain that no species, except the Caranx pisquetos, 

 of Cuv. et Val., has normally the number of rays assigned to the dorsal fin of 

 the Scomber chrysos, f and it is equally evident that those latter two are not iden- 

 tical when the difference of form and the number of anal rays is taken into 

 consideration. As the description and figure of the Scomber chrysos are there- 

 fore most applicable to the Caranx carangus, of Cuvier,J the two species must 

 be considered as referrible to one species, for which the name of Carangus 

 chrysos may be accepted. 



Two Virginian specimens of Carangus hippos are in the Smithsonian collec- 

 tion, one of which was presented by Commodore Farragut, and the other 

 by Dr. Jeffries, both having been obtained at Norfolk. It has also been ob- 

 served at New York and South Carolina. 



Genus CARANGOPS Gill. 



Cakangops falcatcs Gill. 

 Caranx falcatus Holbroolc. 



* I have myself counted the dorsal rays of twenty individuals of the Caranx caran- 

 7u* and have found twenty soft rays in twelve specimens, twenty-one in seven, and twenty- 

 two in a single one. No other scientific ichthyologist has assigned a larger number than 

 the last to the species, and it is possible that the number given by Mitchill may be due to 

 a typographical error, or that he has counted the last double ray as two. 



t To those who may discover that Holbrook attributes twenty-three soft rays to the 

 dorsal fin of Caranx defensor, I need simply refer to Holbrook's own figure, which 

 represents twenty, and to Dekay's description which assigns the same number, which I 

 hive likewise verified on the two in the Smithsonian collection, besides others seen else- 

 where. That number seems indeed to be almost constant. It is quite possible that 

 Mitchill, who was by no means exempt from errors, may have made a similar mistake. 



t The Caranx fallax, with the operculum spotless, has not yet been ascertained to 

 have wandered further north than Charleston. 



When proposing this name I was perfectly well aware that an extinct genus of fishes 

 had been called Carangopsis by Agassiz, but I applied the name of Carangoj)s to the 

 present genus as the two appeared to me to be quite distinct enough to prevent con- 

 fusion. 



1862.] 



