NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 439 



Trachinotus argenteus Cuv. et Val., Gill. 

 Trachinotus cupreus Cuv. et Val. 

 Lichia Carolina Dekay. 

 Bothrolaemus pampanus Holb., Gill. 

 Doliodon carolinus Girard, Gill. 



In the "General Remarks" on this species, Dr. Holbrook, referring to De- 

 kay's name for this species (Lichia Carolina), has remarked that' the absence 

 of teeth forbids its reference to the genus Lichia; "nor can his specific name 

 be retained, as that of Cuvier and Valenciennes has the right of priority ; 

 unless, indeed, it could be satisfactorily proved that our crevalle is identical 

 with the Gasterosteus carolinus of Liunseus, and this cannot be done, as that 

 animal must be a caranx, it having a carina along its tail. Yet it is almost 

 certain that the crevalle of Dr. Garden, which Linnams quotes as a synonym, 

 is the animal now under consideration ; for the name crevalle or cavalli was 

 commonly applied to this fish, even in the time of Garden, as I have been 

 informed by his contemporaries, and if we consider the great estimation in 

 which this fish is held by epicures, and the price it commands in market 

 above all others, it is not probable that its name has been changed."* 



Linnaeus gives the following description of his Gasterosteus carolinus. 



Gasterosteus carolinus, spinis dorsalibus 8, analibus 3, 

 8 ^ 



D. - 26. P. 18, V. 5. A. (= 27-3 = III. 24). C. 27. 



8 27 



Corpus oblongo-ovatum. Linea lateralis recta ad caudam subcarinata. P. 

 D. and A. falcatse. Cauda bifurca. Habitat in Carolina ubi Crevalle dicitur. 



It is scarcely necessary to argue that this description can not be applied to 

 any Carangine fish of the American or any other coast, as the existence of 

 free spines instead of a dorsal fin,f straight course of the lateral line, its want 

 of armaturej and the radial formula at once render evident. 



In all respects in which it thus differs from the Caranginse, it agrees with 

 the lyachynotus pampanus of Cuvier, and more or less disagrees with any 

 other known species. These characters as well as the immediate approxima- 

 tion of the species to one admitted to be a Trachynotus ( G. ovatus) and the 

 popular name and habitat assigned to it, render it certain that the Gasterosteus 

 carolinus is the Trachynotus pampanus C. V., and the Bothrolaemus pampanus of 

 Holbrook, and that the species must be consequently called Trachynotus caro- 

 linus. 



Blindly confiding in the accuracy and knowledge of my predecessors, and 

 neglecting to question Nature herself, I have in the Catalogue of the Fishes 

 of this coast, admitted the four nominal species distributed among the genera 

 by implication admitted by them. The characters of the several genera and 



* Holbrook, Ichthyology of South Carolina, p. 84, 1855. 



tThis character is of course implied by the reference of the species to the genus Gas- 

 terosteus. 



t Linnseus knew two species of the genus Caranx as understood by Cuvier. Of one of 

 these (Caranx trachurus) the lateral line was said to be mailed (Linea lateralis lorica- 

 la) and of the other (Carangus hippos), carinated and subspinose (Linea lateralis carina- 

 ta, subspinosa). The curvaiure of each was also noticed. The phrase " subcarnata," 

 was therefore evidently not intended to describe the lateral line of a Caranx, but to in- 

 dicate the distinctness of the line of the species to which the name of Gasterosteus 

 carolinus is here referred. 



21 have found the same large number of dorsal and anal rays as that noliced by Lin- 

 8 3 



naeus. (D. - 26. A. = D. VII. I. 26. A. II. I. 24>, although such a number is of rare 



8 27 



occurrence. 



1862.1 



