NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 29 



CC. Lower pharyngeals firmly united in adult, with 



two oblique inferior processes beneath Haploidonotin-S. 



* Chin bearded ; caudal subtruncated Pogonias. 



BB. Teeth of upper jaw only persistent Liostomin^. 



Body compressed, ovate Liostomus. 



AA. Lower jaw even with upper or projecting 



B. Vertebra 14 | 10 Otolithic. 



A. Canine teeth in lower jaw ; pseudobranchise Cynoseion. 



BB. Vertebra 1011 | 1415 Larimin.e. 



D. X. I. 2430 Larimus. 



Subfamily SCIJENINJE (Bon.) Gill. 

 Genus STELLIFERUS (Stark ex Cuv.) 



Les Stelliferes Cuv., R. A., 1817, 283. 

 Stelliferus Stark, El. N. H., i. 459.* 

 Homoprion Holb., Ich. S. C. 



Stelliferps lanceolatus Gill ex Holbrook. 



Homoprion lanceolatus Holb., 168. 

 Scifena lanceolata Gunther, ii. 289. 



Hab. South Carolina. 



The poor description and figure of Holbrook did not enable me to re- 

 cognize the generic identity of Homoprion lanceolatus with Stelliferus trispi- 

 nosus, of which the examination of specimens has almost convinced me. H. 

 lanceolatus has, however, pseudobranchias. 



Genus BAIRDIELLA Gill. 



Bairdiella punctata Gill ex Linn. 



Perca punctatus L., Syst; Nat., ed. 10, i. 482, (No. 4.) 



Bodianus argyroleucos Mitchill, Trans. L. and P. Soc. N. Y., i. 417. 



" pallidus Mitchill, op. cit., p. 420 ; necMorone pallida Mitchill, Rep., 



p. 18 ; nee Labrax pallidus Dekay, Storer. 

 Corvina argyroleuca Cuv. et Vol., v. 105. 

 Homoprion xanthurus Holb., 170, pi. 24, (desc. and fig. 1, (nee 2) ; nee diag. 



brev.) ; nee Leiostomus xanthurus Lac, C. et V. 

 Corvina argyroleuca Giintker, ii. 299. 

 Scifena xanthurus Gthr., pt. (nee desc.) ii. 288. 

 Bairdiella argyroleuca Gill, Cat. 33. 

 Homoprion subtruncatus Gill, (quasi ex Holb.,) Cat. 33. 



The principal confusion in the nomenclature of this species is due to Dr. 

 Holbrook, who considered it as " certainly the fish for which Lacepide esta- 

 blished his genus Leiostomus " and never perceived its identity with the Cor- 

 vina argyroleuca of the Hist. Nat. des Poissons. 



Mitchill described it in his memoir on the Fishes of New York," in the 

 " Transactions of the Philosophical Society of New York," as Bodianus pal- 

 lidum, as well as Bodianus argyroleucos. The first name has been referred 

 by all subsequent naturalists to the genus Morone on the authority of 

 Mitchill himself ; it is, however, evident that a diagnosis which describes the 

 " tail even Lateral line extending through it" " Four or five holes under the 

 chin " "D. 9 23. A. 12," cannot be intended for a Morone, if the slightest 

 confidence is reposed in the description ; on the other hand, it agrees in these 

 respects, as well as others, with the Bairdiella, and is unquestionably referrible 

 to that genus, Mitchill himself, to the contrary notwithstanding ; Dekay has 



* The proper orthography of this name is Stellifer. Although the genus of Cuvier is the result of 

 an error #riginating with Bloch as to the number of branchiostegal rays (4 instead of 1), it will 

 doubtless be adopted, as the other generic characters are appropriate and peculiar. 



1863.] 



