BO PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OE 



remarked that he " had the authority of Dr. Mitchill himself for the identity 

 of the species" with the Labrax pallidus (= Morone americana), and adds, 

 that "there are, however, several grave errors in his description, some of 

 which he assured me were typographical." The Bodianus argyroleucos is also 

 undoubtedly the same species, and was characteristically figured by Mitchill. 



Holbrook next made the nomenclature still more complicated. He has de- 

 scribed and figured it under the name of Homoprion xanthurus, strangely con- 

 founding it with the Leiostomus xanthurus, and affirming that it was "certainly 

 the fish for which Lacepede established his genus Leiostomus.' 1 '' He has in his 

 " specific characters " reproduced the diagnosis and radial formula of Leiosto- 

 mus xanthurus from Cuvier and Valenciennes,* while in the full " description " 

 he correctly describes the fins of Bairdiella argyroleuca.] Misled by his " spe- 

 cific characters," and neglecting to read his description of the fins, which I had 

 supposed to be, like most of his others, merely a repetition in words of the 

 radial formula of the diagnosis, I did not recognize its specific identity with 

 Bairdiella argyroleuca, although especially alluding to its great resemblance 

 to that fish iu an article on the Scisenoids. Shortly after the publication of 

 that paper, the second editionj of Holbrook's "Ichthyology of South Carolina." 

 having been received at the Academy during a visit there, I immediately recog- 

 nized the Bairdiella in the figure of Homoprion xanthurus, the rays being more 

 distinctly represented than in the figure of the first edition, and consequently 

 the small number at once arresting the attention. It was only then that I was 

 led to examine the extended description of the fins. I have previously de- 

 monstrated that Lacepede's Leiostomus xanthurus is a true Liostomus as under- 

 stood by Holbrook, who retains that generic name for a type which he be- 

 lieved was entirely unknown to Lacepede, referring the only species of that 

 author to a new genus ! 



Genus SCIiENOPS Gill. 



According to Giinther, the Corvina ocellata or Johnius ocellatus of American 

 naturalists, belongs to a different genus from the type of Johnius. As it is 

 equally distinct from Scieena, to which it has been referred by Giinther, a dis- 

 tinct generic name is requisite : that of Scianops is therefore proposed ; the only 

 generic character recognized by Giinther, is the weakness of the anal spine in 

 comparison with that of Johnius carutta, the Corvina carutta of Giinther. The 

 diagnosis of Johnius in the " Revision of the Genera of North American Sci- 

 noids " is chiefly applicable to the present genus. 



ScijEnops ocellatus Gill ex Linn. 



Perca ocellata Linn., Syst. N., 4S3. 

 Lutjanus triangulum Lac, iv. 181, 217. 

 Centropomus ocellatus Lac, iv. 257, 279. 

 Scirena imberbis Mit., Trans., i. 411. 

 Corvina ocellata C. and V. } 134, pi. 108. 

 Johnius ocellatus Girard. 

 Scirena ocellata Gtlir., ii. 289. 



Hob. Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and Eastern Coast northwards to New 

 York ; not found in fresh waters, (contra Gthr., ii. 289.) 



*" Body above palest golden-brown; below silvery-white, without spots or bars; tail yellow. 

 D. 11.1 32. P-21. V.l-5. A. 2 13. C.17." 



t D. XI. 1. 21. P. 14. V- I. 5. A. II. 9. C. 17. 



+ Dr. Holbrook, influenced by the hope of reclaiming the first edition of his work, has 

 rendered the prrcurement of the second edition almost impossible by his order to his publishers, 

 to only exchange the one for the other. 



[Feb. 



