232 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



I am acquainted with only one American species of this genus ; it is un- 

 doubtedly the same described and figured by Storer in his History of the Pishes 

 of Massachusetts, and the same as that which has been referred to the Gadus 

 virens, or Pollachius carbonarius, by Dr. GUnther. As that gentleman has 

 identified it with the European species after an actual comparison of speci- 

 mens from Boston and Europe, and, as Dr. Reinhardt has enumerated the Euro- 

 pean species among the Greenland Fishes, I am forced to follow them in faith 

 until I shall be able to examine myself the fishes of the several countries. 



I am, however, disposed to believe that the New England and New York type 

 is a distinct species ; in that case, it must receive the name Pollachius purpu- 

 reus ; the minute barbel is very often present. 



Dr. Storer, in 1839, believed that he could recognize two species of Merlan- 

 gus of the 31. carbonarius type, one of which was called by the last name 

 and the other designated as 31. jmrpareus, Mitchill. In his descriptions he 

 has given each a special set of characters, some of which are not mentioned 

 in the description of the allied species, but, as his notices are not comparative, 

 it cannot be assumed that the characters attributed to one are wanting in the 

 other when not mentioned. But even after the eliminations required by such 

 considerations, some points of his descriptions may be contrasted, and if im- 

 plicitly relied in, would result in the admission of two species. Of 31. carbo- 

 narius, he describes the "length of the head compared to that of the body, 

 exclusive of the tail, as 1 to 2\ depth of the body over the base of the 

 pectorals rather less than the length of the head," while to 31. pur- 

 pureus is only attributed "a depth of the body across from the anus 

 exclusive of the dorsal fin, as 1 to 4;" "length of the head about 

 equal to the greatest depth of body;" the first dorsal fin of 31. carbonarius 

 is " longer than high ;" in M. purpureas, a "third longer than high." 



With regard to the proportions of the head and body of 31. carbonarius, 

 there can be no question that there has been error, for a length equal to two 

 and a quarter times that of the head would nearly extend to the middle of 

 the first anal, proportions which the 31. carbonarius of Europe certainly does 

 not exhibit, and which, as subsequent evidence demonstrates, the 31. carbona- 

 rius of Storer equally fails to show. The length of the first dorsal is excep- 

 tionally if ever a third longer than high. The other variations between 31. 

 carbonarius and 31. purpureas are very slight, and no true specific characters 

 are brought forward ; and, as Storer has only admitted a single species in his 

 last work on the Fishes of Massachusetts, there can " be little question that 

 there is no specific difference between the two." 



Dekay, subsequently, in his "Zoology of New York" admitted three 

 species, the M. carbonarius and 31. purpureas, as well as a new spe- 

 cies, which he called 31. leptoaphalus, di tinguished by having the 

 " lower jaw shortest,' 1 and of which he further says, " the upper jaw 

 receives the under jaw within it, although, when extended, the latter appears 

 somewhat the longest;'' "the first dorsal pointed." His descriptions are, 

 as usual, loose and vague, but, w th the exception of the portions quoted 

 above, contain nothing which would decidedly be opposed to their reference to 

 the 31. carbonarius, and if it is assumed, as from analogy would almost be justi- 

 fied, that the 31. leptocephalus was founded on a specimen in which the lower 

 jaw had been retracted by dislocation, they may with little hesitation be re- 

 ferred to one species. 



In my Catalogue of the Fishes of the Coast, failing to exercise sufficient 

 criticism, I have admitted the three species of Dekay and Storer's Synopsis, 

 retaining the 31. purpureas and leptocephalus in 31erlangus, the latter being 

 expressly said to have the lower jaw shortest, and Dekay's figure of 31. pur- 

 pureus representing the lower jaw still shorter,* (although opposed to his de- 



* Have not Dekay'e figures of M. purpureus and M. leptocephalus been reversed ? 



[Sept. 





