238 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



Phycis americanus Dekay, Rep., 291, f. 159. 

 Phycis americanus pt. Storer, Sys., 221. 

 Phycis tinea Kaup, Arc. f. Nat., 1858, i. 89. 

 Phycis filamentosus Storer. 



The height at the anus enters about 6| times in the extreme length and 6 

 times exclusive of the caudal fin ; the head more than 5 times in the former 

 or 4| in the latter. The supramaxillar bones end under the posterior margin 

 of the pupils. The snout is longer than the eye and forms a quarter of the 

 head's length. The width of the interorbital space exceeds the vertical diame- 

 er of the orbit. 



The vent is nearly under the tenth ray of the second dorsal, generally inter- 

 mediate between the snout and about the end of the fourth or fifth of the anal 

 fin. The elongated third dorsal ray is generally shorter than the head. The pec- 

 toral enters about 1^ times in the head's length. The ventral is more than a 

 half larger than the head and extends behind the vent. 



The scales are very distinct, in about 110 oblique rows from the scapular 

 region to the end of the caudal peduncle, and in nine rows between the first 

 dorsal and the lateral line. 



D. 9 | 57. A. 50. 



The color of the body and fins is yellowish-brown, thickly punctulated with 

 darker. The anal has its rays tipped with white, by which a whitish linear 

 margin is produced. The roof of the mouth and most of the tongue is dark 

 purple. 



The first notice of this species appears to have been given in Schcepf's Descrip- 

 tions of some North American Fishes, published in 1788. He there describes 

 a fish under the generic name of Blennius, which, according to him, was call- 

 ed " chuss " at New York. The color was reddish-brown on the head and 

 back, white beneath ; in a specimen eighteen inches, the shorter branch of the 

 ventral ray was 2^, and the other 5 inches long ; the first dorsal had nine rays, 

 of which the first (truly third) was filiform and four inches long ; the second 

 dorsal had 60 rays, and the anal 53 ; the scales were deciduous. 



This decription was paraphrased from the German, except in the important 

 notice of the proportions of the ventral fins, by Walbaum in his edition of 

 Artedi, and he was the first to confer a specific name Blennius chuss on it. 



Mitchill, in 1814, under the name of Gadus longpipes, gave a recognizable 

 description of it based on a specimen having the " length about twenty inch- 

 es ; depth three and a half: the first (third) ray of the first dorsal almost six 

 inches long. ' Allusion was made to the "sides of the tongue and inside of 

 the throat smutty or dotted with black." " The ventral fins (were) six inches 

 long, bifid, tapering and reddish." 



Storer, in his, " Report on the Fishes of Massachusetts," has confounded this 

 species with another, for which he has retained the name of P. americanus. 

 In his " Synopsis of the Fishes of North America, " he has repeated his error, 

 citing the description and figure given by Dekay of the present ; but his de- 

 scription in the latter work was so vague that I, was not aware of it till the 

 publication of his History. 



Finally, in his "History of the Fishes of Massachusetts," Storer has de- 

 scribed and figured the present species under the new name of Phycis filmen- 

 tosus, while the P. americanus proves to be quite different from that on which 

 the latter name was originally conferred. 



Phycis tenuis Dekay. 



i*hyeis furcatus Storer, Boston Journ. N. H., i. 418 (excl. syn.) 

 Phycis americanus Storer, Rep., p. 138 (excl. syn.) 



Doubtful synonymy. 

 (radus tenuis Mitch. 

 Phycis tenuis Storer, Syn., 222. 

 Phycis Dekayi Kaup, Archiv. f. Nat., 1858, i. p. 89. 



[Sept, 



