NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 333 



St. ex Peck), but is entirely destitute of spots. The specimen which afforded 

 the foundation on which it was inserted in the Catalogue of Maine Fishes was 

 obtained by Dr. Stimpson several years ago. 



The subclass of Elasmobranchiates has not been yet treated of in Dr. 

 Storer's " History." Since the publication of his " Report," he has added 

 several species of great interest. The species enumerated in the Report are 

 the following : 



Carcharias vulpes = Alopias vulpes Bon. 



Lamna punctata = Isuropsis Dekayi Gill, (not Sq. punctatus Mit.) 

 Spinax acanthias = Acanthias americanus St. = Squalus americanus Gill. 

 Somniosus brevipinna Les. 

 Raia batis = Rara laevi Mitchill. 

 Carcharias obscurus* = Eulamia ccerulea Gill. 



To these were subsequently added: 



1. Cestracion zyGvEna Gill = Zygsena malleus St. Boston, Jour. Nat. Hist., iv. 



185, = Zygoma subarcaatus St. op. cit. iii. 71. 



2. Trvgon centrouka (Storer, op. cit. iv. 186. 



3. Myliobatis bispinosus Storer, op. cit. iv. 187. 



4. Tetronarce occidentals Gill = Torpedo occidentalis Storer, Am. Jour. Sc. v. 



Arts, xlr. 165. 



5. Mdstelos canis Storer, Syn. Fishes N. A., p. 253 Mem. Am. Ac. ii. 505. 



6. Eugomphodcs littoralis Gill, = Carcharias griseus St., Proc. Boston Soc. 



ii., 1846, p. 256, = Odontaspisl sp. Desor op. cit. ii., 1847, p. 264. 



7. Galeocerdo ? sp. = Carcharias Atwoodi St., op. cit. iii., 1848, p. 72. 



Note on the species of SEBASTES of the Eastern coast of North America. 



BY THEODORE GILL. 



Cuvier and Valenciennes, fully describing and figuring the Sebastes norvegicus 

 as the type of the genus Stbastes, attribute to it a height at the pectorals con- 

 tained rather less than three times and a half in the length, a head forming a 

 third of the length, and an eye equalling a quarter of the head's length. The 

 rays of the dorsal fin were XV. 15 ; of the anal, III. 8. The color was said to 

 be uuiform reddish, with a blackish spot towards the angle of the operculum. 

 "This description was based on iadividuals from Norway and Newfoundland, 

 which did not appear to differ in form."f Remembering how cauiions those 

 great naturalists were in identifying species from distant localities, there can 

 scarcely remain any doubt that they had specimens of the true Sebastes nor- 

 vegicus from Newfoundland. Since that period, its existence in Greenland, pre- 

 viously signalized by Fabricius, has been confirmed by Reiuhardt and Giinther. 

 The Perca norvegica of Fabricius, and Sebastes norvegicus of Cuv. and Val , 

 Richardson, Reinhardt, and Giinther, are therefore without doubt the same as 

 the species of Norway. 



But in 1839, Dr. Storer, in his Report, described under the name of Sebastes 

 norvegicus, a specimen whose head, "from tip of lower jaw when closed to pos- 

 terior angle of operculum," equalled a third of the length, and whose very Largs 

 eye had a diameter " equal to one-third the length of head." 



Dekay evidently borrowed his description and figure of Sebastes norvegicus 

 from the Histoire naturelle, and remarked that "this is a rare fish in our 

 waters. It is called, by our fishermen, Red Sea Perch, and they say it is only 



* Teeth above "in the middle of the jaw, one inch and two lines high, and one inch wide at 

 their base;" "in the lower jaw, similar in their form and number, but smaller than thoso in the 

 upper jaw." 



f Hist. Nat. des Poiasons, iv. p. 333. 



1863.] 



