1941 CATALOGUE OF FISHES OF TORTUGAS o r 



The synonymy given remains as prepared by Dr. Longley, except that I have 

 changed the order, having found that A. stellatus Cope has priority over A. punc- 

 ticulatus. This cannot be otherwise, as Poey (see citation) compared his puncticu- 

 latus with Cope's description of stellatus, which he stated had been described in 

 "Journal Acad. Phil., 1866, p. 400." I supposed that Poey intended to refer to the 

 Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and accordingly 

 searched that series, but without success. Next, I checked the reference given in 

 current publications, namely, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 

 volume 13, 1869, page 400. A volume in the Library of Congress contains a title 

 page giving the contents of part 3 of the volume cited, wherein Cope's original 

 description appears under article 13, bearing the date 1869, which is in agreement 

 with citations in most recent books. Poey, however, knew of Cope's A. stellatus 

 certainly as early as 1867 (Repertorio, vol. 2, pp. 217-240, published in November 

 of that year), when he made a partly erroneous reference to Cope's description. 

 It is certain, therefore, that Cope's name is the older one, and was published prior 

 to 1869, possibly as early as 1866, as shown by Poey, and therefore clearly has 

 priority over Poey's puncticulatus , which it must replace. 



West Indies, Bahamas, and southern Florida. S. F. H. 



Synagrops Gtinther, 1887 



We follow Norman (Discovery Rept., vol. 12, 1935, p. 11) in considering 

 Hypoclydonia Goode and Bean a synonym of Synagrops Giinther. S. F. H. 



Synagrops bellus (Goode and Bean) 



Dr. Longley did not prepare an account of this species, of which he listed in 

 his notes 18 specimens, 40 to 175 mm., taken southeast of Tortugas, in 85 to 250 

 fathoms. 



An error in the number of anal spines appears in the original description, 

 where it was given as 4, whereas only 2 spines are present, as correctly shown in 

 the illustration accompanying the description. 



Four specimens, 40, 42, 92, and 107 mm. long, in the collection have the follow- 

 ing proportions and counts: Head 2.9 to 3.25; depth 4.2 to 4.6. Eye in head 2.9 to 

 3.2; snout 4.75 to 5.1; interorbital 3.7 to 4.1; maxillary 2.2 to 2.5; caudal peduncle 

 3.7 to 4.0; pectoral 1.45 to 1.5. D. IX-1,9; A. 11,7 or 8; scales lost, about 30 pockets; 

 gill rakers on lower limb of first arch 14. Teeth in upper jaw minute, except for 

 2 enlarged curved ones anteriorly; lower jaw with 2 somewhat enlarged teeth in 

 front, and 3 to 9 enlarged ones laterally. 



The rather elongate body, the large eye, the large, oblique mouth with max- 

 illary reaching about opposite middle of eye, the large, loosely attached scales, 

 and the short, apparently scaleless soft dorsal and anal fins seem to characterize 

 this species. The more numerous spines in the first dorsal separate this species 

 from the others of the family known from Tortugas, all of which normally have 

 6 spines in the first dorsal. 



Gulf Stream in moderately deep water. S. F. H. 



