GILL ON THE GOURAML 711 



are acknowledgments due to tlie articles cited in tlie foot-note ;* to 

 Colonel Xicolas Pike, our late very efficient consul to Mauritius, to whom 

 the Smithsonian Institution is indebted for many specimens ; and to ex- 

 tracts from an article of Mr. Clarke. 



NAME. 



Osphromenus goramy is the true and first-published scientific name 

 given to the celebrated gourami, and was conferred by Lacep^de, who 

 accepted a manuscript-name devised by Commerson for the genus, and 

 proposed a modification of the best-known vernacular name for the spe- 

 cies. Osphromenus olfax, a name suggested in the manuscript of Com- 

 merson, was published by Lac^pede as a synonym. The name Osphro- 

 menus was bestowed by Commerson by reason of an erroneous idea 

 which he entertained, (that the labyriuthiform apparatus was an 

 adaptation for smelling,) and was derived from the Greek ocrfpo/iac, 

 to smell. Commerson's idea arose from his perception of some analogy 

 in appearance between the labyriuthiform apparatus and the ethmoid 

 bone of man. 



FORM, ETC. 



The gourami has an oblong-oval form. The snout is produced, and 

 the forehead in front of the eyes concave but behind convex, and it be- 

 comes more and more so with advancing age, (as will be noticed by com- 

 parison of figures of young and old here given). The lateral line is con- 

 tinuous from the shoulder to the base of the caudal fin. The dorsal fin 

 is considerably smaller than the anal 5 the former commencing far behind 

 the head, ending some distance in advance of the caudal, and furnished 

 with eleven to thirteen spines, and eleven or twelve articulated rays ; 

 the anal commencing near the base of the ventral, extending to and 

 connected with the base of the caudal fin, and supplied with nine to 



* EuFZ DE Lavison. Siw qiielques tentalives d'accUmatation du, gourami {Osphromenus 

 olfax) dans divers imrs. ^Bulletin Soc. Imp. Zool. d'Acclim. (Paris), viii, 1861, pp. 392- 

 403. 



VixsoN (Dr. Auguste). De V acclimatation dii govrami ri Vile de la Evunion, et des 

 moyens d'acdimater cepoissonen Algerie et dans le midi de la France. <^Bulletm Soc. Imp. 

 Zool. d'Acclim. (Paris), viii, 1861, pp. 509-514, .541-546. 



Barthelemy-L.\j>ommerayk. Xouvelle tentative d' introduction dii gourami d'ile Mau- 

 rice en France, enireprise par M. Lienard. <^Bulleiiu Soc. Imp. Zool. d'Acclim. (Paris), x, 

 1863, pp. 739-740. 



COSTE. Instruction pour le transport des gouramis. <Bulletiu Soc. Imp. Zool. d'Acclim. 

 (Paris), 2« s6rie, ii, 1865, pp. 76-80. 



BARTHi:LEMY-LAPO.MMERAYE. Sur V introduction r6cente du goitrami en France, et in- 

 structions a cet sujct. Lctire adresse'e a M. le president de la Societe Imperiale d^ Acclimata- 

 tion. < Bulletin Soc. Imp. Zool. d'Acclim. (Paris), 2« s6rie, ii, 1865, pp. 195-203. 



Dabry (P. Thiersaut). Notesiir le transport des gouramis. <Bulletin Soc. Imp. Zool. 

 d'Acclim. (Paris), 2« serie, v, 1868, pp. 591-592. 



Histoire natureile du gourami. < Bulletin Soc. Imp. Zool. d'Acclim. (Paris), 2= 



86rie. viii, 870, pp. 671-688. 



