Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 501 



Generic Synonyms: 



Scymnus Cuvicr, Regne Anim., 2, I 81 7: 130; type species, Squalus americantis Gmelin, 1789, equals Sq-udus 



Hcha Bonnaterre, 1788, but preoccupied for insects by Kugelman, 1794- 

 Scymnhim Cuvicr, Regne Anim., ill. ed., Poiss., I 838-1 843: pi. I 15; type species, Squalus jiicaense Cuvier, 



equ.ils Squalus licha Bonnaterre, I 788. 

 Dalatius L. Agassiz, Nomcncl. Zool. Index, i 845 : 21 ; emended spelling for Dalalias. 

 Scymnorhinus Bonaparte, Cat. Pesc. Europ., 1846: 16; type species, Squalus americanus Gmelin, 1789, equals 



Squalus licha Bonnaterre, 1788. 

 Barborodes Giste!, Naturg. Tierreich, 1848: X; proposed to replace Scymnorhinus Bonaparte, 1846. 

 Pseudoscymnus Herre, Copeia, 1935: 124; type species P. boshueiisis Herre. 



Generic Characters. Dalatiidae without dorsal spines; snout very short; caudal 

 peduncle without lateral ridges or precaudal pits; a labial fold on each jaw and a 

 voluminous pit at corner of mouth; upper teeth slender, thorn-like, in several functional 

 series; lower teeth broad-triangular with regularly serrate edges; dermal denticles low, 

 ridged, their margins more or less definitely toothed; 2nd dorsal somewhat larger, and 

 pelvics much larger, than ist dorsal; ist dorsal far anterior to pelvics; rear end of base of 

 2nd dorsal considerably posterior to origin of pelvics; interspace between ist and 2nd 

 dorsals considerably longer than between 2nd dorsal and caudal; caudal noticeably large, 

 with rounded corners, its terminal sector sharply marked off, but lower anterior corner not 

 expanded as a definite lobe; skin without luminous organs. Characters otherwise those 

 of the family. 



Range. Both sides of North Atlantic; Mediterranean; South Africa; Japan; Aus- 

 tralia; New Zealand. 



Fossil Teeth. Upper Cretaceous, western Asia and North America; Eocene, North 

 Africa; Eocene to Pliocene, Europe; and Miocene, North America. 



Species. The Australian-New Zealand and South African representatives of the 

 genus have recently been separated'' from the well known D. licha of the North Atlantic 

 and Mediterranean. But we find nothing in the several accounts or illustrations of the 

 Australian form (see Synonyms, p. 508) to separate it from licha. It is equally doubt- 

 ful whether the supposed differences noted by the author of brevipinnis, i.e., lower teeth 

 more oblique in adult, smaller fins and less pronounced lower caudal lobe, will prove suffi- 

 cient for specific separation when critically tested. 



New generic and specific names {Pseudoscymnus boshuensis) have also been pro- 

 posed by Herre" for a Japanese form, no doubt the same as one earlier reported as Scy>nnus 

 lichia^ as Dalatias americanus^ and as D. licha^ the separation being based on its denticles, 

 which differ in shape between the lower side of the snout and the trunk in general, and its 



5. As f /lillipf si Whkley (Aust. Zool., <5, 1931 : 310) and as brevifinnis Smith (Trans, roy. See. S. Afr., 2^, 1936: i) 

 respectively. 



6. Copeia, 1935 : 124. 



T. Ishikawa and Matsuura, Prel. Cat. Fish. Mus. Tokyo, 1897: 61. 



8. Jordan and Snyder, Annot. zool. jap., 3, 1901: 129. 



9. Jordan and Fowler, Proc. U.S. nat. Mus., 26, 1903: 637; also Izuka and Matsuura, Cat. Zool. Tokyo Mus. Vert., 

 19Z0: 188. 



