454 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



or as Acanthias vulgaris" all fall in the acanthtas group, so far as the fins are concerned, 

 but may perhaps be set apart by the teeth^^ when adult. A form at least very close to acan- 

 thias is also known under that name from South Africa and from the Island of Reunion in 

 the southern Indian Ocean. The relationship of these southern hemisphere forms to one 

 another and to the northern acanthias is uncertain. 



In the North Atlantic group B is confined to the Mediterranean [hlainville Risso, 

 1826). But it is widely represented in the southern hemisphere (Mauritius, South Africa, 

 Argentina, Tasmania) and in Philippine, Japanese and Korean waters by forms so closely 

 resembling one another, that while they have formed the basis for at least seven supposed 

 species, most of these have recently been united by Fowler" under the oldest name, jernan- 

 ^iM«j Molina, 1782." 



Our own comparison of specimens of this group from the Mediterranean with others 

 from the west coast of South America, Juan Fernandez and Tasmania" confirms this union 

 in so far as concerns the fins, shape of head, and snout and margin of nostril. But the 

 dorsal fin spines (second as well as first) are considerably shorter in the eastern Pacific 

 and Tasmanian specimens, and also (by published accounts) in the South African"^ and 

 Argentine"*" representatives of this group than in the Mediterranean representative or in 

 the Japanese as pictured. Hence, since the length of the spines is fairly constant in the only 

 member of the genus {^acanthias') of which a large series has been examined, it seems wise 

 to retain the name hlainville for the Mediterranean form, at least for the present, post- 

 poning decision as to how many species the fernandinus group includes in the southern 

 hemisphere and in the Pacific until adequate series can be compared from representative 

 localities. 



Group C includes four named forms: cubensis Howell-Rivero, 1936, from Cuba 5 

 brevirostris Tanaka, 19 17, from Japan; me galops Macleay, 1881, from southern Aus- 

 tralia and Tasmania;''^ and grifmi Phillipps, 1931, from New Zealand. Here again deci- 

 sion as to whether or not these are all distinct species, and if so by what alternative charac- 



xj. Perugia, Ann. Mus. Stor. nat. Genova, (2) to (30), 1891: 608. 



18. See Devincenzi (An. Mus. Hist. nat. Montevideo, [2] 4 [14]) '939: 4) for a recent discussion. 



19. Bull. U.S. nat. Mus., 100 (/j), 1941 : 260- 



20. Exceptions are tasman'tensis Rivero, 1936, which Fowler retains as distinct, and mitsukurii Jordan and Fowler, 

 1903, which he relegates to the synonymy of suckleyi Girard, 1854, i.e., the North Pacific representative of the 

 acanthias group. Actually, however, mitsukurii was a compound species, a fact which has resulted in much 

 confusion in the nomenclature of Japanese sharks of this genus. Thus the form pictured under that name by its 

 authors, Jordan and Fowler (Proc. U.S. nat. Mus., 26, 1903; 630, fig. 3), and subsequently by Tanaka (Fish. 

 Japan, 26, 1917: pi. 130, fig. 36S-370), was clearly acant/rias-Wke, but the specimen described by Jordan and 

 Fowler on the preceding page (which is therefore the type of the species) was of the fernandinus group, as 

 pointed out by Jordan and Hubbs (Mem. Carneg. Mus., 10, 1925: 105, 106). And this is also true of jafonicus 

 Ishikawa (Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad., 1908: 71); Tanaka (Fish. Japan, 26, 1917: pi. 130, fig. 365-3*7)- 

 Jafonicus is therefore a synonym of mitsukurii, and the latter in turn probably a synonym of fernandinus. 



21. The latter is the type specimen of tasmaniensis Howell-Rivero, 1936. 

 2ia. Acutipinnis Regan, Ann. Natal Mus., 7, 1908: 248, pi. 37. 



2ib. Fernandinus Lahille, An. Mus. nac. B. Aires, }j, 19:9: 327, fig. 17. 



22. For illustration of megalofs and griffini, see Whitley (Fish. Aust., /, 1941 : 138). 



