574 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 9* 



other two were long and narrow. The supporting ribs of the suck- 

 ing cups have 16 segments, 125 percent more than the 7 reported for 

 salminei and 60 percent more than in paulensis. The respiratory 

 areas of paulensis (fig. 31) and nattereri (fig. 74) are so radically 

 different that the two species could not possibly be synonyms. The 

 caudal rami of pauUnsis (fig. 33) are curved and lateral, those of 

 nattereri (fig. 78) are straight and basal. For the present, there- 

 fore, the three species, paulensis^ nattereri^ and sahmnei must be re- 

 garded as equally valid, awaiting the discovery of the male of nat- 

 tereH and the reexamination of both sexes of salminei with especial 

 reference to the respiratory areas and supporting rods. 



ARGULUS SALMINEI Kr0yer 



Argulus salminei Kk0yeb, 1S63, pp. 89, 102, pi. 1, fig. la-f.— Wilson, 1902, p. 720, 

 pi. 22, fig. 64. (Not Argulus salminei Meehean, 1940, p. 502, fig. 57 ; see under 

 A. nattereri and A. paulensis.) 



The National Museum collection contains a single example of this 

 species, identified and forwarded by F. Silvestri, of Buenos Aires, 

 Argentina. This sample has lost all its appendages and the body is 

 mutilated and distorted, hence no specific characters are revealed. 

 Therefore, the statement made by Meehean (1940, p. 468) that no 

 specimen of the species was available may be regarded as virtually 

 correct. 



In spite of this statement, however, Meehean has published a detailed 

 description of both sexes accompanied by original figures. The de- 

 scription could be compiled easily from existing literature without 

 a specimen but not so the figures. Since no suitable specimen of 

 salminei was available the figures must have been taken from speci- 

 mens declared to be synonyms of salminei. The accessory sex char- 

 acters that Meehean gives correspond exactly with those of a paulen- 

 sis male ; the respiratory areas are identical with those of a nattereri 

 female and the supporting ribs are those of the paulensis female. 

 Meehean's description of necessity corresponds with his figures, and 

 since both pavlensis and nattereri are shown in the present paper 

 to be valid species the result is that his species becomes a synthesis 

 of the characters of two species, neither of which is the real salminei., 

 and must be canceled. 



It would seem as if Thiele was largely responsible for this confusion 

 of species. He found two male specimens of the genus Argulus in the 

 Copenhagen Museum unaccompanied by a female. For some reason 

 he placed them in the species salminei although they did not agree at 

 all with Kr0yer's type male of that species. However, they do agree 

 fully with the male of paulensis^ a species established 20 years later. 

 This male was associated with two females on the same fish and they 



