218 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



dd. Brown, obscurely spotted with darker. Vomerine teeth do not extend 



nearly so far back as the palatine latifrons.* 



cc. Unicoloi-ed. 



e. Brown; D.84; C.17; scales none; nostril midway between eye 

 and mouth; head contained 2^ (!) times in total length; 6 



canines in Tipper jaw orientalis. 



ee. Dark brown ; vomerine series longer than palatine, and extends 

 farther back; D. 81 ; C. 20-21; scales few ; nostril nearer eye 

 than mouth; head contained 4^-41 times in total length; 4 

 canines in upper jaw.. • lepturus. 



A partial synonymy of the species is appended : 



1. Anarrhichas lupus Liun6. 



Aiiarrhichas Jiqm.^ LiNNifi, Syst. Nat., I, 1766, p. 430: DEKAY,Nat. Hist. N. Y., 



Fishes, 1842, p. 158, pi. xvi, fig. 43. 

 Anarrhichas romerinus Storer, Hist. Fish. Mass., 1867, p. 99, pi. xyiii, fig. 1. 



2. Anarrhichas minor Olafsen. 



Anarrhichas minor Olafsen, Reise i Island, 1772, § 6836, p. 592, tab. 42. 

 Anarrhichas pantherinus Zuiew, Nov. Act. Petrop., 1781, p. 271, tab. 6. 

 Amrrhichas hojyardus Agassiz in Spix, Pise. Bras., 1829, p. 92, tab. 11. 



3. Anarrhichas orientalis Pallas. 



Anarrhichas orientalis Pallas, Zoog. Rosso-Asiat., 1831, p. 77, tab. xi. 



4. Anarrhichas latifrons Steenstrup «fe Hallgrimssou. 



Anarrhichas latifrons Stp. & Hallgr., Forh. Skand. Naturf, 3die Mote, 1842, 

 p. 647 : COLLETT, Chra. Vid. Selsk. Forh., 1879, No. 1, p. 46, pi. ii. 



Anarrhichas {Lycichthys) latifrons Gill, Baird's Ann. Rec. S. & I. for 1876 

 (1877), p. clxvii. 



f Anarrhichas denticulatus Kr5yer, Overs. Vidensk. Selsk. Kjobeuhavn, 1844, 

 p. 140: Gaimarp, Voy. en Scand., etc., Zool., Poiss., 1845, pi. 12. 



5. Aparrhichas fasciatus Bleeker. 



Anarrhichas fasciatus Blkr., Nederlandsch Tijdschrift voor de Dierkunde, 

 Amsterdam, Deel iv, 1874, p. 151. 

 U. S. National Museum, October 25, 1879. 



NOTK!^ ON CERTAIN TYPICAI. SPECIMENS OF AMERICAN FISHES 

 IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM AND IN THE MUSEUM D'HISTOIRE 

 NATUREU.I.E AT PARIS. 



By DAVID S. JORDAIV, Ifl. D. 



In a recent visit to Europe the writer has bad the privilege of exam- 

 ining the original types of certain species of American fishes, described 



* Anarrhichas latifrons and A. denticulatus are made the type of a distinct subgenus by Professor 

 Gill, who inoposes to separjito these from tho lupus type by the following characters : The greater 

 convexity and longitudinal arching of the skull at the posterior frontal region, and the much greater 

 extension backwards of tho palatine series of teeth as compared with the vomerine band. Examina- 

 tion of the large collection of the three Atlantic species of Anarrhichas in the National Museum has 

 convinced me that these characters have not the taxonomic value claimed for them, owing to their great 

 variability in individxtals. The flgurea published by Steenstrup (Vid. Medd. naturh. For. K.job., 1876, 

 tab. iii) represent extremes of A. minor and A. latifrons, which, without access to many examples of 

 both species, would bo misleading. A. minor, for instance, sometimes has the vomerine band of teeth 

 extending little farther back than is observed in A. latifrons. The dentition of A. latifrons, too, is sub- 

 ject to considerable variation with age, as is the shape of the skull. A. minor seems to show closer 

 aflBnity to A. latifrons than to A. lupus. 



