190 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



AN IDENTIFICATION OF THE FIGURES OF FISHES IN CATESBY'S 



NATURAL HISTORY OF CAROLINA, FLORIDA, AND THE BAHAMA 



ISLANDS. 



By DAVID .*i. JORDAIV. 



About one hundred and vsixty years ago (1724-'25) Mark Catesby vis- 

 ited the Bahama Islands, and published a series of large-sized colored 

 engravings, accompanied by a brief descriptive text, of various animals 

 and plants observed there. Numerous editions (1731-'o0) of his work 

 have beeu issued, some in English and French, others in German and 

 Latin, all with the same plates. In the English edition is given the 

 vernacular names of the animals in use in the Bahamas. These are 

 reprinted, so far as the fishes are concerned, by Goode (Bull. U. S. Nat. 

 Mus., V, 1870, p. 10), and from his paper they have been copied into the 

 present one. Catesby's figures are of every degree of merit, from good 

 to the very worst. Some are very carefully executed ; others are evi- 

 dently, either wholly or in part, drawn from memory. Small details, 

 as the numbers of the fin-rays, are rarely attended to. These drawings 

 have a considerable importance in our nomenclature, as various species 

 of Linnaius and of other binomial writers have been based upon them. 



The only coherent attempt at identification of the fishes described by 

 €atesby has been made by Professor Goode in his valuable memoir on 

 the fishes of the Bermudas (Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., V, 1870, pp. 10, 17). 

 Of the forty four species figured by Catesby, about twenty are positively 

 identified, and several of the others doubtfully so. Most of these iden- 

 tifications are unquestionably correct. In this paper I attempt to in- 

 crease the number of positive identifications. The fact that almost all 

 of the English vernacular names given by Catesby are still in use for 

 the same species among the fishermen of Key West (nearly all of whom 

 have come from Nassau, in the Bahamas) is an important aid in their 

 determination. 



2.. Umbla minor, marina maxiliis longioribus (the Barf.acvi>a)^= Sphyrcena 

 picuda, (Block & Sclineicler). (Tab. 1, f. 1.) 



This is the basis of Esox barracuda Shaw.' It is evidently intended 

 for the common large Barracuda or Picuda of the West Indies, for which 

 the name j^icMc?«, based on a figure of Parra, has priority. 



2. Vulpis 'bahamensis = Jlbula vulpes, (L.)- (Tab. 1, f. 2.) 



This is the basis of Esox vulpes L., Syst. Nat., ed. X, 1758, 313. The 

 figure is rather poor, but unmistakable. The name vulpes is the earliest 

 binomial designation of this species. 



3. Perca marina gibbosa cinerea (thcMAKGATE-FiSH) = Hcemulon gibbosum, {li\oc\i 



& Schueider). (Tab. 2, f. 1.) 



This drawing represents fairly well the species still called Margate- 

 fish at the Florida Keys and Bahamas, the "Margaret Grunt" of Ja- 

 maica, Rcvmidon album of Cuv. & Val. 



