PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 571 



1. HIATULA. 



In Gmelin's edition of the Systema Naturae, p. 1287, under the genus 

 Ldhrns, the following- description appears : 



" * Cauda Integra. 



Hiatula. 12. L. piuua auali nulla. Br. 5, D. H, P. 16, V^. A. 0. C. 21. 



Habitat in Carolina, /a«cii.s nigris, G-7 pictu8. D. Garden. Labium retractile, iutus 

 rugosum; dentes inmandibuHslaniarii, in palaio orMculati ; brancMarum ojjercu htm aw- 

 teriui< margine punctatum; pinna dorsalis fere JongituditiaUs, radiis sinnosis cequalilws, 

 posterius nigra. 



With the exception of the two characters, absence of the anal fin, and 

 presence of rounded teeth on the palate, which belong to no fish of this 

 type, this description applies well to a young tautog, and to no other 

 fish which Dr. Garden could have obtained at Charleston. The speci- 

 men most likely was one in which the anal fin had been bitten off, an acci- 

 dent to which fishes are not unfrequently subject. The rounded teeth 

 on the palate must be either the posterior teeth of the premaxillaries, 

 which are bluntish, or possibly the papillae w^hich cover the membrane 

 before the vomer. 



In the second volume of La Cepede's work (ii, 522, 1800), this species 

 appears under the name of Hiatula gardeniana, as the type of a new ge- 

 nus, Hiatula, distinguished from Labrus by the absence of the anal fin. 



As this character was merely the accident of a mutilated specimen, 

 this genus is a virtual synonym of Labrus, and by many writers would 

 be suppressed as such. The name Hiatula, however, stands on the same 

 footing as that of Micropterus, which was likewise based by La Cepede 

 on a mutilated fish. As Micropterus has now come into general use, we 

 suggest that Hiatula be substituted for Taiitoga. 



2. GOBIOMORUS. 



The genus Gohiomorus was proposed by La Cej)ede (Hist. Nat. Poiss. 

 ii, ."iSS, 1800) as a subdivision of the Linusean genus Gobius, with the 

 following definition : 



"Les deux nageoires thoracines nou reunies I'une a I'autre; deux 

 nageoires dorsales: la tete petite; les yeux rapproches ; les opercules 

 attaches dans une graude partie de leur contour." 



In definition and in intention, this group corresponds to the genus 

 JSleotris of Bloch and Schneider, as revised and restricted by Cuvier, 

 for Bloch and Schneider seemed to have no clear idea of the group, and 

 very few of the species referred by them to Meotris are related to Meotris 

 gyrinus. 



Four species are referred by La Cepede to Golnomorus, viz, G. gronovii 

 {=yomeus gronovii (Gmeliu) C. & Y.) G. taihoa {=Eleotris strigata 

 (Broussonet) C. & V.) G. dormitor Lac. (later called Platyeeplialus dormi- 



