71 337 



of Copenhagen, coated wtth spindets; and further, LCtken stated that he found a similar 

 coating well developed on the tail and posterior part of the body of a F. tabacaria of 280 mm. 

 length and not completely disappeared from the tail of another, still larger specimen of 

 415 mm. length ; hence he concluded that the species F. serrata and tabacaria both went 

 tlirough a "(';7/o.srt- stage", which in the latter apjjarently was of greater duration. That 

 LCtken (like Hilgendorf; considered „F. scrrala" as always naked in the adult state is easily 

 explained through the fact, tliat his material of Fistularians from the Indo-Pacific really 

 contained only the F. depressa Gthr. Quite naturally therefore he referred his young „villose" 

 specimen of 130 mm. length to a naked „7*". serrata"; now I refer the same specimen to the 

 species F. petimba not only on account of its rough skin but also because the head shows 

 the characteristics of this species. The splitting u|) of the old F. serrata into two species, 

 the one naked, the other rough, is due to GCntheh i16c, p. 68i; only the first he designated 

 with a new species-name, depressa, while he left the old name serrata for the latter, tlie rough 

 one, for which Jord.\n (& Gilberti later perhaps more correctly introduced as new name 

 petimba, originally used by LacépÈDE for specimens captured by Commerson in the Indo- 

 Pacific. 



« p. 282 [16]. These structures were observed by Günther (16 a, p. 531), and earlier bv 

 Agassiz (1, T. 4, p. 278; comp. p. 338[72j). 



« p. 282 [16]. The median scales in F. petimba were also observed by Günther („F. ser- 

 rata" 16 a, p. 535), and compared by him to the dorsal spines of Aulostoma: "They are evi- 

 dently rudiments of the spinous portion at least of the dorsal fin, which, in Aulostoma, is 

 more developed, the spines being free." It seems difficult to understand how the author 

 would be able to reconcile this hypothesis with the fact that F. petimba has scales or "spines" 

 of quite the same structure along the belly and on the upper and lower side of the tail. 

 Their presence on "the abdomen' G. himself has mentioned. 



If p. 282 [16J. The ossicles of the lateral line have been noticed by several previous 

 authors iGONTHER a. o.). 



11 p. 282 [16]. The number of vertebræ is differently given by different authors; thus 

 e.g. CuviER (9 b, T. 1, p. 231} has 56 abdominal, 33 caudal vertebræ, (Iünther (16 a, p. 529! 

 4 -h 49(33 in F. tabacaria; (p. 533) 47/34 ;Hüpp.\ 47 29 (Rosenthal * in F. serrata; Jordan and 

 EvERMANN ;21 a, ]). 756): 4 -I- 44 to 49 + 28 to 33. Probably the number varies individually 

 within narrow limits, with no value for the distinction of the species. 



12 p. 284 [18]. Remarks about the vertebral column, or more or less incomplete descriptions, 

 are found in various authors. The modification of the anterior ])art has early been observed, 

 but as far as I am aware Cuvier was the first to settle its composition of four vertebræ 

 in the almost complete and correct descrijjtion of the column, given in the second edition 

 of his Leçons etc. (1835, 9 b, T. 1, p. 227;. Lacépkde ,31, T. 10, p. 95) and Rosenthal i47, p. 31) 

 regard the anchylosed part as one single vertebra, while Meckel (35, p. 232) has at all events 

 indicated a compound structure in the following words: "Bei Fistularia besteht gleichfalls 

 der erste, sehr längliche Wirbel aus mehrern, durch Fugen verbundenen Stücken", and 

 Cuvier & Valenciennes ,10, p. 359) speak of coalescence of vertebræ in this way: "Plusieurs 

 [poissons] ont aussi les corps d'une partie de leur vertèbres soudés ensemble; on en voit des 

 exemples dans les cyprins, les silures et les fistulaires, et de plus marqués encore dans un 

 grand nombre de chondroptérygiens. " Agassiz (1, T. 4, p. 276) uses rather indistinct terms: 

 "La colonne vertébrale offre cela de très-particulier, que toute sa partie antérieure ne présente 



* GÛNTHKR has not observed tliat Kosknthai. counts tlie 4 anterior vertebræ as one; the number 

 thus ought to be quoted as 50/29. 



