304 ON ELEGINUS OF FISCHER — GILL. 



enumerating the Cuvieriau subdivisions of Gadus Linn., he gave the 

 characteristics of the new genus in the following terms : * 



Le genre Eleginus, {'EXsylvor, d'Aristote, d^sigaaut dea poissoas qui viveat en 

 soci^t^) auquel le Navaga de la mer blanc sert de type, a beaucoup de ressemblance 

 avec la premiere section des Gades, ayaut trois nageoires dorsales et deux anales, 

 mais dont le barbillon est si petit qu'on a peine a I'aporcevoir. La t6te est forte, les 

 mdcboires scut moius dent(5es, et le corps est plus aroudi que d6prim6. La ligne 

 laterale est complete et fait uue graude courbe derrifere I'anus. Le squelette offre 

 uue peculiarity qu'on ue trouve daus aucun autre poisson, c'est que les apophyses 

 transversales des vertebres du dos sout tres alougees, et creus^es, et se termiuent dans 

 uu petit corps obtusemeut couique et 6vase de sorte que toute I'apophyse ressemble 

 assez a la forme d'une pautoufle. Aussi les AUemauds a Moscou, a cause de cette 

 singuliere conformation de sod Sfjuelette, appelleut-ils ce poisson Pantoffelfiscli. 



While mistaken iu supposing that the possessioa of elongated hol- 

 lowed transverse apophyses was entirely peculiar to the Navaga, Fisch- 

 er's description was admirable for the time and quite pertinent to the 

 genus. Strange that we have to go back to the early part of the cen- 

 tury to a Russian t naturalist for detiuite information respecting a com- 

 mon North European fishlf Dr. Giiiither, iu his great work (v. 4, p, 

 330), gave a brief diagnosis merely of the external features of the 

 Navaga immediately after his diagnosis of the common Cod {Gadus 

 morrhva), and no reason was therein given for supposing it was nota- 

 bly distinct from the latter species. Its vertebrse were noticed simply 

 as *'Vert. 58," thus contrasting with the "Vert. 19-32" of the Cod, 

 nothing being said of the structure of either. 



It therefore now appears that the name Eleginus must be revived as 

 the generic designation of the arctic Gadid variously named G. navaga, 

 G. gracilis and G. wachna. 



ELEGINUS. 



Synonyiny. 



Eleginus G. Fischer, M6m. Soc. Nat. Moscou, v. 4, (2d ed., p. 252-257), 1813. 

 Tilesia Swainson, Nat. Hist. Fishes, etc., v. 2, p. 300, 1839 (not Tilesia Lam., 1821). 

 Pleurogadua Bean with Jordan, Cat. Fishes N. Am., p. 1.30, 1885. 



ONLY SPECIES. 



Eleginus navaga (Kolreuter, 1770) G. Fischer = Gadus gracilis Tilesius ^ = Gadus 

 wachna Pallas. 



Habitat: Northern Russia, Bering Sea.|| 



*The peculiarities of the original accentuation and spelling are reproduced. 



tDr. Fischer, like most of the early Russian naturalists, was of German birth and 

 a fellow-student at Leipzig with Tilesius. 



tLe Navaga, qui gel6 en hiver est transports du port d'Arkhangel en trhs grande 

 quantity a Moscou et a St.-PStersbourg, ou il fait partie des mets dSlicats qui se 

 consomment dans les deux capitales. Fischer, o. c, p. 252. 



§ Tilesius regarded the Russian navaga as a variety of the common cod (o. c, p. 

 253, etc.). 



II In mare boreo versus hyeraem magna copia capitur - - -; capitur etiam atl oceani 

 glacialis oram, usque ad Ob tl. ostia. In balthico deest. Pallas, Zoogr. R. As., v. 

 3, p. Iy6. 



