598 GLEANINGS AMONG THE PLEURONECTIDS. 



The species referred to this genus ami illustrated by Bonaparte were 

 P. bond, P. macrolepidotus, P. amoglossus, P. Grohmanni. 



In 1846, Bonaparte, in his Cataldgo nietodico dei pesci europei (p. 

 47*), retained the genus with the same species, only substituting the 

 name P. citharus for P. macrolepidotus (on account of doubt as to the 

 identity of his species with Bonnaterre's) and adding the P. casurus 

 Penn. ( = Amoglossus laterna J. & G.) and P. megastomas Donovan 

 (=zLepidorhombus whiff-iagonis J. & (jr.). 



Only the. Bonapartean work of 1846 is referred to by Jordan & Goss 

 (]>. 253) in the synonymy of the genus Citharus. The type is said by 

 them to be " linguatula, the only Linnsean species mentioned." But the 

 name linguatula is not mentioned by Bonaparte either in his enumera- 

 tion of the species of the genus or in the " Addenda" to his work. On 

 the contrary, it appears that he was entirely uncertain as to the rela- 

 tionship of the Linnsean species, and appears to have had no idea that 

 it belonged to his own geuus called " Pleuronectes, Bp. (L.part) n for, 

 under the Soleiue species "Michrochirus UnguW (p. 50*), he adds "Mouo- 

 chirus linguatula (Bond. 324!) Cuv. Sic. nee PI. linguatula, L. Schn. 

 {Quid ? )." In other words, he wants to know what the Linnsean species 

 is, and apparently thinks it is nearer the Soles than to Pleuronectes, as 

 understood by him. Therefore Bonaparte's geuus Pleuronectes, not con- 

 taining a single one of the Lhimean species by name at least, can not 

 be retained. 



RESTRICTION OF PLEURONECTES TO P. PLATESSA. 



In 1839, William Swaiuson in his work on the Natural History and 

 Classification of Fishes, Amphibians, and Eeptiles (Vol. n, 1839, pp. 

 187, 302), formally restricted the genus Pleuronectes to the P. platessa 

 group, that species indeed being the only one mentioned by him. This 

 use of the name was subsequently adopted by Gill (in 1861), Bleeker, 

 Guntker, and recent naturalists generally. In 1861, indeed, I had ex- 

 amined into the question and consulted all the authorities now men- 

 tioned with the same results as now indicated, and had used the "Genus 

 Pleuronectes (Artedi) (nou Bonap.)".* 



That use of the name, I think, should be persisted in, and I doubt 

 not that Messrs. Jordan and Goss will revert to the same opinion, or 

 perhaps restrict it to a genus typified by P.fesus. 



PROPER NAMES OF THE GENERA CALLED PLEURONECTES. 



The genus to which the name Pleuronectes should be restricted, as al- 

 ready proved, is that one typified by the P. platessa, the one for which 

 it has actually been employed for nearly three decades. 



The genus to which the name was given by Bonaparte was subse- 

 quently divided, and to one the name Citharus was given by Bleeker 

 in 1862, and the other was called Amoglossus at the same time. 



* Catalogue <>f the Fishes of the Eastern Coast of North America, p. f>0. 



