L] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 599 



Although Citharus has been used without challenge since its proposal 

 in 1862, there are objections to its use in such connection which have 

 been universally overlooked. 



In 1838, the elder Behihardt, in his ichthyological contribution to the 

 Greenland Fauna,* formally used the name "Citharus" for a genus of 

 Pleuronectids consisting of PL platessoides and PL limandoides, calling 

 the former "Citharus platessoides, Fab."t Those fishes, he thought, ought 

 to form a peculiar subgenus, if we would follow the principles of Cu- 

 vier, aud the place of that subgenus would be between Platessa and 

 ffipjwfjlossus. It was distinguished by the uniserial teeth, which are 

 acutely pointed, distant, and largest in front of the jaws, by the large 

 mouth, and by the development of eight branchiostegal rays. This 

 subgenus Bernhardt called Citharus, he thus availing himself of a name 

 employed by Eoudelet, but without knowing what the Mediterranean 

 species so named was. Cuvier, he remarked, considered it to be the 

 Pleuronectes limandoides which occurs in the North Sea, but (Bernhardt 

 expressly adds) individuals from the two localities had not yet, it would 

 seem, been directly compared.! 



The name Citharus, in fact, was used by Eeiuhardt for the species of 

 Eippoglossoides, and for them alone, and the characteristics assigned to 

 the genus as well as his remarks expressly exclude the true Citharus of 

 the Mediterranean Sea, Inasmuch, then, as the Mediterranean species 

 referred to the genus Pleuronectes by Bonaparte, and later as the type 

 of the new genus Citharus by Bleeker, remains without a name, Eucitha- 



* Ichtliyologiske Bidrag til den Gronlandske Fauna, af Johannes Reiuhardt.< K. 

 Danske Vidensk. Selskabs Nat. og Math. Afhandl., v. 7, 1838, p. 130. 



tOp. cit., p. 116. 



t As the memoir of Reiuhardt is inaccessible to many investigators, his remarks 

 on Citharus are here reproduced : 



Nr. 47. Det syues som, at Pleuronectes platessoides tilligemed Pleuronectes liman- 

 doides Block bor, naar man vil folge de samme Grundsaetninger, som have bestemt 

 Cuvier til at danne de i bans Eegne animal opstillede UndeTslaegter, ogsaa daune en 

 egen Underskegt, hvis Plads vil vtere lmellein Platessa og Hipi>oglossus ; deune Un- 

 derslsegt bar ligesom Platessa T;enderne i Kpeverne stillede i en eneste Rad, men 

 adskilles fra denue ved det stone Gab og de meget spidse, hengere fra hinanden 

 staaende og i Kpevernes forreste Deel hengereTamder, som i begge Mellemkjajvebeneue 

 sidde med regehmessigt aftagende Lamgde ligened til Mundvinkelenden af disse ; 

 imedens bos Platessa Ta^nderne ere stuinpej omtrent af lige Lsengde, i Overkjsevebe- 

 uets hoire Arm (paa Oiesiden af Hoveder) staae enten ingen, eller fra 2 til 4 Tender. 

 Denne uye Undershegt vil have det store Gab og spidse Tamder tilf;elleds med Hip- 

 poglossus; men bos denne ere Tamderne fortil i KjtBverne stiilcde i Here iiregelni.es- 

 sige Rader og ere afvexlende i Stoirelse, imedens de ere stillede i en Rad med regel- 

 uniissigt aftagende Lsengde bos den nye Slregt, som ved otte Straaler i Gjsellehuden 

 adskiller sig baade fra Platessa og fra Hippoglossus, hvilke, ligesom de ovrige af mig 

 undersugte Undcrsla^gters Arter kun have syv Straaler. Vi kunde kalde denne Un- 

 derslajgt Citharus efter en af Itondelet navngivet Citharus asper fra Middelhavet, som 

 Cuvier auseer for at vaare Pleuronectes limandoides Bl., der tindes i Nordsiieu; men 

 Iudividuer fra begge Localiteter synes enduu ikke at vsere umiddelbart sanimenlig- 

 nede. 



