186 APPLICA TIOX OF THE NA ME TE UTHIS— G IL L . vol. x viii. 



livraison of his "Poissons,"^ gave the following views respectiug the 

 Teuthyes : 



I)v la J'amUle des Teuthyes. 



Cette petite fauiille. iiui n'est composeee [sicj que de ([uelques genres, se distingue 

 assez facilement par ses ^cailles, d'liue petitesse extreme, repandues eu trt'S-grande 

 quantity sur toute la peau. II fant en ('diminer le genre Aniplaacauthns, ({ue ses grandes 

 ^cailles cycloidiques et ses autres caracteres zoologi([ues obligent a placer dans une 

 autre faniille. Chez le reste des Teuthyes, et notamiuent chez les Acanthures et les 

 Naseus, les ecailles forment de petites escjuilles transparentes, lisses, depourvues de 

 tout ornement et h^rissees, an bord post^rieur, de quel<[ues petites Opines assez 

 eftil^es, qui ressemblent un pen a celles que nous avous rencontrees chez les Zanclus 

 de la famille des Squamipennes. 



Perhaps it was this publijcatiou tliat again drew Bonaparte's atten- 

 tion to the families, for soon afterwards he reverted to his original 

 views as to the limits of the family, recombining his Teuthidid.t, and 

 Acanthuridti^ in a single family, at first (18-4G) nnder the name Tenthy- 

 idse, and later (1850) again resuming the name Teuthydidre. He made 

 an advance, however, in the recognition of two subfamilies, Ampha- 

 canthini and Teuthyini (184(1) or Teuthidina- (1850). 



VII. 



Teiithi.s is one of the many names intiicted on scientific nomenclature 

 by Linnteus as a result of his proclivity to take classical names and 

 ])ervert tlieni to the designation of forms which are not related to and 

 possess no intimate characters or analogies in common with the species 

 to which they were originally applied. The Teuthis {Tsuf){::) of the 

 Greeks was a squid (Loliginid). but there was also a gregarious fish 

 mentioned once by Aristotle- as the Teutlios {Tsutio:;) and respecting 

 which nothing more is known.' It may be that Linnaeus intended to 

 take the latter name, but in fact he took the former, and, therefore, as 

 long as the i»rescnt code of nomenclature is retained, the surgeon-fishes, 

 belonging to a family entirely unknown to the Greeks, must bear a 

 name originally given to squids.^ The name Te?^f/ios, however, would 

 only have the advantage in that it belonged to a fish, and its exact per- 

 tinence is unknown. 



Teuthis itself has not been retained unimjiaired. It was transformed 

 into Theuthis and Theutis by Cuvier (1798 and 1817), and gave rise to 

 the family name Theuties,^ Teuthyei,^ Teuthyen'^ and Teuthyw,^ of Agassiz. 



'Vol. I, p. 88. 



-Vol. IX, Chap. 3. 



•''It is quite possible that the Tfvflof may hare been placed among the true fishes 

 inadvertently, ov that some error of a copyist has crept in. Teuiliis and Teuthos are 

 both used by Aristotle as names of different kinds of squids. 



■•The case is just as bad, if not worse, if Teuthis is used for the Sigauids. 



■'"' Theuties, Agassiz, Poiss. Foss., IV, pp. xiii, 212. 



" Tciithijci, Agassiz, Poiss. Foss., IV, p. 41. 



' Teuthyes, Agassiz, Poiss. Foss., I, 88; IV, p. 206. 



8 Teuthya-, Agassiz, Ren. Brit. Assn. Adv. 8ci., 1844, p. 288. 



