226 NOMENCLATVBE OF GENUS TETBAGONOPTERUS-aiLL. vol. xviii. 



The name Tetragonopterus lias been almost universally attributed to 

 Artedi by other authors. Nevertheless, Artedi had nothing to do with 

 the particular description in Seba's work;' Artedi was droAvned (in 1735)^ 

 many years before the "missus quartus" with Klein's name was pub- 

 lished (1744); the name Teirmjonopterns was due to a lapsus oculi of 

 Cuvier and never appeared in that form till 1815; and the name Tetra- 

 f/oiioptrus was inuijiined by Klein for compressed quadrate or rliombi- 

 form tishes, ' such as Chictodonts and the like, and liad nothinji- to do 

 with "Tetrodou/'' whose species were referred by Klein to his genus 

 Crai/racion.* 



II. 



In 1758 the third volume of Seba's " Locupletissimi rerum naturalium 

 Thesauri Accurata Descriptio" was published, and on plate 34, fig. 3, 

 was depicted, and on page 10(1 was described a fish of the genus now 

 named Teira<j(ntopiirus. Tlie species was called " Tetraijonoptrus ar- 

 fjenteus, capite grandi, exserto; appendicula mcmhranacea in extremo dorso ; 

 Cauda multum hifurca.''^ It api)eared to the describer to belong to the 

 genus Ti'tragoiioptrus of Klein ("Ad genus Tetragonoptrmn Kleiui- 

 ianum pertinere videtur pisciculus admodura concinnus, quem exem- 

 plum Musei Sebani curate delineatum, ac dein ex i(;one descriptum 

 exhibemus"'). An extended description follows. The description is 

 that of one unfamiliar with fishes, and as much unlike the manner of 

 Artedi as is the reference of the species to a genus composed mainly 

 of Chjetodontids and related fishes.^ References to Artedi are given 

 in a preceding paragraph'' and in other pages, but the paragraphs 

 were evidently from a later hand and less informed mind ; nevertheless 

 it is quite probable that Artedi actually had examined a specimen of 

 the same species and described it. 



' I am, of course, acqiiaiuted with the statement of Cuvier and Valenciennes (1, 109) : 

 '•le texte avait 6te prdpard des 1784 et 1735 par Ai'tedi, <]Uoiquil u'ait jiu etre livre 

 au public qu'on 1758, aux frais et par solus de Guabius." The statement is only 

 partly true. 



2" Die vigesima septima Septembris 1735, vocatur ex hospltio suo, et cum Seba 

 cdenam sumeret, coufabulantur amici plures in seram uoctom, tandem hetus Sc con- 

 teutus valedicit, domum tendeus per tenibricosas minusqui ipsi coguitas plateas 

 Amstelii'dameuses, dum infelici passu lossam iutrat, decidit, clamat, frustra opem 

 petit, submergitus, perit." (Linnaeus iu " Vita Authoris " prefixed to Artedi) Ichthy- 

 ologia, 1738. 



'■-TsTpayuvoTzTpoi:, i. e., (^uadratus aspectu. 



^Dr. Uiinther's substitution of Teirodon for Chatodon was the result of following 

 Valenciennes. The French naturalist (Vol. XXII, p. 126), referring to Ciivier's use 

 of the TetragonopUrus, added, "II a aiissi en soin de remarquer, dans ce memoire, (ju' 

 Artedi lui avait doun6 par erreur la denomination de Tetragonopteres de Klein, qui 

 lie sont autres c^ue les T^trodons de Linne." Tetrodon was doubtless a heteropheme 

 for Chatodoii. 



■' Tetragonoptrus also included Pomacentrids, vomeriue Caraugids, etc. 



•^Pisciculus elegans ad Balisfns Artedi. aut ad Capriscos Kleiuii, pertinere videtur. 

 Seba's "Locupletissimi rerum naturalium Thesauri Accurata Descriptio" (p. 106). 



