1895. 



PROCEEDINGS OF TU E NATIONAL MUSEUM. 227 



III. 



In 1735 (published iii 1738) Artedi prepared a description of a- tish 

 evidently closely related and apparently conspecilic with the fish fig- 

 ured in Seba's "Thesaurus" aud called it Coregomis amboinensis. The 

 only indication of locality was embodied in the sentence ^^ Coref/onoidf.s 

 vel Albula ad Amhoinam Iwliw Orieiitalis.^'' Of course, the alleged 

 habitat is incorrect. No information as to the museum in which he 

 saw the specimen was given. The fish could not have been the same 

 as Si'ba's, for Artedi's individual was 3 inches long and 1 inch and ."> 

 lines high, while Seba's was 3 inches and lines long and 1 inch and 

 [) lines high. Valenciennes asserted that the type was in the old 

 jVluseum of the Stadholder, and claimed to have seen it.' He has not 

 indicated, however, how he ascertained that such was the case. Dr. 

 Giinther'^ has exj)ressed the opinion that " it is quite evident that it 

 \T. artedii, Valenciennes] is not the species examined by Artedi and 

 figured by Seba, Avhich agrees in every respect with T. chalceus." 



IV. 



The early history of the genus is recapitulated ir. the following- 

 synonymy: 



Genus TETRAGONOPTERUS, Cuvier. 

 Coreyoniis, sp., AiriEDi. 

 Tetrmjonoptrus, sp., Seba. 



Teiragonnptere, Cuvikr, Mem. Mus. Hist. Nat., I, p. 114, 1815. 

 Les tetragonopteres (Teti-agonopterns), Cuvier, Kegiie Animal, II, p. 16(), 1817. 

 Tetragonopterus, Cuvier, Mem. Mus. Hist. Nat., lY, p. 455, 1818. 



Since the preceding article was presented for publication, an imi)ort- 

 ant analytical synopsis of the genus Tetragonopterus has been pub- 

 lished by Prof. Albeit B. Ulrey. Professor Ulrey quite correctly refers 

 the generic name to Cuvier, ami in the synonymy of the genus omits 

 all reference to Seba's and Artedi's works. In his synonymy of T. 

 argenteus (p. 277), however, he refers to it — Tetragonopterus argenteus, 

 etc., Artedi, in Seba, [etc.] — and identifies the Coregomis (misprinted 

 Daregoitus) ainhoinensis of Artedi with the same. 



It is to be hoped that hereafter all association of Artedi with the 

 name Tetragonopterus or with the Tetragonoptnis of Seba's work, will 

 be abandoned. Artedi had nothing to do with either of those names. 



The analytical synopsis of Professor Ulrey will prove a valuable 

 adjunct to students of the genus Tetragonopterus, but it must be used 

 with caution, for it appears to have been based to a large extent on 

 descriptions and figures. Just one hundred species of Tetragonopterus 

 are admitted by Professor Ulrey, but only eighty-six have been suffic- 

 iently described for admission in the synoptical tables. 



' Comme j'ai sous les yeux, daus les collections du Museum, uu des T^tragouoji- 

 tl'res du cabinet du Stathouder, (^ni a servi aux travanx d'Artedi, Je snis a ineme de 

 reconuaitre la ligure peu correcte que nous trouvcms daus Seba (XXVI, 128). 



- Cat. Fish, i'.rit. Mus.. IV, p. 31!t. 



