REVIEW OF HIPPOCAMPUS — GINSBURG 517 



name eredus for S. hippocampus Linnaeus to avoid tautonymy. 

 Since he gives no reference to Linnaeus and since the locahty given 

 by Perry is different from that given by Linnaeus for his S. hippo- 

 campus, we have to assume that he intended here to describe another 

 species of the genus Hippocampus as understood by him; and Perry 

 cannot be said to have definitely restricted the specific name hippo- 

 campus of Linnaeus. Perry's account of his erectus, in the figure, 

 the inadequate description, and the locahty, agrees most nearly with 

 the seahorse here recognized as punctulatus, but this is not at all 

 certain, and the name erectus is here doubtfully placed in the syn- 

 onymy of punctulatus (see remarks on p. 566). 



Leach -^ quite definitely restricted the use of the specific name 

 hippocampus. This author evidently established the genus Hippo- 

 campus independently, since he refers neither to Rafinesque nor to 

 Perry. Leach splits up the seahorses proper, apparently being the 

 first binomial and post-Linnaean writer to do so in a single issue 

 of a publication, into three species: (1) H. trimaculatus, a new species, 

 which he states to be "very abundant in the Indian and Cliinese 

 seas"; (2) H. antiquorum from the Mediterranean; and (3) H. ramu- 

 losus, a new species described from material in the "Mus. Britain." 

 without any definite locality. Leach's account of H. antiquorum is 

 as follows: 



"H. corpore angulis subtuberculatus; crista rugosa; oculis superne 

 gulaque utrinque tuberculo obtuso armatis. / Syngnathus Hippo- 

 campus. Auctorum. / Habitat in mari Mediterraneo, a Dom Risso 

 optime descriptus. / Common Hippocampus. / Angles of body slightly 

 tuberculated; crest rough; eyes above and throat on each side armed 

 Vvdth an obtuse tubercle. / Inhabits the Mediterranean sea, and is 

 well known under the titles. Sea-horse, or Cheval-marin." 



Leach, having established the genus Hippocampus, evidently sub- 

 stituted the name H. antiquorum for S. hippocampus to avoid tauton- 

 ymy ; and having split up the seahorses into three species he restricted 

 the specific name hippocampus, for which he substituted antiquorum, 

 to a seahorse occurring in the Mediterranean. We know now, how- 

 ever, that there are two common and distinct species of seahorses 

 on the northern coast of the Mediterranean, one with a short snout 

 and blunt tubercles and the other with a longer snout and pointed 

 and better-developed tubercles, and the question then comes up as 

 to which species of tlie two the name hippocampus is to be applied. 

 Leach gives under his antiquorum "angles of body slightly tubercu- 

 lated", while for his ramulosus he gives "angles of body tubercu- 

 lated." Since he paid due attention to that character, the name 

 antiquorum was based on the Mediterranean species having nearly 



M The zoological miscellany, vol. 1, pp. 103-105, 1814. 



