518 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 83 



obsolescent tubercles and a short snout. Linnaeus' name hippo- 

 campus, for which antiquorum was a substitute, must therefore also be 

 used for the common short-snouted Mediterranean species. 



Leach's ramulosus, from an unknown locality, apparently is based 

 largely on the presence of many rather long, branched filaments. 

 The original account may apply to several species. For instance, 

 some younger specimens of hudsonius and punctulatus that I have 

 examined approach closely the figure of ramulosus in the nature of 

 the development of their filaments. Rauther ^^ figures a specimen of 

 H. hippocampus having quite a number of branched filaments, and 

 one of guttulatus ^^ having many rather long though simple filaments. 

 I also found filaments present in variable numbers in all species of 

 which well-preserved specimens were available, and this is probably 

 true of all species of Hippocampus (p. 511). 



It is evident that ramulosus cannot be distinguished definitely on 

 the basis of the original account, and the difficulty of its final deter- 

 mination is increased by the absence of a definite locality record. 

 Risso cites Leach's species 3, or ramulosus, in the s5mon3'my of his anti- 

 quus, which, in turn, is a synonym of hippocampus (see p. 521), but 

 this action does not seem to be well taken. The original figure of 

 ramulosus shows a rather deep body, more as in hippocampus, but 

 the tubercles are distinctly higher than in hippocampus and more 

 nearly resemble those of guttulatus. The depth, and length of the 

 snout, would also not absolutely preclude it from being a guttulatus. 

 Rauther (see preceding paragraph) figures a specimen of guttulatus 

 having filaments nearly to the same extent as shown on the figure of 

 ramulosus, although in Rauther's fish the filaments were not branched. 

 When the original account of ramulosus is considered in connection 

 with the specific characters of the common European species as estab- 

 lished here, the probabilities favor the conclusion that ramulosus 

 was based on a specimen of guttulatus, and Leach's name is here 

 placed in the synonymy of guttulatus. This action should be consid- 

 ered final, unless, of course, a restudy of the type should prove other- 

 wise ; the question must be left open for those who may have a chance 

 to reexamine the original specimen. 



The third species established by Leach, trimaculatus , falls outside 

 the scope of this paper. 



The next author whose work has a bearing on the nomenclature of 

 the seahorses is Cuvier,^^ who also established Hippocampus, as a 

 subgenus, possibly again independently, since he does not refer that 

 name to any pre\'ious author. After describing his subgenus, he 

 states: 



" Die Syngnathiden des Qolfes von Neapel, pi. 16, fig. 173, 1925. 



» Ibid., pi. 2, fig. 12. 



w Le rfigne animal. . ., vol. 2, p. 157, 1817. 



