PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 2'23 



OIV THE PR01»ER SPECIFBC IVAME OF THE COIWIUON PEIjAOIC 

 AnTENIVAISBBD PTEROPHKYJVE. 



By THEODORE OIEL. 



The most couimon and widely distributed of the Aiitenuariids, aud 

 which is the peculiar species of the high seas, has been entered in the 

 most recent systematic lists under the names Antennarius marmoratUfi* 

 and Pteropliryne picfa.f In this connection, it has been assumed ihat 

 the species had first received names from Bloch and Schneider in 1801. 

 I pro[)ose, however, to show, (1) that the species itself had long before re- 

 ceived a name from" the founder of the binomial nomenclature, and (2) that 

 neither of the names of Bloch and Schneider is referable to these species. 

 Long a^o recognizing that the names of Bloch and Schneider had 

 nothing to do with a Pterophrync, but without the bibliographical aids 

 for certainly ascertaining what name had priority, I have hitherto 

 ado|)ted the provisional name Pteropliryne Icevigata, as Liitken has also 



recentlv done. 



I. 



It behooves us, first, to inquire what was the basis of the Lophius 

 histrio of Linnaeus. 



In 1747, in his " Wiistgota resa lorrjittad ^.r 174G", Linnaeus described, 

 as "Balistes, qvic Gaaperva c\unen\s^\ a small fish scarcely exceeding in 

 length the last joint of the thumb, in the following terms, as translated 

 in the German edition of 1763.| 



^'■Balistes, (juae Guaperva chinensis. Corpus acutum, compressum 

 Dorsum autice gibbum. Pectus compressum, pinnis pectoralibus termina 

 tum, prominulum. Latera corporis picta lituris lacteis, annularibus 

 inteiruptis, puncto centrali lacteo notatis. Caput magnum, thoraci 

 immersum, dentibus minutissimis instructum. Fihmentum subulatum 

 crectum, loco narium. Pinna dorsalis anterior retrorsum falcato sub 

 ulata, mollis, alta, e gibbere dorsi juxta caput enata, radio 1. Pinna 

 dorsalis posterior radiis 12. Pinnae pectorales brachiorum iustar manu 

 bris iustructae, et antroisum manuum instar inflexae (quod in pisci 

 bus singulare), radiis 10. Pinnae ventrales approximatae, radiis 5 

 Pinna caudae radiis 9. Pinna ani radiis 7. Iris oculorum alba. Magni 

 tudo totins piscis vix extimum pollicis articulum superat. Diversissima 

 species a Guaperva loustoni T. VI. f. 0. qnam ex America possideo. Die 

 Figur dieses Fisches in natiirlicher Qiosse ist die o**' auf der 3*^° Tafel, 

 wo er bey a von der Seite, bey h aber aul dem lUicken vorgestellet ist, 

 dass die Aerme an den pinnis pectoralibus deuMicli in die Angen fallen." 



The acute compressed body, the round milUy spots, the small ros- 

 tral filament (none is represented in the figure), the well developed fins, 



'Antennarius marmoratus, Giinthcr, Cat. Fishes in Brit Mus., v. '.\, p. 185, 1861 ; Bleeker 

 Atlas Ichthyologiqno Indes Orient. NcOrlaud., t. T), p. 23, 1863. 



tPteropbryne picta, Goode, Bull. U. S. Nat Mas., No. 5, p. 20, 1876. 

 tLiun6, Reisen (lurch Westj^othland. 8vo. Ilalle, 1765. p. 160, S. 1:58. 



