218 PEOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



dd. Brown, obscurely spotted with darker. Vomerine teeth do not extend 



nearly so far back as the palatine latifrons. * 



cc. Unicolored. 



e. Brown ; D. 84 ; C. 17 ; scales none ; nostril midway between eye 

 and mouth; head contained 2^ (!) times in total length; 6 



canines in upper jaw OKIENTalis. 



ee. Dark brown ; vomerine series longer than palatiue, and extends 

 farther back; D. 81 ; C. 20-21; scales few ; nostril nearer eye 

 than mouth ; head couta^ined 4|-4f times in total length ; 4 

 canines in upper jaw lepturus. 



A partial synouymy of the species is appended : 



1. Auarrhichas lupus Liuue. 



Anarrhichas lupus LiNNiS, Syst. Nat., I, 1766, ]). 430: DEKAY.Nat. Hist. N. Y., 



Fishes, 1842, p. 158, pi. xvi, fig. 43. 

 Anarrhiclias vomeiinus Storer, Hist. Fish. Mass., 1867, p. 99, j)!. xviii, fig. 1. 



2. Anarrhichas minor Olafsen. 



Anarrhichas minor Olatsen, Reise i Island, 1772, § 683&, p. 592, tab. 42. 

 Anarrhichas pantherinus ZuiEW, Nov. Act. Petrop., 1781, p. 271, tab. i. 

 Anarrhichas leopardus Agassiz in Spix, Pise. Bras., 1829, p. 92, tab. li. 



3. Anarrliichas orientalis Pallas. 



Anarrhichas orientalis Pallas, Zoog. Rosso-Asiat., 1831, j). 77, tab. xi. 



4. Anarrhichas latifrons Steenstrup & Hallgrimsson. 



Anarrhichas latifrons Stp. & Hallgr., Forh. Skand. Naturf, 3die M5te, 1842, 

 p. 647: COLLETT, Chra. Vid. Selsk. Forh., 1879, No. 1, p. 46, pi. ii. 



Anarrhichas (Lycichthys) latifrons Gill, Baird's Ann. Rec. S. & I. for 1876 

 (1877), p. clxvii. 



? Anarrhichas denticulatus Keoyer, Overs. Vidensk. Selsk. Kjobenhavn, 1844, 

 1). 140: Gaimari>, Voy. en Scand., etc., Zool., Poiss., 1845, pi. 12. 



5. Anarrhichas fasciatus Bleeker. 



Anarrhichas fasciatus Blkr., Nederlandsch Tijdschrift voor de Dierkunde, 

 Amsterdam, Deel iv, 1874, p. 151. 

 U. S. National Museum, October 25, 1879. 



NOTKS OIV CERTAIN TVPICAL. SPECimEIVS OF AMERICAX FISHES 

 IN THE BRITISH laUSEUM ANI> IN THE miTSEUM D'HISTOIRE 

 NATIJREIir.E AT PARIS. 



By DAVID S. JORDAIV, ITI. D. 



Ill a recent visit to Europe the writer has had the privilege of exam- 

 ining the original types of certain species of American fishes, described 



* Anarrhichas latifrons and A. denticulatus are made the type of a distinct subgenus by Professor 

 Gill, wlio proposes to separate these from the lupus type by the following characters : The greater 

 convexity and longitudinal arching of the skull at the posterior frontal region, and the much gTeater 

 extension backwards of the palatine series of teeth as compared witli the vomerine band. Examinar 

 tion of the large collection of the thi-ee Atlantic species of Anarrhichas in the National Museum ha» 

 convinced me that these characters have not the taxonomic value claimed for them, owing to their great 

 variability in individuals. The figures published by Steenstrup (Vid. Medd. naturh. For. Kjob., 1876, 

 tab. iii) represent extremes of A. minor and A. latifrons, which, without access to many examples of 

 both species, would be misleading. A. minor, for instance, sometimes has the vomerine band of teeth 

 extending little farther back than is observed in A. latifrons. The dentition of A. latifrons, too, is sub- 

 ject to considerable variation with age, as is the shape of the skull. A. minor seems to show closer 

 afiBnity to A. latifrons than to A. lupus. 



