!SAND-r,E[..S. 



569 



(iKMs AMMODYTES. 



B(i(hi more or less terete (out// sti/ihtlij compressed). A Juii/iitndUud dermal ridge ov each side of fite belt//. 



BranchiostegaJ rags 7 or s. 



Tlie cxtreiuely similar s|)Cfies that tbrin this genus, 

 have long l)cen i<iiown. At the middle of the fifteenth 

 century Salvianl's described and figured the 'sandih' 

 (Sand-Eel) of English ^vaters, and gave an account of 

 its habits and tlie manner in which it was fallen. The 

 figure and description rceur in (rEsxEi;", who gave the 

 genus its Greek name''. Ray'' and Jago'' mention two 

 species; but aJthougli we can see, from the statement of 

 the latter as to the lengtli of the fish described and figured 

 l)y liini (15' .-, in.), tliat lie referred to a. species regarded 

 as distinct in modern times {Ammodgtes lanceotatus), still 

 the supposed specific distinction was based merely on 

 defects in the figure of Salvianus. Artedi described'^ 

 the smaller of our forms both full)' and accurately, 

 but did not distinguish between it and the larger one. 

 In his Sgstema Natiira' Linn.eus adopted only one spe- 

 cies {Am. Tobianus), the name of the species being 

 clearl}- derived from Artedi's quotation of Schone- 

 VELDE^; but in his Fauna Sueeica'' he draws attention 

 to the fact that in his travels through Oland' he had 

 found more fin-rays in the Sand-Eel than Artedi, to 

 which fact he probably refers when he remarks, in the 



twelfth edition of his Si/stema (1766): "In Sweden there 

 seem to be two distinct species, as Ray once conjec- 

 tured was tlie case in England." There is no doubt, 

 however, that in 1744^ Klein had already distinguished 

 between Artedi's Tobianus and Jaco's ''Ammodgtes 

 Angtoriim reras, The Launce, sive 'True Sand-Eel" 

 though M'ith(jut giving them binomial names. After- 

 wards, in 1810^, when Rafinesque described his Ammo- 

 dgtes cicerelus, the three European species now accepted 

 became known; but the largest of them •was without 

 any binomial specific name, which it first received in 

 1824 of Lesauvage'. The natural relations bet\\-een 

 these three species, as the}' are distinguished at present, 

 may be expressed as follows: 



A: Pectoral fins shorter than the lower jaw: 

 a: The whole body behind the head 

 scaly, with the scales on the sides 

 of the body hidden in transverse 



dermal folds even on the forepart AiiniioJgies lanceotatus. 

 h: Forepart of the body naked, with- 

 out transverse dermal folds Ammodgtes cicerelus. 



B: Pectoral fins longer than the lower 



jaw AinmoJytes tobianus. 



" Paralipomenn, p. 3. 



' From afifiog, sand ami dvirjg, diver. 



' Syn. Mctti. Pise, y. 38. 



•' Ibid., p. 16.5, fig. 12. 



" Spec. Pise., p. 55. 



^ Ed. X, torn. I, p. 247; ed. XII, torn. I, p. 430. 



' To wliieli form ScHOSEVELDE liiiiiself referred, is a question difficult to decide. Ictitli. Slesv. Hols., p. 70. 



'' Ed. I, p. 114; ed. II, p. 109. 



'■ It. (El., p. 87. 



J Hist. Pise. Nat. Prom. Miss. IV, pp. 55 nnd 5G, tab. XII, figs. 8—10. 



* Caratteri d. ale. n. <jen., p. 21, Tab. IX, fig. 4. 



' Bull. So.. Soc. Pl.iloni. 1824. p. 140. 



