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362 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM.  [1885. 
lurger collections were sent by Captain Dow to the British Museum. 
These fishes, and otbers collected by Dr. Oscar Salvin about Chiapam, 
were made the subjects of several papers by Dr. Giinther, and in 1869 
they formed the basis of his general work on the fishes of Central , 
America, 
Still later, Dr. Franz Steindaclner visited various points along the 
coast, making collections of fishes. Various local collectors have since 
sent specimens to the Vienna professor. [lis various treatises on the 
fishes of different regions contain many references to the fishes of the 
Pacific coast of tropical America, and a very large number of the species 
were first made known by him. The figures published by Dr. Stein- 
dachner are the best in ichthyological literature. 
A very valuable collection was made by Professor Bradley in the 
vicinity of Panama in 1866, and by him sent to the museum of Yale Col- 
lege. Unfortunately this collection was allowed to suffer from neglect, 
and before it was finally studied by Dr. Gilbert and the writer in 1882, 
most of the species which were new to science when the collection was” 
made had been already described. 
Smaller collections have also been obtained by Dr. Bocourt, about 
La Union, by Dr. Streets, by Mr. Lockingtou, and by Mr. Belding, in the 
Gulf of California, and by Lieutenant Nichols at various points on the 
Mexican coast. The first-named collection has formed the rather insuf- 
ficient basis for an elaborate memoir by Professor Vaillant and Dr. 
Bocourt; the last mentioned has been studied by Dr. Gilbert and the 
writer. 
The most extensive collections yet made on the Pacific coast of 
Mexico and Central America, in number of specimens exceeding all 
the others combined, are those obtained by Professor Gilbert at Mazat- 
lan and Panama in 1881, and about Panama in 1883. 
These collections have formed the subject of numerous papers by 
Professor Gilbert and the writer in the publications of the United States 
National Museum. 
We had prepared a descriptive catalogue, giving the full synonymy 
and detailed descriptions of all the known species. In the fire which, 
in 1883, destroyed the museum of the Indiana University our manuscripts 
(then ready for the printer) were all burned, and with them about two- 
thirds of Professor Gilbert’s entire collections. All the specimens ob- 
tained at Panama in 1883 were destroyed, but most of the collection of 
1881 had then been returned to the National Museum. 
Among the specimens destroyed were twenty species from Panama 
which still remain without names. 
The present paper is the result of the joint studies of Professor Gil- 
bert and the writer, but for its details the present writer is alone re- 
sponsible. 
I have given a list of the species ascribed on good authority to the 
region in question. Those species, three hundred and sixty-two in 
