NOTE ON thp: genus pkionurus or acanthocaulos. 



By Theodoke Gill, 



Honorary Associate in Zoology. 



In the Records of the Australiiui ]Museuiii for June, 1900 (III, p. 

 206), Mr. Edgar R. "Waite has substituted ^'AeaiitJiocdulos, (jcn. uoni. 

 y^o;".'' for the familiar name Prionurus oi Laeepede, ''The name is 

 suofgested to replace Prlonurux, Laeepede, 1S30, preoccupied b}^ 

 Ehrenberg, in Ai'achnida, 1829.'" The data are erroneous. 



The name Prionun/.s was first given by Laeepede in the Annalcs 

 du Museum National d'histoire naturelle, IV, p. 208, as indicated 

 in the Synopsis of the genera of the superfamily Teuthidoidea.'^ 

 The article was presented to the museum in 1803 (an. XI) and pub- 

 lished in 1804 (an. XII). An extended description was given under 

 the name Prionure mierolepldote (pp. 205, 206), and a diagnosis under 

 the latin name Prionurus inicrolepldotus (p. 211). The case is thus 

 perfectly clear. 



It is probable that ]Mr. Waite overlooked the information given by 

 his predecessors and was misled by Scudder's Nomenclator Zoologicus. 

 Therein the only references to Prionurus are the following: Prionu- 

 rus Ehr. Arachn. 1829. A. and Prionurus Less. Pise. 1830. A. The 

 reference is to Lesson 1830 and not Laeepede 1830. The letter "A" 

 indicates Agassiz's Nomenclator Zoologicus. 



"Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., VII, 1884, p. 277. 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXVIII— No. 1385. 



121 



