244 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. 39. 



dorsal spines is, however, notably different in the two species. In 

 B. verae-crucis, the fourth spine is much longer than the third. In 

 B. acanthodes the two are subequal. 

 {(VKavOodfj^, spinous). 



2. Genus SCI^^NA (Artedi) Linnaeus. 



Scixna Aetedi, Genera, 1738, p. G5 (two species, the one the basis of S. cirrosa 



Linnaeus, the other, complex, the references mostly to the "corb," or the 



species called later Corvina nigra). 

 Sdsena Linn^us, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., 1758, p. 289. ( Umbra; cirrosa), the name 



Mm6ra including both the "corb" and the "maigre," the descriptive sentence 



referring to the former, the name umbra taken from the Sdsena umbra of Has- 



selquist, 1757, which is the young of the "corb." 

 Johnius Bloch, Ichthyologia, vol. 10, 1793, p. 107. (Carutta, etc., restricted by 



Gill to carutta.) 

 Sdsena Cuvier, Regno Animal, 1st ed., vol. 2, 1817, p. 297. (Restricted to 



umbra and aquila, the former being regarded as the Linnsean species and 



therefore as type. It is here identified with the "corb," and the "maigre," 



Sdxna aquila is treated as a non-Linnsean species.) The "corb" is therefore 



the type of Scisena Cuvier, 1817. 

 Bola Hamilton-Buchanan, Fishes of the Ganges, 1822, p. 78. (Coitor, etc.; in 



effect restricted to Bola coitor, the first sj^ecies named, by Blocker and by 



Jordan and Eigenmann.) Bola coitor may be formally selected as type. 

 Sdsena Cuvier, Regno Animal, 2d ed., vol. 2, 1829. (Restricted to umbra, 



which in turn is now identified with the maigre=a5Mi7a it being shown that 



the Linnsean species is complex, including both the "corb" and the "maigre," 



the maigre being the proper type.) 

 Corvina Cuvier, Regne Animal, 2d ed., vol. 2, 1829 (nigra). (The "corb" now 



called nigra, the maigre being called umbra.) 

 Argyrosomus a de la Pylaie, Compt. Rend. Congr. Sci. France for 1834, 1835, 



p. 534. (Aquila, not Argijrosomus of Agassiz, 1850= Leucichthys Dybowsky.) 

 Cheilotrema Tschudi, Fauna Peruana, Fische, 1845, p. 13 (fasciatum). 

 Rhinoscion Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1861, p. 85 (saturnus). 

 Pseudoscisena Bleeker, Ned. Tydsskr. Dierkunde, vol. 1, 1863 (aquila; cirrosa 



being taken as type of Scisena, as the first species named by Artedi. In this 



view Scisena replaces Umbrina). 

 Pseudoiolithus Bleeker, Poissons de la Cote du Guin^e, 1862, p. 59 (typus). 

 Callaus Jordan, Rept. U. S. Fish Comm. for 1886, 1889, p. 395 (deliciosus) . 

 Nibea Jordan and Thompson, new subgenus (mitsukurii) . 

 Othonias Jordan and Thompson, new subgenus (manchurica). 



oThe name Argyrosomus first appears, as Dr. Theodore Gill informs us, in the 

 Comptes Rendus du Congres Scientifique de France, second session in 1834 (pub- 

 lished in 1835, pp. 524-534). The article is entitled Recherches en France sur les 

 poissons de I'Oc^an pendant les annees 1832 et 1833, par M. de la Pylaie de Foug^res. 



On page 534, Professor Gill informs us, M. de la Pylaie has the following: 



"Dans la tri bus desPerseques, nous voyons * * * V Argyrosomus procerus, nou- 

 veau genre que j'ai form6 avec le Sdsena aquila, Cuv., et auquel, j'associe luie nou- 

 velle espece, VArg. sparoides, de la bale de Bourg Neuf." 



No other reference is made to Argijrosomus or to these species. The species, Scisena 

 aquila must be taken as the type of Argyrosomus. The name thus antedates Fseudo- 

 sdsena Bloch, given in 1863 to the same species, aquila. 



