112 NOMENCLATURE OF THE MYLIOBATID^—GILL. voL.xvn. 



caiidatus (?); Hamatus (?); Ocellatus (Ae. narinarif); Narinari {Ae. 

 narinari) ; Forsteii( ?) 



The only species of this list that can be certainly identified by name is 

 the narinari, the type of the Miillerian genus Aetobatis. By assum- 

 ing that Nichofii is a misprint for Nieuhofii, we are led to another prob- 

 able identification. The other specific names are new and can only 

 be guessed at; the results of such guesses are given in brackets after 

 the several names, when there are good grounds for guessing. But 

 the genus must be determined by the Imown species named and those 

 belong only to the genus Aetobatis, M. & H. 



MYLIOBATIS. 



Cuvier in 1817, adopted from manuscript of Dumeril the name 

 MyUobatis for the same group called by Blainville Aetobatus. In this 

 course he was followed by almost all succeeding naturalists. 



GENEEA OF MYLIOBATIDES. 



Miiller and Henle in 1838 distributed the species combined under the 

 names Aetobatus or MyUobatis into three genera, MyUobatis, Aetobatis, 

 and Ehinoptera (Cuv., 1829). They ascribed to themselves the name 

 Aetobatis. This arrangement was generally adopted by later writers. 



AUASSIZ'S VIEWS. 



Agassiz in 1843 (Poiss. Fos., iir, p. 325), took the correct view of 

 nomen(;lature in the following passage: 



2", Du genre Aetobatis M. et H. 



M. de Blainville d^signa sous le noin gen^rique, d! Aetobatis I'ensemble des Mourines 

 connues k I'^poqiie oil il publiait son ouvrage. Ce genre n'^tuit done alors qu'un 

 simple syuonyme du genre MyUobates de M. Dum6ril. ' Plus tard MM. Miiller et Henle 

 'subdivisereut ce groupe en plusieurs genres, il conserverent le nom MyUobates an 

 genre dont le Raja aqirila des auteurs peut etre consider^ comme le type, et ils re- 

 streignirent le nom de Aetobatis au genre dont le Narinari deMargrafest I'espf^ce 

 la plus anciennement connue. 



This, it seems to me, is a perfectly legitimate view and use of the 

 two names. Both names, Aetobatus and MyUobatis, might have been 

 retained for different sections of the old genus, if no other considerations 

 had forbidden. Both of those names, however, as President Jordan has 

 reminded me, were anticipated by a name given by Raflnesque in 1810. 



CEPHALEUTHERUS. 



Rafinesque, in his "Indice d'lttiologia Siciliana," has a genus Cepha- 

 leutherus interposed between his Mobula {^Cephaloptera Dum.) and 

 Uroxis (Trygon auct.), which, according to Dr. Jordan, is a MyUobatis. 



* A less equivocal expression would "be that MyUobatis was a synonym of Aetobatis 

 since the former name (1817) was subsequent to the latter (1816). 



