188 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
A REVIEW OF THE AMERICAN CARANGINZE. 
By DAVID S. JORDAN and CHARLES Wi. GILBERT. 
The purpose of the present paper is to furnish a catalogue of the spe- 
cies of Carangine found in American waters, with an outline of the 
synonymy of each, and a key by which the species may be distinguished. 
The subfamily Carangine, as understood by us, includes the Selenine, 
Carangine, and Chloroscombrine of Dr. Gill (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 
1882, 492), or the genera Trachurus, Carangichthys, Caranx, Argyreiosus, 
and Micropteryx of Dr. Giinther (Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., ii, 418). In Dr. 
- Liitken’s classification (Spolia Atlantica, 196) this group would corre- 
spond to the genera Trachurus, Megalaspis, Decapterus, Caranx, Gall- 
ichthys, Selene, and Micropteryx. 
The division of this group into genera offers numerous difficulties, 
inasmuch as the various characters of form, squamation, dentition, and 
armature are subject to almost complete intergradation. <A division 
based on any of these characters would be imperfect from the presence 
of intermediate forms connecting one group with another. 
A minute subdivision has been attempted by Dr. Bleeker and Dr. Gill, 
and numerous generic names have been proposed, which have not met 
with general acceptance because the distinctive characters disappear as 
our knowledge of the species increases, and the adoption of these genera 
would necessitate the making of still others for species more or less 
aberrant. 
For the present we venture to divide the group into six genera, as 
follows: 
1. Megalaspis ; 
2. Decapterus ; 
3. Trachurus; 
4, Caranx; 
5. Selene; 
6. Chloroscombrus. 
This division is not wholly natural, inasmuch as the differences be- 
tween the extremes among the species of Caranz are greater than those 
separating some of these species from related genera, while, on the other 
hand, the characters separating Trachurus and Selene from Caranx are 
technical only, and have little real value. Under the head of Caranxz 
we recognize a number of subgenera, which seem to intergrade too 
closely to permit us to consider any of them as of full generic rank. 
ANALYSIS OF GENERA OF CARANGINA. 
COMMON CHARACTERS.—Premaxillaries protractile; maxillary with 
a supplemental bone; anal fin similar to soft dorsal, its base longer than 
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