106 Papers from the Department of Marine Biology. 



drawn as to have nothing about ii to distinguish it as a barracuda save 

 the name appended below. For these reasons it is best to omit any 

 reproduction of it here. Almost as bad is Labat's (1742) reproduc- 

 tion of Rochefort's figure (1667), since Labat leaves off the lateral line, 

 possibly because Rochefort had drawn it incorrectly. 



Next in point of time comes Catesby's drawing of the Bahama form. 

 While this is crudely done it seems worth while from the historical 

 standpoint to reproduce it in this paper as figure 16, plate v. 



The next figure of the big West Indian barracuda is Parra's drawing, 

 reproduced herein as figure 17, plate v. It was pubHshed in 1787 

 and, though crude, is by far the best of all the figures published prior 

 to 1829. 



The first really accurate delineation of Sphyrcena barracuda is that 

 found in the third volume of Cuvier and Valenciennes. This is really 

 a wonderful drawing to have been made from a preserved specimen. 

 The reader will find it given herein as figure 18, plate v. The one 

 criticism is that the head is somewhat too short and blunt. 



After Cuvier and Valenciennes' elegant figure, the next portrayal 

 known to me is that found in volume iv of Jordan and Evermann's 

 gi-eat work on American fishes. This excellent figure has but two 

 defects worthy of serious criticism; the lateral fine runs straight 

 where it should rise over the pectoral fin ; and the fin rays do not corre- 

 spond to the count in the text. This drawing is herein reproduced 

 as text-figure 2. These same authors, in their ''American food 

 and game fishes" (1905), publish an excellent figure, apparently 

 a photograph of a preserved, possibly a still fresh specimen, 

 viewed from the side and sHghtly from below. This fine figure shows 

 the lateral line markedly arched over the pectoral fin, but the authors 

 persist in their statement that it is straight. 



Very valuable are the three portrayals in the plate taken from Bul- 

 len's book (1904) and reproduced herein facing page 55. These are 

 by long odds the best figures extant of this fish, and portray very 

 closely attitudes in which the fish has often been observed at Tortugas. 



The observations on the li\dng fish, its structures and habits, and the 

 collection of material and data for further study were made at the 

 Tortugas Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. 

 Here Dr. A. G. Mayer, the director, did everything possible to forward 

 my work. The historical side of the paper was worked up in the 

 Library of Congress and the Library of the United States National 

 Museum. To the officials in charge of these two great Ubraries I am 

 under obUgation for many courtesies. The extracts from the various 

 authors referred to are in the main hteral quotations. Translitera- 

 tions would possibly have enhanced the appearance of the paper, but 

 experience has taught me that verbatim quotations are far more 

 valuable to the reader. 



