no. 1824. NOTES ON THE GENUS LEPOMIS—BEAN AND WEED. 373 



spelling for Lepomis. On page 355 of the same publication he pro- 

 poses the name Helioperca as a generic designation for Lepomis pallidus. 



Gill and Jordan 1 propose the name Eupomotis for the genus typified 

 by the common sunfish Eupomotis gibbosus, no diagnosis being given, 

 but the synonymy of this species in full as then understood. In the 

 same year David Starr Jordan 2 amplifies the statement of reasons 

 for offering a new name, but gives no generic diagnosis. He adds 

 two species to the list of those in the new genus. 



Early in 1877 Doctor Jordan 3 proposed the name Xenotis for spe- 

 cies of Lepomis with the gill rakers on the first arch especially short 

 and weak. No mention is made of the pharyngeal bones and the 

 generic characters given are not distinctive. 



On May 20, 1S77, Edward D. Cope read before the American 

 Philosophical Society a paper 4 in which he described Xystroplites 

 longimanus as a new genus and species from two localities in Florida. 



About the same time Doctor Jordan 5 described Xystroplites gillii 

 as a new genus and species, giving Garden Key, Florida, as the 

 locality from which the specimen was received. This is obviously 

 an error and we have no means now of knowing the type-locality of 

 this species. Professor Cope says in his description that Doctor 

 Jordan's description was written first and, he supposes, was published 

 first. 



The two generic diagnoses are somewhat at variance in describing 

 the pharyngeal teeth. We quote both: 



The pharyngeal bones themselves are much narrower and smaller than in Eupo- 

 motis, being in form more like those of Xenotis. The teeth are less strongly "paved," 

 being smaller, less crowded, and rounded rather than truncate; on the inner border 

 of the bone are a few enlarged acute teeth. (Bull. 10, U. S. Nat. Mus., p. 24.) 



Inferior pharyngeal bones wide and robust, and paved with truncate grinding 

 teeth. (Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc, vol. 17, 1877-78, p. 67.) 



Charles L. McKay 6 says of the genus Lepomis: 



This genus, as understood by me, includes Apomotis, Xenotis, Bryttus, Helioperca, 

 Xystroplites, and Eupomotis of authors. Apomotis has been separated from Lepomis 

 on account of the large size of the supplemental maxillary. On careful comparison this 

 is found to be scarcely larger than in one or two other species of Lepomis. It disappears 

 by degrees, but seems to exist in all the species, though sometimes so small as to be 

 inappreciable. I have even found it present in large specimens of L. pallidus. Its 

 presence in the species is only a character of degree, therefore not generic. Till the 

 group had been more carefully studied, Xenotis was supposed to contain a large number 

 of species, and was separated from Lepomis principally for convenience sake and on 

 the slight character of the feeble gill rakers. By a comparison of a very large series 

 of the alleged species from Professor Jordan's collection, I have come to the conclusion 

 that they are all forms of a single species. The gill rakers are usually rather more 

 feeble than in the rest of the species of Lepomis, but this again is a question of degree. 

 Bryttus has been distinguished from Lepomis by the presence of palatine teeth. This 



i Field and Forest, May, 1877, p. 190. * Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc, vol. 17, pp. 63 to 68. 



2 Bull. 10, U. S. Nat. Mus., 1877. s Bull. 10, U. S. Nat. Mus., 1877, p. 24. 



s Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1S77, p. 76. « Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 4, 1881, June 2. 



