340 Remarks on the Natural History of Fishes. 



introduce it here with a plate of the pastinaca — the European 

 species — especially as other species of this genus have been found 

 on the coast of Rhode Island, to which this is much more likely 

 to belong. 



An elaborate account of the Sturgeon — acipenser sturio — ac- 

 companied by a figure, follows the Selachii : the Massachusetts 

 sturgeon is the sturio oxyrinchus. 



Four species are here included in the Plectognathi. The 

 aluteres monoceros proves to be a new species to which I have 

 affixed the name of " Massachusetensis^'' in my report to the Gov- 

 ernor: neither the ostracion triqueter nor hicaudalis have I ever 

 heard of on our coast. The specimen which Dr. Smith sup- 

 posed to be the latter fish, is a new species to which I gave the 

 name of Yalei, in a communication read to this society in 1836. 



Under the head of Tetraodon turgidus — swell fish — we find 

 the following sentence, which cannot be passed over unnoticed, 

 however unwilling we may feel to write a line of unmixed cen- 

 sure. " The only apology we can make for not having dissected 

 one of them with reference to explaining their internal organiza- 

 tion, is the poor one, that there has not been time since the com- 

 mencement of this essay." Here we see an author voluntarily 

 coming before the public, dedicating his labors to a distin- 

 guished LL. D., and ofibring as an apology for a neglect so 

 palpable that his own conscience accuses him, that he needed 

 time! It is humiliating enough for him who has but a certain 

 time allowed him in which to perform a duty, to be compelled to 

 ofler such an excuse, although he has a right to expect the cir- 

 cumstances of his case will be considered ; but, when an individ- 

 ual to consult his own convenience, chooses to publish a superfi- 

 cial treatise with his name prefixed as its responsible author, such 

 an apology cannot be received by naturalists — regardless as he ap- 

 pears alike of his own reputation and the true interests of science. 



Although in the Lophobranchii, the Syngnathus typhle is 

 described, and illustrated by a figure, I have not heard of its 

 having been seen in Massachusetts. Two species have been sent 

 me by correspondents, both of which are new, and will appear in 

 my report. 



Having reached the order Malacoptertgii abdominaI/ES, in 

 the genus Salmo, three species of trout are introduced, the ^'trut- 

 ta, and ^^fario,^^ and " hucho,^^ while the only one I have been 



