•272 ON AC.VNXnof YBii'M soi,ANj)R[. [i'eb. 16, 



2. Ou a Specimen of Acanthocybimn solandri from the 

 Arabian Sea. By G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S. 



[Eeceived January 30, 1897.] 



The Trustees of the British Museum ha^-e recently received 

 from their enthusiastic and generous correspondent at Muscat, 

 Surgeon-Lieut.-Col. Jayakar, C.M.Z.8., a specimen of a pelagic ' 

 Scombroid (Acanthoci/hhmi solandri), of which half a dozen speci- 

 mens at the outside are known to be preserved in museums, and of 

 which nothing but a dried head from the Atlantic, presented by 

 Prof, Llitken, was until now iji the Xatioual Collection. 



The specimen is further of interest as affording the first record 

 of this fish in the Indian Ocean. 



The species was originally described by Cuvier and Valenciennes 

 as Cyhium solandri, from a MS. description and figure by Solander, 

 taken from a specimen observed in 1769 about the Pomotu Archi- 

 pelago, South Pacific Ocean, which figure has since boen reproduced 

 by Giinther in his ' Pische der Siidsee." The specimen was 4 ft. 

 long, and the radial formula is given as: D. 26-|-ll-t-IX ; 

 A. 12-f X; C. 33 ; P. 22; V. 1/5. 



Shortly after, in 1839, the same fish was redescribed, under the 

 name of Ci/linm sara, by Bennett, fi'om notes and a sketch taken by 

 Surgeon Collie of a specimen about 4:^ ft. long observed at the Loo 

 Choo Islands. Eadial formula : D. 25 + ? -(- IX ; A. ? -|- IX. This 

 0. sara became, in 1862, the type of Gill's genus Acanthoci/bium, a 

 genus which, as Liitken has shown, is fully entitled to recognition. 

 Dr. Giinther has since referred the species to the synonymy of 

 0. solandri, a fact which YaiUant appears to have overlooked when 

 redescribing it in 1885, from a specimen of unknown origin pre- 

 served in the Paris Museum (D. 25-1- 11 4- VIII ; A. 12-1- IX). 



A very similar fish was described by Poey in 1860 as Cyhium peius. 

 This was said to be not uncommon off Cuba, growing to a length of 

 5 ft., but, o\^ ing to its large size, specimens were not pi'eserved, and 

 it was described from notes and sketches made on afresh specimen. 

 D. 23 -I- 12 -I- VIII; A. 12 -I- IX. C. petus is referred by Liitken 

 to the synonymy of C. solandri. 



The same species appears once more under a new name in 1872, 

 when Doderlein gives a detailed description of it, accompanied by 

 an excellent figure, as Cyhium veram/, from off the coast of Sicilv. 

 D. 26 + 12-fVIII-IX; A. 12-f-IX-X; P. 24; C. 1/5. This 

 is also regarded as a synonym of C. solandri by Liitken, who states 

 that specimens up to 7 ft. long are occasionally captured in the 

 Atlantic, north and south of the Equator, heads and tails only 

 being preserved. Jordan mentions it as ' not very common " about 

 the Plorida Keys ; a single specimen was taken at Key West. 

 D. 25 4-12-hIX; A. 13+IX. 



In the work quoted above Giinther has also reproduced a figure, 



' Kightly regarded as such by Liitken, although not included in Goode and 

 JJean's • Pelagic Ichthyology.' 



