336 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. A'OL. XLIX. No. 1266 



ture, tlie two members who have acted in co- 

 operation with, the coaninittee to be formsally 

 added to that body; and that the president of 

 the Botanical Society appoint additional mem- 

 bers, one with a special knowledge of the 

 Bryophyta or Pteridophyta, one with a special 

 knowledge of the Alga?, and two with a special 

 knowledge of fungi. 



2. This committee shall investigiate doubtful 

 or questioned cases, either upon its own initia- 

 tive or in response to requests, and shall recom- 

 mend decisions. It may prepare a code of 

 Botanical IsFomenclature and may, at regular 

 meetings of the society, recommend changes or 

 additions to the code. It is suggested that the 

 committee undertake, as soon as practicable, 

 the typifying of the Linnsean genera, as this 

 must ibe the basis of all future work. 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



TEMPERATURE AND VERTEBRiE IN FISHES; 

 A SUGGESTED TEST 



In 1862, Dr. Giintheri noted that in the 

 family of LaJbridse (Wrasse fishes) the tropical 

 species had 24 (10 -j- 14) vertebrse while those 

 of temperate seas had a larger number, the in- 

 crease being mainly in the caudal region. 



In 1863, Dr. Gill showed that this general- 

 ization could be extended to other families, 

 and that it was to "be considered in connec- 

 tion with the predominance in northern 

 waters" of soft-rayed fishes" in which the 

 increase in the number of vertebrae is a normal 

 feature." This generalization thus included 

 the herring, trout, salmon, smelt, cod, flounder 

 and their relatives, and might have heen ex- 

 tended to the seulpins, greenlings and other 

 spiny-rayed fishes — northern types as well. 



In 1864, Dr. Gill noted that the northern 

 genus, Bebastes, with 12 + 19 = 31 vertebrae 

 showed a similar relation to its tropical rela- 

 tive ScorpcBna, with 10 +1 4 = 24. 



In various papers, the present writer has ex- 

 tended this generalization to numerous other 

 families, raising it to the dignity of a " law." In 

 general, among, spiny -rayed fishes, the tropical 

 forms have the vertebrae 10 -t- 14, the northern 



1 ' ' Oaitalogue of the Fishes of the British 

 Museum," Vol. IV. 



forms, fresh-water forms, pelagic species and 

 deep-sea representatives a larger number. In 

 the groups of soft-rayed fishes, the vertebrse in 

 the tropics usually range higher than 24 (35 to 

 43) among flounders while the subarctic species 

 all run higher (among flounders 49 to 65). 

 The siib-Arctic blennies have the vertebrae 75 

 to 100, their tropical relatives 28 to 49. Some 

 such relation exists in every group — eel-shaped 

 fishes excepted. These have no northern rep- 

 resentatives and in them the whole body is 

 peculiarly modified in accordance with their 

 mode of life. 



The facts being fairly established we look 

 next to its explanation. Dr. Gill states (1889) 

 that " it is simply the expression of a fact which 

 has no cause for its being now known." He 

 further doubts whether it can ever be ascer- 

 tained. 



In my own first paper on the subject- I sug- 

 gested that the larger numbers might be prim- 

 itive, and that the smaller numbers (accom- 

 panied by corresponding increase in complexity 

 of the individual vertebrse) were the result of 

 specialization or " ichthyization," a process 

 which in the favoring temperature, amid in- 

 tense competition of the tropics and especially 

 about coral-reefs, brought about the more per- 

 fect or fish-like fish. 



1 am now, however, inclined to accept Dr. 

 Boulenger's suggestion that the increased n\im- 

 bers and the lack of specialization of parts is 

 the result of a form of degeneration, and that 

 the lower number is a primitive trait possessed 

 by the ancestors of most of the higher bony- 

 fishes. 



One way of testing this has occurred to me. 

 The genus Sehastodes and its near allies ("rock- 

 cod ") form a large part of the temperate fish- 

 fauna of California and Japan. These stand 

 intermediate in characters as well as in geog- 

 raphy between the subarctic rose-fishes (Sehas- 

 tes, Sehasiolohus, etc.) and the tropical scor- 

 pion-fishes {Scorpoena, Helicolenus, etc.) with 

 their derivatives and allies. 



In Sehastes, the vertebrae are 13 -|- 19 = 31 ; 

 in Sehastodes, 12 + 15 ^ 27, and in Scorpoena, 

 10 -(- 14 = 24. The species of Sehastes and 



2 Froc. V. S. Nat. Mus., XIV., 1891. 



