6U0 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. V0L.XXIL No. 567. 



nasicus, was suppressed in favor of Clapa- 

 nodon. The change of result depends on the 

 status assigned to Konosirus, Sardinia and 

 Clupeonia. By the process of elimination the 

 name Clupanodon can be used for any one of 

 several species, its use depending on the views 

 one may hold of these closely related generic 

 or subgeneric types. If restricted to the chef 

 de file, the matter is at once settled. The 

 species involved become : 



Clwpanodon oglinus. 

 Konosirus thrissa. 

 Sardinella jnlchardus. 

 Harengula ilisha. 

 Ilisha africana. 

 Harengula jussieui. 



The rule of the first reviser, if the rule of 

 the chef de file be disregarded, would cause 

 Clupanodon to replace Harengula, Clupeonia 

 and Kowala, jussieui being its type. 



Another illustration is taken from the 

 genus of flounders, Pleuronectes Linnaeus, 

 1758. 



In this genus, the European species men- 

 tioned by Linnseus and by Artedi, from whom 

 the genus is derived, are : 



hippoglossus (type of Hippoglossus Cuvier, 

 1817). 



platessa (type of Platessa Cuvier, 1817). 



flesus (type of Flesus Moreau, 1873, a genus 

 very close to Platessa, perhaps, in fact, 

 identical ) . 



limanda (type of Limanda Gottsche, 1835). 



solea (type of Solea Quensel, 1803,, of Solea 

 Rafinesque, 1810, and of Solea Cuvier, 1817). 



rhombus (type of Rhombus Cuvier, 1817, name 

 preoccupied: of Rhomboides Goldfusz, 1820, 

 substitute name; also, as Bothus rumolo, 

 the first species named under Bothus Ra- 

 finesque, 1810) . 



maximus (type of Psetta Swainson, 1839, not 

 Psettus Cuvier, 1817; first species named of 

 Scophthalmus Rafinesque, 1810, which in- 

 cludes also rhombus). 



passer (a synonym of flesus). 



Scophthalm.us and Bothus are based on 

 three species each, the two categories being 

 essentially the same, Scophthalmus being 

 based on literature, Bothus on specimens. 

 But the order is changed in the two cases, 

 maximus occurring first under Scophthalmus, 



rumolo (rhomhu^) under Bothus. Under 

 Rhomhus and Bothus and Scophthalmus, 

 both maximus and rhombus are included, and 

 Psetta, although based on maximus alone, by 

 implication is a substitute for Bhomhus. 



The first reviser, Rafinesque, 1810, leaves no 

 species in Pleuronectes, unless, as he refers 

 all the other species to other genera, we might 

 regard hippoglossus, which is not mentioned 

 by him as the type of his Pleuronectes. The 

 next reviser, Cuvier, 1817, recognizes the 

 genus, Pleuronectes as used by Linnaeus, but 

 at once separates it into four genera or sub- 

 genera dropping the original name. These 

 are Platessa {platessa, flesus, limanda), Hip- 

 poglossus (hippoglossus), Bhomhus (maximus, 

 rhombus) and Solea (solea). Meanwhile 

 Solea had been set off previoiisly by Quensel 

 (1803) and by Rafinesque (1810), the latter 

 author very erroneously referring to it, 

 platessa, flesus and limanda also. Swainson, 

 1839, the next reviser, recognizes Pleuronectes 

 (platessa) , Hippoglossus (hippoglossus), Psetta 

 (maximus) and Solea (solea). This is the 

 first restricted use of Pleuronectes since the 

 time of Linnaeus and his followers. Later 

 Pleuronectes was restricted by me to maximus 

 by the rule of elimination, flesus being then re- 

 garded, as it is still regarded by most authors, 

 as congeneric with platessa. Limanda is also 

 near platessa. But neither limanda nor flesus 

 is the ' best known European species ' of the 

 Linnsean genus Pleuronectes. The rule of 

 the first reviser would fix Pleuronectes with 

 platessa, the rule of the best known species 

 with platessa or maximus, the rule of elimina- 

 tion would place flesus as type of Pleuronectes, 

 if defined as dealing with a species at a time. 

 But Rafinesque took out solea, platessa and 

 flesus together, to form his genus Solea, leav- 

 ing only hippoglossus not provided for. This 

 fact, some would hold, restricts Pleuronectes 

 to P. hippoglossus. Cuvier next took out all 

 the species, leaving no genus Pleuronectes, 

 and placing Rhombus last, next to Solea. On 

 the other hand, platessa was placed first by 

 Cuvier, its subgenus Platessa being appar- 

 ently the chef de file subgenus in Cuvier's 

 genus Pleuronectes. 



With this group nothing in particular can 



