736 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 854 



fish from the Nile," referred to the same 

 genus by Cuvier, has for more than half a 

 century been associated with numerous other 

 African fishes in a distinct family (Cichlids) 

 and its generally accepted name now is Tilapia 

 nilotica. Coracinus was, however, long a 

 popular name for it, and the " Coracin fish " 

 of Josephus (" Wars of the Jews," III., 10, 8) 

 was doubtless the same or one of the closely 

 related species. 



The genera Sciwna and Umbrina belong to 

 the family of Scisenids and Chromis to that 

 of Pomacentrids. 



Apropos of the sexual relations of the 

 selachians, Aristotle brought together most of 

 the names of the species he knew. After spe- 

 cific notices of the latos (ray), the trygon 

 (sting ray) and the rhine (angelfish), in 

 Thompson's version (V., 54(3' 17) we have 

 this enumeration : " And among cartilaginous 

 fishes are included, besides those already 

 named, the bos, the lamia, the aetos, the naree 

 or torpedo, the fishing-frog, and all the gale- 

 odes or sharks and dogfish." 



Professor Thompson thinks that the bos is 

 " probably Notidanus griseus " and the lamia 

 " one of the greater sharks, e. g., Carcharias 

 glaucus, or Oarcharodon Rondeletii." Such 

 can scarcely be the case. Aristotle generally 

 instinctively approximated like forms and he 

 especially segregated "all the galeodes" (Wvra 

 Taya\eo>8r]). Inasmuch as the hos and lamia 

 head the list of flat selachians, they were 

 doubtless rays. 



The los (lous) was almost certainly the 

 Mobula edentula, otherwise named Cephalop- 

 tera or Dicerohatis giorna. It is known by 

 analogous names (vaca, vacchietta) along the 

 coasts of France and Italy, and allusion is 

 thereby made to the horn-like headfins (carop- 

 teres) which project forwards and forcibly 

 remind the observer of a cow's horns. Devil- 

 fish is the name by which kindred forms are 

 known along the American coasts. 



The lamia may have been intended for over- 

 grown individuals of the hous known only 

 through exaggerated reports. It was possibly 

 interpolated by a later editor. 



The aetos was undoubtedly the eagle ray. 



Myliolatis aquila. The name is generally 

 supposed to refer to the widely spread wing- 

 like pectoral fins, but Professor Thompson has 

 " little doubt that the original name, still pre- 

 served in Sicily, was pisci acuta, or oKv'Kir|^i." 

 It is the wing-like expansion and use of the 

 pectorals that is the most striking character- 

 istic of the eagle rays; the spines they share 

 in common with the sting rays (Dasybatids). 

 Professor Thompson might support his con- 

 jecture, however, by the fact that, in America, 

 the eagle rays are to some extent called sting 

 rays in common with the dasybatids. 



The (l>vKr]'s (male) or cJ)vkls (female) is named 

 by Thompson " the little phycis or black goby" 

 (567" 1. 19) or merely phycis (591" 16, 607" 20). 

 The fish is thus identified unhesitatingly with 

 the Golius niger, as was done by Apostolides, 

 who followed Cuvier and Nordmann. The 

 early writers, however, so identified the 

 phykis merely because it had become known 

 as a nest-maker and no other nest-maker than 

 the goby was known. Nevertheless, it is now 

 certain that the Aristotelian fish was not a 

 goby but a labrine. It was declared by Speu- 

 sippus (in Athena3us) to be like a sea-perch 

 (Serranus) which the phyjcis is not; it was 

 associated with labrines by Aristotle (607" 18), 

 and it is still called phykopsaro in Greece. 

 It is also now well known that several of the 

 European labrines construct nests; those la- 

 brines are much more conspicuous and more 

 like the serranids than are the gobies. The 

 phyMs was therefore identified with a Creni- 

 labrus by Gerbe as early as 1864 and there 

 can be little if any question that it really 

 was a labrine. It was indeed considered by 

 Belon, more than three centuries ago (1580), 

 to be one of the fishes now knovsm. as Creni- 

 lahri. As Gerbe's fine article is almost un- 

 known, it may be noted here as published in 

 the Revue et Magasin de Zoologie for 1864 

 (pp. 255-258, 273-279, 337-340). The nest of 

 a northern species {Lahrus maculatus) has 

 also been described by J. D. Matthews in the 

 Fifth Annual Eeport of the Fishery Board 

 for Scotland (1886-7, pp. 245-247). 



Among the migratory fishes (IX., 610" 6, 7) 

 are mentioned " the sarginus, the gar-fish," 



