January 2, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



33 



THE HOSTS OF ARGULIDS AND THEIB 

 NOMENCLATURE. 



An excellent monograph of the ' North 

 American Parasitic Copepods of the Family 

 Argulidse ' has been contributed to the Pro- 

 ceedings of the IJ. S. National Museum by 

 Dr. Charles Branch Wilson and just published. 

 As it is ' the first of a series, now in course of 

 preparation, on the parasitic Copepods,' it 

 Beems advisable to point out a defect which 

 should be avoided in the subsequent mono- 

 graphs. The hosts are very often erroneously 

 named or named in a very archaic or contra- 

 dictory manner. The archaic nomenclature 

 is chiefly connected with foreign forms and 

 is the result of determinations of species made 

 many years ago. 



The host of Argulus nattereri (p. 720) 

 and Dolops longicauda (p. Y32) named ' Salmo 

 (Hydrocyon) hrevidens Cuvier ' (p. 720) or 

 ' Hydrocyon {Salmo) hrevidens Cuvier ' (p. 

 732) does not belong to the same order as 

 Salmo nor to the same genus as Hydrocyon ' 

 (which is coniined to Africa), but to a genus 

 (Salminus) peculiar to South America. The 

 Argulus salm,ini (p. 720) was also found 

 parasitic ' in the gill cavity ' of Salminus and 

 not of 'Salmo,' a genus, as already stated, of 

 a different order. 



Species of ' Chromis ' are designated as the 

 hosts of two species of Argulids, Argulus 

 chromidis of Nicaragua (p. 721) and Chono- 

 peltis inermis of Wiedenhafen, East Africa 

 (p. 729). 



Probably the Central American fish is a 

 Cichlid of the genus Heros, and the East 

 African, one of the genus Tilapia. Chromis 

 is now reserved by all the best authorities for 

 a salt-water genus of the family of Pomacen- 

 trids. 



The host of Argulus doradis called Doras 

 niger (p. 734) is now known as Oxydoras 

 niger. The host of Argulus africanus (p. 727) 

 called Olaria is a catfish of the genus Glarias. 

 ' The host of Dolops reperta of Guiana (734) 

 called ' Aymara ' is an Erythrinid now known 

 as Macrodon tareira or by the earlier but ex- 

 tremely inappropriate name Macrodon mala- 



baricu^, due to a blunder of Bloch committed 

 more than a century ago. 



The host of Dolops striata (p. 735) and 

 Dolops hidentata (p. 736) of Guiana, called 

 ' a species of Anguilla,' is probably a species 

 of a different order named Synhranchus mar- 

 moratus. No Anguilla has been recorded from 

 Guiana. 



The host of Dolops discoidalis designated 

 as a species of Platystoma has been for nearly 

 forty years universally called Soruhim. 



Another fish, the common alewife, on the 

 same page is called Clupea vernalis and Pom- 

 olohus pseudoharengus. 



Dr. Wilson's bibliography i.^ well digested, 

 but he seems to have overlooked a few articles. 

 Among such are three of minor importance 

 by Eeinhardt (1864), Frauenfeld (1870) and 

 Dambeck (1877), besides one of considerable 

 importance by von Nettovich (1900) of thirty- 

 two pages and two plates. 



One other defect should be remedied. No . 

 habitat except ' Wiedenhafen ' is given for 

 Chonopeltis inermis. As Wiedenhafen is not 

 noticed in current gazetteers (it is not in the 

 latest edition of Lippincott's) it was deemed 

 necessary to refer to the original description 

 but the only reference to the place of descrip- 

 tion was ' Thiele, 1901,' the rest of the line 

 suiScient for the page being left blank. On 

 reference to Thiele's article in the Zoolo- 

 gischer Anzeiger, it appeared that Wieden- 

 hafen is in East Africa. The name of the 

 host is no guide. 



The other lapses are not of STifficient im- 

 portance to demand special attention here. 

 Theo. Gill. 



Cosmos Club. 



the great need in american zooloay. 

 At the present day the zoologists of the 

 United States of America can point to a con- 

 siderable number of well-equipped labora- 

 tories, and of others in course of construction ; 

 of libraries, such as that of the Philadelphia 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, which is prob- 

 ably not excelled; of an annually increasing 

 number of fellowships and free scholarships 

 to enable students to investigate; and of the 

 aid of the government in maintaining such 



