134 Ayres on the identity of 
very little value, for the branchial rays, like those of the fins, 
so often vary in their number, that very little dependence can 
be put upon them. Dr. Richardson even goes so far as to 
say; that there is commonly a difference of one ray in the | 
right and left sides of the same specimen. I have not found 
them to vary so uniformly as this, still they do not furnish a . 
character which is by any means constant. We may, doubt, 
therefore, whether a difference no greater than this, and en- 
. tirely unsupported by any other, is worth regarding. 
. Butit has been mentioned that we have other means of 
settling the identity of C. viscosus and U. quiescens with our 
species, than simply trusting to the descriptions, and to that 
we now come. Mr. C. H. Olmsted, of East Hartford, Ct., in 
May, 1843, while in Albany, was examining the collection of 
fishes, &c., belonging to the State, the results of the r 
survey. Among them he found one, which Dr. Emmons 
informed him was the identical specimen from which Dr. De 
Kay drew up his description of U. quiescens. Mr. Haldeman 
was present at the same time, and said that that was also his 
C. viscosus. Here, then, we have testimony, which is all that. 
we need. Mr. Olmsted is perfectly familiar with the spe jes 
which we find in Connecticut, and which both he and myself. 
believe to be the Cottus gobio. He could not possibly have. 
mistaken any other for it; and he assures me that it is identi- . 
cal with the fish in the New York collection, the Uranidea of 
Dr. De Kay. It was this which induced me to say, that Í 
had examined large numbers of specimens of Dr. De Kays 
species, and was satisfied that he was in an error, in regard to 
the teeth on the tongue, and the ventral rays. For knowing 
+ from Mr. Olmsted that the description referred to our Cor. 
a necticut fish, I considered myself justified in so saying ; 1^ 
them the tongue is certainly smooth, and the ventral rays a 
five. . Dr. De Kay, therefore, has, as I believe, acted without 
warrant, in attempting to establish the genus Uranidea. - It 
differs from Cottus in nothing, and of course is not require 
And not only so, but the species which he has placed in it,and 
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