944 FISHES — CENTEAECHID^. 



Then the versatile and eccentric ProteSBOr Rafinesqne appeared upon the scene, and 

 in rapid succession gave the small-mouthed Black Bass names enough for a whole fam- 

 ily. First, he called it Bedianus aoMgan, being told that the Canadian voyageurs knew 

 the fish as Vachigan. Then afterward specimens of different sizes appeared as CalUurua 

 pnvctulatus, Zepomis trifasciata, Lepomia flexuolaris, Zepomis salmonea, Lepomis notata, and 

 Eiheoatoma calliura. Soon after Le Sueur, with a lofty scorn for Eafinesqne and his 

 doings, named specimens of different sizes, Cichla faeciata, Cichla ohienaia, and Cichla 

 mitiima. Lastly, DeKay, in 1843, called it Centrarchua oiacurua, and we hope this may be 

 the last. 



Now, the name aalmoidea being the oldest is, of course, the one to be adopted. But 

 suppose "we stamp it out." Is Micropterua dolomieu any better? Out with itt 

 Mieropterua achigan t Just as bad. I fear that the " stamping out " process would have 

 to be continued too long. You may spell it aalmonoidea if you like, but you cannot get 

 rid of it. 



Now, for Ihe large-mouthed Baes. The oldest desription we find is that of a young 

 specimen from the Ohio by Rafinesque, in 1820, as Zepomis pallida. The description is 

 poor enouigh, and not altogether correct, but the name is a happy inspiration, as good 

 as aalmoidea is bad. Soon after (1823) Le Sneur described the same fish from Florida as 

 Cichla floridana, a name which would be well enough if it were confined to the streams 

 of the orange groves, but it seems rather narrow in view of the fact that the fish is 

 found in Mexico and Manitoba, and every where between. 



Next, a specimen came to Cavier and Valenciennes, under the title of " Black Bass of 

 Lake Huron." To their ejes the fish was black enough, but not a bass, i. e., Zahrax, and 

 they called it Buro nigrioana, the " Black Huron," making a new genus for it, because 

 their specimen had but six dorsal spines, the last four having been broken off, leaving 

 two dorsal fins. The colored figure, 'which they published, remained a standing puzzle 

 for some time. 



In Dr. Kirtland's private copy of his own fishes of Ohio he had carefully drawn off 

 and colored a copy of Cuvier's figure of his Black Huron, and had all his life sought for 

 such a fish in the lakes and never found it. About a year before his death Dr. Kirtland 

 asked me if I had ever seen that fish or could tell him what it was, and I had the 

 pleasnre of informing him what the monster really was. Next, in 1854, Professor 

 Agassiz, thinking that this fish in the Tennessee Elver could not be the same as in Lake 

 Huron, called it Gryatea nobilia, a good name enough, but thirty-four years too late. In 

 the same year specimens from Texas were named Gryafea nvecensia by Baird and 

 Girard, but the fish is found in other streams than the Rio Nueces. Then a meaty and 

 excellent name, Gryatee megaatoma, was given by Mr. Garlick in 1857, which closes the 

 American synonymy, bnt the disease has broken out in France again, and Messrs. 

 Vaillant and Bocoutt, of Paris, who ought to know better, have again described it as 

 Dioplitea triculii and Dioplitea variaiilia. The poorest business a French naturalist can 

 engage in is that of describing new species of American fishes. A good share of our 

 cumbersome and confusing synonymy is due to Gallic assistance. 



Now, in 1873, Prof. Gill, in his masterly review of these species, followed the thread 

 back only to Suro nigrioana in 1828, and so called the big-mouthed black bass, as he was 

 bound to do, Mioropterua nigricans. The names floridanua and pallidua were presumed 

 by him to refer to the other species, for the reason that he had never seen a big- 

 mouthed Black Bass either from the Ohio River or from Florida. In 1876 Prof. Goode 

 had collected it in Florida, and bo felt bound to restore Le Sueur's name, and to call it 



