APPENDIX. 



405 



PLATYSOMUS, Sw. {Vomer. Cuv.) 

 It will appear from the descriptions we shall now lay 

 hefore the ichthyologist^ that at least three species 

 have heen overlooked by Cuvier and other authors, 

 under the general name of Vomer Brownii. The 

 name of this sub-genus having been already changed 

 for that of Platysomus in the body of the work, and 

 its distinctions defined^ the species in question will 

 be now enumerated. 



PLATYSOMUS Brownii (Jig.131.) 

 First dorsal fin minute, of five short connected spines 

 and three detached ones behind ; anal fin with two 

 detached spines before, and one connected to the fin. 



Vomer Brownii. Cuv. et Valen. pi. 256. 

 This is the species described in some detail, in the general 

 work above quoted, the authors of which merely observe that 

 it "is subject to some variation in its proportional breadth, 

 but without affording either well marked or constant characters, 

 by which specific distinctions might be drawn." All this may 

 be true, and yet there can be no question that, deceived by a 

 general or superficial resemblance, our learned authors have 

 overlooked several others, differing not merely in these par- 

 ticulars, but in those very characters which they themselves 

 have proposed for the species. The simple fact, indeed, of 

 this species being alleged to inhabit the whole range of the 

 varied temperature of America, from New York to Brazil, as 

 well as other localities in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, 

 might well have excited suspicion that they were not, in all 

 probability, the same. 



The annexed outlines of the 

 first dorsal fin, and the corres- 

 ponding portion of the ventral 

 profile (brought near together 

 merely to save space, and to 

 show the relative positions of 

 the spines, &c.), wiU mate- 

 rially assist our description of 

 these parts. The first dorsal 

 is minute, and composed of five 

 spines connected by a mem- 

 brane, the second and third of 

 which are the longest, while 

 the first and the last are short- 

 est : behind these, there are 

 three other spines without any membrane; and a fourth, about twice as 

 long, forms the anterior ray of the second dorsal. Between the ventral fin 

 and the anal are two short detached spines ; and a third, of nearly 



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