184 EEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



tribution of genera of North American fishes and the isolation of the 

 genus Amhlyopsis in a family he called " Hypsteidie/"'" We may pass 

 them without comment save that they were laudable attempts at least. 

 I have alluded to these defects of Storer's work because for a long 

 time they influenced our conceptions respecting the fishes of the coast 

 and were generall}^ adopted. The errors were repeated by Dekay in 

 1842 and (pardon the expression of personal experience) the discrep- 

 ancy between the facts and the print sadly perplexed my boyish studies 

 and for a time made me fear that failure to understand was the fault 

 of m}^ stupidity rather than Storer's and Dekay's errors. In fact, they 

 remained uncorrected till I had to demonstrate that the statements 

 were inconsistent with the facts and formulated the views now preva- 

 lent.^ 



VII. 



In 1872 was published an article which would not call for notice, 

 since it is devoted to a limited locality and covers a very short period, 

 were it not that the locality is very near Woods Hole and that it ema- 



n Mem. Am. Acad. Arts and Sci., n. s., II; Syn. Fishes N. A., pp. 4-8; 183, 184, 1846. 

 b Five new specific names appeared for the first time (with descriptions) in the History, viz: 

 Scomber Deliayi (Mem. Amer. Acad, v, 130; Hist. 52)=Scomber scombrus (Linnsens, 1758). 

 Thynnns secundo-dorsalis (Mem. Amer. Acad, v, 143; Hist. 65)=Thunnus tliynnus (Linnaeus, 1758). 

 Blennius serpentinus (Mem. Amer. Acad, v, 257; Hist. 91)=Leptoblennius lampetrseformis (Wal- 



baum, 1792). 

 Anarrhicas vomerinus, Agassiz, Ms. (Mem. Amer. Acad., v, 205; Hist. 99)=Anarrhichas lupus (Lin- 



nseus, 1758). 

 Phycis filamentosus (Mem. Amer. Acad.,vi, 417; Hist. 189)=Urophycis chuss (Walbaum, 1780). 



Before and between the periods covered by the publication of the Report and History, Storer pub- 

 lished, in the Boston Journal of Natural History and Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural 

 History, descriptions of a number of nominal new species, viz: 



Cstracion Yalei (Boston Journal 1, 1836, 353)=Lactophrys trigonus (Linnseus, 1758). 

 Hydraigira trifasciata (Boston Journal 1, 1837, 417)=Fundulus majalis (Walbaum, 1792). 

 Gasterosteus mainen.sis (Boston Journal 1, 1S37, 465) = Pygosteus pungitius (Linnaeus, 1758). 

 Myliobatis bispinosus (Proc. Bost. Soc. 1, 1841, 53)=Myliobatis freminvillei (Lesueur, 1824). 

 Lotii Brosmiana (Boston Journal 4, 1842, .58)=Lota lota (Llnnai-us, 1758). — Described from "a beautiful 



fresh specimen" " received from Lake Winnipissiogee," butthespecies also occurs in Mas.sachu- 



setts. 

 Etheostoma Olmstedi (Boston Journal 4, 1842, 61)=Boleosoma nigra olmstedi.— Described from speci- 

 mens " found at Hartford," Conn., but the species is also a Massachusetts fish. 

 Pomotis rubri-cauda (Boston Journal 4, 1842, 177)=Lepomis auritus (Linnjeus, 1758). 

 Torpedo occidentalis (Amer. Jour. Sci. and Art, 45, Juno, 1843, 166)=Tetronarce occidentalis (Storer, 



1843). 

 Hydrargira formosa (Proc. Bost. Soc. 1, 1842, 76) =Fundulus majalis (Walbaum, 1792). 

 Platessa glabra (Proc. Bost. Soc. 1, 1843, 130; not Rathke, 1837)-Liopsetta putnami (Gill 1864). 

 Leptocephalus gracilis (Proc. Bost. Soc. 2, 1845, 76) =Leptocephalus conger (Linnwus, 1758). 

 Prionotus pileatus (Proc. Bost. Soc. 2, 1845, 77) = Prionotus carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758). 

 Alosa cyanonoton (Proc. Bost. Soc. 2, 1847, 242)=Pomolobus aestivalis (Mitchill, 1815). 

 Alosa lineata (Proc. Bost. Soc. 2, 1847, 242)=Pomolobus mediocris (Mitchill, 1815). 

 Plates.sa quadrocellata (Proc. Bost. Soc. 2, 1847, 242)=Paralichthys oblongus (Mitchill, 1815). 

 Motella caudacuta (Proc. Bost. Soc. 3, 1848, 5) = Rhinonemu.s cimbrius (Linnaus, 1766). 

 Blennius serpentinus (Proc. Bost. Soc. 3, 1848, 30; named only)=Leptoblennius lampetra'formis 



(Walbaum, 1792). 

 t^archarias Atwoodi (Proc. Bost. Soc. 3, 1848, 72)=Carcharodon careharias (Linnceus, 1758). 

 Zeus ocellatus (Proc. Bost. .Soc. 6, 1858, 386)=Zenopsis ocellatus (Storer, 1858). 



In the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2. ser., vol. 2), and in the "Synop- 

 sis of the Fishes of North America," reproduced from it, in 1846, two new names were introduced for 

 Massachusetts fishes, viz: 

 Monacanthus signifer (Mem. 497, Syn. 245; M. setifer DeKay, not of Bennett) =Monacanthus hispidus 



(Linnffius, 1766). 

 Acanthias americanus (Mem. 506, Syn. 251)=Squalus acanthias (Linna'us, 1758). 



