656 



SCIENCE. 



[X. S. Vol. XXI. Xo. 539. 



not, however, do so for the elements of the 

 shoulder-girdle ; the bones of the trout for 

 which the names scapula and coracoid have 

 been used (p. 240) can not possibly be the 

 homologues of the bones so called in the mam- 

 mals. The fish bones only became developed 

 as independent bones in those fishes which had 

 originated from a holostean stock and when 

 later specialization in a direction toward the 

 Acanthopterygian type had supervened. To 

 call such bones scapula and coracoid is to in- 

 culcate a most misleading concept of piscine 

 morphology and development. 



Attention may be called to another state- 

 ment whose ambiguity will mislead. It is 

 said (p. 252) that ' in some of the wrasses 

 (Lahrus), the inferior [pharyngeal] teeth are 

 opposed to superior teeth on the upper 

 pharyngeal bones ' ; experiments show that 

 this sentence may be interpreted to mean that 

 teeth on the superior pharyngeals are excep- 

 tional, whereas they are there, as a rule, not 

 only in all Labrids, but in Acanthopterygian 

 and many other fishes. Professor Bridge 

 doubtless knows better, but has been unhappy 

 in the use of words. 



Another phase that may perplex the student 

 is the frequent incongruity between the names 

 of fishes referred to in the anatomical chapters 

 and those adopted in the systematic portion 

 of the work, such as Mesoprion (p. 235) for 

 Lutjanus (p. 663), Lutodeira (p. 256) for 

 Chanos (p. 294), Ehombus (p. 275) iov Psetta 

 (p. 687), and the like. Such are simple 

 enough, but there are some names which Pro- 

 fessor Bridge evidently introduced without 

 knowing what forms were involved. In one 

 place (p. 262), the statement is made that 

 " ciliated epithelium has been found in the 

 intestine of a few species (e. g., Ehombus 

 aculentus and Syngnathus acus)." The 

 Rliomhus here is by no means the same as the 

 Rhomhus elsewhere, but the Stromateus 

 aculeatus. In a second place (p. 275), it is 

 said that ' in Ldbrus lahrax there are about 

 sixty' pyloric ca?ca : now no Lahrus nor labrid 

 has any ca^ca and the bass {Lahrax of Cuvier) 

 has only about five; consequently some other 



explanation must be found.* Perhaps the 

 statement was based on some hexagrammid, 

 called by Pallas Lahrax, which has numerous 

 caeca. In a third place (p. 357), we are told 

 that ' stridulating sounds may also be pro- 

 duced by the friction of the upper and lower 

 pharyngeal teeth, as in a species of mackerel 

 (Scomher hrachyurus)' ; there is no mackerel 

 so named, but the fish meant is the ' common 

 horse mackerel (Caranx trachurus)' whose 

 relatives are mentioned elsewhere by Professor 

 Bridge (p. 363) as ' horse mackerels (Caranx 

 hippos),' and which represent a peculiar family 

 — the Carangidse (p. 677). 



In ' An Introduction to the Study of 

 Fishes' (p. 177), the law was dogmatically 

 declared that ' with regard to size, it appears 

 that in all teleosteous fishes the female is 

 larger than the male; in many cyprinodonts 

 the male may be only one sixth or even less 

 of the bulk of the female.' In ' The Cam- 

 bridge Natural History ' (p. 413) it is cor- 

 rectly stated that, ' as a rule, in fishes females 

 are more numerous than males, and generally 

 they are larger, but to both statements there 

 are notable exceptions.' It is noteworthy that 

 in the very family of Cyprinodonts of which 

 the males were declared to be very much 

 smaller than the females, there is at least one 

 notable exception in the case of the genus 

 Mollienisia (Mollienia?), whose males are 

 much larger than the females. Furthermore, 

 the males contrast with the females in bril- 

 liant coloration and especially in the greatly 

 expanded dorsal fin. Some other fishes whose 

 males are larger than the females belong to 

 the families Callionymidse, Gobiesocidse, 

 Labridfe, Gobiidas, etc. 



In almost all cases, so far as known, 

 the larger size of the male is coordinated with 

 brilliancy of coloration or some other sec- 

 ondary character. In short, the rule seems to 

 be that when the males are brilliantly colored 

 or Iiave other marked secondary characters 

 they are larger than the females. 



" The only examples of viviparous fishes," 



* X^either the origin nor cause of the strange 

 confusion of names of two unrelated genera into 

 factitious species has been indicated by Professor 

 Bridge. 



