NOTES AND LITERATURE 



NOTES ON ICHTHYOLOGY 



An elaborate and excellent monograph is the " Ichthyologia 

 Amurensis," by Dr. Leo S. Berg, being a "Catalogue of the 

 Fishes of the Amur River," entirely modern in its method, and 

 very accurate in its details. Unfortunately, most of this ad- 

 mirable volume is in Russian, without resume in any modern 

 language. It is published by the Imperial Academy of Sciences 

 at St. Petersburg, volume 24. 



Professor T. D. A. Cockerell, of the University of Colorado, 

 continues his very interesting and fruitful studies of the scales 

 of fishes. In the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Wash- 

 ington (1910), he discusses the scales of the Cyprinoid and 

 Clupeoid fishes. He shows that the American genera related to 

 Chondrostoma are but two in number, Orthodon and Acrocheilus. 

 The scales of the American species are less primitive than those 

 of the old-world Chondrostoma. 



In the study of the scales of Leuciscus and Eutilus, Professor 

 Cockerell shows that none of the American species belong to 

 either of these two genera, and none of them to the genus Phox- 

 inus. For the American species called Leuciscus, the name 

 Richardsonius of Girard should be adopted; and for the Amer- 

 ican species called Phoxinus the new subgeneric name Margar- 

 iscus is suggested. The name Myloleucus of Cope is properly 

 adopted for the American species hitherto called Rutilus. A 

 new subgenus, Temeculina, is proposed for Richardsonius orcutti. 

 The Japanese species called Leuciscus are not related to the 

 European species, but approach more nearly to the American 

 forms, perhaps entering the genus Richardsonius. Mr. Cock- 

 erell shows that the genus Notemigonus is well separated from 

 the European genera Abramis and Blicca. 



The scales of the herring-like fishes are also discussed. These 

 show relatively simple and primitive structure. 



The scales of the Athrririoid fisli.-s show qualities more or less 

 like those of the mackerels. In other papers published in the 

 Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, volume 56, Mr. Cockerell 

 discusses the scales of the African Mormyrid fishes and of the 

 African Characins. 



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