PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 223 



OJV THE PROPER SPECEF3C IV AM El OF THE COMMON PELAGIC 

 ANTEMASBID PTEBOPHRiNE. 



By THEODORE GUILE. 



The most common and widely distributed of the Antennariids, and 

 which is the peculiar species of the high seas, has been entered in the 

 most recent systematic lists under the names Antennarius marmoratm* 

 and Pterophryne pictaA In this connection, it has been assumed that 

 the species had first received names from Bloch and Schneider in 1801. 

 I propose, however, to show, (1) that the species itself had long before re- 

 ceived a name from the founder of the binomial nomenclature, and (2) that 

 neither of the names of Bloch and Schneider is referable to these species. 

 Long ago recogniziug that the names of Bloch and Schneider had 

 nothing to do with a Pterophryne, but without the bibliographical aids 

 for certainly ascertaining what name had priority, I have hitherto 

 adopted the provisional name Pterophryne laevigata, as Liitken has also 

 recently done. 



I. 



It behooves us, first, to inquire what was the basis of the Lophius 

 histrio of Linnaeus. 



In 1747, in his " Wiistgota resa forrattad ar 1746", Linnaeus described, 

 as "Balistes, qvae Guaperva chinenis", a small fish scarcely exceeding in 

 length the last joint of the thumb, in the following terms, as translated 

 in the German edition of 1765.J 



"Balistes, quae Guaperva chiuensis. Corpus acutum, compressum. 

 Dorsum antice gibbum. Pectus compressum, pinnis pectoralibus termina- 

 tum, prominulum. Latera corporis picta lituris lacteis, annularibus, 

 interrupts, puncto ceutrali lacteo notatis. Caput magnum, thoraci 

 immersum, dentibus minutissimis instructum. Filamentum subulatum, 

 erectum, loco narium. Pinna dorsalis anterior retrorsum faleato-sub- 

 ulata, mollis, alta, e gibbere dorsi juxta caput enata, radio I. Pinna 

 dorsalis posterior radiis 12. Pinnoe pectorales brachiorum instar manu- 

 bris iustructae, et antrorsum manuum instar inflexae (quod in pisci- 

 bus singulare), radiis 10. Pinnae centrales approximatae, radiis 5. 

 Pinna caudae radiis 9. Pinna ani radiis 7. Iris oculorum alba. Magni- 

 tudo totius piscis vix extimum pollicis articulum superat. Diversissima 

 species a Guaperva Ionstoni T. VI. f. 6. quam ex America possideo. Die 

 Figur dieses Fisches in natiirlicher Giosse ist die 5 te auf der 3 ten Tafel, 

 wo er bey a von der Seite, bey b aber auf dem Eiicken vorgestellet ist, 

 dass die Aerme an den pinnis pectoralibus deutlich in die Augen fallen."" 



The acute compressed body, the round milky spots, the small ros- 

 tral filament (none is represented in the figure), the well developed fins, 



* Antennarius maruioratus, G anther, Cat. Fishes in Brit Mas., v. 3, p. 185, 1861 ; Blecker, 

 Atlas Ickthyologique Indes Orient. Nderland., t. 5, p. 23, 1865. 

 tPteropbryne picta, Goode, Bull. U. S. Nat Mus., No. 5, p. 20, 187G. 

 tLinne, Eeisen durch Westgothland. 8vo. Halle, 1765. p. 160, S. 138. 



