PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 363 



it to be identical with the European species of the same genus. In this 

 he was followed by Dr. DeKay, in his Fishes of New York, published 

 in 1842. In 1845, in his Synopsis of the Fishes of North America, Dr. 

 Storer adopted for the American cusk the name Brosmius flaveseens 7 

 which had been given in 1819 by Le Sueur to a supposed new species 

 from Marblehead, Mass., characterized in his figures and descriptions by 

 a prolonged lower jaw and a double barbel.* 



We believe that the specimen described by Le Sueur was a deformed 

 individual of the common species, but this is a mere matter of opinion 7 

 and in any event the name cannot be used. In 1863, Professor Gill 

 substituted the specific name amerieanns for the name flavescens adopted 

 by Storer. 



After a careful examination and comparison of two specimens from 

 Europe (No. 17,366, Norway, Bergen Museum) with specimens from Mas- 

 sachusetts Bay, we are compelled to believe that the common cusk of 

 New England is identical with that of Europe. In the proportions of 

 their bodies they agree exactly, and the Norwegian specimens agree in 

 every respect with Storer's description of Brosmius flavescens in his His- 

 tory of the Fishes of Massachusetts. The radial formulae of three speci- 

 mens are given below : 



No. 17366 A. Bergen. D. 91. A. 75. 

 No. 21813. Gloucester. D. 97. A. 75. 

 No. 17366 B. Bergen. D. 99. A. 73. 



December, 1878. 



ON THE MORTALITY OF FISHES IN THE GULF OF MEXICO IN 1878. 



By Eieut. J. P. JEFFERSON, I . S. A. 



Key West, Florida. 



Prof. Spencer F. Baird, 



Smithsonian Institution, Washington, J). C: 



Professor: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 

 valued favor of October 30th, which reached me after a delay, I being 

 absent from Fort Jefferson. This absence, coupled with my wish to get 

 all possible facts in regard to the destruction of fish in these and neigh- 

 boring waters, will account for my apparent tardiness. 



Since my communication in October another large body of the dark- 

 colored water described therein made its way down the coast, across 

 Florida Bay, striking Tortugas about the 20th of November, and extend- 

 ing up the reef as far as Key West, probably further. At Key West its 

 approach could be seen distinctly; at first, belts of it, some narrow, 

 others broad, came into the harbor, following the various channels lead- 

 ing to the northward, and only in these belts were the fish affected; in 

 the course of twenty-four hours, however, all the water in the harbor was- 

 similarly colored, and the surface was covered with dead and dying fish. 

 *M6moires <lu Museum, v, 1819, p. 158, pi. xvi. 



