NOTES ON TWO AMERICAN WHITEFISHES. 
7 
The first iirinted reference to the name lioiji was in the paper of Dr. Hoy, iire- 
viously quoted, in the Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences for 1870-72, 
jmhlished in 1872. Ho description of the fish was given. The first use of the name 
lioyi, accompanied by a description of the fish so named, appeared in an article by 
Prof. Jordan, on the sisco of Lake Tipiiecauoe, in the American Hatnralist for March, 
1875. While the description consists, for the most part, of a comparison between 
lioyi and sisco, it is, in the opinion of Prof. Jordan, sufficient to retain the name for 
that species, provided the principle of priority is not infringed. The question is 
whether the use of the name Iwyi by Milner, applying, as it did, to a different fish 
from that to which the name was attached by Dr. Gill, antedated the article by Prof. 
Jordan, in Avhich the name was correctly employed. As bearing on this matter, the 
following extract from an interesting letter from Prof. Jordan, dated December 23, 
1893, may appropriately be quoted: 
The name lioyi was given l»y Gill without description to the two little fishes from Racine. At the 
same time I was at work on the sisco of Lake Tippecanoe and I wrote to Dr. Hoy to get me specimens 
of sisco from Lake Geneva. In sending- these to me, in 1874, Dr. Hoy also sent me a specimen like 
those he sent to Gill of the little lake moon-eye to \chich Gill gave the name of hoyi. Of my speci- 
mens I published a short account in connection with sisco in the American Naturalist for March, 1875, 
1). 136. This description was reprinted with other matter in the report of the fish commissioner of 
Indiana for 1875. My little account, which is, however, long enough to hold the name of hoyi for the 
s^jecies to which it refers, was the first printed reference to the species, so far as I know at this time. 
In the U. S. Fish Commissioner's report for 1872-73, ostensibly issued in 1874, hut not coming into my 
hands, as I find from my records, until some time after my jiaper was printed in 1875, Milner 
described his fish from Outer Island. I noticed sometime ago that his description did not agree with 
mine very well, but I presumed that he knew the fish of which he wrote and referred to the same one. 
So far as I can see, if my description was really first, as I suppose, the name hoyi must go with type. 
If, however, Milner’s paper comes first, then the question arises whether hoyi should go with Milner’s 
fish or the fish Milner thought he had.* 
Prof. Jordan’s surmise as to tbe date of issuance of the Fish Oonunission report 
in question is borne out by all the information obtainable at this time. The report 
was certainly not issued in 1874. The copy for some of the illustrations was not 
submitted to the Public Printer until January 28, 1875, and the indications are that 
the report was not printed before May or June, 1875. We are, therefore, justified in 
continuing to associate with the name hoyi the fish for which Prof. Gill proposed that 
designation. 
* The type specimens of C. hoyi in the U. S. Natioual Museum (No. 8902), two iu number, are in a 
poor state of preservation, and it is impossible, at this time, to determine the exact morphology of 
their heads and fins. The accompanying figure of the species, based on these specimens, is therefore 
possibly subject to slight corrections, although it agrees with Prof. Jordan’s description in the Amer- 
ican Naturalist (1875) of an example of this fish then before him, sent by Dr. Hoy: Depth 44, head 
4, eye 34. Lower jaw much shorter than in Argyrosomiis sisco, almost Coreyo?H(s-like in this respect. 
Maxillaries stronger than in sisco, 2f in head. Mandible 2 in head. Distance from occiput to tip of 
snout contained 1|- times in distance from occiput to dorsal origin. Scales in lateral line, 75. Depth 
of body at vent 6f times in body length. Distance between vent and rudimentary caudal rays 
times in length of fish. Head thickly j)unctate with small Idack dots. Scales with a peculiar rich 
silvery color. Length rarely exceeding 7 inches. 
Professors Jordan and Gilbert, in the “Synopsis,” give the following additional features of hoyi, 
based on the example previously referred to: Body rather elongate, compressed, the back somewhat 
elevated. Head rather long, intermediate in form between Coregonus and Argyrosomus. Mouth rather 
large, terminal, the lower jaw evidently shorter than upper, even when mouth is open; tip of muzzle 
rather bluntly truncate; maxillary reaching to opposite middle of pirpil; mandible extending to 
posterior margin of inipil. Dorsal 10, anal 10. 
