EXPLORATIONS OF THE ALLEGHANY REGION AND WESTERN INDIANA. 105 
Comparing specimens oiE. nigrum fvom Raccoon Creek, Parke County, Ind., with 
the Luray fishes, I note that the western E. nigrum is a slenderer fish, with the dark 
spots smaller; the black bar below eye almost obsolete, the snout longer and less 
blunt, a little longer than eye in Indiana specimens, a little shorter in those from 
Luray. Mouth in E. nigrum a little larger and less oblique. Scales 48 to 50 in E. nigrum, 
the cheek always naked. D. iX, 12. Boleosoma maculatum Agassiz and B. brevipinne 
Cope are identical with B. nigrum. 
25. Cottus bairdi Girard. H. W. 
Common about springs ; very abundant at Waynesborough. Our specimens cor- 
respond to var. Carolina}, Gill. It seems to me that the name Cottus should be retained 
for this group, rather than for the marine forms. 
The original application of the word Cottus was to the Miller^s Thumb of Europe, 
Cottus gobio L. The genus Cottus of Linnaeus, however, included the marine sculpius as 
well as the Miller’s Thumb. Six species are placed in Cottus by Linnaeus in the tenth 
edition of the Systema Naturae, cataphractus, quadricornis, grunniens, scaber, scorpius, and 
gobio. Of these species, the first, third, and fourth were early removed as types of other 
genera, and do not belong to the Cottidce as now understood. The question at present 
relates only to C. scorpius and C. gobio, as to which should be considered the type of 
the genus Cottus. 
The name Cottus is taken from Artedi, the author who first used the word in a 
properly generic sense. The species described by him form the bases of the Linnaeau 
names, and were gobio, quadricornis, scorpius, and cataphractus. From the synonymy 
given by Artedi it appears that the name Cottus was adopted by him from Gaza and 
other early writers, all of whom used it only for the Cottus gobio. The word is followed 
back by Artedi to the of Aristotle, which he says is written liotrot; [Kottik) in 
old manuscripts in the Vatican library. So far as ancient usage goes, the name Cottus 
would belong to Cottus gobio. But under our present rules ancient usage would count 
for nothing in determining the type of a modern genus. Each of the species called 
Cottus by Linnaeus would have an equal right to be regarded as the type of the genus. 
We should therefore ascertain which species was so selected by later authors who have 
subdivided the genus Cottus. 
About 1735, Steller discovered one of the species of this group, apparently the one 
since called polyacanthocephalus (Pallas) and jaolc (Guv. & Val.), a near relative of 
C. scorpius. The description left by Steller was published by Tilesius in 1811 (M^m. 
Acad. Petersb., 1811, iv, 273) under the name of “ Myoxoceghalus stelleri.” 
The word “ Stelleri,” as is evident from the usage of Tilesius elsewhere, is not 
intended as a specific name, but as the authority for the generic name Myoxocephalus. 
No specific name is given by Steller, who was a non-binominal writer, previous to 
Linnaeus, and none is supplied by Tilesius. The name Myoxocephalus may therefore 
be disregarded. 
The next authors concerned a re Cuvier and Valenciennes (Hist. Nat. Poiss., iv, 
1829, 142), who make this remark of the genus Cottus, restricted by them to the 
“Chabots” gobio, etc.), and the “Chaboisseaux” (scorpius, etc.): “Ce genre avait pour 
type primitif un petit acanthopterygien de nos riviferes” (i. e., C. gobio L.). This 
statement should apparently be regarded as- a selection of Cottus gobio as the type of 
Cottus in the modern sense of the word “ type.’’ 
