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PROCEEDINGS
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES
PHILADELPHIA.
18 8 5.
COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION:
Joseph Leidy, M. D., Geo. H. Horn, M. D.,
Edw. J. Nolan, M. D., Thomas Meehan,
John H. Redfield.
Editor : EDWARD J. NOLAN, M. D.
PHILADELPHIA:
ACADEMY OF NATURAL, SCIENCES,
LOGAN SQUARE,
18 86.
Academy op Nattjkal Sciences of Philadelphia,
February 4, 1886.
I hereby certify tliat printed copies of the Proceedings for 1885 have been presented at the meetings of the Academy, as follows : —
Pages
9 to 24 25 to 40
41 to 88 89 to 96 97 to 112 113 to 144
i is to m
177 to 22 I 225 to 240 241 to 272 273 to 304 305 to ■■■■■<-2 353 to 384 385 to 416
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September 1, 1885. September 29, 1885. o.tober 6, 188 October 13, 1885. November L7, 18 December 15, 1885. Januarj 19, 1886.
EDWARD J. NOLAN.
Recording & en tary.
philadelphia . Kiloare, Printer.
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.
With reference to the several articles contributed by each.
For Verbal Communications see General Index.
PAGE.
Bicknell, Ernest P. and Fletcher B. Dresslar. A Review of the Species
of the Genus Semotilus 14
Blatchley, Willis S. On the American Species of the Genus Umbra. . . 12
A Review of the Species of the Genus Pimephales 63
On the Genus Aphredoderus 136
Eastlake, F. Warrington. Entomologia Hongkongensis — Report on
the Lepidoptera of Hongkong 81
Eigenman, Carl H. and Morton W. Fordice. A Review of the Ameri- can Eleotridinae. 66
A Catalogue of the Fishes of Bean Blossom Creek, Monroe Co., Indiana 410
Everman, Barton W. and Morton W. Fordice. List of Fishes col- lected in Harvey and Cowley Counties, Kansas 412
Gentry, Alan F. Description of a New Species of the Genus Cyano-
corax 90
A Review of the Genus Phrynosoma 138
Hall, Edward A. and J. Z. A. McCaughan. A Review of the Ameri- can Genera and Species of Mullidse 149
Hartman, Wm. D., M. D. Descriptions of new Species of Partula,
and a Synonymic Catalogue of the Genus ... 203
Lewis, H. Carvill. Marginal Karnes 157
Meehan, Thomas. Biographical Notice of Henry N. Johnson 381
Meek, Seth E., and Edward A. Hall. A Review of the American
Genera and Species of Batrachiche 52
Meek. Seth E.. and Robert Ntwland. A Review of the Species of the
Genus Esox 367
A Review of the American Species of the < renus Scorpiena 394
Morris, Charles. On the Air-bladder of Fishes 124
Attack and Defense as Agents in Animal Evolution
Rand, Theo. I). Notes on the Lafayette Serpentine Belt 407
&
8 LIST OF 0ONTEIBUTOR8.
PAGE.
Scott. W. l'>. Cervalcefi Americanus, ;i fossil Moose, or Elk, from the
Quaternary <>i' Now Jersey 181
mer, F. Lamson. A Revision of the North American Melicse ... . 40
Scudder, Samuel II. New Genera and Species of Fossil Cockroaches
from the older American Rocks 34
Notes on Mesozoic Cockroaches 105
Btejneger, Leonhard. Uemarks on Lanius robustus Baird, based on
an examination of the Type Specimen 91
Strecker, Eermann. Description of a new Colias from the Rocky Mountains, and of an Example of I'olymelianism in Samia
Cecropia 24
Description of new Species of Lepidoptera 174
-ninth. Charles, and Prank Springer. Revision of the Palaeo- crinoidea. Pari III. Discussion of the Classification and Rela- tions of the Rrachiate C'rinoids, and conclusion of the Generic Descriptions 225
PROCEEDINGS
ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES
PHILADELPHIA.
1885.
January 6, 1885.
Dr. Chas. Schaeffer in the chair.
Twentj'-six persons present.
The following papers were presented for publication : —
" On the American Species of the Genus Umbra," by Willis S.
Blatchley.
"A Review of the Species of the Genus Semotilus," by Ernest
P. Bicknell and Fletcher B. Dresslar.
January 13.
The President, Dr. Leidy, in the chair.
Twenty -four persons present.
On some Parasitic Worms of Birds. — Prof. Leidy stated that Dr. B. H. Warren, of Westchester, much interested in ornitho- logical pursuits, had submitted to his examination a number of parasitic worms obtained in the preparation of specimens. Recently he had sent to him the carcass of a Snow Bird, Junco hyemalis, in which he reported a multitude of worms filling the
10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
thoracico-abdominal cavity, and ' extending into the neck and beneath the skin of the breast and abdomen. From the carcass, Beventy-two worms were obtained, of which two-thirds were females ranging from 90 to 120 mm. in length; the rest males, ranging from 4n to 55 nun. From the abdomen of another bird, Dr. Warren obtained five worms, three females from 55 to 90 mm., and i wo males, 40 and 55 mm. In twenty-two birds examined b\ Dr. Warren, the parasites were found only in the two indicated. Flic worms appear to be the Filaria obtusa Rudolphi, wdiich infests the Hirundo rvstica, and other species of European Swal- lows. The worms of the Snow Bird reach double the length of those of the Swallows, but in other characters agree with the descriptions of F. obtusa, as given by Diesing and Dujardin, and also with the figures given by the latter (Hist. Helminthes, pi. iii). except that it is uncertain as to the existence in our speci- mens of the buccal armature represented b}r Dujardin. The worms are translucent white, with a chocolate-brown intestine and white uteri and testes. The caudal extremity is obtuse, without appendages, and in the male possesses two spicules, of which the longer curved one is F125 mm. long, and the shorter twisted one 0*5 mm. long. The ova, containing developed embryos, are 0*045 mm. long and 0032 mm. broad.
Six other specimens, apparently also pertaining to Filaria obtusa, Dr. Warren obtained from the abdominal cavity partly imbedded in the wall, of a Meadow Lark, Sturnella magna. Two are females, 130 and 140 mm. long by 0'625 mm. thick ; and four are males, from 50 to 60 mm. long by 0\5 mm. thick.
Six specimens of another Filaria were obtained from the abdomen of a female Kingfisher, Geryle alcyoa. The species appears to be the Filaria physalura of Bremser, described from specimens obtained from several species of Brazilian Kingfishers. Five of the worms are females, ranging from one foot to one foot and a half in length, and from one to one and a half millimetres in thickness. The head is obtuse, and the body gradualby tapers to the tail. The mouth is bounded by atpair of small conical papillae. The five females measure, respectively, 12, 13, 14, 17, and 18 inches. A single male is 35 mm. long by 0*625 mm. thick. The tail is incurved, ends in a minute blunt cone, and is bialate, with the alee short and quinquecostate. The length of the alated portion is 0-35 mm. The spicule, partially exserted, is recurved. The specimens, when alive, were pink in color, and exhibited a slender chocolate-brown intestine, with large tortuous white uteri.
From the thoracic cavity of a Gray Snipe, Gallinaqo Wilsoni, Dr. Warren obtained five Flukes, 18 mm. long, by 4 mm. broad. These appear to be Mono&tomum. mutabile.
Prom a Whippoorwill, Antrostomus vociferus, Dr. Warren obtained four worms, two females of 18 mm., and two males of 12 mm., which appear to be Ascaris subulata.
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 11
From the Pileated Woodpecker, Hylotomus pileatus, Dr. War- ren obtained ten worms, which appear to pertain to the Spiroptera quadriloba Rudolphi, the female of which was originally described from specimens found in the Green Woodpecker, Picus viridis. The specimens are reported as having been found in the abdomi- nal cavity. Six are females from 9 to 12 mm. long by 0*5 mm. thick, and four males 7 and 8 mm. long by 0"375 mm. thick. Body white, nearly equally attenuated towards both ends; trans- versely wrinkled, and anteriorly minutety, regularly and sharply annulated ; mouth quadrilobate. Tail of female conical subacute ; tail of male bialate, sexcostate, end acute ; spicules two, the longest 1*5 mm. long, the shortest 0-5 mm. long.
The following were ordered to be printed : —
12 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
ON THE AMERICAN 8PECIE8 OF THE GENUS UMBRA. BY WILLIS 8. BLATCHLEY.
I have compared numerous specimens of mud-minnows (Umbra Miiller), from different parts of the United States, with a view of ascertaining whether more than one species exists in our waters. I find, as already noted by Jordan and Bean, two types ; the one (limi) inhabiting the waters of the great lake region and north- westwardly; the other (pygrtidea), inhabiting the coastwise streams from Connecticut to North Carolina.
On careful comparison, the only constant difference between these forms, which I am able to appreciate, is the coloration.
The true Umbra limi is dull olive-green in color, with about fourteen narrow, pale, transverse stripes, often obscure in the young ; dark bar at base of caudal much less distinct, and lower jaw always paler than in pygmaea.
The eastern form, which I regard as a geographical subspecies ( Umbra limi pygmaea), is much darker in color, with about twelve pale, narrow longitudinal instead of transverse stripes, the one beginning at upper angle of opercle being double the width of the others ; dark bar at base of caudal very distinct, extending over l£ scales ; lower jaw dark, almost black in adults.
The following is the synonymy of each of the two forms : —
Umbra limi.
Hydrargyra limi Kirtland, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist., iii, 1840, 277 (Northern Ohio).
Melanura limi Agassiz, Amer. Journ. Sci. Arts, 1855, 217 ; Packard & Putnam, Amer. Nat., Jan., 1872 (Mammoth Cave); Jordan, Man. Vert., 1st ed., 1876, 253, 2d ed., 1878, and 3d ed., 1880, 265 ; Jordan, Rept. Geol. Surv. Ind., 1875, 33 ; Jordan & Copeland, Check List Fresh Wat. Fish. N. A., 1877, 143; Jordan, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., ix, 1877, 49 (Ohio Valley); Jordan, Annals N. Y. Acad. Sci., i, 1877, \... 4, 103 (Suamico R., Fox R., Rock R., Wisconsin R., White R.); Nelson, Bull. 111. Lab. Nat. Hist., i, 43 ; Jordan, Bull. 111. Lab. Nat. Hist., ii, 1878, 52 (Johnson and Union Counties, Illinois; Crystal Lake, McHenry Co., 111.); Jordan & Brayton, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., xii. L878, 84 (Ohio and 111. R. Basins) ; Forbes, Bull. 111. Lab. Nat. Hist., ii. 1878, 7H (Food of Melanura limi).
Umbra limi Giinther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., vi, 1866, 232; Jordan, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., 1877, 44 (Lakes, Laporte Co., Ind.;
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 13
St. Joseph's R., Maumee R., Tippecanoe R , White R.); Jordan, Rept. Geol. Surv. Ohio, iv, 1882, 912 ; Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis Fish. N. A., 1883, 350.
Hydrargyra fusca Thompson, Nat. Hist. Vt., 1842, 137 (Lake Cham- plain).
Hydrargyra atricauda De Kay, New York Fauna, Fishes, 1842, 220 (Lake Champlain).
Umbra limi pygmaea-
Leuciscus pygmceas De Kay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 1842, 214 (Tappan,
Rockland Co., N. Y.). Melanura pygmcea Baird, Ninth Smithson. Rept., 1855, 28 (New Jersey
Coast); Jordan, Man. Vert., 2d ed., 1878, and 3d ed., 265, 1880 ;
Jordan, Annals N. Y. Acad. Sci., i, 1877, No. 4, 104 ; Jordan &
Brayton, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., xii, 1878, 84 (James R., Neuse R.). Umbra pygmcea Bean, MSS.; Jordan, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., x, 1874,
53 (Delaware R.); Jordan, Rept. Geol. Surv. Ohio, iv, 1882, 913;
Bean, Cat. Fish. International Fish Exhibition, London. 1883, 84
(Kingston, N. C). Fundulus fuscus Ayres, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist., iv, 1843, 296 (Brook
Haven, Long Island). Melanura annulata Agassiz, Amer. Journ. Sci. Arts, 1855, 217 (not
Exoglossum annulatum Rafinesque).
1-1 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
A REVIEW OF THE SPECIES OF THE GENUS SEM0TILTJ8. BY ERNEST P. BICK.NELL AND FLETCHER B. DRESSLAR.
In this paper we give the synonymy of the species of the genus Semotilus, with an analytical key by which they may be distin- guished.
The specimens which we have studied belong to the Museum of the Indiana Universit}', most of them having been collected by Professor David S. Jordan.
SEMOTILUS.
Semotilus Rafinesque, Ichtta. Ohiensis, 1820, 49 (dorealia.) Leucosomus Heckel, " Russegger's Reise, 1841, 1042 " (argenleus.) Cheilonemus Baird, Storer's History Fishes Mass., 1856,285 (pulchellus.)
Analysis of Species of Semotilus.
a. Origin of dorsal fin about midway between middle of orbit and base of caudal ; body rather robust, especially anteriorly. Vertebne ' 22 + 20 ; the interneural spine of first dorsal ray inserted between fifteenth and sixteenth neural spines. A distinct black spot on anterior part of base of dorsal ; color- ation dusky, little silvery, rosy below in spring. h. Scales comparatively small, crowded anteriorly, their number about 10-54-1 ; head large and broad, its length 3^ in head ; maxillary barbel very small, indistinct in young specimens; eye small, 6 to 7 times in head (in adult); dusky bluish above, paler below ; belly white ; size medium, reaches a length of about a foot. atromaculatus. 1.
66. Scales rather large, not crowded anteriorly, their number about 9-48-5 ; head 3| in length ; maxillary barbel well developed ; eye rather large, its diameter about four in head in young ; dark bluish above and on upper part of Bides, becoming rather abruptly light below lateral line; Bize small, attains a length of 3 inches or more.
tho?-eauianus. 2.
1 In Semotilus atromaculatus. This character has not been verified in S. auianvi.
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 15
aa. Origin of dorsal fin about midway between nostril and base of caudal ; scales not crowded anteriorhy, their number about 8-45-5 ; body rather more slender ; vertebrae 22+20 ; interneural spine of first dorsal ray inserted between thirteenth and fourteenth neural spines ; head moderate, about 4 in length ; maxillary barbel very small ; eye high up, about 4^ in head ; color bright metallic bluish on upper part of body, becoming white below ; no black spot on base of dorsal ; size comparatively large, reaching a length of 18 inches. bullaris. 3.
1. Semotilus atromaculatus. Creek Chub, Horned Dace.
Cyprinus atromaculatus Mitchill, American Monthly Magazine, ii,
1817, 324 (Wallkill R.). Leuciscus atromaculatus De Kay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 1842. 210,
plate xxxii, fig. 102; Storer, "Synopsis Fishes N. A., 1846, 409"
(copied). Semotilus atromaculatus Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1856,
204. Leucosomus atromaculatus Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1861,
523. Semotilus dorsalis Rafinesque, Ichth. Ohiensis, 1820, 49 (Kentucky) ;
Kirtland, " Zoology Ohio, 1838, 169;" Kirtland, Boston Journal Nat.
Hist., 1841, vol. iii, 181, 345. Leuciscus dorsalis Storer, '-Synopsis Fishes N. A., 1846, 411." Semotihis cephalus Rafinesque, Ichth. Ohiensis, 182 >, 49 (Kentucky);
Kirtland, Zoology Ohio, 1838, 169 ; Kirtland, Boston Journal Nat.
Hist., 1840, vol. iii, 345. Leuciscus cephalus De Kay, N. Y. Fauna, Fish., 1842, 214; Storer,
"Synopsis Fishes N. A., 1846, 409." Leuciscus storeri Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poissons, vol. xvii,
1844, 319 (N. Y.). Leuciscus iris Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poissons, 1844, vol.
xvii, 255, plate 496 (N. Y. and Carolina). Leuciscus pulchtlloides Ayres, "Proc. Boston Society Natural History,
1849, vol. iii, 157." Leucosomus pallidusGira.nl Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1856, 190
(Antelope Creek, Arkansas); Girard, Pacific R. R. Rept., 1858, 251,
PI. 61, fig. 6; Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1858, 251-2
(Antelope Creek, Arkansas). Semotilus pallidus Cope, Cyprinidae Penn., 1866, 364 (Platte R.), (no
description); Jordan, Manual Vertebrates, lsted, 1876, 279. Leucosomus incrassatus Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1856,
251-2 (Near Choctaw Agency); Girard, Pacific R. R. Rept., 1858,
252, PI. 61, fig. 1 (Near Choctaw Agency).
16 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
Semotilus speciosus Giiard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1856, 204 (Sweet Water R., Nebraska); Girard, Pacific R. R. Rept., 1858, 283, PI. 61, fig. 11 (Tributary of Platte River).
Semotilus macrocephalus Giiard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1856, 204 (Fort Pierre).
Leucosomus macroeephalus Girard, Pacific R. R. Rept., 1858, 252, PI. 61, fig. 1 (Fort Pierre).
Semotilus hammondi Abbott, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1860, 474 (Kansas).
Semotilus corporalis Putnam, Bulletin Museum Comparative Zoology, 1863, 8 (synonymy only, not Cyprinus corporalis Mitchill); Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1865, 85 (Platte River); Cope, Cyprinidae Penn., 1866, 363, PI. 10, fig. 2 ; Storer, History Fishes Mass., 1867, 256 (near Williams College, no description) ; Cope, Hayden's Geo- logical Survey, Wyoming, for 1870, 1872, 442, 472 (Platte R.); Abbott, "American Naturalist, April, 1870, 12" (Delaware R.); Jordan, Indiana Geological Survey, 1874, 223 ; Jordan, Manual Vertebrates, 1st ed., 1876, 277 ; Jordan, Bulletin Buffalo Society Nat. Hist., 1876, 94; Jordan, Annals Lyceum Nat. Hist. N. Y., 1877, 327, 362, 368, 369, 376 (Ocmulgee R., Etowah R., White R., Ind.); Jordan, Annals N. Y. Acad. Sciences, vol. i, No. 4, 107, 1877 (Housatonic R., Hudson R., Cayuga Lake, Genesee R., Delaware R., L. Erie, L. Michigan, Fox R., Rock R., Peckatonica R., Wisconsin R., Suamico R., White R., Rlinois R., Ohio R., Kentucky R., Rock Castle R., Cumberland R., Salt R., Powell's R., French Broad R., Etowah R., Ocmulgee R.); Jordan & Brayton, Bulletin U. S. National Museum, 1878, xii, 26, 38, 54, 68, 80, 86 (Saluda R., Ocmulgee R., Clinch R., French Broad R., Rock Castle R., Alabama Basin, James R., Neuse R., Santee R., Gt. Pedee R., Tennessee R., Ohio R., Illinois R., and other streams); Hay, Proc. U. S. National Museum, 1880, 512 (Ca- tawba Creek, Miss.); Jordan, Manual Vertebrates, 1880, ed. iii, 304; Hay, Bulletin U. S. Fish Commission, 1882 (Big Black R., Miss.); Jordan, Rept. Fishes Ohio, 1882, 863 ; Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis Fishes N. A., 1882, 221 ; Bean, Catalogue Fishes exhibited Inter- national Exhibition, London, 1883.
Leucosomus corporalis Giinther, Catalogue Fishes British Museum, 1868, 269 (Susquehanna R., Tioga Co., N. Y.; Lake Erie).
Habitat. — Dakota to Western Massachusetts, South to Georgia and Indian Territory, especially abundant in the Mississippi Valley. It is found especially in small brooks in the grass and weeds.
The specimens before us are from near Bloomington, Indiana ; Clifty Creek, Ind.; French Broad River, Tenn.; Rock Castle River, Ky.; Rolling Fork, Ky.; Wolf Creek, Ky. We adopt for this species the specific name atromaculatus, instead of corporalis,
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 11
by which it has been usually known, because, in our judgment, the original Cyprinus corporalis of Mitchill is Semotilus bul- laris, as was formerly stated by Dr. Abbott, while the present species is evidently Mitchill's Cyprinus atromaculatus.
The following is Mitchill's account of Cyprinus corporalis : — " Cyprinus corporalis. This fish is called by the Dutch, Corpo- ralen, or corporal, and inhabits the Hudson in the neighborhood of Albany, the Wallkill through its whole extent, and the western streams and lakes from Wood Creek to the Oneida Lake, and so on.
" The length of a middle-sized individual is about thirteen inches, and the girth five ; though he frequently grows larger.
" The head is smooth, roundish, thick, and without scales. The body is thickly covered with scales ; on the back, more especially between the head and the dorsal fin, the hue is dusky ; on the belly it is uniformly white, and on the sides the forepart of each scale is covered with a blackish film or pigment.
" Mouth toothless, and of a moderate gape ; tongue distinct, but not free ; gill-covers smooth.
" The tail is forked ; the lateral line bends downward, and ends in the middle of the tail.
" The dorsal fin is near the middle of the back, and consists of seven rays ; the caudal fin is composed of nineteen rays or there- about.
" The anal has seven, the ventral seven, the pectorals have thirteen, the branchiostegous membrane has three rays, the dorsal and caudal fins are tipped with a blackish tinge.
" Takes the hook, if baited with dough, when let down through holes in the ice, at midwinter, in the Hudson at Albany ; flesh eatable, but rather soft and coarse."
2. Semotilus thoreauianus.
Semotilus thoreauianus Jordan, Bulletin U. S. National, Museum, x, 63, 1877 (Flint River) ; Jordan, Bulletin U. S. National Museum, 1878, xii, 43 (Flint River) ; Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis Fishes N. A., 1882, 221 (Flint River).
The specimens of this species in the Indiana University Museum were taken by Professors Gilbert and Swain, near Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
The original types were from the Flint River ; no others have been reported.
18 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
This species is very close to S. atromaculatus, differing chiefly in the size of the scales.
3. Semotilus bullaris. Fall-fisb, Roach, Dace.
Cyprians lullaris Rafinesque, American Monthly Magazine, 1817, 120
(Hudson R). Semotilus bullaris Jordan, Annals N. Y. Acad. Sciences, vol. i, No. iv,
1877, 108 (Connecticut R., Delaware R., Susquehanna R.); Jordan,
Manual Vertebrates, 1878, 304 ; Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis Fishes,
N. A., 1882, 222. Cyprinus corporalis Mitchill, American Monthly Magazine, i:, 1817,
289 (Hudson R.). Leuciscus corporalis De Kay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 1842, 213 (copied). Semotilus corporalis Abbott, Proc. Acad. Nat Sci. Phil., 1861, 152,
154 (Trenton). Leuciscus argenteus Storer, Rept. Fishes Mas6., 1839, 90 (Worcester
County). Leucosomus argenteus Heckel, "Russegger's Reise, 1841." Semotilus argenteus Putnam, Bulletin Museum Comparative Zoology,
1863, 8 (synonymy only); Jordan, Manual Vertebrates, 1876, 278. Leuciscus pulchellus Storer, Rept. Fishes Mass., 1889, 91 (Walpole,
Mass.); De Kay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 1842, 208; Cuvier & Valen- ciennes, Hist. Nat. Poissons, xvii, 320, 1844. Leucosomus pulchellus Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1856, 189. Cheilonemus pulchellus Storer, History Fishes Mass., 1867, 286. Leucosomus pulchellus Giinther, Catalogue Fishes British Museum,
1868, vii, 268 (Montreal; Rangely Lake, Me.: Delaware River). Leucosomus chrysoleucus Heckel, "Russegger's Reise, 1841 " (not Cypr.
chrysoleucus Mitchill). Leucosomus nitidus De Kay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 1842, 209 (Lake
Champlain). Hybognathus nitidus Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1856, 210
(Lake Champlain). Leuciscus chrysopterus De Kay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 1842, 211 (New
York Bay). Leucosomus rhotheus Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci, Phil., 1861, 523 (Sus- quehanna River). Semotilus rhotheus Cope, Synopsis Cyprinidse Penn., I860, 362 ; Jordan,
Manual Vertebrates, 1876, 278. Leucosomus cataractus (Baird MSS.), Cope, Proc, Acad. Nat. Sci.
Phil., 1861, 523 (Susquehanna River). Squalius hyalope Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil,, 1864, 280 (Cone-
stoga River).
Habitat. — Southern Canada and Eastern United States, as far south as Chesapeake Bay,
The specimens examined by us are from Massachusetts.
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 19
January 20. Mr. George W. Tryon, Jr., in the chair. Thirty-two persons present.
The death of Prof. Wm. Wagner, a member, was announced.
A paper entitled " Description of a new Colias from the Rocky Mountains, and of an example of Pohmelianism in Samia Cecropia," by Hermann Strecker, was presented for publication.
A New Locality for Beegerite. — Prof. George A. Koenig placed on record the determination of Beegerite, from the " Old Lout," San Juan County, Colorado. This species was described in 1 881 by the speaker as 6PbS,Bi2S3, from Park Count}' Colorado. It crys- tallizes in isometric cubo-octohedrons, with orthorhombic habitus. Only one specimen was then known to be in existence. Since, Dr. F. Genth has examined a specimen, massive, from Summit County, Colorado, which is Beegerite, in which 15 per cent, of lead is replaced by as much silver. Some months ago the speaker received among other bismuth minerals from the Old Lout Mine, Colorado, a small specimen of a fine granular, lead-gra}1" mineral, mixed with chalcopyrite, pyrite, barite,and quartz. After a pre- liminary examination, revealing the peculiar composition of the substance, about 1*2 gram, were selected with great care, but it was not possible to exclude all pj^rite and chalcopyrite.
Of this the analysis gave :
|
Bi |
= 19-35 |
|
Pb |
= 45-87 |
|
Ag |
= 9-98 |
|
Cu |
= 112 |
|
Fe |
= 2-89 |
|
S |
= lfi-39 |
|
Insoluble |
= 0-12 |
95-72
If copper, iron, and the corresponding amount of sulphur are eliminated as chalcopyrite and pyrite, the ratio between. (PbiAg2) and Bi is as 5'74 : 2, which, in connection with the loss of 4 per cent, in the analysis, is near enough to the ratio : 6 : 2 to admit of no doubt that this mineral is Beegerite, now known from three localities in Colorado.
January 27. Dr. W. S. W. Ruschenberger in the chair. Twenty-eight persons present.
20 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
The deaths of Thomas Clyde, a member, and of Friedrich Ritter v. Stein, a correspondent, were announced.
The following minute was adopted :
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia learns with profound regret of the death of Prof. Wm. Wagner, one of its earliest members, whose generous encouragement of scientific pursuits has done much to foster a study of the natural sciences in this country.
Observations on Tenacity of Life, and Regeneration of Excised Parts in Lumbricus terrestris. — Miss Adele M. Fielde remarked that the observations recorded before the meeting held Jan. 6, were made in the laboratory of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. The temperature had been nearly constant at about 60°, and varied only from 55° to 65°. The observations began Nov. 29, 1884. No worm lived more than a few hours when exposed to the air. Worms kept in water, without food, the water changed daily, lived from eleven to fourteen days. It made no apparent difference in the duration of life, whether the worms were kept in darkness or in light.
Eight portions of worms, consisting of from twentj' to thirt3r segments, taken from the posterior end, had lived in earth during the forty days of observation, and though plump, healthful, and with blood of its usual redness, showed no signs of growth at either end. Between the segments, however, new half-segments had been inserted, after a method which ladies in sewing call a gusset. Some of these worms had five such insertions, wrhile no similar half-segments were observed in many worms that were examined, in order to ascertain whether such half-segments existed in whole and healthy worms. These new half-segments appeared at irregular distances apart, between the old seg- ments, on the sides of the portions of worms, and appeared to be a manner of growth not heretofore observed in earthworms regenerating exsected parts.
Nine worms from which the five anterior segments were excised Nov. 29, had been kept in moist earth, with which comminuted leaves of oak and maple were mingled. The brain of the earth- worm lies in the third segment, and the first suboesophageal ganglion in the fourth segment, so that the brain and oesophageal collar were removed by the excision. All these worms were living, and a part of them had wholly regenerated the excised segments.
Ten worms, which at the same date lost five anterior and from twenty to thirty posterior segments, were all alive and were regenerating the excised portions.
Eight worms, which at the same date lost their posterior seg-
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 21
ments to within ten behind the clitellum, were all living and had regenerated some portion of the excised part.
The manner of regeneration of the excised anterior five seg- ments had been : —
1. A union of the outer coat of the body with the lining of the alimentary canal, roughly healing the wound.
2. A prolongation of these coats, forming a translucent white tube which could be protruded from and retracted into the pro- jecting border of the wound. This tube was at first but a third or a half the diameter of the body.
3. The formation of the lip or proboscis on the superior side of the end of the tube.
4. Segmentation proceeding from the anterior end of the regenerated part backward, until the normal number of segments were reproduced.
5. The deposit of coloring matter in the epidermis of the new segments, and their enlargement to the diameter of the old seg- ments.
Reference was made to the observations published by Dr. Biilow in the "Archiv fur Naturgeschichte," 1882.
Miss Fielde now further reports having found a completely regenerated brain, oesophageal collar, and suboesophageal ganglion, all of normal size and in normal site, in earthworms, which had fifty-eight da}rs previous been decapitated at the fifth segment. The worms had been kept in earth, at a temperature of about 60°.
The precautions taken to ensure accuracy in these observations had been, first, a thorough examination of all the earth into wbich the decapitated worms were put, making it certain that the earth contained no other worms than the decapitated ones; secondly, care that nothing containing earthworms was at any time added to the earth in which the decapitated worms were kept; thirdl}', repeated examinations, at intervals of less than a week, of all the earth holding the decapitated worms, and the careful removal of minute worms bred therein ; fourthly, frequent counting of the decapitated worms, with examination under a lens, the evident wound constantly showing that the worms under observation were the individuals decapitated. The paler color of the new portions also distinguished these worms from others.
Forty days after decapitation, the excised segments had been regenerated, so' as to present an external appearance of complete- ness, but no brain was visible in dissection. Forty-five days after decapitation the blood-vessels were seen ramifying on the com- pletely regenerated pharynx in a normal manner, but no brain was found. In one of the worms dissected on the fifty -eighth day after decapitation, the suboesophageal ganglion and the oesophageal collar were found to be complete and of the normal size, but the brain lobes were of but half the normal size, and were separated by an interspace of the width of one of the lobes. The blood-vessels united normally on the median line between
22 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
the lobes. Another worm decapitated at the same date, though of apparently weaker vitality, had regenerated all the excised portions, and showed a completely formed brain, with lobes of the normal size in contact.
Messrs. Burnett Landreth and J. Addison Campbell, and Mrs. Cornelius Stevenson, were elected members.
February 3. Mr. George W. Tryon, Jr., in the chair. Twenty-seven persons present.
February 10.
Rev. H. C. McCook, D.D., Vice-President, in the chair.
Twenty-two persons present.
The Internal Cambium Ring in Gehemium sempervirens. — Dr. J. T. Rothrock, at the meeting of the Botanical Section held February 9, called attention to the internal cambium ring in the stem of Gehemium sempervirens. It might well be designated as the inner cambium. His attention was attracted by the fact that in a stem of three-eighths of an inch diameter, the pith was actually less in diameter than in a twig of a quarter the size of the stem. Microscopic examination showed that in the larger stem there were ordinarily four or more points, at which a well-defined swelling curved inward from the circumference of what should have been the pith-cavit}'. These swellings resolved themselves when closely examined into : —
1. Toward the centre an imperfectly defined membrane, resemb- ling cuticle, which was not always present.
2. One or more rows of large cells like the parenchyma we find under the epidermal layer.
3. Several poorly defined layers of smaller cells, such as often mark the limits of growth in bark.
4. The frequent presence of bast fibres or of sclerenchyma cells.
5. An evident layer of thin-walled, square cells, closely resemb- ling, though somewhat smaller than those of the external cambium. They showed signs of division, which indicated that they were still a living tissue.
These facts explained at once why the pith was constantly being encroached upon until it at length almost disappeared. The medullary rays dipped down through, and widened out, in
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 23
this inner cambium, inwardly, just as they did outwardly, in the usual form of cambium layer. He also remarked that bast fibres had long been known to exist in the pith of Tecoma radicans, and in this case something like an inner cambium would be found, though it is more obscure. Sambucus Canadensis also exhibited in the very large stems a smaller pith than in those of moderate size. In this there was nothing comparable to the inner cambium. He also remarked that for the past two winters his attention had been called to the presence of considerable quantities of chloro- phyll in the pith of Lycium vulgare. This was not confined to the smallest stems, but was found also in those of over a quarter of an inch- in diameter, and where of course a considerable belt of hard wood was found between the pith and the outer zone, where chlorophyll is expected. It was also observed in Lycium that the chloroph3'll was not in the form of bodies but diffused in character, as it is said to be in some infusorians. In Lycium the cells of the pith showed, in winter, abundance of protoplasm which had the nucleus on one side and very striking bands extending thence across the cell to the further side.
The following was ordered to be printed : —
24 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
DESCRIPTION OF A NEW COLIAS FROM THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, AND OF AN EXAMPLE OF POLYMELIANISM IN SAMIA CECROPIA.
BY HERMANN STRECKER.
Colias elis.
9 expands 1| inches ; with the exception of the primaries being slightly more pointed apically , of the same shape as Hecla, of which species it may probably be a form, as it resembles it closely in many particulars.
Head, collar and antennae dark pink or rosy; body black with greenish hairs.
Upper surface. Primaries bright orange, with blackish exterior margin of moderate width until towards the costa where it widens considerably ; this margin encloses a row of seven ovate lemon- yellow spots or dashes which are rounded interiorly and some- what pointed exteriorly ; the two nearest the costa are much the smallest, the others are nearly uniform in size, though var}ing a trifle from each other in shape. A black discal spot, small and somewhat linear in one example, and nearly round and of fair size in another. Costa and fringe deep pink. Secondaries are orange, somewhat obscured with black atoms, a submarginal row of yellow spots, not quite as conspicuous as those of primaries, exterior to these at the apex and the apical half of costal and exterior edge, the wing is blackish ; a good-sized deep orange or red lead-colored discal spot, round in one example and in another somewhat oblong, or rather the shape produced by a smaller round spot being joined and partly merged into a larger one ; fringe same color as on primaries.
Under surface. Primaries orange on disk, with greenish exterior border of same width as the blackish border of upper surface ; also greenish along the costa ; edge of costa and fringe deep pink. A black discal spot with pale centre. Secondaries green, the inner two-thirds darker, leaving an exterior border of the same color but a shade paler. Costa and fringe as in primaries ; discal spot silvery white, ringed with deep pink.
Albinous 9 form. Upper surface white of greenish yellow tinge, the disk of primaries, especiall}' towards the inner margin faintly suffused with a very pale ochraceous tint. On one example the blackish border and the discal spots are about the same as in the
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 25
orange form, on another the spots enclosed by the border of primaries are reduced to mere streaks and on the secondaries there are no traces of the border at all. In all examples of both forms there is a powdering of dark scales on the base of wings and along the inner margin of secondaries interior to the abdominal fold. Under surface as in the orange form, except that the orange of superiors is replaced by yellowish white, and the green of all wings is somewhat paler.
Taken by Capt. Gamble Geddes at an elevation of 10,000 feet, on the summit of " Kicking Horse Pass," in the Rock}- Moun- tains, between Alberta Territory and British Columbia, at the boundary between the United States and the British possessions, about 300 miles north of Montana.
It is an act of temerity to describe a Colias as new under any circumstances in these da}rs, and doubly so to describe it from examples of the female sex alone, yet I have no apprehension that the above insect will not stand as a valid species.
Capt Geddes took about fifteen examples, all females, nine of the orange form, and about six of the white; but nothing that could possibly be considered as the male. The other examples of Colias captured in the same locality were lemon-colored males and females probably of one species, and allied to Pelidne, but bearing no kinship to the above. The most remarkable and dis- tinctive feature of this G. elis is the white female ; as the species, I am positive, will be found, whenever the male is discovered, to belong to a group in which albinous females are unknown, its congeners being Hecla, Hela Standingeri and Eogene, species in which no instance of the pale female has yet been known to occur ; all of which are found only at great altitudes or at the North Polar Regions and are in the male distinguished from the other red or orange species by the absence of the mealy kidney- or oval-shaped spot on the upper surface of the costa of secondaries near the body.
It is curious, in regard to these albinous females of the Coliades, that in one group thej- should occur in one species only, whilst in another there should be but one species, C. Meadii, found also at great elevation, in which they do not occur ; and in yet another species, G. Vaidierii, of the same group with the last mentioned Meadii, found in Chili, the female is always white, such a thing as a red one being Entirely unknown. 3
26 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
An Example of SamiaCecropia having a Fifth Aborted Wing. — T have lately received from Mr. Ph. Laurent, of Philadelphia, an example of Samia Cecropia, bred by him from a cocoon, having an aborted, or rather the portion of a third primary. It is a male of the ordinary size, expanding about 5| inches, and is one of those smoky varieties in which the red portion of the transverse bands on wings is very much narrowed. The right primary and both secondaries are normal in shape and marking. The left primary is in length from base to apex exactly the same as is the right ; but in width from inner angle across to the costa, it is -j3ff inch less ; the markings are the same, allowing for a little con- densing owing to the difference in the width. The venation is normal in all wings ; the left primary is also somewhat narrower at the base where it joins the body ; the inner margin is in exact line with that of its fellow, thus causing the wing at costa, where it joins the thorax, to be further in from the collar and head than its opposite.
The third primary, or rather portion of a primary, emerges from the side of the collar, and consists mainty of the costal and subcostal nervures, a small part of the median nervure, and a strip of wing about a quarter of an inch wide ; but the latter was much curled and twisted in drying, and does not show this width fully. Its length is about two-thirds that of the normal wing with which it runs parallel, but it is in no way visibly connected therewith.
This form of monstrosity is apparently of exceedingly great rarity. I have heard of only three other instances — those recorded by Prof. Westwood in the Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1879, pp. 220, 221, in which three diurnals are described, each possessing a third aborted right-hand secondary; In one of them, an example of Gonepteryx Bhamni, the normal right wing is much less than the left, the same with the second example, a Vanessa Urticse, leading to the conclusion in those cases as with the Cecropia, that the abnormal wing was produced at the expense of the normal.
In the two cases just cited, the extra wing is joined at the base of the costa to the proper wing; in the third case mentioned by Prof. Westwood, it is apparent^ a streak or strip, as it were, on the inferior surface of right secondary, distinguished from the
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 27
rest of the wing, or the part thereof, hy the difference in color and marking alone.
It will be noticed that in the case of the three diurnals, that the extra wing is always a right secondary, whilst in the Cecropia it is a left primary.
28 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
February IT. Mr. Thomas Meehan, Vice-President, in the chair. Twenty-five persons present.
February 24. Mr. Jacob Binder in the chair. Twenty -one persons present.
A New Fresh-water Sponge from Nova Scotia. — Mr. E. Potts described a form recently identified by him as follows : —
Hetekomkykma Pictouensis, n. sp.
Sponge light green, even when dry, massive, encrusting ; texture very compact ; spicules non-fasciculated, persistent ; surface mostly smooth.
Gemmules very scarce, spherical, crust thick.
Skeleton spicules cylindrical, short, robust, rounded or abruptly terminated ; entirely spined, spines conical at the centre of the spicule, elsewhere generally curving forward, or towards each extremity. Rounded terminations of spicules covered with short spines, though frequentlj' a single large spine or acute termination is seen at one or both extremities.
Dermal spicules absent or undiscovered.
Birotulatesof the longer class surrounding the gemmules, rather numerous, one-half longer than the others ; shafts conspicuously fusiform or largest at the centre, where are frequently found one or more long spines. Their rotules consist of three to six irregu- larly placed rays, recurved at the extremities.
Birotulates of the shorter class abundant and compactly placed around the gemmule; shafts mostly smooth, though sometimes bearing a single spine ; irregularly cylindrical, but rapidly widen- ing to support the rotules, which are large, umbonate, nearly flat, and fiiu'ly lacinulate at their margins ; occasionally bearing spines.
Measurements. — Skeleton spicules 0-0075 inch long, by 0-00075 inch thick; length of long birotulates 0"0021 inch; of short biro- tulates 00012 inch ; diameter of disc of latter 0*0009 inch.
Habitat. — On submerged wood, etc.
Locality — Collected only by or for Mr. A. H. McKay, B. A., B. S., of i'lctou, Nova Scotia, from several lakes upon the water- shed of that region.
1885.]
NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA.
29
This beautiful and interesting sponge was first discovered by Mr.
McKay, during the summer of 1884. At that time its novelty, as indicated by its unusually robust, entirely spined skeleton spicules was easily recognized, but the absence of gemmules at that season precluded the deter- mination of its generic rela- tions, and it has continued unnamed. During the last week of December, however, a further search was re- warded by the finding of other "specimens upon sticks pulled up through a break made in the ice," and amongst these a few, and but a few gemmulae have now been discovered. These suffice to place it clearly within the genus Heteromerjenia, near H. Ryderii, while the peculiarities of its birotulates distin- guish it from that or any other species,
Mr. Potts called attention to its green and apparently living and growing condition, during midwinter, in that northern lati- tude, as indicating that like Spongilla aspinosa, of the New Jersey swamps, this species also is an "evergreen," continuing its life in the normal state throughout the year, and for this reason not needing to form " protected gemmules " in such abundance as do other species.
At the suggestion of Mr. McKay, to whose enthusiastic search we owe its discovery, the local specific Pictouensis has gladly been given to this species.
The following were elected members : —
Charles Harrod Vinton, M. D., Henry Leffmann, M.D., S. Frank Aaron and Edw. Lona;streth.
A. A. A. Skeleton spicules ; B. Long birotulate C. C. Short do. Magnified 250 diameters.
March 3.
The President, Dr. Leidy, in the chair.
Twenty-seven members present.
The following papers were presented for publication : — "A Review of the American Genera and Species of Batrachidoe," by Seth E. Meek and Edw. A. Hall.
30 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
"A Review of the Species of the Genus Pimephales," by Willis S. Blatchley.
The deaths of Mrs. S. R. Barton, a member, and of John Gwynn Jeffries, a correspondent, were announced.
Spicate Inflorescence in Cypripedium insigne. — Mr. Thomas Meehan referred to a specimen on the table of Cypripedium insigne, an orchid from the cooler parts of the East Indies, which had a spike with two flowers and other undeveloped buds, the normal character being a one-flowered scape. These departures from the normal form afforded valuable lessons, though frequentby passed over as mere freaks of nature. A spicate inflorescence was a common characteristic in allied species. From the illustration before us, we might infer that the one-flowered kinds were species in which the power to develop a proper spike had been arrested. We might expect to see attempts at this form of inflorescence in Cypripedium acaule of our own country.
A very important lesson from these occasional departures had but recently the attention given to it that it properly deserved, and that was that whenever any particular plant departed from its normal form, other characters came into existence, which, in a separate plant would, and often did, obtain for the new depar- ture the rank of a species. In this instance, the second flower on the spike was different from the lower and normal one in the upper segment of the perianth (sepals) having a regular outline. In the normal form it was so crumpled as to present a trilobed appearance. In the normal form the labellum was so elongated as to be three times the length of the column. In the upper flower the labellum was but double the length, giving it a some- what globular appearance. There were other variations that formed a combination of characters quite sufficient to mark a species if they were constantly produced in a separate state. Why could not this rare occurrence become a continuous one, and thus a new species be formed — created, we may say — out of an older one ? There can be no reason. We may call this a freak of nature, but it could not have occurred without that combination of circumstances which we call law. We have no warranty for saying that a law which has operated to produce a departure in a solitary instance like this, might not have a more permanent power at some other time. Nor is there any warranty for believing that a law that has operated as we see here on one plant, might not operate on a hundred, or on all the plants of a district, or .vcu on plants in separate districts widely separated from each other.
In a paper by himself published in the Proceedings of the Troy Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, " On the introduction of species bj- sudden leaps, " as well
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 31
as elsewhere, he had given illustrations of the sudden appearance of identical forms in widely separated localities. If we may gene- ralize from these facts, as we seemed almost warranted in doing, we need not be always looking for the links supposed to be missing, which the belief in the hypothesis of development by slow modi- fications compelled us to search for, nor need we be reduced to the only alternative of believing that all new species sprang from one parent, which formed a centre of distribution in each particular case. A whole species might be called into existence in the shape of hundreds of individuals or in numerous centres, if only a law that we know from these instances can operate suddenby and exceptionally should continue regularly to act. Such a belief would tend materially to remove difficulties in the way of theories of evolution, that now prevented a full accept- ance thereof.1
If we can conceive that a suddenly introduced and yet perma- nently acting force was introduced to operate on some lower beings, the difficulty might be removed. It seemed to him that in some palaeontological fields there are evidences of rapid evolution at certain periods, and of greater permanency at others, and this could only be by the introduction of a force equal to the eruer- genc3r, as in this sudden case brought to the notice of the Academy above.
It would be an interesting study to endeavor to trace the laws that operated in these changes. In this study we must leave behind us impressions which we have imbibed from the idea of mere freaks, hybrids, a return to primitive forms, and other mere guesSes with which scientific literature abounds. On the table before us, he observed, are the recent Proceedings of the Ro\-al Society of Tasmania, in which is an account of a remarkable change in a potato, a variety bi-ought from Scotland a few years previously, known as Patterson's Victoria, a variety with white flowers and round white tubers, which, after a culture of a few years in the new climate, produced purple flowers, flat ovate tubers, and these tubers with pink eyes. The members of that society looked at it as a return to the original form of some hybrid variety. We here, with other facts before us, would rather regard it as the effect of environment operating on some innate, and so far un- known, cause of change which might lie dormant through long ages till the peculiar conditions of the environment called them into active life. There seemed in fact seeds for form, as well as seeds for individuals, awaiting the required conditions for germination and rapid growth. In the one case we were able to perceive and appreciate them, except in some of the lowest
1 Principal Dawson bas suggested that one difficulty in the way of accept- ing the prevalent theories of the evolution of man, comes from the fact that anthropology arToids no "missing link" in the human skull. The oldest hitherto found shows as full a development as in modern man.
32 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
organisms. The principle that contained the germ of form was, however, yet as wholly unknown as that of the supposed disease- germs of the atmosphere.
March 10. The President, Dr. Leidy, in the chair.
Twenty-four persons present.
The following papers were presented for publication : —
" New Genera and Species of Fossil Cockroaches from the Older American Rocks," by Samuel H. Scudder.
" A Revision of the North American Melicre," by F. Lamson Scribner.
" A Review of the American Eleotridinae," by Carl H. Eigen- mann and Morton "W. Fordice.
The deaths of Samuel Powell and Geo. Whitney, members, and of Benjamin Silliman, Jr., a correspondent, were announced.
Rhinoceros and Hippotherium from Florida. — Prof. Leidy directed attention to some fossil remains, recently received from Dr. J. C. Neal, of Archer, Florida, and obtained by him from the same deposit noticed in the Proceedings of 1884, p. 118. Dr. Neal writes that he had again examined the locality in company with Prof. L. C. Johnson, who reports that the deposit overlies the Yicksburg limestone of Eocene age. Dr. Neal adds that the deposit appears to be the portion of the border of a lagoon of post-Tertiary age, and that it is now about 100 feet by 50 feet in extent. He also remarks that he has anxiously looked for relics of man, but thus far in vain. The fossils are mingled together in the greatest confusion, are badly fractured, but not water-worn.
The remains submitted, besides several less characteristic frag- ments of a crocodile, a carnivorous animal about the size of a fox, and of a lama, consist of two Avell-preserved teeth of a Rhino- ceros and a Hippotherium.
The tooth of the rhinoceros fortunately happens to be one of the most characteristic of the series, and presents differences sufficient^ from those of the many extinct forms of this country to render it probable that it indicates another species. The specimen is the crown, but slightly worn, of a last upper molar of the left side. It is especially remarkable for the extent of production of the intermediate folds of the chief lobes of the crown, in comparison with their condition in known forms of the genus. The fold of the anterior lobe is directed backward about half the interval of the lobes, and extends from the base to the triturating border of the crown. Its upper portion is half cylin- drical ; its lower portion compressed from without inward, and half elliptical in the length. It has the shape of a knife with a
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 33
cylindrical handle and a wider half elliptical blade. The posterior fold, as long and wider than the former, curves forward and out- ward in advance of the free border of the anterior fold, coming into contact with the outer face of this below, but separated from it by an open crevice above. The meeting folds divide the interval of the lobes of the crown into an outer trilateral pit over two inches in depth, and an inner nearly rectangular recess about an inch and a half in depth. A well-produced basal ridge occupies the forepart of the crown; a feeble one, produced behind in a tubercle, the outer part of the crown ; and a broad tubercle occu- pies the base of the interval of the lobes internally. The measure- ments of the specimen are as follows : —
Greatest transverse diameter at the anterior third, 56 mm.
Greatest fore and aft diameter externally, . 63 "
Greatest fore and aft diameter internally, . 55 "
Greatest depth at the antero-external border, . 63 "
The species may be distinguished by the name of Rhinoceros proterus. The subgenus, whether Acerather-ium, Aphelops,- or other, is of course only to be determined b}* the supply of other portions of the animal. The inferior molars and bones of a rhinoceros, indicated in the former communication on fossils from the same deposit, most probably also pertain to this species. The extinct genus Hippotherium, a three-toed ancestor of our horses, was originally described from remains found in the Miocene and later Tertiary deposits of Europe. Remains of the same genus were first discovered in this country in the Ashley River phosphate beds of South Carolina, noticed in our Proceed- ings of 1853, p. 241, under the 'name of Hipparion venustum, and described in Holmes' post-Pliocene fossils, 1860, 105, pi. xvi, figs. 32,. 33, as Hippotherium venustum. Since then a number of other species have been described by the speaker and Prof. Cope from remains found in various localities of this country. The tooth now under inspection is an upper molar, perhaps the fourth large one of the series. It indicates a small species, little more than half the size of the domestic horse, or of the Hippotherium gracile of Europe, and exhibits sufficient difference to assume that it indicates
\A^-J-
.,. another species from those already described. ■* s The folding of the contiguous borders of the Hippotherium ingenuum. interior enamel islets of the worn triturating surface is less complex than in H. venustum. and the internal islet is elliptical instead of circular. The species may be named Hippotherium ingenuum. The measurements of the tooth are as follows : —
Length at antero-internal corner of crown, 42 mm.
Breadth fore and aft of triturating surface, 19 "
Breadth transversely of triturating surface, 17 "
34 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
NEW GENERA AND SPECIES OF FOSSIL COCKROACHES, FROM THE OLDER AMERICAN ROCKS.
BY SAMUEL H. SCUDDER.
Since the publication of my essay on Palaeozoic cockroaches,1 a considerable number of new types of Palseoblattarise have come to hand, largely through the endeavors of Mr. R. D. Lacoe, to whose favor I owe the opportunity of stud}-ing them, and partly from my exploration of an interesting localit}' in South Park, Colorado. Some of the former have since been published in a revision of the species of Mylacris,2 and the more interesting of such as remain are described in this paper.
The two new genera' of Mylacridae are closely allied to, but differ considerabl}7 from, the known genera. Of the Blattinariae, the species of Oryctoblattina is the first secured from America, and the Triassic genera and species are interesting, not only from the deposit in which they occur, but also from their relation to Carboniferous and Liassic types.3 They will all be figured on another occasion.
PROMYLACRIS (rp6, /mXawpif), nov. gen.
The mediastinal vein, though large and abundantly supplied with veins, terminates not far beyond the middle of the wing ; most of the branches fork more than once ; the scapular vein runs in a nearly straight course, and terminates a short distance beyond the mediastinal, playing a very insignificant part ; the externomedian vein is far more important, crowding back the scapular vein on the one side and the externomedian on the other; the anal furrow is very deeply impressed and the anal area strongly convex, its veins regular, frequent and strongly curved. Promylacris ovale, nov. sp.
Represented by a single specimen and its reverse in a nodule preserving well the anterior half of the body. The pronotum is regularly arched, about one-fourth as high as broad, and twice as
1 Mem. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., iii, 23, et seq.
2 Ibid., iii, £99, et seq.
8 Amer. Jour. Sc. (8), xxviii, 199, et seq.
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 35
broad as long. The front wings have a strongly developed humeral lobe and a costal margin of considerable convexity. The mediastinal branches are clustered into three groups ; the scapular vein is composed of only two branches, each of which forks with slight divarication ; the externomedian vein has three principal branches, all of which originate far toward the base of the wing ; the internomedian area is unusually small, apparently not reaching so far out as the scapular area. The fragment is 20 mm. long and the wing 12 mm. broad, but it was probably about 29 mm. long.
Carboniferous deposits of Mazon Creek, 111. Received from Mr. Wm. Gurley.
PAKOMYLACEIS (-apos, //uWpfj), nov. gen. The mediastinal vein consists of at least seven or eight prin- cipal bi*anches, several of them forking close to the base, the outermost extending far toward the tip of the wing, making this area unusually important ; the scapular is also important, the main vein running through the middle of the wing in a straight course to the tip ; the externomedian branches do not separate widely, and occupy on the margin of the wing only the lower half of the broad apex ; the anal furrow is deeply impressed, and strikes the middle of the inner margin.
Paromylacris rotundum, nov. sp.
The single specimen shows the larger portion of the upper surface, and all the more important parts, visible from above. The whole body is strongly arched, and the central portion of the pronotal shield, which is twice as broad as long, is elevated about 4\r) mm. above the margins. The front wings are obovate, scarcety narrower at tip than at base, barely twice as long as broad ; the humeral angle very prominent. The scapular vein has four or five straight superior branches ; the externomedian vein runs parallel to the scapular, and has two dichotomizing branches. The length of the wing is 29-5 mm., and its width 15 mm.
Carboniferous deposits of Mazon Creek, 111. Mr. R. D. Lacoe, No. 2026.
SPILOBLATTINA (<xz:\os, Blattina) nov. sp.
This genus is allied to Etoblattina, but differs from it and from all other genera of Blattinariae in the divergence of the scap-
36 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF L1885-
ular and externomedian veins be3rond the middle of the wing, and then their rapid convergence beyond a more or less conspic- uous elongated spot (whence the generic name) which fills the space so produced ; a similar arrangement is seen even more conspicuously between the the externomedian and internomedian veins, where the spot is much larger and round. All the species are Triassic. Spiloblattina Gardineri, nov. pp.
A number of specimens of this were found, some of them nearly perfect. The wing is long and slender, more than three times longer than broad, the tip roundly produced. The mediastinal vein terminates some way beyond the middle, approaching the margin very gradually; the scapular runs parallel to the costal margin, slightly more removed from it in the apical than in the distal half, and terminates a little before the tip of the wing ; it has many branches, usually compound ; the externomedian vein begins to branch usually in the middle of the wing, about oppo- site the stigma in the interspace between it and the scapular vein, and its branches fill the apex of the wing. To form the enlarged cell for the median stigma, the curve of the main externomedian vein is graceful and very gradual. The anal terminates far before the middle of the wing. Length of wing about 17*5 mm., width 5*5 mm. Named after my son who obtained the first and best speci- men seen in our exploration of the beds.
Triassic beds near Fairplay, Colorado. Spiloblattina triassica, nov. pp.
In this species the wing appears to be more slender than in the others, although the exact proportions cannot be given from the imperfection of the specimens; all the branches have a more longitudinal and less arcuate course, the externomedian and scapular veins scarcely part from each other to give place to the stigma, and the divergence of the former and the internomedian veins is also less conspicuous. The wing was probably about 18 mm. long, and 5 mm. broad.
Triassic beds near Fairplay, Colorado.
Spiloblattina guttata, nov. sp.
This species differs from the others in the stoutness of the wing, which is proportionally much shorter than any of the others; in keeping with this peculiarity is the greater width of
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 37
both the mediastinal and scapular areas, and the more rapid descent to the margin of the termination of at least the former. In other respects the species completely resembles S. Gardineri. Two fragments only were obtained, which indicate a wing about 15 mm. long, and 7 mm. broad.
Triassic beds near Fairplay, Colorado.
Spiloblattina marginata, nov. sp.
This species, of which only a single specimen was found, is remarkable for the paucity of its neuration, and for the fact that all the veins and branches are margined with a slender dark edging. The scapular vein recedes more than usually from the costal margin opposite the very slight median stigma, and the externomedian vein is consequently more than usually curved to make place for it. The probable length of the wing was 18 mm. The inner margin being lost, the width can hardly be more than conjectured, but it was perhaps 7 mm.
Triassic beds near Fairplay, Colorado.
Oryctoblattina occidua, nor. sp.
The veins appear to originate from the middle of the upper half of the base of the wing, and have scarcely the least basal arcuation. The mediastinal vein runs at but slight distance from, and nearly parallel to, the costal border, in the outer half con- stantly but gradually approaching it, emitting numerous oblique, generally simple branches ; the vein terminates in the middle of the outer half of the wing, and shows no such peculiarities at its tip as characterize 0. reticulata of Europe. The scapular vein is also not so peculiar as there ; it runs in near proximity and parallel to the mediastinal vein, but there is the same slight bend in its course at the base of the principal branch ; the mass of the branches, which are fewer than in 0. reticulata, do not arise as there from a vein emitted abruptly from near the base of the second branch, to which they are inferior, but from the principal branch itself, to which they are superior. The internomedian vein terminates at about the end of the middle third of the wing, and has only a few branches. The externomedian branches all' terminate on the inner margin. The length of the wing is 19 mm., its breadth 7 mm.
Carboniferous beds of Mazon Creek, Illinois; R. D. Lacoe, No. 2039.
38 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
Petrablattina eequa, nov. *)>.
Mediastinal. vein terminating scarcely beyond the middle of the costal margin, with numerous, closely crowded, simple branches; scapular vein terminating above the tip of the wing, ami beyond the basal curve nearly straight, with four or five singly forking branches ; branches of externomedian vein straight, superior, mostly simple, parallel to the main scapular vein ; the internomedian area extending to some distance beyond the middle of the wing. It is a tolerably large species, the wing measuring 24 mm. in length and 10 mm. in breadth.
Triassic beds near Fairplay, Colorado.
Petrablattina Meieri, now sj>.
Mediastinal vein terminating a long way beyond the middle of the costal border, with comparatively distant, usually simple branches. Scapular vein terminating just below the tip of the wing and beyond the basal curve, gently arcuate throughout, with branches similar to those of P. aequa, but occup3*ing a larger area. In consequence, the externomedian area is of less importance than in P. sequa, and it has but few branches, which appear to be generally simple, and slightly declivent, though superior. Unfortunately this portion of the wing in the single specimen known is very obscure. The internomedian vein is not preserved in its outer portion, but it evidently reached the border nearer the base than the mediastinal vein, and the anal furrow is strongly curved. The wing is broken at the base, but its probable length was 19 mm., and its breadth 7 mm. It is named after Mr. Robert A. Meier, of Garo, Col., in whose shaft all these specimens were obtained, and who afforded our party all possible assistance in working them.
Triassic beds near Fairplay, Colorado.
POROBLATTINA {ndpos, Blattina), nov. gen. Allied to Petrablattina, and especially the species of that genus found in the same Triassic rocks, differing from them principally in the insignificant part played by the mediastinal area and the corresponding importance of the scapular area. The mediastinal vein extends no further out than the anal, terminating far before the middle of the wing, and has consequently but a few offshoots; while the mediastinal, sweeping downward, away from the costal margin at the termination of the mediastinal, occupies nearly half
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 39
of the wing before curving upward again to terminate above the apex. The externomedian vein is arcuate and terminates on the lower margin not far from the tip, and has only three or four superior longitudinal branches. The anal furrow is strongly arcuate. The anal veins are nearly parallel to the inner margin, but impinge upon it near the anal furrow.
Poroblattina arcuata, nov. sp.
The costal border is considerably convex. The scapular vein is unusually arcuate and has a large number of mostly simple oblique branches. The externomedian and internomedian veins, on the contrary, have few and distant branches, and the former is also strongly arcuate. The whole surface of the wing is broken by closely crowded cross-veins, which are more transverse to the whole wing than to the interspaces. A single, rather imperfect specimen is known, indicating a species with a wing about 10 mm. long; the width is 4 mm., and apparently the wing was well rounded and much shorter in proportion to its breadth than in the next species.
Triassic beds near Fairplay, Colorado.
Poroblattina lakesii, nov. sp.
The costal border is nearly straight and the wing elongate. The scapular vein is much less arcuate than in the preceding species and has a comparatively small number of distant, singly or doubly forked, oblique branches. The much less oblique branches of the internomedian vein are more frequent but appear less crowded from their simplicit}', while those of the externo- median are more distant than the latter, and equally simple. There is no sign of any cross-venation. This species, like the preceding, is small, the wing measuring about 12 mm. long, and 4*5 mm. broad. Named after Prof. Arthur Lakes of the School of Mines at Golden, Colorado, the first discoverer of these fossils.
Triassic beds near Fairplay, Colorado.
40 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
A REVISION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN MELICJE. BY F. LAMSON SCRTBNER.
The determination of our North American species of the genus Mel ica, and the notes relative to their distribution, etc., contained in the present paper, are based upon the collections in the herba- rium at Cambridge, the Torrey herbarium, and the herbarium of the Department of Agriculture at Washington, all of which have been kindly loaned me for this purpose, by those having them in charge. I have also consulted the herbarium of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, as well as several valuable private collections.
The following is a synopsis or analytical key of the species, as they appear to me, by which it is hoped they may be readily identified without the aid of more extended descriptions.
I 1. GLYCERINE.
Spikelets 1-5 flowered, flowering glumes herbaeeo-coriaceous, with a narrow scarious margin above, strongly 7-nerced.
Culms not bulbiferous, panicle man}' -flowered, spikelets H-2^ lin.
long, with 1, or sometimes 2 perfect flowers.
Empty glumes shorter than the spikelet, rudimentary floret
large, and nearly sessile. M. imperfecta. 1.
Empty glumes as long as the floret, the second one exceeding
it, rudimentary floret small, long stipitate.
M. Torreyana. 2. Culms bulbiferous, panicle simple, few-flowered with short diver- gent branches, spikelets 4-7 lin. long, with 3-5 perfect florets, flowering glumes 2-3 lin. long, joints of the thickened rhachilla about 1 lin. long. M.fugax. 3.
I 2. EUMELICA.
Spikelets 4-8 lin. long, with 2-S perfect florets, flowering glume apparently many-nerved below {at least when dry), with a broadscarious margin above.
Culms not bulbiferous.
Empty glumes ver}' unequal and decidedly shorter than the 3-5 flowered spikelets. Panicle diffusely branched, many-flowered, the flexuose ped- icels smooth or slightly pubescent. .1/. diffusa. 4.
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 41
Panicle narrow, the slender branches erect, or the lower
slightly divergent, pedicels flexuose or recurved, densely
pubescent. M. Porteri. 5.
Empty glumes unequal, the second nearly or quite as long (6-8
lin.) as the 4-6-flowered spikelets.
Panicle with 6-15 large, pendulous spikelets forming a simple
secund raceme. M. stricta. 6.
Panicle strict, densely many-flowered above, interrupted
below, branches and short, straight pedicels erect.
M. frutescens.1 7.
Empty glumes subequal, nearly as long (4-5 lin.) as the
2-flowered spikelets.
Panicle few-flowered, sparingly branched below, often reduced
to a simple raceme. M. mutica. 8.
Culms bulbous at base (excepting in occasional samples of No. 10).
The second glume decidedly shorter than the third.
Panicle nodding, loosely few-flowered, the slender branches erect spreading, flowering glume very broadly acuminate, obtuse or notched at the tip, terminal floret acute.
M. spectabile. 9. The second glume as long as the third.
Panicle erect, densely many-flowered, branched below, spicate above, spikelets about 4 lin. long, with about 3 perfect florets the rudimentary one obtuse. M. Calif ornica. 10.
Panicle erect, branches appressed, few-flowered, spikelets 5-6
lin. long, with 5-8 perfect flowers, terminal floret acute.
M. bulbosa. 11. I 3. BROMELICA.
Spikelets of 3S perfect florets, the lower exceeding the empty glumes ; lotcer palet prominently 7-nerved, apiculate or distinctly awned by the excurrent midnerve at the notched or bifid or narrowly truncate or rarely long attenuated tip (Thurber).
Culms bulbiferous, panicle with spreading, very unequal few- flowered rays, the upper rays and spikelets mostly solitary. Flowering glumes smooth or minutely scabrous, notched at the acute tip, the midnerve ending as a short point or awn between the teeth. 31. bromoides. 12.
1 Melica frutescens approaches, by intermediate forms, very closely to M.
California, but the membraneous character of its glumes, the unusual
length of the outer ones, and the comparatively short palea (this being
scarcely half as long as its glume) suggest a nearer relationship with M.stricta.
4
42 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
Flowering glumes ciliate on the margin and hirsute, especially below, with scattered hairs, long attenuated into a narrow subulate point, but not awned. M. subulata. 13.
Culms not bulbous at the base, panicle contracted.
Flowering glume about 4 lin. long, ciliate on the margin below with long shining hairs, apex truncate or obtusely lobed, awn when present not exceeding 3 lin. in length.
M. Harfordii. 14. Flowering glume 5-6 lin. long, strongly scabrous, with a few stiff marginal hairs near the base, awn 4-7 lin. long.
M. aristata. 15.
1. Melica imperfecta, Trin. in Mem. Acad. St. Petersb., 1840, 59, and Icon. Gram., t. 356; Bolander, Proc. Calif. Acad., 1870, iv, 101 ; Thurber in S. Wats. Bot. Calif., ii, 303. M. colpodioidcs, Nee6. in Tayl. Mag. Nat. Hist, 1, 282; M. panicoides and M. poxoidcs, Nutt. in PI. Gambl., 188.
Hab. — California : Hills, San Bernardino Valley, Parish Bros., No. 885, April, 1881 ; San. Bernardino Co., Parry and Lemmon, No. 40;?, 18T6 ; G. R. Vasey, No. 664, 1880 ; Southern California, Parry and Lemmon, No. 404 ; Santa Maria, Sta. Barbara Co., Lorenzo Jared, 1881 ; Santa Barbara, Mrs. E. Cooper, 1879 ; "Abundant in dry rock places," Mrs. R. F. Bingham, 1882; Fall Brook, M. E. Jones, No. 3092, March, 1882 (spikelets 2£ lin. long); Guadaloupe Island, off Lower Calif., E. Palmer, No. 98, 1875; LosAngelos, Bolander, Kellogg & Co. (a form with unusually broad and obtuse outer glumes). Two-flowered forms, the M. poceoides of Nuttall, come from San Francisco, Bolander, No. 6076, in part ; Hills, San Diego, C. G. Pringle, 1882 ; Miss Scott, 1880 ; Dr. Cleveland, 1882.
Var. refracta, Thurber in S. Wats. Bot. Calif., ii, 303. Hab. — Near San Bernardino, Calif. J. G. Lemmon, No. 1471, 1879.
Var. flexuosa, Bolander, Proc. Calif. Acad., iv, 101; Thurber, 1. c, 303.
On the road from Mariposa to Clarks, Bolander ; Santa Inez Mission, Brewer, No. 569 (teste Thurber).
I do not recognize this variety among the specimens I have in hand.
Var. minor.
Characterized by its comparatively low and densely tufted habit, short and chiefly radical leaves, compressed or angular culms, slender few-flowered panicle, the short branches divergent or even reflexed ; the spikelets are generally smaller than in the species and the outer glumes usually shorter and more obtuse.
Hab. — San Bernardino Mts., Parish Bro., No. 856, May, 1882.
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 43
2. Melica Torreyana. M. imperfecta, var. sesquifora, Torrey in Herb.
The specimens thus ticketed by Dr. Torrey were collected in California, by Dr. Bigelow, in 1853-4.
This proposed new species is distinguished from M. imperfecta, with which it is very closely allied, by its more membraneous, longer and more acute glumes — the second one equaling or exceeding the floret — by the hairs on the back of the flowering glume above the middle and by the long-pedicelled rudimentary floret, characters which seem to me to be of specific value.
Bigelow's specimens are immature, but the typical form is well represented by the specimens distributed by Bolander, Kellogg & Co. (1872). In these specimens the culms are 3 ft. high or more, leaves numerous, flat, 2-3 lin. wide, 6-8 in. long; ligule 3-4 lin. long, lacerated ; panicle 6-10 in. long, diffuse, the slender flexuose branches 2-4 in. long and few-flowered at the ends, naked below. The characters of the spikelets are well shown in fig. 3, PL I.
Forms with two-flowered spikelets occur, but the second floret and rudiment are long-pedicelled, while in similar two-flowered forms of M. imperfecta, these are both nearly sessile.
No. 13 Bolander. and No. 60*76 Bolander in part belong to this species. No. 586, collected by Dr. Torrey at New Almaden, California, in 1865, is a narrow-panicled form of M. Torreyana, closely resembling 31. imperfecta, but at once recognized by the characters above noted.
3. Melica fugax,1 Bolander, Proc. Calif. Acad., iv, 104: Thurber in S. Wats. Bot. Calif., ii, 304. M. Oeyeri, Thurber, Bot. Wilkes' Exped., 492, not Munro.
Hab. — California : J. G. Leinmon, 1875 ; Sierra Valley, J. G. L., 1873 and 1874 ; Dormer Lake, Bolander, Kellogg & Co., 1872 ; Plumas Co., Mrs. Austin, 1877. Oregon : Dry mountain sides, Union Co., W. C. Cusiek, No. 1032, June, 1882. Washington Territory : Open pine woods, Falcon Valley, W. N. Suksdorf, Nos. 61 and 16, 1883.
In the spikelets of Melica fugax, the rhachilla is smooth, thickened and of a peculiar spongy texture, quite unlike that of any other North American species.
1 The Melica, from Mt. Shasta, referred to in my List of Pringle's Grasses (see Torr. Bull., x, p. 31, No. 72), is not M. fugax, nor am I able to identify it with any of the known species, unless it be an unusual form of At. bulbosa, Geyer. The specimens in hand are too meagre for more definite conclusions.
44 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
4. Melica diffusa, Pursh Flor., i, 77 ; Kunth En. PL i, 377 ; Stendel Gram., 291 : M. altistima, Walt, Flor. Carol., 78. M. glabra, Michx., i, 62 (in part). M. mutica, var. diffusa, Gray in Man., 626. M. scahra, Nutt., Fl. Ark., 148.
Var. nitens. — .1/. nitcns, Nutt. in Herb. Phila. Acad. M. mutica, Torr. in Marcy's Rept.
Differs from the species in its more leafy culms, narrower leaves, more densely flowered panicle, and in its much broader and more unequal outer glumes, the second one being nearly as long as the spikelet.
Distribution. — Pennsylvania, Illinois, southward and westward to Texas. The variety = No. 3464 a, Curtiss' Distribution N. Am. Plants, coll. in Texas by J. Reverchon ; also 389, Lindheimer, and 2062, C. Wright. Nos. 729, Lindheimer (1847), and 769, C. Wright (1849), belong to the species.
b. Melica Porteri, Scribner in Rusby's Arizona plants, No. 881^, 188:?, and in Pringle's distribution of 1884. M. mutica, var. parviflora, T. C. Porter in Porter <fc Coulter's Fl. of Colorado, 149 ; M. stricta, Brandegee, Fl. Southwestern Colorado, p. 244. Hab. — Colorado: Glen Eyrie, near Colorado City, T. C. Porter, July, 1872, and August, 1873. "This Melica, which I have from several stations in Colorado, I am now inclined to think a good species, as you do." T. C. P. inlitt., December, 1882; Chiann Canon, M. E. Jones, No. 1550, June, 1879 ; Canon of the Rio La Plata, and Parrott City (alt., 8500 ft.), T. S. Brandegee ; Hall and Harbour, No. 228. Arizona : Rusby, 1883 ; Santa Rita Mts., Pringle, 1884 ; Sierra Blanca, J. T. Rothrock, No. 805, 1874; J. G. Lemmon, 1884 (specimens differing from the type in their smaller spike- lets, scarcely exceeding 4 lin. in length, while in the ordinary forms they are two lines longer). New Mexico : C. Wright, No. 2063, 1851, and Fendler, No. 924, 1847 ; G. R. Vasey, No. 142, July, 1881. Texas : Chixos Mts., V. Havard, No. 19, 1883 (a small flowered form like that collected by Lemmon in Arizona).
6. Melica stricta, Bolander, Proc. Cal. Acad., iii, 1863, p. 4, and iv, p. 104; Watson, Bot. King's Exped., 384; Thurb. in S. Wats. Bot. Cal., ii, 303. Hab. — California: Virginia City, Bolander, No. 47; Toscmite Valley. Bolander, No. 6089, 1866; Sierra Co., J. G. Lemmon, No. 223, 1874; Bolander, Kellogg & Co., 1872 (alt. 7000 ft.); Sierra Nevada, "crevices of high rocks, 9000 ft.," E. L. Greene, No. 417, Oct., 1884 ; same district, alt. 9500 ft., C. G. Pringle, Sept., 1882 ; Plumas Co., R. M. Austin, 1878 ; Soda Springs, alt. 9000 ft., M. E. Jones, July, 1881 ; "Dry ridges, among rocks," Bear Valley, San Bernardino Mts., Parish Bros., No. 1553, Aug., 1882. Nevada: East Humboldt Mts., alt. 8000 ft., Aug., and Pah Ute Mts., alt. 5500 ft., June, S. Watson, No. 1305, 1868.
Note. — The inflorescence of this alpine species is similar to that of M. Porteri, but the panicle is much shorter, with only about a dozen spikelets, rarely more than 20, and the spikelets themselves are very much larger.
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OP PHILADELPHIA. 45
7. Melica frutescens.
Culms 2|-3i feet high, simple or branched near the base, leafy ; leaves narrow, involute near the tip, scabrous, as are also the sheaths. Panicle 6-12 inches long, strict, densely flowered and spicate above, interrupted below, the appressed branches 1-3 inches long, densely flowered, or the longer ones naked below. Spikelets about 6 lin. long, with usually 5 perfect florets ; first glume about 5 lin. long ; the second a line longer, nearly equaling the spikelet ; thh'd glume about 4 lin. long, obtuse, the papery-membraneous tip occupying fully a third of its length. Palea usually about one-half the length of its glume.
Hab. — California: Southern California, Parry and Lemmon, No. 401, 1876 ; Mountains San Diego Co., C. G. Pringle, April 20, 1882 ; Lower California, near the United States border, C. R. Orcutt, No. 513, May, 1883 ; Near the Tia Juana, M. E. Jones, No. 3748, April 6, 1882.
8. Melica mutica.Walt., Flor. Carol., 78 (1788). M. glabra, Pursh. ; Mx. (in part.),
.1/. niutit a, var. glabra, Gray in Man., 626. M. gpeciosa, Muhl., Ind. Fl. Lane. (1791), 161, and Gram., i, 87. M. racemosa, Muhl. Gram., 88. M. Muehlen- bergiana, Schult, Mant., 2, 294 (after Kunth).
Distribution. — Pennsylvania, southward and westward to Texas, (781, E. Hall).
Distinguished from M. diffusa, with which it has been united by some authors, by its more slender habit, less branched and fewer flowered panicle, which is often reduced to a simple raceme. The spikelets also rarely have more than two perfect florets, the outer glumes are more nearly equal in length, and often quite as long as the spikelet, while the flowering glumes are broader and more obtuse.
9. Melica spectabile. M. bulbosa, S.Wats., Bot. King. Exp., 383 ; Porter & Coulter,
Fl. Colorado, 149.
Hab. — Montana: Crow Creek Mts., etc., alt. 6000 ft., Scribner, No. 385, 1883 ; Bozeman Pass, Wm. M. Canby, No. 368, 1883. Colorado : Twin Lakes, Upper Arkansas, and Plains near Ogden, T. C. Porter, 1872. Yellowstone Park, C. C. Parry, No. 295, 1873. Utah : Cottonwood Canon, alt. 10,000 ft., S. Watson, No. 1303, July, 1869. Idaho : Beaver Canon, S. Watson, No. 455, July, 1880.
This grass has been referred to Geyer's M. bulbosa by authors, but aside from its affecting higher elevations, it is readily distin- guished from that species by its usually taller and more slender culms, by its more open and nodding panicle, by the more
46 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
slender and flex nose pedicels, by its shorter empty glumes, and by its broader flowering glumes, which taper abruptly to a rounded and usually two-lobed summit.
10. Melica Califomica, M. pomoidee, Torrey, in Pac. R. Rep., iv, 157, non Nutt. M. bulbosa, Thurber, in S. Wats. Bot. Calif., ii, p. 304, non Geyer.
Hab. — California : Bolander, Nos. 32 and G120 ; Kellogg & Harford, No. 1133, 1808-9 ; San Bernardino, Parish Bro., No. 865, 1881.— Mud Springs, Upper Yellowstone, T. C. Porter, 1871.
The bulbous character of the base of the culm, although usually manifest, is sometimes wholly wanting, as in Prof. Porter's specimens from the Upper Yellowstone.
Prof. Thurber's description in the Botany of California applies only to the Californian plant (M. Californica); from the distri- bution given, however, and the authors cited, it is evident that he supposed this to be identical with Geyer's plant, which is typically represented by Cusick's specimens, and also my M. spectabile. I have endeavored to point out the characters that distinguish these three species, which, to me, appear sufficiently well marked to leave little doubt of their specific rank.
11. Melica bulbosa, Geyer, in Hook. Jour. Bot., viii, 1856, 19 (without description); Gray, Proc. Am. Acad., viii, 409.
Culms bulbous at the base, growing singly or densely tufted, usually about 2 ft. high, simple ; sheaths and upper surface of the leaves scabrous or (in Howell's specimens) retrosely pubes- cent ; panicle slender erect, the short 1-3 flowered branches appressed ; spikelets 5-7. lin. long with 6-8 perfect florets ; empty glumes obtuse, the first about 3 lin. long, the second a line longer and nearly equaling the third or first flowering glume, which is oblong lanceolate, obtuse or notched at the tip and gen- erally larger and firmer in texture than in M. Californica.
Hab. — Oregon : "Rocky ravine, Upper Platte, and only seen in one grassy spot," Geyer, No. 11 ; Union Co., W. C. Cusick, No. 900, 1880 and 900 a,, 1882 ; Bolander, Kellogj? & Co., 1872 ; Henderson, 1882 ; E. Hall, No. 635, 1871 ; Howell, 1881. Washington Territory: T. S. Brandegee, No. 1182, 1883. Nevada : Wheeler, 1872 ; West Humboldt Mts., alt. 8500 ft., S. Watson, No. 1304, 1867. Idaho : Bois City, Dr. J. E. Wilcox, 1883. Utah: Wasatch Mts., alt. 9000 ft., M. E. Jones, 1879; Ogden, J. M. Coulter, 1872. Montana: Belt Mts., alt. 6000 ft., Scribncr, No. 386, 1883 (spikelets crowded above, 7-8 lin. long and 5-7 flowered).
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 47
12. Melica bromoides, Gray, Proc. Am. Acad., viii, 409; Thurber in S. Wat. Bot.
Cal., ii, 304. M. Geyeri, Munro, ex Bolander, Proc. Cal. Acad., iv, 130. M. poseoidcs and M. p. var. bromoides, Nos. 6120, 40 and 6119 of Bolander's dis- tributed sets. Qlyceria bullosa, Buckley, Proc. Phila. Acad., 1862, 95! Hab. — California: Redwoods, Coast Range, Mt. Dana, Bolander, No.
6119 ; San Francisco, No. 6120 ; Woods, Ukiah, Mendocino Co., Bolander,
No. 40. Oregon : Near Waldo, Thos. Howell.
Note. — Mr. Howell sends from Oregon (No. 335, 1884) a form that diners from the type in its more open and fewer-flowered panicle ; the flowering glumes are also considerably longer, and entire, or but slightly notched at the tip, without any awn. This form has a decided festucoid " look," and may be designated as var. Howellii.
13. Melica subulata. Bromus subulatus, Griseb. in Ledeb. Fl. Boss., iv, 358; Gray,
Proc. Am. Acad., viii, 410. M. acuminata, Bol., Proc. Cal. Acad., iv, 104; Thurber in S. Wats. Bot. Cal., ii, 305. M. poxoides, var. acuminata, of Bolander's distribution, No. 4698.
Hab. — California: Mendocino Co., Bolander, 1866. Oregon: E. Hall, No. 645, 1871; "Low mountains," Union Co., W. C. Cusick, No. 876, 1880; "Along mountain streams," Howell, 1880, distributed sub nom. "M. Geyeri" ; Kellogg and Harford, No. 1112, 1868-9; Suavie's Island, Howell, 1883. Washington Terr. : Woods, Columbia River, W. N. Suks- dorf, 1882 ; G. R. Vasey, No. 129, 1883.
Festuca subulata, Brong.,is cited as a S3'non3Tm for this species by Dr. Gray and Prof. Thurber. The description, in Led. Fl. Ross., of F. subulata, Brong., and the synonyms there quoted point to a very different grass. I would rather concur with the opinion expressed by Prof. E. Hackel, that F. pauciflora, Thurber, in S. Wats. Bot. Cal., ii, 318 (No. 6073, Bolander), is the F. subulata, of Brongard, and not Thunberg's F. pauciflora.
14. Meliea Harfordii, Boland. in Proc. Calif. Acad., iv, 102; Thurber in S.Wats,
Bot. Calif., ii, 305.
Hab. — California : Canons, Santa Cruz Coast, Bolander, and Redwood on the Upper Mattole River, No. 6424 : Sierra, alt. 4000 ft., Bolander, Kel- logg & Co., 1872 ; G. R. Vasey, 1875 (these specimens show well the tufted habit of the species) ; J. G. Lemmon. Oregon : Waldo, Howell, June, 1884 ; L. F. Henderson, 1883. Washington Territory : Willamette Slough, Howell, May, 1882 ; Dry rocky hillsides, Columbia River, Klickitat Co., W. N. Suksdorf, 1882.
" This grass I collected in June, 1864, in a gulch near the summit of Santa Cruz Mts. It grows in large tufts 3-6 ft. high, the spikelets breaking asunder, even in what appear to be }-oung specimens, at the slightest touch. Panicle contracted, erect,
48 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
slightly drooping at the apex, caused by the club-shaped heavy top, often 9 in. long, with a few or even a single branch far below the main panicle. This spring I noticed the same grass near Ukiah." — Bolander in Herb. A. Gray.
In Bolander's specimens the spikelets are about 5 lin long, and less than a line in width ; the second empty glume is scarcely 3 lin. long, and the slender awn of the flowering glume is about a line in length. In the Oregon specimens the spikelets are 8 lin. long and nearly 2 lin. in width, with the second glume nearly 5 lin. long.
15. Melica aristata, Thurb. in Bolander's Revision of the Melicfc, Proc. Calif. Acad., iv, 103, and in S. Wats. Bot. Calif., ii, p. 305.
Hab. — California: Yosemite Valley, Bolander, No. 4861, 1866 (sheaths and leaves densely pilose); Bolander, Kellogg & Co., 1872 (culms stout, 3 ft. high, panicle a foot long, purplish) ; Emigrant Gap, M. E. Jones, 1882 ; Mt. Shaster, alt. 6000 ft.; C. G. Pringle, August, 1881 (culms slender, smooth, sheaths and leaves scabious, panicle simple, few-flowered, dark purple). Washington Territory: W. N. Suksdorf, 1883 (panicle few-flowered, green. )
EXPLANATION OF PLATE I.
Spikelet of Melica imperfecta.
Same with the outer glumes removed, showing the nearly sessile
rudimentary floret, r. Spikelet of M. Torreyana. Same with outer glumes removed. Spikelet of M. fugax. Spikelet of M. California. Spikelet of M. bulbosa, from the typical plant. Anterior view of floret of same, showing palea. Terminal empty glume and rudiment of same. Spikelet of M. bulbosa, the florets raised above the empty glumes ;
unusually large, from the Idaho specimens. Spikelet of Melica spectabile. Terminal empty glume and rudiment of same. Anterior view of flowering glume of same, flattened to show
veins, etc. Seed of M. bulbosa from Howell's specimens. Spikelet of Melica frutescens. Floret of same. Spikelet of Melica Porteri.
Dorsal view of flowering glume, flattened out above. Spikelet of Melica subulata. A floret from the spikelet of Melica bromoides.
All enlarged on the same scale, excepting fig. 14.
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1885.] natural sciences of philadelphia. 49
March 17.
Mr. George W. Tryon, Jr., in the chair.
Twenty-four persons present.
The following papers were presented for publication : —
" Entomologia Hongkongensis. — Report on the Lepidoptera of Hongkong," by F. Warrington Eastlake.
" Description of a supposed new species of the genus Cyano- corax," by Alan F. Gentry.
The death of Titian R. Peale, a member, was announced.
March 24. The President, Dr. Leidy, in the chair. Twenty-six persons present.
Remarks on Mylodon. — Prof. Leidy remarked that among the fossils of Mastodon, Equus, etc., from the salt mines of New Iberia, La., noticed in the Proceedings of 1884, p. 22, there are three teeth, which are probably to be referred to the reputed Mylodon Harlani. Of this species we are sufficiently well acquainted with the posterior three lower molars, but know little of the first lower molar, and nothing of the upper teeth. One of the Louisiana specimens accords in form and size with the third lower molar, in the best preserved jaw-fragment (see Extinct Sloth Tribe, pi. xiv, 1, 2), from Big-bone-lick, Ken., regarded as characteristic of Mylodon Harlani. The other Louisiana specimens, in comparison with the complete dental series in both jaws of Mylodon robustus, as represented in the famous memoir of Prof. Owen, are so unlike any of the teeth of this animal, that they might readily be considered as pertaining to another genus. One of the specimens, of which the tritu- rating extremity and a transverse section are represented in the outline figures 1; 2, he took to be a first lower molar. It has lost all its cementum, but is otherwise well preserved. It is worn off in deep slopes, of which the posterior is more than an inch long, and the anterior little less than an inch. The transverse section is reniform, widest in front, and agrees in shape and size with a fragment of the corresponding tooth (pp. cit., pi. xvi, 19 a) retained in the jaw-fragment from Kentucky. In all the teeth of Mylodon robustus, the triturating surface inclines comparatively little from a level. Such also is the case in all the teeth of the ramus of a lower jaw, from Natchez, Miss., attributed to a half-
50
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF
[1885.
grown animal of Mylodon Harlani, preserved in our museum. In this, among some rude casts in plaster, the originals of which
were described by Dr. Harlan, under the name of Orycterotherium mis- souriense (Am. Jour. Sci., 1843, G9), and subse- quently7 referred to Mylo- don Harlani, is one of a lower-jaw fragment, which contains the first molar, and the mutilated base of the second. The latter, in the perfect state, would appear to accord in shape and size with the corresponding tooth l. in the Kentucky jaw-
fragment, referred to 3Iylodon Harlani. The first molar is unlike that of Mylodon robustus, but sufficiently accords in size,
shape, and condi- tion of wear, with the Louisiana tooth to regard this as pertaining to the same animal. The remaining Louisi- ana specimen is not only unlike any of the teeth of Mylodon ?'obustus, but differs from them to such a degree as to render it doubtful whether it belongs to the same genus. In comparison with other teeth of the lower or upper
series, in size and shape, it accords with the canine molars of Megalonyx more than it does with any of the teeth of Mylodon. The triturating extrem- ity and transverse section are repre- sented in the outlines 3 and 4. It is more uniformly elliptical in transverse section than in the canine molars of Megalonyx, and is devoid of the abrupt median bulge
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 51
inwardly of the latter. Regarding it as a first upper molar, it is twice the breadth of the corresponding tooth of Mylodon robustus, not only absolutely, but also proportion- ately in comparison with all the other teeth, except the last one of the lower series. The triturating extremity is worn away obliquely and concavely behind for about two-thirds the breadth of the tooth, and obliquely in front the remaining third of the breadth, but the slopes extend only half the depth observed in the accompanying specimen of the first lower molar. In view of the dentition of Mylodon robustus, it seems improbable that this tooth should belong to an animal of the same genus, nor would it appear to be adapted as an opponent to the comparatively narrow, long-pointed tooth which accompanies it. Nevertheless, he was suspicious that both these teeth may pertain to the Mylodon Harlani, partly from the fact that the lower-jaw fragment, originally referred to Orycterotherium missouriense, and then to the latter, contains a first molar like the Louisiana specimen, and partly from the fact that the jaw-fragment was accompanied by an isolated molar tooth nearly resembling the supposed upper first molar from Louisiana. A plaster cast of the tooth referred to Orycterotherium, of which the triturating extremity and transverse section are represented in the outlines 5 and 6, though rather smaller, is sufficiently like the corres- ponding Louisiana tooth to render it probable this belonged to the same animal. Admitting that the two Louisiana specimens may not belong to the reputed Mylodon Earlani, he felt that the coincidence of facts is such as not to justify a conclusion to refer them to a new genus, and if further discovery should demon- strate that they really pertain to this animal, it becomes a question whether the difference of the teeth from those of Mylodon robustus is not sufficient to restore the name of Orycterotherium, missouriense.
Fig. 1. Outer view of the first lower molar; Louisiana speci- men ; length, 85 mm. Fig. 2. Transverse section ; the front above, the outer side to the right ; fore and aft, 24 mm. ; short diameter, IT mm. Fig. 3. Outer view of the first upper molar, Louisiana specimen ; length, 83 mm. Fig. 4. Transverse sec- tion ; fore and aft, 34 mm.; short diameter, 19 mm. Fig. 5. Outer view of cast referred to Orycterotherium ; length, 67 mm. Fig. 6. Transverse section; fore and aft, 29 mm. ; short diameter, 17 mm.
The following were ordered to be printed : —
52 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
A REVIEW OF THE AMERICAN GENERA AND SPECIES OF BATRACHID.E. BY SETH E. MEEK AND EDWARD A. HALL.
In the present paper we have attempted to collect the synonymy of all the genera and species of Batrachida1 known from American waters.
The specimens examined by us all belong to the Museum of the Indiana University.
Analysis of Genera of Balrachidse. a. Dorsal spines two ; opercle very small, its posterior part developed as a single strong spine ; subopercle feebly developed, narrowed and not ending in a spine ; body scaleless. b. Spines of dorsal fin and operculum hollow and connected with venom glands ; lateral line on sides of body single ; no canine teeth. Thalassophryne. 1.
bb. Spines solid, without venom glands ; several lateral lines on sides of head and body, composed of pores and shining spots, some of these accompanied by cirri ; canine teeth present; vertebrae 12 + 31 ; frontal region depressed, forming a triangular area below level of tem- poral region, its median ridge very low. Porichthys. 2. aa. Dorsal spines three ; opercle developed as two strong diverging spines ; subopercle rather strong, with two spines similar to those of opercle. c. Body scaleless ; branches of subopercular spine parallel, the lower branch much the shorter ; vertebra? 10 + 22 ; frontal region not depressed, its median ridge promi- nent. Batraciius. 3. cc. Body scaly ; branches of subopercular spine subequal and diverging ; frontal region broad, flat and slightly depressed, its median ridge rather prominent.
Batrachoides. 4.
1. THALASSOPHRYNE. Thalassophryne Giinther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., iii, 1801, 174 (maculosa). In this genus only five species are recognized. These have been well described by Dr. Giinther and Dr. Steindachner. They are noted for the development of poison glands in connection with their spinous armature.
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 53
Analysis of Species of Thalassophryne. Common Characters. — Dorsal spines two ; opercle very small, its posterior part developed as a single strong spine ; subopercle feebly developed, narrowed and not ending in a spine; no scales on body. Spines hollow and connected with venom glands. Lateral line on sides of body single ; no canine teeth. America.
a. Dorsal and anal fins joined to the caudal ; teeth on premaxil- laries smaller than on lower jaw ; eye very small ; lower jaw the longer. D. 11-20 ; A. 18 or 19. b. Anterior teeth on jaws in two rows.
c. Pectoral fins short, their tips reaching just to front of anal ;
head as wide as long ; opercular spine about \ length of
head ; caudal ^ length of head. Color chocolate-brown;
no distinct dark bands on head ; body, except belly and
under side of head covered with numerous small, dark,
round spots ; anal clear brownish gray, edged with
dark brown ; no dark bands on sides of body. (Stein-
dachner.) Punctata. 1.
cc. Pectoral fins longer, reaching past third or fourth anal
ray ; head 1^ times as long as wide ; opercular spine
about ^ length of head ; caudal § of length of head ;
mouth very oblique. Color brownish, marbled with
darker ; two distinct bands on head ; dorsal and anal
with brown spots arranged in distinct rows ; six dark
bands on sides of body, the first at spinous dorsal, the
others along the base of soft dorsal. {Steindachner.)
Amazonica. 2. bb. Anterior teeth on lower jaw forming a band ; mouth mod- erately oblique ; head less than 3 in length of body ; interorbital width 5^ to 5^ in length of head. Color more or less clear reddish brown ; belly brownish yellow ; base of fins reddish brown or whitish, the upper part of the fins deep dark brown, the two colors separated by a distinctly marked whitish streak. (Steindachner.) Nattereri. 3. aa. Dorsal and anal fins not joined to the caudal.
d. Dorsal and anal fins rather short (D. 11-19; A, 18); pectoral fins short, their tips reaching to origin of anal. Color brown, marbled with darker ; pectoral fins and sides of body with some round black spots ; chin and ventrals brownish ; belly white. (G'unther.)
Maculosa. 4.
54 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
dd. Dorsal and anal fins longer (D. 11-24 ; A, 24) ; pec- toral fins longer, their tips reaching to sixth anal ray. Color of head, body, and fins brown, with a network of }rellowish lines ; dorsal, anal, caudal and pectoral fins with white margins. {Gunther.)
Reticulata. 5.
1. Thalassophryne punctata.
Thalassophryne punctata Steindachner, Ichthyol. Beitrilge, v, 1876, 121 (Bahia ; Porto Segro.)
Habitat. — Coast of Brazil.
This species is known to us only from Steindachner's descrip- tion.
2. Thalassophryne amazonica.
Thalassophryne amazonica Steindachner, Ichthyol. Beitriige, v, 1876, 113 (Amazon River).
Habitat. — South America, Amazon Basin, in fresh water. This species is known to us only from the description of Stein- dachner.
3. Thalassophryne nattereri.
Thalassophryne nattereri Steindachner, Ichthyol. Beitriige, v, 1876, 115 (Para).
Habitat. — Amazon Basin ; Para.
This species is known to us only from the description of Stein- dachner.
4. Thalassophryne maculosa.
'.' ? Batrachus (jronovii Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xii,
1837, 482 (America). ? ? Callionymus niqui Gronow, Cat. Fish., Ed. Gray, 1854, 45. Thalassophryne maculosa Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., 1861, 175
(Puerto Cabello) ; Gunther, Fishes of Central America, 1869, 436,
pi. 68, fig. 1 (Puerto Cabello).
Habitat. — Eastern Coast of Central America ; Puerto Cabello.
This species is known to us only from the description of Dr. Gunther.
Batrachus gronovii of Cuvier & Valenciennes = Gallionymus niqui Gronow, perhaps, belongs to some species of this genus ; but of this there can be no certainty, the descriptions are too imperfect.
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 55
5. Thaiassophryne reticulata.
Thalassopliryne reticulata Giinther, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1864, 150 155 (Panama); Giinther, Fish. Central America, 1869, 437, pi. 68, fig. 2 (Panama); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 626 (Panama).
Habitat. — Western Coast of Central America ; Panama. This species is known to us only from the accounts of Dr. Giinther and Professors Jordan and Gilbert.
2. PORICHTHYS. Porichthys Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1854, 141 (notatus =
margaritatus).
This genus is remarkable for the development of its mucous pores, or " lateral lines." The number of vertebrae in Porichthys is much greater than in Batrachus, and the skull is somewhat different.
Analysis of Species of Porichthys.
Common Characters. — Dorsal spines two ; opercle very small, its posterior part developed as a strong, single spine ; suboper- culum feebly developed, narrowed and not ending in a spine ; no scales on body; spines solid, without venom glands ; several lateral lines on sides of head and body, composed of pores and shining spots, some of these accompanied by cirri ; canine teeth present; vertebras 12 + 31; frontal region depressed, forming a triangular area below level of temporal region, its median ridge very low. Branchiostegals 6 ; interorbital area short, wide, and with shallow grooves. Air bladder more or less deeply divided into lateral parts. Pyloric appendages none.
a. Abdomen with two longitudinal series of pores, none of them
accompanied by shining bodies ; vomer with one canine tooth
on each side. Color above brown, sides and belly silvery;
dorsal fin with four oblique dark bands ; posterior half of the
caudal blackish, or with blackish spots; anal with two
blackish spots posteriorly. Head 4f in total length.
D. 11-34 ; A. 33. Porosus. 6.
aa. Abdomen with four longitudinal series of pores ; each of
which is accompanied by a shining silvery body ; four rows
of pores on sides of body. Color dark brownish above,
below with brassy reflections ; dorsal and anal with dark
margins, a dark blotch below eye. Head 3| in length. D.
11-37 ; A. 33.
56 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
b. Teeth on palatines numerous, subequal, none of them much enlarged ; two canine teeth on each side on vomer, the inner ones usually about \ length of outer ones.
Margaritatus. 'I.
bb. Teeth on palatines unequal, few ; one to three on each side enlarged and canine-like ; one canine tooth on each side on vomer. Porosissimus. 8.
6. Porichthys porosus.
Batrachus porosus Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xii, 1837, 506 (Valparaiso); Gay, "Hist. Chili Zool., ii, 1844-54, 296 (Chili)."
Porichthys porosus Gi'mther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., iii, 1861, 177 (Chili); Jordan, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1884, 41.
Habitat. — Western Coast of South America, Chili. We have not seen this species ; we only know it from the accounts above cited.
7. Porichthys margaritatus. Midshipman ; Singing-fish ; Cabezon ; Sapo.
Batrachus margaritatus Richardson, " Voyage Sulphur, Fishes, 1844- 45, 67 (Pacific Coast of Central America)."
Porichthys margaritatus Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 368 (Cape San Lucas ; no description); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 626 (Central America ; no description); Jordan & Gilbert, Syn. Fish. N. A., 1883, 958 ; Jordan, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1883, 291 (Panama; Vancouver's Island); Jordan, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1884, 41.
PoricJithys notatus Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1854, 141 ; Girard, U. S. Pacific R. R. Survey, 1859, 134 (San Francisco); Goode, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1879, 32 (Pacific Coast).
Porichthys porosissimus Giinther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., iii, 1861, 176 (in part; Vancouver Island); Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1862, 280 (California); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1880, 25 (San Diego; no description); Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1880, 83 (West Coast ; San Diego ; Santa Barbara ; Monterey ; no description); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1880, 454 (Puget Sound ; San Francisco ; Monterey Bay ; San Luis Obispo ; Santa Barbara ; San Pedro ; San Diego ; no description) ; Rosa Smith, Ichth. San Diego, 1880 (San Diego) ; Jordan & Jouy, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1881, 5 (Santa Barbara ; Monterey ; San Francisco ; Puget Sound ; no de- scription); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1881, 65 (West Coast U. 8.; no description); Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1881, 268 (Puget Sound); Jordan «fc Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1881, 274 (Gulf of California ; no description); Jordan & Gilbert, Syn. Fish. N. A., 1883, 751; (not Batrachus porosissimus Cuvier & Valenciennes).
Habitat. — Western Coast of North America, from British Co- lumbia to Panama.
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 51
This species has been confounded with porosissimus, but the absence of canine teeth on palatines (a constant character in all known specimens), warrants its separation. Professor Jordan has also examined the specimens in the British Museum. Those in that collection from the Atlantic have canine teeth on the pala- tines, the character assigned to P. plectrodon, while these are wanting in the examples from the Pacific.
A letter from Dr. H. E. Sauvage to Professor Jordan, states that the t}rpe of Batrachus porosissimus Cuv. and Val. " has a strong canine tooth on each side of the vomer ; on the palatines are seen at first a strong, then some small teeth, and finally a strong curved tooth."
The application of the name po?*osissimus to the present form is thus shown to be improper.
8. Porichthys porosissimus.
Batrachus porosissimus Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xii, 1837, 501 (Surinam ; Cayenne ; Rio Janeiro ; St. Catherine); Jenyns, "Zool. Beagle, 1842, 99."
Porichtliys porosissimus Giinther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., iii, 1861, 176 (Brazil); Jordan, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1881, 41 ; Jordan & Gilbert, Syn. Fish. N. A., 1882, 751 ; Jordan, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1883 (South America).
Porichthys plectrodon Jordan, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 291 (Gal- veston); Goode & Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 236 (Gulf of Mexico; no description); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 307 (Gulf of Mexico ; no description); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 616 (Charleston; no description); Jordan & Gilbert, Syn. Fish. N. A., 1883, 958 ; Bean, Cat. Fish. Exhibited, London Exhibit, 1883, 47.
Habitat — Atlantic Coast of North and South America, from Charleston to Rio Janeiro.
We have nothing to add to the very detailed description of this species, given by Jordan and Gilbert under the name of Porichthys plectrodon. The single specimen examined by us is from Pensacola.
3. BATRACHUS.
Batrachus Bloch & Schneider, Systema Ichthyol., 1801, 42 {didactylus,
tau, etc.).
In this genus we recognize one American species, with two varieties ; all found in the Atlantic. 5
58 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
Analysis of Species of Batrachus. Common Characters. — Dorsal spines three ; opercle developed as two strong, diverging, subequal spines ; subopercle rather well developed ; branches of subopercular spine parallel, the lower branch much the shorter. No scales on body. Yertebra 10 + 22 ; frontal region not depressed, its median ridge prominent. Inter- orbital long and narrow with a deep groove. Branchiostegals 6. Teeth conical and blunt ; lateral teeth on jaws and palatines in single rows. A large foramen in axil of pectoral fin (in North American species). Head about 2f in length of body ; width of head from 3 to 4 in length of body. D. 111-24 to 28; A. 19 to 22. a. Two indistinct rows of pores on sides of body.
b. A fleshy tentacle between nostrils ; color brownish or dusky
greenish, mottled with darker and lighter, the dark on
sides of body in large irregular blotches extending from
base of dorsal to about § distance to base of anal, and
more or less covered with small pale spots ; belly and
chin plain white or yellowish. In specimens from shallow
water or algae, the brown becomes nearly black and more
extended, the belly and chin spotted with darker, and top
of the head has no distinct markings ; in specimens from
deeper water or from coral sand, the coloration is more
brownish or 3^ellowish. Soft dorsal with six to nine
oblique light bands ; anal with five to nine. Caudal and
pectoral fins with five to seven light cross-bands, these
formed chiefly from light spots ; ventrals with some dark
markings. Tau. 9.
bb. No fleshy tentacle between nostrils ; color whitish or gray,
everywhere blotched or spotted with brownish yellow and
black, the black spots on top of head smaller and more
numerous than on rest of body ; a large black blotch at
base of spinous dorsal, running up on fin ; three black
blotches along base of soft dorsal, which do not extend
half the distance to base of anal. Pectoral with black
spots which do not form cross-bands. Ventrals with
more dark markings than in tau. Dorsal, anal and caudal
marked nearly as in tau. Tau pardus. 9 b.
aa. Two very prominent rows of pores on sides of body ; teeth
more numerous than in Batrachus tau. Cirri above eyes
very large (Cuv. and Val.). Tau cryptocentrus. 9 c.
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 59
9 a. Batrachus tau. Toad-fish : Sapo.
Gadus tau Linnaeus, Systema Naturae, ed. xii, 1766, 439 (Carolina) ; Scboepf, Beobacht. viii, 1788, 141 (New York) ; Walbaum, Genera Pise., 1792, 135 (Eastern America).
Batrachus tau Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xii, 1837, 478 (New York) ; De Kay, New York Fauna, Fish, 1842, 168, pi. 28, f. 26 (New York) ; Storer, Syn. Fish. N. A., 1846, 132 ; Giinther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., iii, 1861, 167 (New York ; New Orleans) ; Gill, Cat. Fish. East Coast N. A., 1861 (name only) ; Poey, Syn, Pise. Cuba, 1868, 390 (Cuba) ; Gill, -Report U. S. Fish Comm., 1871-72, 798 (New Jersey ; Florida ; Cuba ; no description) ; Baird, Report U. S. Fish Comm., 1871-72, 824 (Wood's Holl) ; Poey, Enumeratio Pise. Cubensium, 1875, 136 (Cuba) ; Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1878, 372 (Beaufort, N. C. ; no description) ; Goode, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1879, 110 (Mouth of the St. John's River, Fla. ; no description) ; Goode & Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1879, 127 (Pensacola) ; Goode & Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1879, 334 (Pensacola ; Beasley's Point, N. J. ; Norfolk, Va. ; Punta Russa, Fla. ; Wood's Holl, Mass. ; Indianola, Tex.) ; Goode, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., xiv, 1879, 32 (Wood's Holl ; no description) ; Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1880, 83 (Wood's Holl, Mass. ; Noank, Conn.) ; Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 291 (Pensacola, Fla.) ; Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 616 (South Carolina ; no description) ; Jordan & Gilbert, Syn. Fish. N. A., 1882, 750 ; Bean, Cat. Fish. Ex. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1883, 47; Jordan, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1884, 143 (Key West; no description).
Lophius bufo Mitchill, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc, New York, 1815, 463 (New York).
Batrachoides vernullasLe Sueur, "Mem. Mus., v, 1819, 157, pi. 17."
Batrachoides variegatus Le Sueur, Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., iii, 1823, 399 and 401 (Egg Harbor, New Jersey).
Batrachus variegatus Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xii, 1837, 484 (copied) ; Storer, Fish. Mass., 1839, 74 (Holmes' Hole) ; Storer, Syn. Fish. N. A., 1846, 133 (New York) ; Gill, Cat. Fish. East Coast N. A., 1861, 43 (Name only).
Batrachus celatus De Kay, New York Fauna, Fish, 1842, 170, pi. 50, f. 161 (New York) ; Storer, Syn. Fish. N. A., 1846, 133 ; Gill, Cat. Fish. East Coast N. A., 1861, 43 (Name only).
Habitat. — Atlantic Coast of North America, from Cape Cod to Cuba.
We have examined numerous specimens (from 3 to 9f inches in length) of this species from Key West, Florida. We find among these apparently the varieties A and B of Dr. Giinther, and also intermediate grades.
60 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
In the young specimens the head is more narrow and rounded, and the lower branch of the subopercular spine proportionally larger than in the adult.
The deeper-water specimens are lighter in coloration than those from near the surface, and those from the coral reefs are paler than those from the green algae and sea-wrack, otherwise no dif- ferences seem to exist.
9 b. Batrachus tau pardus.
Batrachus tau var. pardus Goode & Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1879, 336 (Pensacola, Fla.); Jordan & Gilbert, Syn. Fish. N. A., 1883, 751.
Batrachus pardus Goode & Bean, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 336' (Gulf of Mexico); Bean, Cat. Fish. London Exhibit., 1883, 47 (Pensa- cola, Fla.); Jordan, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1884, 45 (Egmont Key).
Habitat. — Gulf of Mexico ; Egmont Key ; Pensacola.
The coloration of ^tardus is very different from that of tau. In the specimen (13| inches in length, from Pensacola) which we have examined, the fleshy tentacle between nostrils is wanting, while in all the specimens of B. tau this is present.
The former seems to be a deep-water variety or subspecies of the latter. The few specimens of pardus known are from con- siderable depths. The texture of the flesh and the skin is less firm than in tau.
9 c. Batrachus tau cryptocentrus.
Batrachus cryptocentrus Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., 1837, 485 (Bahia).
Habitat — Eastern Coast of South America (Bahia).
This form is known only from the meagre description of Cuvier and Valenciennes. We venture to place it among the varieties of tau, as no diagnostic character of importance appears in the description.
4. BATRACHOIDES.
Batrachoidcs Lacepede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., iii, 1798, 306 (Batrachoidcs tau Lacopede = Batrachus surinamcnsis Bloch).
This genus is closely allied to Batrachus, but it seems to be sufficiently distinguished by the scaly body. Two species are found in American waters.
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 01
Analysis of Species of Batrachoides.
Common Characters. — Dorsal spines three ; opercle developed as two strong diverging spines ; subopercle strongly developed ; branches of subopercular spine subequal and diverging ; body covered with small ctenoid scales ; frontal region broad, flat, and slightly depressed, its median ridge rather prominent.
a. Teeth small, abont 14 on vomer; anterior teeth on lower jaw
in a band ; lateral teeth on palatines enlarged and canine-like,
irregularly arranged ; pectoral without pores on its inner
surface. Color grayish, darker on sides and head ; base of soft
dorsal pale, with a dark irregular line above ; upper part of
fin lighter ; caudal nearly black ; anal fin light, with some
dark markings. Head 3£ in length of body ; depth 6. D.
Ill— 29 ; A. 26. Surinamensis. 10.
aa. Teeth larger, about 8 on vomer ; anterior teeth on lower jaw
in two rows ; lateral teeth on lower jaw gradually increasing
to middle of jaw, behind which they become abruptly
smaller, and then gradually increase to end of jaw ; three
teeth on middle of palatines enlarged and canine-like, the
middle one the smallest ; pectoral with a row of pores on
inner surface. Color olivaceous brown ; some indistinct
dark cross-bands on body ; dorsal with about seven very
irregular oblique dark bars, anal with about five; pectorals
and caudal dark, with few light cross-bands. Head 3 in
length of body. D. 111-26 ; A. 22. Pacifici. 11.
10. Batrachoides surinamensis.
Batrachoides tau Lacepede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., iii, 1798, 30G, pi. 12, fig. 1 (not Gadus tau L.)
Batrachus surinamensis ~B\oc\i & Schneider, Systemalchthyol., 1801, 43, tab. 7 (Surinam); Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xii, 1837, 488 (Surinam); Giinther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., iii, 1861, 174 (Dema- rara ; British Guiana ; West Coast Central America).
Habitat. — Atlantic Coast of Tropical America; a specimen recorded by Dr. Giinther from the Pacific Coast.
The single specimen of this species examined by us is from Curuca. The record given by Dr. Giinther of this species from the Pacific Coast needs verification. It was not found at Panama by Professor Gilbert.
C2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
11. Batrachoides pacifici
BatracJius pacifici Giinther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., iii, 1861, 173
(Panama); Giinther, Fishes Central Amer., 1869, 435 (Panama). Batrachoides pacifici Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1863, 170 (West
Coast of Central America); Jordan & Gilbert, Bull. U. S. Fish.
Com., 1882, 3 (Panama; no description); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc.
U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 626 (Panama ; no description).
Habitat. — West Coast of Tropical America ; Panama.
The single specimen of this species examined by us is from Panama, at which place the species was found to be abundant by Professor Gilbert.
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 63
A REVIEW OF THE SPECIES OF THE GENUS PIMEPHALES. BY WILLIS S. BLATCHLEY.
I have examined numerous specimens of Pimephales and Hyborhynchus from various parts of the United States, with a view to discrimination of the species.
The genus Hyborhynchus is evidently unworthy of retention, and the entire group is, in my opinion, composed of but two species, Pimephales promelas and Pimephales notatus.
I give the synonymy of each and an analytical key giving the principal characters by which they may be separated.
The specimens examined belong to the Museum of the Indiana University.
a. Body comparatively short and deep, the greatest depth about
4 times in length of body ; head short, convex, almost as
broad as long in the adult, its length 4 in body ; mouth
slightly oblique ; lateral line of various lengths, sometimes
wanting on twenty or more scales ; sometimes complete
(variety confertus) ; origin of dorsal midway between
pupil and base of caudal ; ventrals reaching to or beyond
first ray of anal ; head, dorsal and pectoral fins of breeding
males jet black, the snout with a few moderate-sized
tubercles ; scales 8-47-6. Promelas. 1.
aa. Body elongate, rather slender, the greatest depth about 4f
times in length of body ; head comparatively long, its
length 4i in body, its surface much depressed above and
descending abruptly in front of nostrils ; mouth horizontal;
lateral line complete ; origin of dorsal midway between
snout and base of caudal ; ventrals not reaching vent ;
males in spring with 16 large nuptial tubercles, often
accompanied by a small protuberance of skin, resembling
a barbel, at angle of mouth ; scales 6-44-4. Notatus. 2.
1. Pimephales promelas Raf.
Pimephales promelas Rafinesque, Ichth. Oh., 1820, 53 (Lexington, Ky.); Kirtland, Rept. Zool. Ohio, 1838, 194; Kirtland, Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist., iii, J838, 475 ; Storer, Synopsis, 1846, 418 ; Agassiz, Amer. Jour. Sci. Arts, 1855, 220 ; Putnam, Bull. M. C. Z., 1863, 8 ; Giinther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., vii, 1868, 181 ; Jordan, Ind. Geol. Surv., 1874, 224; Jordan, Bull. Buff. Soc. Nat. Hist., 1876, 94;
64 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
Jordan, Man. Vert.. 1st cd., 1876, 275 ; 2d ed., 1878, 288 ; 3d ed., 1880, 288 ; Nelson, Bull. 111. Lab. Nat. Hist., i, 1876, 45 (Bailey's Creek, 111., Evanston, 111.) ; Jordan & Copeland, Check List Fresh Water Fish. N. A., 1876, 146; Jordan, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., ix, 1877, 32 ; Jordan, Annals N. Y. Acad. Sci., 1877, No. 4, 107 (Wis- consin R., Pecatonica R., Ohio R., Kentucky R.); Jordan, Bull. 111. Lab. Nat. Hist., ii, 1878, 55 (Bailey's Cr.; Rock R,, 111.); Jordan & Brayton, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., xii, 1878, 78 (Tributaries Cumber- land R.); Jordan, Bull. Hayden's Geol. Surv., iv, 1878, 402, 419 and 783 (Rio Grande); Jordan, Rept. Geol. Surv. Ohio, iv, 1882, 839; Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis Fish. N. A., 1883, 158 ; Bean, Cat. Fish. Internat. Fish Exhibition, London, 1883, 95 (Lake Beaver, Peters- burgh).
Pimephales maculosus Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1856, 180 (Arkansas R.); Girard, Pac. R. R. Surv., x, 1858, 234 (Arkansas R.).
Pimephales fasciatus Girard. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1850, 180 (Yellowstone R.; MilkR.); Girard, Pac. R. R. Surv., x, 1858, 234 (Yellowstone R.; MilkR.).
Ilyhorhynchus confertus Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1850, 179 (Pecos R.); Girard, Pac. R. R. Surv., x, 1858, 233 (Pecos R.); Jor- dan & Gilbert, Synopsis Fish. N. A., 1883, 159.
/ '/ u rgyrus meletnocephalus Abbott, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1860, 325 (Lake Whittelsey, Minn.).
Phn ephales milesii Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1864, 282 (Detroit R.); Gi'mther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., vii, 1868, 181 (copied) ; Nelson, Bull. 111. Lab. Nat. Hist,, i, 1876, 45 ; Jordan, Man. Vert,, 1st ed., 1876, 276.
Pimephales agassizii Cope, Cyp. Penn., 1866, 394 (Whitewater R., Ind.); Jordan, Ind. Geol. Surv., 1874, 224.
Ilyhorhynchus nigellus Cope, Zool. Wheeler's Expl. W. 100th Mer., v, 671 (Arkansas R., Pueblo, Col.).
Pimephales nigellus Jordan, Bull. Hayden's Geol. Surv., iv, 1878, 664 Rio Grande R.).
Habitat. — Lake Champlain to the Upper Missouri, south to Tennessee and the Rio Grande. The species H. confertus Girard, is, in my opinion, not a distinct species, but only the western form of promelas, having the lateral line better developed.
2. Pimephales notatus.
Minnilus notatus Rafinesque, Ichth. Oh., 1820, 47 (OhioR.).
Hyborhynchus notatus Agassiz, Amer. Jour. Sci. Arts, 185."), 222 (Frankfort, Ky. ; Scioto R. ; Quincy, 111.; Burlington, Iowa; Lebanon, Tenn.; Natchez, ^Miss. ; Beardstown and La Salle, 111.; Rome, N. Y.; L. Huron, L. Champlain); Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1804, 282; Cope, Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1808, 235; Giinther, Cat.
188.0.] NATURAL SCIENCES OP PHILADELPHIA. 6S
Fish. Brit. Mus., vii, 18G8, 182 (Montreal; Kanawha R.); Cope, Cyp. Penn., 186G, 392 ; Jordan, Ind. Geol. Snrv., 1874, 224 (L. Michi- gan, Ohio R.); Nelson, Bull. 111. Lah. Nat. Hist., i, 1876, 45 ; Jordan, Man. Yert., 1st ed., 1876, 275 ; 2d ed., 1878, 288 ; 3d ed., 1880, 288 ; Jordan, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1877, 45 (Lakes, Laporte Co., Ind.; St. Joseph's R., Kankakee R., Tippecanoe R., Lower Wabash R., White R,, Ind.); Jordan, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., ix, 1877, 27; Jordan, Annals N. Y. Lye. Nat. Hist., xi, 1877, 373 (Rock Castle R., Ky.); Jordan, Annals N. Y. Acad. Sci., i, 1877, No. 4, 107 (L. Michigan, Fox R., Rock R., Wisconsin R., White R., Ohio R., Salt R., Rock Castle R.); Jordan, Bull. 111. Lab. Nat. Hist., ii, 1878, 55 (Mackinaw Cr., Woodford Co.; McLean Co.; Rock R. at Oregon; Little Wabash, Effingham Co.; 111. R., Peoria; Crystal Lake, Mc- Henry Co., 111.); Forbes, Bull. 111. Lab. Nat. Hist., ii, 1878, 79 (Food of Hyborhynchus notatus)] Jordan & Brayton, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., xii, 1878, 63 and 78 (Chickamauga R., Cumberland R.); Hay, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., hi, 1880, 502 (Corinth, Miss.; Catawba Cr., Miss.; Noxubee R.); Hay, Bull. U. S. Fish Com., ii, 1882, 67 (Miss. R., Yicksburg ; Big Black R., Yalabusha R, Tombigbee R., Chicka- sawha R.); Jordan, Rep. Geol. Surv. Ohio, 1882, iv, 840 ; Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis Fish. N. A., 1883, 159 ; Bean, Cat. Fish. Internat. Fish Exhibition, London, 1883, 95 (Yellow Cr., Ohio); Jordan & Swain, Proc IT. S. Nat. Mus., 1883, 248 (Cumberland R., Ky.). Pimephales notatus Gilbeit, Proc.U. S. Nat. Mus., 1884, 200 (Salt Cr.,
Brown Co., Ind.).
Hyborhynchus perspicuus Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1856, 179
(Arkansan R.); Girard, Pac. R. R. Surv., x, 1858, 231 (Arkansas R.).
Hybognathus perspicuus Giinther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., vii, 1868, 185.
Hyborhynchus tenellus Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1856, 179
( Arkansas R.); Girard, Pac. R. R. Surv., x, 1858, 231 (Arkansas R.).
? Hyborhynchus puniceus Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1856, 179
(Canadian R. ); Girard, Pac. R. R. Surv., x, 1858, 232 (Canadian R.).
Hyborhynchus superciliosus Cope, Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1868,
234 (Kanawha R.); Jordan, Man. Yert., 1st. ed., 1876, 276 ; 2d ed.,
1878,-289 ; 3d ed., 1880, 289 ; Jordan, Bull. IT. S. Nat. Mus., ix, 1877,
27; Jordan, Bull. 111. Lab. Nat. Hist., ii, 1878, 56 (Cache R. and
Clear Cr.. Union Co.; Rock R., Ogle Co., 111.); Jordan & Gilbert,
Synopsis Fish. N. A., 1883, 160 ; Jordan & Swain, Proc. IT. S. Nat.
Mus., 1883, 248 (Cumberland R.).
Habitat. — St. Lawrence River to Delaware ; Ohio Yalley and Great Lake Regions, southward to Tennessee and Mississippi. Very abundant
The nominal species, H. superciliosus Cope, is, as has already been noted by Jordan and Swain, but a spring form of the breed- ing male of notatus.
66 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP [1885.
A EEVIEW OF THE AMERICAN ELEOTRIDIN.E. BY CARL H. EIGENMAN AND MORTON W. FORDICE.
We have attempted to give in this paper the synonymy of the genera and species of Eleotridinae found in the waters of America, with analytical keys by which they may be distin- guished. All the specimens examined belong to the Museum of the Indiana University, most of them having been collected by Professor Jordan.
All the species are referred by Dr. Gunther to a single genus, Eleotris. This group, however, seems to us rather of the nature of a subfamily. An examination of the skeletons of some of the species shows important differences, which we must regard as having generic value.
We place the American species in six genera, which may be characterized as follows : —
Analysis of Genera of Eleotridinae. Common Characters. — Ventral fins separate, each with one spine and five soft rays ; dorsal spines six or seven. a. Vomer with a broad patch of villiform teeth ; isthmus very narrow; gill-openings extending forward below to posterior angle of mouth ; teeth villiform, the outer scarcely enlarged ; vertebra?, 12 + 13 (dormitator) ; skull above with conspicuous elevated ridges, one of these bounding orbit above ; the orbital ridges connected posteriorly above by a strong cross-ridge ; a sharp longitudinal ridge on each side of the occipital, the two nearly parallel, the post-temporals being attached to their posterior ends. Insertions of post- temporals widely separated, the distance between them greater than the rather narrow interorbital width ; the post- temporal bones little divergent ; top of head depressed, both before and behind the cross-ridge between eyes ; a flattish triangular area between this and the little elevated supraoccipital region ; preopercle without spines ; lower pharyngeals with slender depressible teeth, and without lamelliform appendages ; scales of moderate size, ctenoid.
Gobiomorus. 1. da. Vomer without teeth ; isthmus broad ; gill-openings scarcely extending forward below to posterior angle of preopercle ; skull without crests.
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 67
b. Body and head entirely scaly.
c. Lower pharyngeal teeth setaceous, the bones with an outer series of broad flexible lamelliform appendages or teeth ; body short and elevated, cyprinodontiform ; teeth slender, those in the outer row scarce^ larger, and movable; top ot head without raised crests, flattish, its surface uneven; post-temporal bones rather strongly diverging, the distance between their insertions about half the broad flattish interorbital space ; no spine on preopercle or branchiostegals ; scales large, ctenoid. Species herbivorous. Dormitator. 2.
cc. Lower pharyngeals normal, subtriangular, the teeth stiff, villiform, none of them lamelliform ; scales of mod- erate or small size ; body oblong or elongate. d. Body moderately robust, the depth 4-5^ times in the length to base of caudal ; cranium without distinct median keel ; a small supraoccipital crest. e. Post-temporal bones little divergent, not inserted close together, the distance between their insertions greater than the moderate interorbital space, or 3f in length of head ; top of skull little gibbous ; interorbital region sqmewhat concave or chan- neled ; lower pharyngeals narrower than in Eleotris; preopercle without spine ; scales very small, ctenoid, about 100 in a longitudinal series. Vertebrae, 11 + 13 ; teeth moderate, the outer series enlarged.
Guavina. 3. ee. Post-temporal bones very strongly divergent, their insertions close together, the distance between them about § the narrow interorbital space, and less than | the length of the head ; top of skull somewhat elevated and declivous ; interorbital area slightly convex transversely ; lower pharyn- geals rather broad, the teeth bluntish ; preopercle with partly concealed spine directed downward and forward at its angle ; scales moderate, ctenoid, 45 to 60 in a longitudinal series. Vertebrae (pisonis) 11 + 15 ; teeth small.1 Eleotris. 4.
1 These characters of the skeleton are taken from Eleotris pisonis, and have not been verified on other species.
68 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
dd. Body very slender, elongate, the depth about ^ the length to base of caudal ; post-temporal bones short, strongly divergent, the distance between their inser- tions about equal to the narrow interorbital space, or about ^ length of head ; top of head with a strong median keel, which is highest on the occipital region ; no supraoccipital crest ; preopercle without spine ; mouth very oblique ; the teeth small ; scales very small, cycloid. Erotelis. 5.
bb. Body naked on the anterior part ; head naked ; lower jaw with four larger recurved teeth. Gymneleotris. 6.
1. GOBIOMORUS.
Gobiomorus Lacepede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., ii, 599, 1798 (dormitor, etc.). PMlypnus Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xii, 255, 1837
(dormitator). Lembus Giinther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., i, 505, 1859 (maculatus). Oobiomorus Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus , 1882, 571 (restricted
to dormitator) .
This genus is well characterized by the presence of vomerine teeth, and b}^ the narrowness of the isthmus. Equally good char- acters may be taken from the cranium, which is provided with elevated, longitudinal and transverse ridges, which are not found in any other of our genera of this t3rpe. The species reach a larger size than those of our other genera.
The reasons for preferring the name Gobiomorus to PMlypnus have been given in detail by Jordan and Gilbert (loc. cit.).
Analysis of Species of Gobiomorus.
Common Characters. — Body elongate ; the head somewhat depressed ; body compressed behind. Scales ctenoid ; 55 to 66 in a longitudinal series. Dorsal with "7 spines and 9 or 10 rays ; anal rays I, 9 or 10; lower jaw considerably projecting; teeth in jaw rather small, slender, recurved, the outer scarcely enlarged ; teeth on vomer villiform,in a broad crescent-shaped patch ; gill-openings extending forward to below posterior angle of mouth, the isthmus being very narrow. No preopercular spine ; insertion of post- li-mporals almost midway between occipital crest and edge of skull ; parietals with a crest running from insertion of post- temporal forward to just behind eye, where they are connected
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 69
by a thin, high, transverse crest ; supraocular with a short high crest, extending from above front of eye back to posterior edge of orbit, thence extending outward parallel with the transverse crest, leaving a deep groove between them ; bony projections before and behind e}^e prominent. Vert. 12+13 (dormitator)', lower pharyngeals triangular, with slender teeth.
a. Scales large, 55 in a longitudinal series ; 28 scales on median line between occiput and front of spinous dorsal. Body robust ; depth 4 in length ; head 2f. D. VI-1, 9 ; A. 1-10 ; crests on skull very high. Lateralis. 1.
aa. Scales moderate, 57 to 66 in longitudinal series ; head 3 to 3^ in length ; depth 5 to 6. b. Scales in median line from occiput to front of spinous dorsal 26 ; head 3^ in length ; transverse frontal crest not con- tinuous. D. VI-1, 9 ; A. I— 10 ; 57 to 60 scales in a longi- tudinal series. Maculatus. 2. bb. Scales on median line from occiput to spinous dorsal 35 ; transverse frontal crest continuous, c. Scales medium, 57 to 60 in a longitudinal series; head 3£ in length; depth 5^. D. VI-1, 9; A. 1-9; crests on skull moderate. Dormitator. 3. cc. Scales smaller, 66 in a longitudinal series ; depth 6 in length ; head 3. D. VI-1, 10. Longiceps. 4.
1. Gcbiomorus lateralis.
Philypnus lateralis Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1860, 123 (Cape San Lucas); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1881, 232 (West Coast Mexico); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 368 (Cape San Lucas); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 372 (Colima); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 377 (Panama); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 380 (San Jose).
Eleotris lateralis Giinther, iii, 122, 1861 (Cape San Lucas).
Habitat. — Pacific Coast of America, from San Jose to Panama.
This species represents on the Pacific Coast the G. dormitator of the Atlantic. It is readily distinguished by its shorter body, larger scales, and by the greater development of its cranial crests.
70 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
2. Gobiomorus maculatus.
4 Lembus maculatus Giinther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., i, 505, 1859 (Andes of Ecuador); Giinther, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1860, 236 (Ecuador, Esmeraldas). Meotris lembus Giinther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., iii, 121, 1861 (Ecuador).
Habitat. — Streams of Ecuador.
This species is known to us only from the descriptions of Dr. Giinther.
3. Gobiomorus dormitator.
Guavina Parra, Descr. Dif. Piezas Hist. Nat. Cuba, tab. 39, fig. i, 1787 (Havana ; fide Poey).
Gobiomorus dormitor Lacepede, nist. Nat. Poiss., ii, 599, 1798 (from a drawing by Plumier).
Gobiomorus dormitator Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 572 (name only).
Platycephalus dormitator Bloch, Syst. Ichth., Plate xii, 1790 (Mar- tinique); Bloch & Schneider, Syst. Ichth., 60, 1801.
Meotris dormitatrix Cuvier, Regne Animal, ed. ii, 1829 (Antilles); Oken, Naturgeschichte, vi, 173, 1836; Giinther, iii, 119, 1861 (Bar- badoes, Jamaica, Mexico).
Philypnus dormitator Cuvier & Valenciennes, xii, 255, 1837 (Porto Rico, San Domingo, Martinique); Poey, Mem. de Cuba, ii, 381, 1856 (Cuba); Girard, U. S. and Mexican Boundary Survey, 27, plate xii, fig. 13, 1859 (Rio Grande); Poey, Syn. Pise. Cub., 395, 1868 (Cuba); Poey, Enum. Pise. Cub., 128, 1875 (Mexico, Rio Grande, San Domingo, Martinique, Jamaica); Goode & Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 236 (name only); Jordan & Gilbert, Syn. Fish. N. A., 631, 1882.
Batrachus guavina Bloch & Schneider, Syst. Ichth., 44, 1801 (based on Guavina of Parra).
Habitat. — Rio Grande to Martinique, in fresh waters.
This species is generally common in the streams of the West Indies and Eastern Mexico. We follow later writers in changing the incorrectly spelled dormitor of Lacepede to dormitator. According to Poey, the type of Parra 's Guavina, still preserved in the Museum at Madrid, has teeth on the vomer, and is therefore a Gobiomorus, not a Guavina. The many specimens examined by us are from Havana.
4. Gobiomorus longioeps.
Eleotris longiceps Giinther, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1864, 151 ; Giinther, Fish. Central America, 1869, 440 (Nicaragua).
Habitat. — Lake Nicaragua.
This species is known to us only from Dr. Giinther's description.
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 71
2. DOBMITATOR.
Prochilus Cuvier, Regne Animal, ed. i, 1817 (mugiloides), (preoccupied). Dormitator Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1862, 240 (gundlachi =
maculatus).
This genus is not adopted by Dr. Gunther, but it seems to us well founded, its peculiarities in dentition being important. The name Prochilus at first given to this group is preoccupied by Prochilus of Illiger, a genus of mammalia, as well as by the prebinominal Prochilus of Klein, which belongs to the Poma- centridae.
The known species of this type are very closely related and should perhaps be regarded as geographical varieties of a single one.
Analysis of the Species of Dormitator.
Common Characters. — Body short, robust ; head broad and flat above ; mouth little oblique ; maxillary reaching to anterior margin of orbit ; lower jaw little projecting ; no teeth on vomer ; scales large, ctenoid, 30 to 33 in a longitudinal series ; skull much as in Eleotris, but everywhere broader. D. VII-1, 8 ; A. I, 9 or 10 ; no spine on preopercle ; post-temporals inserted midway between occipital crest and edge of skull ; supraoccipital crest low.
a. Scales large, becoming much smaller on belly ; 25 series on a median line from base of ventrals to vent; 18 series across breast from pectoral to pectoral ; 18 on a median line from posterior border of orbit to dorsal. Interspace between dorsals equal to orbit. Highest anal ray If in head ; highest dorsal ray 1^ in head. 33 scales in a longitudinal series.
Maculatus. 5. aa. Scales larger than in maculatus, not much smaller on belly ; 18 series on a median line from ventrals to vent; 13 series from pectoral to pectoral; 16 on a median line from pos- terior border of orbit to front of soft dorsal ; interspace between dorsals less than diameter of orbit. Highest anal ray 1| in head ; highest dorsal ray equals head. 31 scales in a longitudinal series. Latifrons. 6.
5. Dormitator maculatus.
Sciama maculata Bloch, "Ichth., tab. 299, f. 2," 1790 (West Indies);
Bloch & Schneider, Syst. Ichth., 80, 1801 (copied). Eleotris maculatus Gunther, iii, 112, 1861 (West Indies ; Trinidad ;. Demerara); Gunther, Fish. Cent. Am., 440, 1869 (Anamahal).
*72 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
Dormitator macidatus Goodc & Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 236
(Gulf of Mexico). Eleotris mugiloides Cuvier & Valenciennes, xii, 226, 1837 (Martinique ;
Surinam). Eleotris somnolentus Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1858, 169
(Rio Grande) ; Girard, U. S. and Mex. Bound. Survey, 28, pi. 12, f.
1-3, 1859 (Rio Grande); Giinther, iii. 557, 1861 (Cordova). Dormitator somnolenta Poey, "Repert., ii, 168," 1868; Poey, Enum.
Pise. Cuben., 128, 1875 (Cuba). Eleotris omocyaneus Poey, Memorias, ii, 269, 1860 (Havana). Dormitator omocyaneus, Poey, Syn. Pise. Cuben., 296, 1868 (Cuba);
Poey, Enumer. Pise. Cuba, 128, 1875 (Cuba). Eleotris gundlacfri Yoey, Mem., ii, 272, 1860 (Cuba). Dormitator gundlacM Poey, Syn. Pise. Cuben., 396, 1868 (Cuba);
Poey, Enum. Pise. Cub., 128, 1875 (Cuba). Dormitator lineatus Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1863, 271
(Savannah).
Habitat. — East Coast of America; South Carolina, Texas, Louisiana, south to Surinam ; chiefly in fresh water.
As Cuvier and Valenciennes have identified the type of Bloch's Scieena maculata with their Eleotris mugiloides, we adopt the latter name for this species. We are unable to distinguish the somnolentus of Girard from maculatus, and the omocyaneus of Poey is certainly the same. Gill's lineatus is also, doubtless, a young example of the same type.
We find nothing (unless it be the greater height of the fins) in the description of Eleotris gundlachi Poey, by which it can be distinguished from Dormitator maculatus. Poey 's type was about 8 inches in length, and its large size ma}' account for the slight differences indicated.
The single specimen studied by us is from the West Indies. 6. Do'mitator latifrons.
Eleotris latifrons Richards, "Voy. Sulph. Fishes, 57, pi. 35, f. 4-5,"
1837 (Pacific Coast Central America). Eleotris maculata Giinther, iii, 112, 1861 (Guayaquil), (not Scia'na
maculata of Bloch). Dormitator sp., Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1880, 83 (Colima). Dormitator maculatus Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1881, 232 (Salina Cruz); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S.Nat. Mus., 1882, 368 (Cape San Lucas); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 372 (Colima); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 377 (Panama); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 380 (Cape San Lucas); Jordan & Gilbert, Bull. U. S. Fish. Com., 1882, 108 (Mazatlan); Jordan & Gilbert, Syn. Fish. N. A., 1883, 632 (Mazatlan).
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 73
Dormitator microphthalmus Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1863, 170 (Panama).
Habitat. — Pacific Coast of Central America, from Cape San Lucas southward to Panama.
This species is abundant on the Pacific slope of Mexico and Central America. It differs from D. maculatus in few respects, and should, perhaps, be regarded as a variety of the latter. They have, however, not yet been shown to intergrade.
3. GUAVINA.
Guavina Bleeker, Esquissed'unSyst. Nat. Gobioid.,302, 187 4 {guavina).
This genus is externally distinguished from Eleotris only by the absence of preopercular spine, and by the smaller size of the scales. The skulls in the two genera are, however, strikingly different, and we think that the two groups should be regarded as generically distinct. We know only one species of this genus.
Analysis of Species of Guavina.
a. Body stoutish, oblong; mouth oblique; maxillary reaching opposite middle of eye, its length about 3^ in head. Lower jaw little projecting. Teeth in broad bands, the outer ones enlarged. Scales on head imbedded ; those on body very small, ctenoid on sides, cycloid on back and belly, 100 to 110 in a longitudinal series. Isthmus very broad. Pectorals reaching to middle of spinous dorsal. Highest anal ray If in head. Head 3| in length to base of caudal ; depth 4£ to 5£. D. VI, I, 10 ; A. I, 9 or 10. Post- temporals inserted twice as far from occipital crest as in Eleotris pisonis. Parietals ending in a sharp point behind. Preopercular spine none ; a broad thin extension on the lower limb of preopercle taking its place. Lower pharyngeals triangular, normal, rather narrow ; the teeth small. Vomer without teeth. Guavina. 7.
7. Guavina guavina.
Eleotris guavina Cuvier & Valenciennes, xii, 223, 1837 (Martinique) ; Giinther, iii, 124, 1861 (Demarara) ; Poey, "Kepert. i, 337, 1867 ;" Poey, Syn. Fish. Cuba, 395, 1868 (Cuba) ; Poey, Enum. Pise. Cuba, 127, 1875 (Cuba).
Habitat — East Coast of tropical America, West Indies, south to Surinam, in fresh waters.
6
74 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
This species is abundant in the streams of Cuba. The num- erous specimens examined by us were obtained by Prof. Jordan in the Rio Almendares, near Havana. In life this species may be readily distinguished from Eleotris pisonis, which abounds in the same waters, by the bright cherry -colored edgings to its ventrals and anal.
4. ELEOTRIS.
Eleotris "Gronow, Mus. Iehthyol., 16," 1757 (Non-binominal).
Eleotris Bloch & Schneider, Syst. Ichtli., 65, 1801 {pisonis).
Eleotris Cuvier & Valenciennes, xii, 216, pi. 356, 1837 (gyrinus).
Culius Bleeker, Esquisse d'un Syst. Nat. des Gobioides, 303, 1874 (fuscus).
As Eleotris pisonis possesses the preopercular spine assumed to characterize the genus Culius, we place the latter name in its synonymy. In large specimens of Eleotris pisonis, this spine is somewhat concealed by the flesh, but it may always be found by dissection. The four following species resemble each other very closely, and probably agree in the structure of the skeleton, but in this regard we have been able to examine only Eleotris pisoyiis.
Analysis of Species of Eleotris.
a. Body comparatively robust ; head broad, depressed ; body compressed; mouth oblique, lower jaw little projecting; maxillary reaching to below eye ; scales ctenoid, 46 to 61 in longitudinal series. Dorsal rays, VI— I, 8 ; anal rays, I, 7 or 8. Vomer without teeth. Gill-openings extending forward below to angle of preopercle ; isthmus broad. Preopercle with a spine projecting downward and forward at its angle. Post-temporals slender, widely diverging, inserted very near the scarcely evident occipital crest. Skull highest in the middle, very broad and short ; bony projections in front of and behind eye prominent. Verte- brae about 10 + 14 (pisonis). Lower pharyngeals subtri- angular, rather broad, with comparatively coarse teeth. b. Scales large, about 48 in longitudinal series ; depth 4.) in length to base of caudal ; head 3£. D. VI, 9 ; A. 1,8; teeth rather small, those of the inner series in each jaw largest. Amblyopsis. 8.
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELriHA. 15
66. Scales moderate, about 60 in lateral series. D. "VT-I, 8; A.
I, 7 or 8.
c. Body comparatively robust ; depth 4 to 5 in length ; teeth
in jaws all small, subequal. Pisonis. 9.
cc. Body comparatively slender ; depth 6 in length ; head 3^.
d. Teeth in jaws all small, subequal. JEquidens. 10.
dd. Teeth in jaws unequal, some of those in the outer row
enlarged. Belizana. 11.
8. Eleotris amblyopsis.
Culius amblyopsis Cope, Proc. Am. Phil. Soc, 1870, 473 (Surinam); Goode & Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 236 (Gulf of Mexico); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 610 (Charleston); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 619 (Pensacola); Jor- dan & Gilbert, Syn. Fish. N. A., 1882, 944.
Habitat. — Atlantic coast of America, from Charleston to Suri- nam.
Only three specimens of this species are yet known. It is well distinguished from its congeners by its larger scales.
9. Eleotris pisonis.
Eleotris capite plagioplateo, etc. "Gronow, Mus. Ichth., ii, n. 168," 1757.
Gobius pisonis Gmelin, Syst. Nat. 1206, 1788 (based on Eleotris of Gronow).
Eleotris pisonis Bloch & Schneider, Syst. Ichth., 68, 1801 (based on Eleotris of Gronow).
6 obius pisonis Turton, Syst. Nat., 751, 1807 (South America).
Gobius amorea Walbaum, Artedi Piscium, iii, 205, 1792 (based on Eleotris of Gronow).
Eleotris gyrinus Cuvier & Valenciennes, xii, 220, 1837, PI. 356 (Mar- tinique, San Domingo, Surinam); Girard, U. S. and Mexican Boun- dary Survey, 28, PI. xii, figs. 11-12, 1859 (Rio Grande); Giinther, Catalogue Fish, in Brit. Mus., iii, 122, 1861 ; Poey, "Repert., i, 336," 1867; Poey, Syn. Pise. Cubens., 395, 1868 (Cuba); Poey, Enumer. Pise. Cub., 127, 1875 (Cuba); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 571 (name only); Jordan & Gilbert, Syn. Fish. N. A., 631, 1883.
Eleotris picta Kner & Steindachner, Abhandl. bayer. Ak. Wiss., 1864, 18, PI. 3, fig. 1 (Rio Bayano, near Panama).
Culius per nig er Cope, Proc. Am. Phil. Soc, 1870, 473 (St. Martins).
Habitat — Both coasts of Central America, north to Cuba and Texas, chiefly in fresh waters.
76 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
The Gobius pisonis of Gmelin and its synonym, Gobius amorea of Walbaum, arc based on the Eleotris of Gronow. This is un- doubtedly identical either with Eleotris gyrinus or Guavina gua- vina. To us there is little doubt that the former species was the one intended, as the phrase " P. D. prior declinata 6 radiata ; secunda equalis, priori vicina " applies well to the Eleotris gyri- nus and not at all to the Guavina guavina, in which species the second dorsal is much larger than the first. We therefore adopt the name Eleotris pisonis instead of Eleotris gyrinus.
We have examined numerous specimens of this species from the Rio Almendares, near Havana. All these possess the antrorse preopercular spine supposed to distinguish the genus Culius from Eleotris. In the larger ones it is partly hidden by the encroach- ment of the skin and from this has arisen the erroneous suppo- sition (of Giinther and others) that this species is one in which the spine is wanting.
A comparison of the figure and description of Eleotris picta, given by Kner and Steindachner, shows no constant point of difference whatever. We therefore regard picta as a synonym of pisonis.
The Culius perniger of Cope is evidently identical with pisonis, Professor Cope being the first describer of the species who did not overlook the preopercular spine.
10. Eleotris aequidens.
Eleotris sp., Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1880, 83 (name only).
Culius cequidens Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. IT. S. Nat. Mus., 1881, 461 (Mazatlan); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 372 (Colima); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 380 (Cape San Lucas, San Jose); Jordan & Gilbert, Bull. U. S. Fish Com., 1882, 108 (Mazatlan).
Habitat. — Streams about the Gulf of California, south to Colima.
This species is known to us from the original description by Jordan and Gilbert ; it is said to be abundant in the streams of Sinaloa and Lower California.
11. Eleotris belizana.
Culius belizanus Sauvage, "Bull. Soc. Philom. Paris, 1879, 16 (reprint)" (Belize); Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1881, 462 (foot-note).
Habitat. — Belize.
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 77
This species is known to us only from a foot-note by Jordan and Gilbert, referring to the description by M. Sauvage. It is said to differ from E. sequidens, by having the teeth of the outer row enlarged.
5. EROTELIS.
Ereotelis Poey, Memorias de Cuba, ii, 273, 1861 (valenciennesi = smaragdus") .
This genus differs from the others in having the scales small, cj^cloid, the body long, slender, and the tail lanceolate. In form this genus differs strikingly from Eleotris, its nearest ally. It presents a strong analogy to Gobionellus, differing from Eleotris much as the latter does from Gobius.
But one species seems to be known.
Unlike the other Eleotridinse, this is strictly marine, inhabiting the coarse algse on the coral reefs.
Analysis of Species of Erotelis.
a. Body long, slender; depth about ^ the length to base of caudal; head broad, depressed; mouth large, very oblique, the lower jaw projecting. Maxillary reaching to below centre of eye, its length, 2^ in head. Vomer without teeth ; teeth on jaws small, equal. Scales small, cycloid, about 100 in a longitudinal series, largest on caudal peduncle. Caudal fin lanceolate ; caudal peduncle slender, 3 in length of body. D. VI- 1, 9; A. 1-9. Gill-openings extending forward to below centre of opercle. Post-temporals diverging, inserted near occipital crest, which is obsolete. Skull uneven and rather thick. Preopercular spine absent. Vertebrae 10+15. Pectorals reaching past middle of first dorsal. Dorsal and anal high ; highest anal ray 1^ in head. Smaragdus. 12.
12. Erotelis smaragdus.
Eleotris smaragdus Cuvier & Valenciennes, xii, 231, 1837 (Cuba);
Guichenot, "Poiss. in Ramon de la Sagra, Hist. Cuba, 130," 1855 ;
Giinther, Cat. iii, 123, 1861 (Cuba); Jordan, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus.,
1884, 141 (Key West). Erotelis valenciennesi Poey, Mem. de Cuba, ii, 173, 1861 (Cuba); Poey,
Syn. Pise. Cub., 396, 1868 (Cuba); Poey, Enum. Pise. Cub., 127,
1875 (Cuba).
78 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP [1885.
Habitat. — Florida Keys to Cuba ; strictly marine, not ascending rivers.
This species is rather abundant on the coast of Cuba. A single specimen was obtained by Professor Jordan at Key West. It reaches a length of about a foot. It is confounded by Cuban fishermen with the Esmeralda (Gobionellus), although it lacks the emerald-colored prominences on the tongue. From this con- fusion the not appropriate name of smaragdus has come to be given to this species. This Poey has proposed to change to Valenciennesi ; but this change the law of priority forbids.
6. GYMNELEOTRIS.
Gymneleotris Bleeker, Esquisse d'un Syst. Nat. des Gobioides, 304, 1874
(seminuda).
The distinguishing mark of this genus seems to be the absence of scales on the head and anterior part of the trunk. Nothing is known either of the genus or of its single species, except what is contained in Giinther's description of the latter.
Analysis of the Species of Gymneleotris.
a. Head and trunk naked ; tail covered with small scales ; head f of total length ; maxillary extending >to below anterior margin of orbit. Teeth in upper jaw in a narrow band ; the lower has four somewhat larger and recurved teeth in front ; palate toothless. Fin-rays not prolonged. Pectorals not quite extending to origin of second dorsal. Ventrals much shorter than pectoral. D. VII, 11 ; A. 9.
Seminuda. 13.
13. Gymneleotris seminuda.
Eleotris seminuda, Giinther, Proc. Zoological Soc, London, 18C4, 24, "Plate iv, f. 2, 2 a" (Pacific Coast of "Panama) ; Giinther, Fish. Central America, 441, 1869. Gymneleotris seminuda Bleeker, Esquisse d'un Systema Nat. Gobi- oides, 304, 1874.
This species is known from the description by Dr. Giinther of a small specimen in the British Museum.
1885.1 natural sciences op philadelphia. 79
List of Nominal Species of Eleotridin^;, arranged in Chrono- logical Order, with Identifications.
(Tenable Specific Names are in Italics.)
Nominal Species. Date. Identification.
Gobius pisonis Gmelin, 1788, Eleotris pisonis.
Sciama macnlata Bloch, 1790, Dormitator maculatus.
Gobius amorea Walbauni, 1792, Eleotris pisonis.
Gobiomorus dormitor Lacepede, 1798, Gobiomorus dormitator. Platycephalus dormitator Blocb & Schneider, 1801, " "
Batrachus guavina Bloch & Schneider, 1801, "
Eleotris mugiloides Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1837, Dormitator maculatus.
Eleotris guavina Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1837, Guavina guavina.
Eleotris gyrinus Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1837, Eleotris pisonis. Eleotris smaragdus Cuvier &, Valenciennes, 1837, Erotelis smaragdus.
Eleotris latifrons Richardson, 1837, Dormitator latifrons.
Eleotris somnolentus Girard, 1858, Dormitator maculatus.
Lembus maculatus Gunther, 1859, Gobiomorus maculatus.
Philypnus lateralis, Gill, 1860, Gobiomorus lateralis.
Eleotris omocyaneus Poey, 1860, Dormitator maculatus.
Eleotris gundlachi Poey, 1860, " "
Erotelis valenciennesi Poey, 1861, Erotelis smaragdus.
Dormitator lineatus Gill, 1863, Dormitator maculatus.
Dormitator microphthalmus Gill, 1863, Dormitator latifrons.
Eleotris longiccps Gunther, 1864, Gobiomorus longiceps.
Eleotris seminuda Gunther, 1864, Gymneleotris seminuda.
Eleotris picta, Kner & Steindachner, 1864, Eleotris pisonis.
Culius amblyopsis Cope, 1870, Eleotris amblyopsis.
Culius perniger, Cope, 1870, Eleotris pisonis.
Culius belizanus Sauvage, 1879, Eleotris belizana.
Culius cequidens Jordan & Gilbert, 1881, Eleotris sequidens.
Recapitulation. In this review we have admitted 13 species and 6 genera of Eleotridinse as probably valid. We give here a list of the species. The general distribution of the species is indicated by the letters "W. (Western Atlantic, West Indies, etc.) ; U. (Coast of United States); P. (Eastern Pacific, Mazatlan, Panama, etc.); G. (Western slopes of South America).
Subfamily Eleotridinse.
Genus 1. GOBIOMORUS Lacepede.
1. Gobiomorus lateralis Gill (P.).
2. Gobiomorus maculatus Giinther (G.). (Species unknown to us.)
3. Gobiomorus dormitator Lacepede (W. U.).
4. Gobiomorus longiceps Giinther (W.).
80 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP [1885.
Genus 2. DORMITATOR Gill.
5. Dormitator maculatus Bloch (U. W.). (Possibly more than one species in our
synonymy.)
6. Dormitator latifrons Richardson (P.). (Possibly a variety of maculatus.)
Genus 3. GUAVINA Bleeker.
7. Guavina guavina Cuvier and Valenciennes (W.).
Genus 4. ELEOTRIS ( Gronow) Bloch & Schneider.
8. Eleotris amblyopsis Cope (U. \V.).
9. Eleotris pisonis Gmelin (W. P.). (Possibly two species contained in our
synonymy.)
10. Eleotris aequidens Jordan and Gilbert (P.).
11. Eleotris belizana Sauvage (W.). (Unknown to us.)
Genus 5. EROTELIS Poey.
12. Erotelis smaragdus Cuvier and Valenciennes (U.W.).
Genus 6. GYMNELEOTRIS Blocker.
13. Gymneleotris seminuda GUnther (P.). (Unknown to us )
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 81
ENTOMOLOGIA HONGKONGENSIS — REPORT ON THE LEPIDOPTERA OF HONGKONG.
BY F. WARRINGTON EASTLAKE.
The province of Kwangtung, to which the island of Hongkong properly belongs, has long been celebrated throughout the Chinese Empire for the beauty and great variety of the insects to be found within its borders. The soil is, in most parts, exceptionally rich, and teems with an ever-busy world of animal life. But, great as is the fecundity of the larger part of the province, there are, here and there, sand}7, arid wastes, which even the untiring labor of the native agriculturists fails to make yield more than the scan- tiest of crops. This is especially the case along the southeastern littoral. Here the formation is igneous and the rocks granitic, as a rule, with occasional intrusive traps and seams of trachytic porphyry. The island of Hongkong, in particular, consists mainly of hornblendic granite, of which silica, alumina, and various oxides of iron are the principal components. The rock is, at the same time, composed throughout of materials unusually susceptible to climatic influences, particularly to the action of heavy rains. The decomposed and disintegrated rock makes an admirably fertile soil, especially in the ravines, valleys, and low- lands ; the hills, however, being constantly exposed to all sorts of weather, are signally barren and verdureless. Tufts of " arrow- grass," long, trailing mosses, coarse ferns and hardy flowering- plants are sparsely scattered over the mountain-slopes; pines, firs, and a few other resinous trees cover the less-exposed portions, but the heavy rains annually sweep down quantities of this local vegetation into the sea. In such places insect life is rare. And yet the entomology of Hongkong, although so small an island, is unusually rich and worthy of attention. This is chiefly due to the fact that the island is connected with the famous Lo-fan Shan — a small range of mountains some fifteen miles north of the thriving market-town of Shek Lung (" Stone Dragon,") and about seventy miles east of Canton. Starting from the westernmost spur of this range, a limestone formation runs to the north and northwest. Here the flora is both beautiful and luxuriant ; flowering plants laden with tempting pollen cover the hillsides,
82 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
and insects find in the verdant groves a veritable paradise. The Lo-fan Mountains besides this, probably owing to their majestic scenery and rich flora, have for more than ten centuries enjoyed a reputation of great sanctity. In the deep caves and mountain forests of the Lo-fan, hermits, sages and priests have lived and taught their disciples from time immemorial ; while, in accordance with both Buddhistic and Taoistic precepts, all animals, birds, reptiles, insects, and even the delicious trout of the mountain- streams have been kept from harm and allowed to breed undis- turbed. Passing through the thickly populated districts of Pok-lo and Tong-kun, a low, undulating range of hills connects the Lo- fan with the mountainous country opposite Hongkong. And hence it comes that the entomology of the island is so extensive and varied.
Hongkong lies between 22° 9' and 22° 1' north latitude, and 114° 5' and 114° 18' east longitude ; the island is, therefore, just inside the tropics, but near enough to the boundary to enjoy fine, temperate weather from September to April. To a considerable extent, the insular fauna shows close relationship with the fauna of the tropics ; and yet there can be no doubt that some few of the tropical features are not characteristic of Hongkong. To this category belong notably Python 7'eticulatus, Gray, the rock python of India, and the venomous cobra, Naja tripudians, Merr.; very possibly, also Macrochlamys superlita, Morelet — a fine land snail. The Lepidoptera, however, are very distinctty related to the entomic fauna of the Himalayas, East India, and the Malayan Archipelago. During a stay of several years in Hongkong, the writer devoted much time and attention to the study of the insular fauna, and formed large collections of the lepidoptera and terrestrial mollusks. In the spring of 1883, the writer published a work on Hongkong, in which a short list of the diurnal Lepi- doptera was given. But this list was necessarily incomplete, as the writer had not enjoyed any opportunity of subjecting his collections to competent scientific inspection and classification. Since then, thanks to several important works which have appeared on the Insect Fauna of various parts of Asia, the writer has been enabled to compile the following list in a far more thorough manner. Outside of Donovan's " Insects of China " — which will be mentioned later on — no work has ever been published on the entomology of China, and, beyond a few chapters in the
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 83
journals of passing naturalists, the enumeration and description of the Hongkong insects have been entirely neglected. Despite this fact, a rich field there awaits the collector and the scientist, as the beetles, butterflies and moths are often of exceptional size and great beauty. An Attacus (male) in the writer's possession measures no less than eleven and one-half inches across the wings. Of beetles alone — according to Frauenfeld — Mr. John Bowring (son of Governor Bowring, of Hongkong), collected more than twelve hundred species, many of which were new to science.
In compiling the following list, the entomology of various other localities throughout the province of Kwangtung has been taken into special consideration. Notably that of the other islands in the Ladrones group of the Lo-fan Mountains — where some time was spent in collecting — and of Macao. In the latter port the writer passed several months, and succeeded in making valuable collections, thanks to the courtesy of Governor da Graca, who did everything in his power to facilitate the work. A complete catalogue and description of the collections then made have since been embodied in a work entitled " Fauna Macanensis," recently forwarded to the Portuguese Government. It is somewhat diffi- cult to keep the entomology of Hongkong entirely distinct from that of adjacent islands and mainland. As has already been stated, the hills opposite Hongkong practically introduce the insect fauna of the entire Kwangtung Province. At times, months or even years may pass before the reappearance of a certain species ; and then a favorable wind may waft it unexpectedly into the flower- gardens of Victoria, there, mayhap, to completely puzzle the brains of some ardent entomologist. In the following list, how- ever, all doubtful species have been so far as possible excluded, and only such admitted as have been identified by scientists of acknowledged ability.
Reference has been made to the following works : —
Donovan, A. The Insects of China, 2d ed., 1842 (Westwood). Frauenfeld. Die Novara Expedition, Sitzungsber. d. mathem.
naturw. CI. K. K. Acad. d. Wissensch., Wien, xxxv, 1859, 10. Butler, A. Lepidoptera Heterocera in the British Museum, Pts.
ii, iii, 1878. Elwes, H. J. Butterflies of Amurland, North China and Japan.
Proc. Zoolog. Soc. London, 1881.
84
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF
[1885.
Distant, W. L. Rhopalocera Malayana, Pts. i-v, London and
Penang, 1882. Pryer, H. A Catalogue of the Insects of Japan, Trans. Asiatic
Soc. of Japan, 1883.
Donovan's " Insects of China " is a mere primer on the vast subject included in its title, and very incorrect at that. Since his day, entomological nomenclature has undergone many changes, and even the classification of genera and species has not been left undisturbed. For the sake of completeness, however, it is per- haps advisable to append the meagre list of Lepidoptera, which Donovan notes as coming from Hongkong. It includes but fifteen butterflies and four moths : —
Papilio paris, Linn. Papilio agenor, Linn. Papilio agamemnon, Linn. Papilio epius, Jones. Papilio demetrius, Linn. Pieris hyparete, Linn. Pieris (Iphiaa) glaucippe, Linn. Pieris (Thestias) pyrene, Linn. Argynnis eurymanthus, Drury. Cynthia orithya, Linn. Cynthia cenone, Linn.
Cynthia almana, Linn. Limenitis leucothoe, Linn. Limenitis eurynome, Linn. Thecla mmcenas, Jones.
Sesia hylas, Linn. Glaucopis polymeria, Linn. Phalana attacus. Saturnia atlas, Linn. {Euaemialectrix, Linn., doubtful.)
In Mr. H. J. Elwes' list I find further one butterfly mentioned as coming from Southern China, which I have never met with in Hongkong. This is Thaumantis howgua, Westwood, named prob- ably after that rich Cantonese merchant so well known twenty or thirty years ago. Those marked with an asterisk (*) in the following list are contained in the writer's collection, but several others in this collection have still to be identified.
^Papilio xuthus. Linn, (xuthulus, Linn.).
This insect occasionally finds its way to Hongkong, but is tolerably numerous around Canton and further north, and abun- dant in Japan. The imago invariably appears under the xuthulus form in the spring. The female is dimorphic, it feeds on various kinds of Citrus, especially C. trifoliata.
*Papilio maackii, Mon. (Dehaani, Feld.).
Very frequent in the Lo-fan Mountains ; less so in Hongkong. Found also in North China and Japan.
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 85
*Papilio helenus, Linn.
Rare ; has been taken also in Shanghai and Nagasaki.
*Papilio pamnon, Linn.
This gorgeous butterfly is not uncommon about May, and con- tinues to visit the island from time to time until September.
*Papilio memnon, Linn.
This is one of the largest of the Hongkong Lepidoptera. The markings of the female are totally different from those of the male, which is altogether a smaller insect. Also Southern Japan.
♦Papilio sarpedon, Linn.
Quite common throughout the year. North China and Japan. 'Papilio demetrius, Cramer.
Occasionally seen in autumn. Common in Japan. *Papilio paris, Linn.
Abundant. A beautiful insect, always to be found near Hyliscus: rosa sinensis.
Papilio clytia, Linn. (var. dissimilis, Swainson). *Papilio panope, Linn.
Papilio polytes, Linn. *Papilio agenor, Linn. (var. alcanor, Cramer). *Papilio bianor, Cramer. *Pieris rapae, Linn, (crucivora, Butler).
One of the commonest butterflies ; found all the year round. In markings and size it is very variable. As a rule, it feeds on cultivated Cruciferse.
*Pieris napi, Linn, {megamera, Butler; melete, Men.), Pieris canidia, Sparrm.
*Tereias multiformis, H. Pryer {Hecabe, Linn.; mandarina, Del'Orza; kccabeoides, Men.; sinensis, Sue J Mariesi, Butler; anemone, Felder; connexiva, Butler; tesiopc, Mon. ; sari, Horsfield).
Thanks to the scientific investigation of Mr. H. Pryer, it is now demonstrated that this butterfly is found in nearly every country, and that the long list of varieties do not constitute special species, as most of them interbreed without difficulty. It is abundant throughout China and Japan.
86 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
Eurema blanda, Loisduval. *Delias pasithoe, Linn. *Delias hierte, Hiibner. *Lyoaena baetica, Linn. *Lycaena lysimon, Hiibner.
Both of these are common throughout the greater part of the year.
*Neptis aceris, Lep. (intermedia, Pryer).
Abundant, and very variable in size.
Vanessa charonia, Drury. ♦Vanessa callirhoe, Fabricius.
Quite common, but a very beautiful insect. Feeds on several Urticacese.
*Vanessa cardui, Linn.
This butterfly has a very wide spread, and comes early in spring and stays throughout the summer. It is quite as abuudant as the foregoing. •Argynnis niphe, Linn.
Not uncommon, but very local.
*Argynnis eurymanthus, Drury. *Melanitis leda, Linn. •Mycalesis gotama, Moore. *Mycalesis perseus, Fabricius.
Mycalesis perseus, var. vitala, Moore. -Mycalesis igoleta, Felder. "Mycalesis medus, Fabricius. -■■ Mycalesis mineus, Linn. -Ypthima baldus, Fabricius.
Ypthima asterope, Klug.
Ypthima philomela, Joh.
The first of these three is very abundant, but varies remarkably in size, markings and colorations. I am inclined to believe that the latter two are one and the same species.
Discophora celinde, Stoll.
Junonia lemonias, Linn. ' Junonia laomedia, Linn. *Junonia Wallacei.
Junonia hierta, Fabricius.
Junonia hierta, var. cebrene, Trim.
Junonia orithya, Linn. ■Junonia asterie, Linn.
Junonia almana, Linn. *Precis iphita.
s
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 8t
*Ergolis ariadne, Linn. *Athyma perius, Linn.
Athyma leucothoe, Linn.
Athyma sulpitia, Cram. 'Athyma kasa, Moore. *Euthalia puseda. *Lethe Europa, Fabrieius. *Danais genutia, Cramer. *Danais tytia, Gray.
This and the foregoing insects attain unusual dimensions in the warm climate of Hongkong. The latter is found also in Japan, but is invariably smaller in size.
*Danais limniace, Cramer.
Danais similis, Linn. *Danais plexippus, Linn. *Catopsilia philippina, Cramer.
Catopsilia pyranthe, Linn. *Hebomoia glaucippe, Linn.
Hebomoia erocale, Cramer.
Ixias pyrene, Linn. 'Miletus chinensis, Felder.
This pretty member of the Lycsenidse is said to be confined to Hongkong, but I have taken it in several places on the mainland.
*Euplcea superbus, Herbst. *Euploea midamus, Linn.
The latter is much more frequent than the former. It varies
remarkably in size ; more so, perhaps, than any other butterfly
haunting the gardens of Hongkong.
*Hesperia flava, Murray.
Common throughout China and Japan.
*Pamphila mathias, Fabr. Pamphila maro, Fabr. Plesioneura folus, Cramer. Hipparchia eumea, Drury.
I have, in the foregoing list, not made any attempt at correct classification. The field, so far as the province of Kwangtung, or indeed southern China, is concerned, is a virgin one. Much remains still to be done, as the greater part of those who collect, <or have collected, in Southern China, have neglected to give careful data as to the localities, seasons, etc. By far the most important part of the little work hitherto done is thus untrust- worthy or often downright misleading.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF
[1885.
The following list of moths includes merely the most important species ; from personal observation I believe that more than three hundred species can be identified as coming from Hongkong : —
Chcerocampa suffusa, Walker.
* Chcerocampa pallicosta, Walker.
* Acherontia medusa, Butler. Diludia discistriga, Walker. *Diludia increta, Walker. Northia ten iris, Butler.
* PMssama vacillans, Walker. Spilarctia subcarnea, Walker.
*La>lia sinensis, Walker. Pantana ampla, Walker. *Acontia bimacula, Walker.
(Acontia maculosa '.') *Boarmia repulsaria, Walker.
* OpJiiusa aretotcenia.
* Tropica artemis, Butler.
In conclusion, it is necessary to state that the list of butterflies is by no means exhaustive. There are some five or six doubtful species which the writer has thought best not to include; and, besides these, there are one or two others that may, very probably, turn out to be species novae.
1885.] natural sciences of philadelphia. 89
March 31.
Mr. George W. Tryon, Jr., in the chair.
Thirt3'-four persons present. The following was presented for publication : — " Remarks on Lanius robustus Baird, based on an examination of the type specimen," by Leonhard Stejneger. The following were ordered to be printed : —
90 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP [1885.
DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF THE GENUS CYANOCORAX. BY ALAN F. GENTRY. Cyanocorax Heilprini, n. sp.
Sp. Char. — Above light brown, with decided purplish shade. Front of head from a line directly back of eye, sides of head and neck, together with the throat, black ; frontal plumes bristly and recurved ; spot of purplish-blue at base of lower mandible. Crown, occiput and hind-neck lilac or light violet. Breast and abdomen brown, with deeper purplish reflections than on the rest of the body, and becoming lighter towards the vent. Tail concolorous with back above, brownish underneath, and broadly tipped with white ; under tail-coverts white. Tibiae ashy ; bill and legs black. Length, 14-25 ; wing, 6-75 ; tail, 6-31 ; tarsus, 2-75 ; bill, 1-50.
Habitat.' — Rio Negro. A single specimen, marked <$, and part of the T. B. Wilson Collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences.
Mr. R. B. Sharpe, in his Catalogue of the Birds of the British Museum, vol. iii, divides the genus into two sections, which are respectively characterized by the presence or absence of white tips to the tail-feathers. While properly coming under the first di vision by reason of the existence of tips, it differs very markedly from the species therein included, the breast and abdomen being purplish brown and dusky instead of white, and the blue or white spot above, as well as below the eye, being wanting. But in the close resemblance which obtains between the upper and lower surfaces of the body, there is a manifest relationship to the group with uniform tail-feathers.
The species is dedicated to my friend, Prof. Angelo Heilprin, of Philadelphia, in recognition of his services to science.
'885. J NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 01
BEMABKS ON LANIUS BOBUSTUS (Baird), BASED UPON AN EXAMINATION OF THE TYPE SPECIMEN.
BY LEONHARD STEJNEGER.
In April, 1843, there was referred to the Academy, for publica- tion, a paper by Dr. William Gambel, entitled " Descriptions of some New and Rare Birds of the Rocky Mountains and Cali- fornia," where he had been traveling at the instance of Mr. Nuttall. The Committee on Publication, of which Mr. Cassin was a member, recommended it, and consequently it was printed in the Proceedings of that year (vol. i, pp. 259-262).
We make at once the remark, that the Academy at that time had not received specimens, as will appear from the note on page 258. On the contrary, the transfer of Gambel's collection was not made before 1847 (of. Proc. Phila. Acad., iii, p. 346). During that very year several large collections were also received and arranged for exhibition by Cassin and Gambel, viz. : the Rivoli collection, Boucier's collection, Wilson's collection, Cassin's collection of West African birds, altogether nearly 18,500 specimens!
The history of the specimen of Lanius, which afterwards became the type of Cassin's elegans and Baird's robustus cannot (from the catalogues and records of the Academy, as I am kindly informed by Prof. A. Heilprin) be traced further back than 1857, when it was described by Cassin in the Proceedings as L. elegans.
It will be remarked, however, that Gambel already, in his paper mentioned above, enumerates L. elegans as a bird observed by him in California. But it is evident that he does not refer to any particular specimen, and that the birds referred to elegans were nothing but L. excubitorides. He says : " This species, of which but a single specimen is known to ornithologists [viz., the type
in the British Museum], I found abundant in California
in the adults the breast is pure white ; in the young blended with dark brown, like our common species, except the throat and vent, which are white." In his later, more elaborate paper, published in the same year as his collection was turned over to the Academy, Gambel realizes the fact, and simply calls the species met by him L. ludovicianiis with which he identifies excubitorides (Proc.
92 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
Phila. Acad., iii, 1846-47, p. 200). Nor is mention made in this paper of any particular specimen.
In his special report upon the increase of the ornithological collection during 1847, Cassin, while mentioning the incorpora- tions of the collection made by Gambel in California, enumerates Lanius elegans as among the species " especially interesting," but no allusion to any specimen is made.
It is not before ten years later that we encounter a description and special notice referable to the specimen in question, when Cassin in his " Notes on the North American species of Archi- buteo and Lanius " (Proc. Phila. Acad., ix, 1857, ! p. 213), gives the characters of Lanius elegans Swainson, which evidently are taken from the bird now before me. Regarding the distribution of this species, he says : " This appears to be exclusively a western and northern species, the only specimens of which that we have ever seen are in the Museum of the Philadelphia Academy. Our specimen was brought from California by Dr. Gambel." It will be noted that he speaks of several specimens in the Academy's Museum.
Prof. Baird, in the "Birds of North America," page 327, simultaneously describes the same specimen under the heading of Golly rio excubitoroides. He refers to it as " Collected in California by Dr. Gambel," and remarks : " This bird has been referred to L. elegans of Swainson, but seems to differ in some appreciable points."
The specimen was figured on plate lxxv.
A more detailed description of the specimen is given by the same author in his " Review of American Birds," page 444 (1866), but he seems to have become doubtful as to the origin of the specimen, since the locality is given as " California?" and in the text he says that it is " labeled as having been collected in California by Dr. Gambel." Though " by no means satisfied that the bird is the true Lanius elegans of Swainson," the author introduces it under the heading Gollurio elegans. It may be remarked that no mention is made of other specimens.
Next we find the specimen mentioned in Cooper's " Ornith- ology of California," edited by Prof. Baird. On page 140 is
1 Published in 1858 ; the paper was recommended for publication at the meeting, Dec. 29, 1857, cf. p. 210.
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 93
given a woodcut representing the head and one of the secondaries. Of the locality is said : uHab. — Of original speci- men, uncertain, but somewhere in western North America."
In Dr. Coues' "Key" (1872), for the lirst time is seriously doubted the North American origin of the specimen. He says (page 125): "To this species [C. ludovicianus] I must also refer the G. elegans of Baird, considering that the single speci- men upon which it was based represents an individual peculiarity in the size of the bill. This specimen is supposed to be from California, but some of Dr. Gambel's, to which the same locality is assigned, were certainly procured elsewhere, and it may not be a North American bird at all."
The " History of North American Birds," by Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, contains little additional information, except that the bird here is made the type of the new name Collurio ludo- vicianus, var. robustus, since it had been shown by Sharpe and Dresser that the type of L. elegans Sw. was referable to some Old World species, erroneously said to have come from the " Fur-countries." The authors also assert that they " have no reason to discredit the alleged localitj' of the specimen."
Not being able to reconcile the statement of Prof. Baird, that the specimen in question " is very decidedly different from any of the recognized North American species," with the reduction of it to a variety under ludovicianus, I, in 1878, named the bird Lanius bairdi (Arch. Math. Naturv., iii, p. 330), a synonym which, together with many others, Dr. Gadow has seen fit to entirely ignore in the eighth volume of the " Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum " (1883).
Finally, we have to mention the position taken by Dr. Coues, who, in his " Birds of the Colorado Valley " (p. 546) " under the circumstances, declines to take further notice of the supposed species in the present work." "The circumstances" alluded to seem to be the doubt as to the correctness of the locality attributed to Gambel's specimen, as expressed already in his " Key." We are compelled, however, to take exception to a statement contained in the sentence commencing his account, though, as will be found later on, we agree with him as to the result. He says : "But Dr. Gambel, in 1843 (Proc. Phila. Acad., 1843, 261), described a shrike, supposed to be from ' California,' which he identified with Swainson's bird, and called L. elegans.1'' The fact is, however, that the species which Gambel, in 1843,
94 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
described I. c, not only was supposed to be, but also really was, from " California,'' being excubitorides, collected there by himself, and the statement should correctly read thus : " But Cassin and Baird, in 1858, described a shrike, supposed to be from ' California,' " etc.
The latest account of the bird is found in the eighth volume of the "Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum" (1883), p. 243, by Dr. Gadow, solely based on Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway 's work. The name is given as Lanius robustus, and the habitat, California, is not questioned.
This finishes the literary history of the specimen, which may be tabulated thus : —
1858. Lanius elegans Cassin, Pr. Phila. Acad., ix, 1857, p. 213 (nee Swains.,
1831). 1858. Collyrio excubitoroides Baird, B. North Am., p. 327 (part). 1858. Collyrio elegans Baird, B. North Am., pi. lxxv, fig. 1. 1866. Collurio elegans Baird, Rev. Am. B., p. 444 ; Baird and Cooper, Orn.
Califom., i, p. 140(1870).
1872. Collurio ludovicianus Cones, Key, p. 125.
1873. Collurio ludovicianus var. robustus Baird, Am. Natural., vii, 1873 (p.
608); B., Br. and Bidgw., Hist. N. Am. B., i, p. 420 (1874).
1878. Coues, B. Color. Vail., i. p. 545.
1878. Lanius bairdi Stejneger, Archiv Math. Naturv., iii, 1878, pp. 326,
330 ; Ld., ibid., iv, 1879, p. 263. 1880. Lanius ludonirianus robustus Ridgw., Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1880, p.
175 ; Ld., Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 21, p. 20 (1881). 1883. Lanius robustus Gadow, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., viii, p. 243.
We shall* now examine the specimen itself, which, by the courtesy of the authorities of the Academy, I have before me.
It is mounted and in a state of preservation which, though not very good, still makes it sufficient for all practical purposes. No label is attached to it, but on the underside of the stand is written in Cassin's handwriting : —
Dr. Gambel
Lanius elegans
Sw. Faun. Bor. Am.
I). \.6o
fig^" Observe larger bill J. C.
No number or reference to a catalogue is found anywhere, nor does the Academy seem to possess any special record of the specimen. The inscription is in ink, except the name, which is written with a lead-pencil.
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 95
It will be seen that the locality is not inscribed on the stand, and that now, at least, the specimen is not " labeled as having been collected in California."
The U. S. National Museum possesses a very rich collection of North American Shrikes, and the Old World forms are also tolerably well represented, partly due to the incorporation of my own collection of Shrikes, of which formerly I made a specialty. I have compared the type of L. robustus with these, the result being as follows : —
The statement of Professor Baird, that it is "very decidedly different from any of the recognized North American species," is eminently confirmed. The material in the Museum has been doubled many times during the twent}r years since he wrote the above, but still the type remains unique in its peculiar characters. I need not repeat here his excellent description, but think it proper to sum up the most diagnostic features of the bird, mainly to counteract any erroneous impression that might arise, caused by the quotation above from Dr. Coues' " Key," in which it is asserted " that the single specimen represents an individual pecu- liarity in the size of the bill." Lanius robustus is not only remarkable for its large bill, but also for its general dark color, total absence of light superciliary stripe, the ashy wash of the lower parts, the gray loral spot, the restriction of the white on the tail-feathers, particularly at the base, and the peculiar distri- bution of black and white on the secondaries, so well illustrated by the figure in Cooper and Baird 's Californian Ornithology quoted above.
Of all the Old World members of the restricted subgenus Lanius, the present bird only needs comparison with a few dark- colored species. In many respects it resembles L. algeriensis Less., particularly in the shade of the gray on the back, the absence of a white superciliary stripe, the ashy under surface ; but the wing speculum is much larger, the secondaries differently colored, and the tail with less white, not to speak of the difference in the size of the bill. In the latter respect our bird agrees rather closely with a specimen of a Lanius collected by H. B. Tristram at Gennesareth, March, 9, 1864, but it is darker both above and beneath, and the pattern of secondaries and tail is different. This specimen from Palestine seems referable to the form which Gadow says is " intermediate between L. fallax and
96 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
L. uncinatus" the latter being a big-billed island form from Socotra, off the coast of Eastern Africa, and, judging from his remarks (Cat. B. Brit. Mus., viii, p. 248) some of the specimens from that region east of the Mediterranean may be even more like the t}'pe of robustus. The conclusion of my comparison is that the latter is more closety allied to some of the forms inhabiting the regions south and east of the Mediterranean, than to any of the known Nearctic species, but that it is entirely distinct from any other species known.
We shall now shortly review the evidence bearing upon the origin of the type : 1. Gambel himself nowhere directly and par- ticularly refers to the specimen in question ; 2. His collection was turned over to the Academy four years after his original paper was published ; 3. During the same year the Academy received more than 18,000 specimens, a great many of which were from the Old World ; 4. Not before ten years after is any direct allusion made to the specimen by Cassin ; 5. No indication of it having been collected in California, can now be found attached to the bird or the stand ; 6. We have Dr. Coues' testimony that " some specimens of Dr. Gambel's, to which the same locality (California) is assigned, were certainly procured elsewhere " ; 7. So far as the evidence goes, the bird is nearer related to some Old World forms than to those from North America. The sum of all this would indicate that the specimen in all probability is not North Ameri- can, and enough reasons are given to explain how the mistake may have easily originated. It would not be human, if in receiving and putting on exhibition more than 18,000 specimens in one year some such mistakes did not happen. I therefore think we would be fully justified in excluding Lanius robustus from the list of North American birds.
But it should always be borne in mind, that notwithstanding the apparent conclusiveness of the above remarks, the question is not fully solved before we have pointed out where the species really occurs, since there is a bare possibility that some day it may be discovered not far from its alleged habitat in spite of all our arguments. L. robustus is very distinct from the other American Shrikes, but not so much so, that its eventual discovery in any part of the Nearctic region would cause a great surprise as far as this point is concerned. The large bill and the dark color suggest some southern island, and explorers of islands off our southwest coast should be on the look-out.
PROG, ACAD, NAT, SGI, PHILA, 1885,
PLATE
ScnbnEr Del.
SCRIBNER ON MELICAE.
!
1885.] natural sciences of philadelphia. 97
April 7. The President, Dr. Leidy, in the chair. Twenty persons present.
The Primary Conditions of Fossilization. — Mr. Charles Morris made a communication in answer to the query : " Why are there no fossil forms found in the strata preceding the Cambrian ? " In mineral conditions there is little difference between the two sets of strata. Yet the Cambrian contain numerous fossils, while the preceding strata are barren in this respect. This Cambrian life, however, does not come in the succession we might naturally expect, and it ma}' be desirable to consider the succession which actually occurs.
Of Protozoa there is not a trace, if we reject the doubtful Eozob'n. Yet vast numbers of Protozoa must have existed, and if there were any calcareous- or siliceous-shelled forms, as at present, they must have left some indication in the rocks. The Metazoa do not begin with the lowest forms, but the different orders make their appearance in very odd conjunction. Thus, at the very beginning, we have a great variety of tribolites, in con- junction with a much smaller variety of annelides and mollusks, while there are very scanty traces of sponges, echinoderms and the lower crustaceans. The most advanced form of these animals, the trilobite, greatly outnumbers all its contemporaries.
At a considerably later date two widely separated forms come together into existence. The low order of Hydrozoa makes its first appearance as the Graptolite, and at a closely related date appear Cephalopods, the highest order of Mollusks. The Silurian era opens with an abundance of Graptolites and a considerable increase of Cephalopods. It is much later ere any clear trace of Vertebrates appears, and this in what is certainly not their lowest form.
The appearance of land animals presents a somewhat similar phenomenon. No land Vertebrates appear below the Carboniferous rocks, yet it is now known that insects existed well down in the Silurian, proving that the conditions necessary for land life had very long prevailed ere Vertebrates left the sea for the land.
It is impossible to believe that these fossils represent truly either the beginning or the actual succession of life upon the earth. Such an idea would be utterly inconsistent with the development theory, and even under the creation hypothesis it is incredible that life could have begun with such a confused mixture of high and low. No one, for instance, can accept what the rocks seem to teach, that advanced forms of Mollusks and Crustaceans came into existence before the Ccelenterata. It may be taken for
98 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP [1885.
granted that we have but fragments of the primeval life, and these fragments associated in a manner that cannot indicate the actual life conditions.
These earliest animals are mainly burrowing, crawling, or sta- tionary forms. There is very little indication of the abundance of swimming life which now crowds the ocean and must have then done so. We find only minute swimmers, such as Pteropods and Phyllopods, while if the Trilobites were able to swim it must have been but a sluggish movement. There is no indication of the existence of rapid and powerful swimmers.
Yet there are several reasons for believing that swimming animals existed in abundance. The rapid swimmer has an advan- tage in food-getting and in escape from danger over the slow- moving surface animals. Natural selection, therefore, must have tended to produce swimming forms.
The facts of embryology yield evidence to the same effect. Nearly or quite all ocean animals begin life as swimmers. The stationary forms become fixed only after their larval period is passed. This fact indicates that at some early period the ances- tors of our present fixed forms were free swimmers.
But a stronger proof of this is found in the condition of the animals whose fossil forms we possess. They are all covered with protective armor. It is, indeed, to the preservation of this armor that we owe our knowledge of their existence. We find no weapons of offense. Everything is defensive. Even the trilobite, which had nothing to fear from the other known forms, was clothed in a strong coat of mail, and had acquired the habit of rolling him- self into an impenetrable ball. There can be no question that he had foes, stronger than himself, against whom he found defense only in his chitinous armor. Yet of these predatory foes we know nothing.
All other preserved forms tell the same story. We would know nothing of them but for their hard parts, and these hard parts are all protective. The soft-bodied annelid saved itself by burrowing in the mud. The mollusk clothed itself in a firm limy covering. Of the remaining forms each wore some kind of defensive armor. Many of them doubtless needed defense against the trilobites, but the foes of the trilobite are missing.
If we ascend higher in the rocks, the same tale is told. The Hydrozoa, which had probably swum the earlier seas in forms allied to our soft-bodied Medusae, become stationary and protected as Graptolites. And simultaneously the powerful Cephalopods make their appearance as surface forms, clothed in a heavy and cumbrous defensive armor. If they formerly had mastery of the seas, as we may conjecture, they had been driven from it by some more powerful and rapid foe.
In fact all the preserved forms may be looked upon as to some extent degenerated types of life. They very probably represent
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 99
earlier free-moving forms, which have been driven to wear heavy armor for protection from stronger foes, and have been forced by the weight and the character of this armor to take up a life on the ocean bottom, either as stationary, crawling, or sluggishly swim- ming forms.
Where are the foes who have forced these forms of life into degenerated conditions ? They are indicated in the rocks by no hard parts, either offensive or defensive. They probabl}' needed no protective armor, they had no internal hard skeletons, and the only trace of early offensive weapons are found in the dubious Conodonts, of the lower Silurian strata. Not until undoubted fish teeth appear do we find unquestionable weapons of offense. And there is no indication of active predatory swimmers until we find the earliest fish remains. We may conceive that fishes had so increased as to sweep the seas of any overabundance of food forms, and had begun to actively prey upon each other. Then they developed the protective armor to which they had previously driven their prey. And this armor increased in thickness and strength until the remarkable bony plates of the Devonian fishes were produced. But in all probability several successive types of life obtained mastership of the ocean, each superior form driving all earlier forms to seek protection. Of these the fish was the last and most powerful, and it cleared the open seas of all competitors.
Only from some such cause as this can we understand the sud- den appearance of the Cambrian Orthoceratites, with their bulky and clumsy shells, which certainty would never have been developed except through pressure of sheer necessity. This armor must have greatly diminished the motor powers of the cephalopod ; it was solely protective in character, and it is impossible to impute it to any cause save that of defense from a powerful predacious foe. All the early lords of the ocean had successively to clothe themselves in strong armor, or to vanish from existence as more powerful forms appeared.
There are strong indications, therefore, that in addition to the armored forms preserved in the rocks, there was abundance of naked forms of life, mainly swimmers, and pursuing a predatory mode of life. If we pass backward through the succession of fossil forms, it is to find the armored types decreasing in numbers and variety. We seem to gradually approach a period in which the naked swimming forms were greatly in excess. This may have been preceded by a period in which there were no armored forms. In such a case, though life may have been as abundant as now, it could not have been fossilized. Such ma}r possibly have been the pre-Cambrian life condition.
There could have been no era of life, indeed, in which preda- tory forms did not exist. But there may have been a long period during which animals were incapable of secreting armor. The
100 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
organic functions are certainly not all of primitive origin. Many of them may have been the product of ages of slow development. Such may have been the case with the development of glands suit- able for the secretion of chitin, carbonate of lime, and the other protective substances. We know that it was at a late date in the history of life when animals first began to secrete an internal hard skeleton. The need of protection undoubtedly caused a more rapid evolution of the power to secrete an external hard covering, and yet life may have long prevailed before this adaptation was gained. The mantle of the bivalve mollusks, for instance, with its glands for the secretion of a limy shell, cannot have been a primitive feature of molluscan life. So the chitin- forming glands of the crustaceans may have been a late product of evolution. It is possible that, in the early days of life, all the mineral ingredients of food were directly excreted. It is equally possible that the power of transforming food elements into hard substances did not exist. The development of dermal glands, necessary to the secretion of external skeletons, teeth, etc., must have occupied a considerable time, and its completion may have taken place but shortly before the opening of the Cambrian period.
If such was the case, the preceding life must have been of a low order, and of small dimensions. Animals might have grown to considerable size with cartilaginous skeletons, but scarcely without teeth or other hard weapons of offense, of which no trace remains. It may be that the earlier forms of life were in great part swim- ming animals, that they waged constant war upon each other, and that in time, through the action of natural selection, the power of secreting defensive armor was evolved.. As this armor grew denser and heavier the swimming powers became abridged, and the armored animals were successively carried to the bottom, and forced into slow-moving or stationary habits of life.
In corroboration of this idea is the fact that the power of secreting an internal skeleton appeared only at a much later date. It has never been developed in the Invertebrates, except in late cephalopods, and in all these animals the external armor has necessarily been utilized for muscular attachment. The superi- ority of the vertebrates is largely due to the fact that their muscular attachment has alwa3's been internal, a method which gives much greater flexibility and power of movement. Yet for a long period after the appearance of vertebrate life the basis of muscular attachment was merely a rod of cartilage. Even the great Devonian fishes, with their dense epidermal plates, were destitute of internal bone, except that in a few cases they possessed ossified vertebral arches. The next evidence of power to secrete internal bone is found in certain Carboniferous Ganoids, which possessed a mere ring of bone in the external portion of their vertebrae. It cannot reasonably be argued that bony skeletons
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OP 1'HILADELPHIA. 101
would have been of no use to these ancient swimmers. The pos- session of bony skeletons by all the Teleostei shows that this adaptation is a valuable one. Modern Sharks and Ganoids, while often cartilaginous, frequently possess completely ossified verte- brae. Thus we have reason to believe that the absence of internal bone in the most ancient fishes came from the fact that the con- ditions for the secretion of such bone had not yet been devel- oped.
This leads to one further conclusion. Though a cartilaginous basis of muscular attachment might suffice for large swimming animals, it would not answer for large forms of terrestrial life. In these a greater rigidity was necessary. Therefore land verte- brates of large size could not appear until after the power of forming a bony skeleton had been attained. And it is significant that shortly after the appearance of bone in fish skeletons the Batrachians make their appearance in the rocks. We know that the land had been adapted for animal life for long ages before, and peopled b}- insects and scorpions, and possibly by forms of life of which we have no comprehension. It is very probable that fishes had long used the land as a temporary place of residence and feeding-ground. This we may safely infer from the existence of fossil Dipnoi, with their powers of breathing air or water at will. Yet it was impossible that large land vertebrates could appear until the bone-making power was fully developed. Archee- gosaurus one of the earliest air-breathers, possessed but a ring of bone in its vertebra?, like the Carboniferous Ganoids. But in all the remaining Carboniferous Batrachians a fully ossified skel- eton appears, and this has been ever since an absolute requisite of all land vertebral life, and of all ocean vertebrates except a few survivals of the antique types.
Thus we reach the general conclusions that fossilization of animal forms was not possible until, after a long period of evolu- tion, the power of secreting hard external coverings was gained ; and that the existence of large land vertebrates was not possible until, after a still longer period of evolution, the power of secret- ing internal bony skeletons was developed. If these conclusions be well founded, many of the conditions of early life must remain forever unknown to us, and we cannot hope to recover more than a fragment of the antique fauna.
April 14.
The President, Dr. Leidy, in the chair.
Thirty-one persons present.
A paper entitled " Notes on Mesozoic Cockroaches," by Samuel H. Scudder, was presented for publication.
102 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1885.
Hibernation and Winter Habits of Spiders. — The Rev. Dr. McCook remarked that the effect of a low temperature upon spiders was observed in the cases of several young specimens of Theridion tepedariorum. They hung on a few short lines to the plastered wall of a brick out-building, the plaster being laid directly on the brick, forming a very cold surface. The spiders were protected from the wind and snow, but wholly exposed to the frost. January 14 (1885), with thermometer ranging from 20° to 25° above zero (Fahrenheit), the spiders were hanging motionless. When touched by the tip of a pencil the}" dropped down in the usual manner of their kind, holding on by the out- spun threads which reached a length of over one foot. They ascended to their perch afterward, and crawled over the roof a little ways.
At a temperature of 18-6° the}' again were able to drop from the perch. January 19, with thermometer ranging from 17 '5° to 20°, they seemed less active — one, when touched, dropping about one inch, another six inches. Four hours thereafter they were suspended in the same position. As the natural habit of the creature is to ascend in a moment or two after disturbance, this shows that the frost had somewhat affected the normal energy. But one of them, being gently lifted on the finger, moved its legs and very slowly began to ascend. Five hours thereafter it was at its perch against the roof. These spiders, at this temperature, with some variations (January 21), moved their position, one passing along the angle of the roof, a distance of four feet. This change of site was probably caused by the annoyance which the experiments produced.
February 11, the thermometer stood at zero at the City Signal Service Office ; in West Philadelphia, where his observations were made, the temperature was lower. On the 12th, the Signal Ser- vice reported 1° above zero ; at his house it was below zero. On this day he removed from its position one of the specimens, a young female about two-thirds grown, and placed it in his library where the temperature was summer heat. She was laid upon the table in the sun. The legs were drawn up around the cephalo- thorax in the usual " hunched " way when torpid or feigning death. There was a slight and regular pulsation of the feet. In less than ten minutes, upon being touched, she stretched forth her legs and began to move slowly over the paper upon which she had been placed. When touched, her motion was much accelerated, and she began vigorously to perambulate her bounds, anchored to and pulling out after her the usual drag-line. When lifted up on the tip of a pencil she spun out a long thread, to the end of which she hung in the little basket-like structure of silken cords which he had elsewhere described. Indeed, her action was in ever}- respect normal, and showed a remarkably sudden and complete revival of activity after so long an exposure to such extreme cold.
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 103
February 26, a younger specimen, about one-third grown, hanging in a crevice in the site above described, when touched and lightly pressed down, slowly moved its legs and began to struggle back to its perch. The thermometer ranged from 20° to 25° ; on the day before the range was from 21° at 7 A. M., to 28° at 11 A. M.
During the six weeks over which these observations extended, the temperature was unusually low for this vicinity ; for a great part of the time, the thermometer stood below freezing point, and several times reached zero. The month of March following was unusually severe, the thermometer frequently reaching winter temperature. On the first of April, however, the above-named spiders, and others of a younger brood, were in their webs hale and active, drawn out by the first soft days of spring. It would seem, therefore, that the hibernation of spiders (of this species, at least), is not accompanied with a great degree of torpidity; that they preserve their activity and spinning habit while exposed to cold ranging from freezing point to zero (Fahrenheit) ; that after long and severe exposure, the recovery of complete activity when brought into a warm temperature is very rapid, almost immediate ; and that on the return of spring, even after a pro- longed and severe winter, they at once resume the habits of their kind.
In all the above specimens the abdomens were full, indicating perfect health. Other spiders hung upon their webs with shriv- eled abdomens, quite dead, among them one of his specimens, a male, who died during the course of the observations. A Pholcus phalangioides hung thus dried up, holding with a death-grip to her web b}r the two fore-pairs of legs which supported the cephalo- thorax in a position parallel to the plane of the horizon, while the long abdomen hung down at right-angles thereto, and the third and fourth pairs of legs were drooped downward and back- ward. He could not determine that these and other spiders perished by the cold. The living individuals were all characterized by the plump abdomen, as though there had been little or no ab- sorption of tissues for nourishment of life. There appeared to be no growth during hibernation.
The same facts hold good as to the winter habits of Orb- weavers. The young survive the winter in the admirably ar- ranged cocoons provided by maternal instinct. But earl}' in the spring many adults of both sexes are found nearly full-grown, who have also safely weathered the cold months. He had, at various times in midwinter, collected examples of Epeira strix, and had found the species adult in spring. Specimens of Strix may be frequently taken during the winter months from rolled leaves, within which they have weathered our hard frosts. These rolled leaves also serve for nests during summer. Dr. Geo. Marx had informed him that, on the capacious Government grounds in
104 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP [1885.
Washington city, lie often sees such curled leaves suspended conspicuously amid the verdureless branches, and had learned to recognize them easily as the winter-quarters of this species. It of course follows that, either from purpose or by the accidental unwrapping of the threads during continual journeys back and forth trailing her drag-line behind her, the spider prevents the leaf from falling.
A vast colony of Epeira vulgaris inhabits the boat-houses grouped around the inlet wharf at Atlantic City. Dr. McCook stated that he had once visited this colony, May 22, 1882. The season had been a remarkably backward one, cold, and very rainy. The trees on the island had not yet leaved ; insect life had scarcely appeared ; in short the season had advanced little further than the first of May in ordinary years. The inlet colony, how- ever, had already appeared in large numbers, and had swung their orbs between the timbers of the houses and the piles which sup- ported them. These were of various sizes, full-grown, half-grown, and young several weeks out of the cocoons. All the cocoons — which were thickly laid along the angles of the joists and cor- nices— were empty. The number of young spiders was, however, remarkably small, a fact which he could account for only on the supposition that in the absence of the usual insect food supply, the adults had been driven to prey upon the young and the 3'oung upon each other to an unusual degree. Many of the spiders were hanging in the centre of their round snares. Others — the greater part, indeed — were sheltered within a thick tubular or arched screen, open at both ends, which was bent in the angles of the woodwork, or beneath an irregular rectangular silken patch stretched across a corner.
Many others were burrowed behind cocoons, quite covered up by the thick flossy fibre of which these are composed. In this condition the}' had undoubtedly spent the winter. He had found examples of E. strix blanketed in precisely the same way during the winter months. Unfortunately he had never been able to make a mid-winter journey to this favorite spider-haunt, in order to see the araneads in extreme hibernation ; but he asked some of the young boatmen what the spiders did in winter-time. " They crawl into their bags," one answered, referring to the screens and tubes above described, "and stay there. They came out about a month ago (the last of April), and then ' shed.' A couple of weeks ago the sides of the houses were all covered with these ' sheds ' " — by which, of course, the young man meant their moults.
The following was ordered to be printed : —
1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 105
NOTES ON MESOZOIC COCKROACHES. BY SAMUEL H. SCUDDER.
I. Pterinoblattina, a remarkable type of Palaeoblattariae.
Among the many fossil cocki-oaches figured by Westwood thirty years ago, was one which Giebel afterwards named Blatta plama, on account of the resemblance of its neuration to the barbs of a feather, where the shaft is on one side. Several species are now known, and on account of this curious arrange- ment of the veins, the generic name,
PTERINOBLATTINA (^ript^) is proposed. The wings were very broad, expanding consider- ably beyond the base, broadest beyond the middle, and filled with an abundance of branching veins. The mediastinal, scapular, and externomedian veins ran close together, side by side, in a perfectby straight-course (the shaft of the feather), from near the middle of the base of the wing toward and nearly to a point on the costal margin a little within the apex of the wing, and the superior mediastinal and inferior externomedian branches, crowded closely together, parted from this apparently common stem at nearly similar angles on either side of it. The complete inde- pendence of the mediastinal, scapular, and externomedian veins shows that the genus falls in the Palaeoblattariae. The species are all small.
Pterinoblattina pluma.
Blatta pluma Gieb., Ins. der Vorw., 322. Figured by Westw., Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.