Ichthyological Bulletin; No. 16

Parrotfishes have long been one of the major problems of the taxonomist, largely as a result of classification based on preserved material. Workers such Bleeker, who handled fresh specimens, provided useful descriptions and at least passable illustrations of Parrotfishes. There has, in consequence, been a general tendency to use such names in preference to those of earlier workers, notably Lacepede and Valenciennes, most of whose descriptions, based on long dead specimens, not only lack accurate, or indeed any, illustration, but rarely contain critical diagnostic data. In consequence, the nomenclature has been in a state of utter chaos, and any worker privileged to travel and examine early type specimens incurs a good deal of responsibility, since the majority of other workers are usually not in a position to query his opinions about their identities.Rhodes University Libraries (Digitisation