This paper demonstrates that several specimens in the collection of fishes of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle are type specimens of auchenipterid species described by Valenciennes (1840) and Reinhardt (1874). The study does not include a revision of the group or a systematic analysis. A complete list of the types of the Auchenipteridae in the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle is included, together with photographs of some specimens. Notes on specimens from the National Natuurhistorisch Museum, Leiden (RMNH), mentioned by Boeseman (1972), are also presented.