302 ROBERT PAYNE BIGELOW. 



was found with 14 rays in the dorsal fin. In the anal fin 10 or u 

 rays were found, the latter number having more than twice the 

 frequency of the former. 



Turning to F. majalis, we find a much greater number of dorsal 

 rays, 14 and 15 being almost equally frequent. Three specimens 

 had 1 6 dorsal rays. No specimen was found with as few as 13. 

 In the anal fin the number 1 1 is very constant. In 32 specimens, 

 none was found with less than u, and 3 only with one more ray. 



The third species, F. diaphanus, resembles the second in the 

 structure of the dorsal fin, having usually 14 rays with con- 

 siderable variation on both sides of the mean. But in its anal fin 

 this species differs from both the others in having more rays. It 

 almost invariably has 12 anal rays, rarely one more or one less. 



Comparing the numbers reported in the literature with my 

 findings, it will be seen that Carman's statements agree most 

 closely with my results. The figures given in the standard 

 manuals for the identification of fishes, like Jordan and Ever- 

 mann's great work, are generally lower than mine. 



The differences may be due to the difficulties of observation 

 under less favorable conditions, or they may be due to peculi- 

 arities of the local races inhabiting the waters about Woods Hole. 



REFERENCES. 

 Bean, T. H. 



'92 Fishes of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania: Report of the State Commission- 

 ers of Fisheries, for the years 1889-90-91, Appendix, 84-87. 

 Bean, T. H. 



'03 Catalogue of the Fishes of New York. Bull. N. Y. State Mus., 60, 307-313. 

 Garman, S. 



'95 The Cyprinodonts. Mem. Mus. Comp. Zoo'l., 19, No. i, 97-105. 

 Jordan, D. S., and Evermann, B. W. 

 '96 Fishes of North and Middle America. Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 47, 633-5, 



639-41, 645. 

 Newman, H. H. 



'07 Spawning Behavior and Sexual Dimorphism in Fundulus heteroclitus and 



Allied Fish. BIOL. BULL., 12, 314-349. 

 Smith, H. M. 



'07 Fishes of North Carolina. N. C. Geol. and Econ. Survey, 2, 145-149. 

 Sumner, F. B. et al. 



'13 Biological Survey of the Waters of Woods Hole and Vicinity. Bull. U. S. 

 Bur. Fisheries, 31 Pt. 2, 743-4. 



