52 Jfitst annual Report 



or intermediate. The alimentary canal is ordinarily as shown in 

 Fig-ure 16, being about three-fifths the length of the fish, but in some 

 specimens it is much longer. It lies mainly in the right side of the 

 abdominal cavity, never in the left. The stomach is only slightly 

 differentiated from the remainder of the canal, and has no pyloric 

 ca?ca. 



The food of Gibbonsia elegans is both vegetable and animal, with 

 perhaps a predominance of the latter. Many of the specimens con- 

 tained small molluscs (especially limpets), crustaceans (crabs, am- 

 phipods, etc.), and minute worms, while a few contained large 

 amounts of foliose red alga?, which are common in the pools. 



Viscera : Gibbonsia critics In the larger species, G. evides, the 

 viscera is little different from that of G. elegans, except that the ali- 

 mentary canal is normally longer, being about nine-tenths the length 

 of the fish. Figures 18 and 19 indicate the principal features of im- 

 portance. The stomach in Figure lil is shown distended with food, 

 which makes it appear quite different from that of G. elegans, a 

 difference which is only apparent, however. The alimentary canal 

 is very thin walled, and easily distended in both species. 



The food habits of this species are apparently not appreciably 

 different from those of G. elegans. In the specimens examined about 

 the same range of food materials was found, i. e. small molluscs, 

 crustaceans, worms and bits of alga\ 



Neoclinus satiricus Giranl 

 (Figures 20 and 21) 



One specimen, nine inches long, taken alive in a baited trap off 

 Newport Beach. It was very pugnacious while alive in the rowboat, 

 and would snap viciously at anything put near it. It would turn 

 round and round in the water, always keeping its eye on any object 

 moving close to it. The writer, while observing the fish, incautiously 

 got his fingers a little too near the fish's head, with the result that 

 they were savagely snapped and the fish was thrown several feet 

 away on the beach by the backward jerk of his hand. The specimen 

 is slate blue all over, without any bars or spots. 



The accompanying notes and figures were taken from this speci- 

 men : Abdominal cavity placed far forward, extending in front of 

 ventrals to between pectorals ; very short ; vent at posterior end. 

 Liver very large, broad. Alimentary canal of large bore, short, (one- 

 half length of fish), thick walled and muscular; stomach well differ- 

 entiated from remainder; rectal portion thickened and tough, like a 

 gizzard. No pyloric caeca. Figures XX and XXI show the gross 

 characters of the viscera in their natural positions, and of the ali- 

 mentary canal separated from the rest. From the latter figure the 



