FAMILY XI. PCECILIID.E. 



149 



FIG. 47. HETERANDRIA LUTZI Meek. 



No. 3718, Field Columbian Museum. 



appearance; snout 3^ in head; eye large, 3^ in head; teeth movable, 

 in one series, conical, curved backward at the tips; origin of dorsal 

 slightly behind that of anal in females, midway between base of caudal 

 fin and posterior margin of opercle ; base of dorsal 3 in head ; its height 

 i Y* ; pectoral i y ; ventral 2 ; caudal fin truncate ; caudal peduncle 

 slender, its least depth i^ in head; alimentary canal much convoluted, 

 not in definite coils, its length about 1^2 times the total length of the 

 fish; peritoneum black. 



Color olivaceous, a narrow dark lateral band broken into small 

 round or oblong spots, each scarcely as large as pupil; iris black; a nar- 

 row dark streak on under side of caudal peduncle; a faint vertebral 

 streak, more conspicuous in the young. Length about 3,K inches. 



One female 2.59 inches in length contained 40 young; each about 

 .35 inch in length. The males are about half as large as the females. 



61. Poecilia Bloch & Schneider. 



Pcecilia Bloch & Schneider, Syst. Ichthy. ,452,1801. (Type, Pcecilia 

 vimf>ara Bloch & Schneider.) 



Body oblong, often rather deep; mouth small, transverse, with 

 weak jaws; teeth small, in narrow bands, the outer teeth enlarged, 

 curved, and movable; scales large; dorsal fin small, of 7 to n rays; anal 

 fin short, in female nearly opposite dorsal, in males advanced and 

 modified into a sword-shaped intromittent organ ; alimentary canal long ; 

 vertebrae about 28. Sexes about e.qual in size. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF P(KCIL1A. 



a. Anal rays 9 or 10; sides with a black lateral PAGE 



stripe as wide as eye ; scales 8-29 occidentalis 150 



