104 FIELD COLUMHIAN MUSEUM ZOOLOGY, VOL. III. 



the head: ventral 2; alimentary canal elongate, 3^ times the 

 total length of the body, coiled on the right side; peritoneum 

 black. 



Outer series of teeth loose, bicuspid, behind which are villi- 

 form teeth; gill-rakers long, rather stout, 20 on first gill-arch: 

 vertebrae 16-1-18 = 34. 



Female light olivaceous, a dark spot on hinder margin of each 

 scale on upper half of body; these spots forming lines along the 

 rows of scales as in Mollienisia. A prominent black caudal bar at 

 base of caudal fin. 



Male nearly uniform: anal and dorsal fins black, margined 

 with yellow; black caudal bar indistinct. 



Longest specimen a female, length 2.50 inches. Males not 

 quite so large as the females. 



Viviparous. The females all spawned out. They were col- 

 lected June 2. Spawning time evidently the latter half of May. 



Skiffia variegata, sp. nov. 



Type, No. 3612, F. C. M. Length, 1.95 inches. 



Locality, Lago de Zirahuen, Zirahuen, Michoacan, Mexico. 



Head 33; depth 2$: D. 14; A. 13; scales 34-13. Body deep, 

 compressed; top of head convex; interorbital -2\ in head: mouth 

 small, lower jaw the longer, chin rather prominent; snout 4 in 

 head; eye large, its diameter 3 in head; dorsal slightly in advance 

 of anal, its origin midway between base of caudal and posterior 

 margin of orbit; base of dorsal fin i in the head; height i| (in 

 male ij) in head; anterior dorsal rays short, the rays gradually 

 increasing in length to eighth or ninth, which is longest; caudal trun- 

 cate; pectoral i . l { in head; ventral 2; alimentary canal three times 

 the total length of the body, coiled on right side; peritoneum black. 

 Olivaceous, much mottled, an indistinct dark lateral band more 

 or less broken in some specimens; four or five light brownish 

 spots on lower portion of caudal peduncle, the under surface of 

 which is dark. The color of the male is more uniform and 

 darker than that of the female; no black caudal bar at base of 

 caudal: chin black. 



This species resembles S. I c rune from Patzcuaro from which it 

 differs in absence of black caudal bar, in being more slender and 

 in coloration. Longest male, 1.70 inches in length. The longest 

 specimen (a female) 2.25 inches in length, contained 18 young. 

 well formed and with spots on their sides; length' of young .53 

 inch. 



