ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 83 



from Nye County, Nevada. From C. D. Gibbes, four specimens 

 of coal from Australia, Nanaimo and Mt. Diablo. 



W. N. Lockington read the following: 



Notes on some California Marine Fishes, with Descrip- 

 tion of a New Species. 



BY W. N. LOCKINGTON. 



Mr. "W. J. Fisher, formerly Librarian of this institution, is now engaged in 

 collecting objects of Natural History on the coast of Lower California. I 

 have up to this period received two consignments from him, consisting of 

 skins of birds and mammals, shells, Crustacea, and a few reptiles and radiates. 



As the Academy kindly assisted us by furnishing alcohol, and as we wish 

 to do our best to make the collection in this building a complete one as re- 

 gards Californian species, we shall from time to time, as we are able to iden- 

 tify and describe them, present specimens of such forms as are not in its 

 possession. 



The work of identifying is necessarily slow, and our time limited. It is 

 intended for the future to furnish notes with the specimens presented — fishes, 

 Crustacea, etc. Our time has hitherto been occupied entirely with the fishes 

 and Crustacea. 



Among the former are two or three forms which I believe to be new, and 

 several others which are not brought into our markets, although they have 

 been described by Ayres or Girard, and range as far north as San Francisco 

 Bay. 



We present this evening specimens of such of these as we have been able 

 to identify or describe, and the greater part of these notes relates to the speci- 

 mens presented. 



Mr. W. G. W. Harford, who has assisted me greatly, has himself taken most 

 of the measurements given in this paper. 



Albula conorhynchus. Gunther. 



Among the fishes forwarded to us, the only soft-finned ones were two beau- 

 tiful specimens of about the size of a mackerel, glowing with gold upon the 

 sides, and with darker metallic reflections upon the back, the prevailing tint, 

 however, especially below, being that of burnished silver. 



I should have believed them to be fresh water fish had I not known that 

 everything from the waters yet sent by Mr. Fisher was marine. Unfortu- 

 nately the label attached was so injured by the alcohol that it was lost in 

 unpacking. 



The structure of the teeth, however, proved the fish to be no cyprinoid, 

 and the absence of an adipose fin "counted out" the salmon and other 

 families. One of the clupeoid or herring family, therefore, it must be, both 

 by its structure and its marine habitat. Yet it seemed a very singular her- 

 ring, with its rounded abdomen (the herrings mostly have a sharp abdomen) 



