General Notes. 183 



bluish green. The feet and legs were yellowish, becoming duller on the 

 webs between the toes and changing to horn-brown on the anterior scutes 

 of the tarsus and the upper surface of the toes. 



Published descriptions of the soft parts of the Anhinga so far as they 

 have come to attention seem to be based upon Audubon's account from 

 which the notes given above vary in certain particulars. Audubon states 

 that the gular sac is orange and makes no mention of the brilliant blue 

 line on the margin of the eyelids. Mr. A. T. Wayne 1 has called attention 

 to the fact that the gular sac is black in the adult male Anhinga. 



Examination of dried skins for the color of the soft parts is usually 

 unsatisfactory, but in the present instance may serve to determine the 

 color of the gular sac. In eight males, in the collections of the U. S. 

 National Museum, in fully adult plumage, taken in March, April, May 

 and June, three have the gular sac black while in five it is orange. In 

 four adult females killed in March and May three have the sac orange, 

 while one has it colored a deep black. All of these birds, judging from 

 their plumage, were fully adult. The sac is universally colored yellowish 

 or orange in all of the immature birds that have been examined. From 

 a consideration of these facts it seems probable that the black color of the 

 gular pouch and the brilliant color about the eye are characters that de- 

 velop with age, and that they may not appear until a bird is two years 

 old, or more. On the basis of this explanation the comparatively small 

 number of Anhingas in full color in collections may be supposed to come 

 from the smaller number of adults, as compared with young birds, and 

 the greater wariness of the adults that enables them more often to elude 

 the collector. — Alexander Wetmore. 



A NEW NAME FOR HELIASTER MUI/TIRADIATUS (GRAY). 



The Asterias multiradiata of Gray (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., Vol. 6, 

 1840, p. 179) is antedated by Asterias multiradiata Linnaeus (Syst. Nat., 

 10th edition, 1758, p. 663); the starfish now known as Heliaster multiradi- 

 atus (Gray) may be called Heliaster Solaris, nom. nov. — Austin H. Clark. 



NOTES ON LUCANIA OMMATA (JORDAN). 



When Dr. Hay described this form as Zygonectes mannii he held that 

 it might "contend with Heterandria formosa for the honor of being the 

 smallest known bertebrate." It has since lost this distinction but yet 

 remains an interesting fish because of its apparent rarity. The discovery 

 of it in the Okefinokee Swamp and its occurrence there in abundance 

 prompts a few notes about its habitat and characters. 



We have 63 specimens of this rare form in 13 different collections from 

 the swamp. In the summer of 1912 one of the authors secured it from 

 Honey Island Prairie, May 29, 1912; between Honey and Billy Islands, 

 June 1, 1912; in Billy Lake, June 4; on Billy Island, June 1; on Jones 

 Island, June 24. On Dec. 25 and 26, 1913, Dr. J. C. Bradley secured it at 



I Auk, 1911, p. 107. 



