No. 7. — Notes on Bermudian FishesA By Thomas Barbour. 



The material which forms the basis for this paper belongs to the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology and is from several sources : first, a 

 collection made by my brother, Mr. W. W. Barbour, and myself during 

 parts of March and April, 1903; secondly, a large and rather complete 

 cullection made during part of June, July, and part of August, 1903, 

 while I was attached to the Biological Station at Flatts, Bermuda ; 

 thirdly, a number of specimens in the collections of the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology, and finally, a series obtained by Professor Mark 

 and collected at the Station during the summer of 1904. I here express 

 my gratitude to Dr. Mark for his kindness in procuring a number of 

 most interesting specimens, and thank Messrs. H. B. Bigelow, Owen 

 Bryant, and J. T. Nichols, for their kind aid in collecting and preserv- 

 ing the largest collection. Finally, it is a pleasure to thank Mr. Samuel 

 Carman of the Museum for the assistance he has giving; me in makins: 

 the identifications. 



Before turning to a systematic consideration of the material in hand, 

 a few words are necessary in explanation of the peculiar faunal conditions 

 which obtain about the Bermuda Islands. In 1872 Dr. G. Brown Goode 

 visited the Bermudas for several weeks (February to March), and made 

 the first collections of any considerable size or value from this localitjf. 

 lie pointed out in his paper on the fishes (Goode '76") the splendid op- 

 portunity here presented to the ichthyologist for the study of the effects 

 which the ocean currents have had in providing Bermuda with a fish 

 fauna. He called attention to the fact that almost all the more charac- 

 teristic fishes of the West Indian regions, and also many fishes which 

 are found in the Azores, Canaries, Madeira, Cape de Verde Islands, and 

 even on the coasts of Southern Europe and Africa are represented in 

 Bermudian waters. One of the most interesting examples of distribution 

 probably due to ocean currents is the occurrence of Syrmhis saurus, a 

 fish which, on account of its sluggish, bottom-loving disposition, one 

 would consider unlikely to range far from home. The majority of the 



1 Contributions from the Bermuda Biological Station for Research. No. 6. 



VOL. XLVI. — 7 



