NO. 5 MYERS AND WADE : ATHERINID FISHES 125 



caudal peduncle 3.5, tip of snout to anal origin 17.8, anal origin to caudal 

 base 19.2, pectoral length 6.1, tip of snout to posterior edge of orbit 6.2, 

 gill-rakers on lower limb first arch 13, lateral scales 39 or 40, predorsal 

 scales 14, scales around caudal peduncle 12. 



History of the species. — Jordan and Gilbert described this species 

 from a single specimen taken bj' Gilbert at Mazatlan (USNM 29243). 

 Jordan (1895, p. 418, pi. 32) recorded and poorly figured the second 

 specimen (Stanford 2689) from Mazatlan; however, our re-examination 

 of this individual has shown that it is not Eurystole eriarcha, but instead 

 is undoubtedly our new species, Nectarges nepenthe. The specimen appar- 

 ently was not in good condition when collected, but Jordan's description 

 based on it served for the account of Eurystole eriarcha in Jordan and 

 Evermann's general work (1896, p. 803). These authors also copy (as 

 fig. 339, vol. 4) Jordan's inaccurate 1895 plate. 



In Jordan and Hubbs' review of the Atherinidae (1919, p. 63), this 

 same Mazatlan specimen of Nectarges nepenthe seems to have been the 

 basis of the account of Eurystole eriarcha, and the old, inaccurate 1895 

 plate of it was again reproduced (pi. 5, fig. 19). It will be noted that 

 Jordan and Hubbs state, "There are 52 scales in the median longitudinal 

 series in the type specimen of E. eriarcha." That some sort of error oc- 

 curred in this statement will be evident from the counts of the holotype 

 of eriarcha given above. It is our belief that the count of 52 scales (un- 

 doubtedly erroneous) was taken from this same second specimen (Stan- 

 ford 2689) of Nectarges nepenthe, which is now (and presumably was in 

 1919 as well) in such poor condition that an exact count is not possible, 

 and that this example was taken by Jordan and Hubbs to be the type of 

 Eurystole eriarcha through some sort of lapsus calami or mentalis. 



So far as we have been able to determine, there have been only four 

 other published records of fishes identified as Eurystole eriarcha. Osburn 

 and Nichols (1916, p. 156) recorded six specimens from Cape San Lucas 

 and one from Santa Catalina Island in the Gulf of California. Their ma- 

 terial may be either Eurystole eriarcha or Nectarges nepenthe, or possibly 

 both species, although we can scarcely believe that any ichthyologist could 

 fail to recognize the distinctness of these two if he had both in his hand 

 at the same time. These same remarks apply also to Breder's ( 1936, p. 6) 

 record of five specimens from San Jose del Cabo, but his mention of the 

 "type figure" is a lapsus in referring to the oft-repeated 1895 figure of 

 Nectarges nepenthe. Nichols and Murphy (1922, p. 506) record without 

 comment 18 specimens seined on the beach at North Chincha Island, 



