1941 CATALOGUE OF FISHES OF TORTUGAS 6 1 



the form Poey adopted are given. In a large female the depth is scarcely greater 

 than the thickness and equal to the width of 2. l / 2 ring s > instead of 3, as in S. 

 elucens. The eye enters 3, not 4, times into the snout; the head 3%, instead of 3 

 times, into the preanal length; and the anus is midway between the tip of the 

 rostrum and the 23d, not the 25th, caudal ring. 



Scarcely two specimens are quite alike in color, the ground color varying from 

 pale olive to dark brown; sides and back everywhere finely spotted and dusted 

 with gray; stronger or weaker lines of gray crossing trunk and tail at intervals 

 of 3 to 5 segments; the small accessory scutes on back and sides frequently out- 

 lined in gray, forming small diamond-shaped markings in regular series; snout 

 faintly and irregularly barred, the markings stronger and more regular below; 

 conjunctiva and iris marked with gray and olive; lower part of operculum with 

 narrow white lines running downward and backward. In the male the ventral 

 surface is marked, more conspicuously than in the female, with alternate bars of 

 bluish gray and olive, the bluish bars sometimes being replaced by a transverse 

 row of spots on the trunk segments. 



West Indies to Florida and Bermuda. W. H. L. 



Syngnathus elucens Poey 



Extensive notes are included among Dr. Longley's papers, and his collection 

 contains 6 specimens identified as this species. Three other specimens seem to 

 belong to it. 



The relation between this species and Syngnathus robertsi, if the identifica- 

 tions are correct, is extremely close. The type of neither species is available for 

 examination. Therefore, the identifications are based wholly on descriptions. As 

 the description of S. elucens presumably was based on the type, which was 170 

 mm. long, and as S. robertsi was described from a specimen 112 mm. long, allow- 

 ance must be made for age or size, and the comparison is by no means satis- 

 factory. 



Dr. Longley has pointed out some differences in the account of S. robertsi. 

 From the comparison of 9 specimens identified as S. elucens with numerous 

 specimens regarded as S. robertsi, I find that if extremes are chosen, the differ- 

 ences are striking, but some specimens are bothersome. 



There is variation in depth, and there also is overlapping with respect to depth 

 of body if compared with body rings. In fact, the depth in none of the specimens 

 identified as S. elucens is fully equal to the length of 3 body rings, as stated in 

 the original description. On the other hand, some specimens referred to S. robertsi 

 are nearly as deep, the depth being equal to 2 1 /, to 2% body rings, and I have 

 found no actual difference in the width of the body if compared with body rings. 



The proportion of the eye to the snout is variable enough to result in a trivial 

 difference if several specimens are measured, as is shown by the proportions 

 given. The proportionate length of the head in preanal length seems to be at 

 most only an average difference, and the same seems true of the position of the 

 vent with respect to the snout and caudal segments. 



Among the preserved material there is one difference in color, namely, S. 



