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PAPERS FROM TORTUGAS LABORATORY 



VOL. XXXIV 



interorbital space at ioo mm. and upward in length exceeds by half that of the 

 female of the same size. 



The range in number of fin rays overlaps that of Syacium papillosum, but the 

 species are readily separable. (See tables 3 and 4.) They differ even to touch, 

 S. gunteri being the harsher, because of a minute difference in the ciliation of its 

 scales on the colored side. 



TABLE 4 



Range of variation of dorsal and anal rays in 31 specimens of Syacium gunteri 



(Column 1 gives number of dorsal rays; column 2, distribution of anal rays for number of 



dorsal rays shown in column 1; and column 3, number of specimens having number of 



anal rays given in column 2. It is evident from the table that the specimens having the 



largest number of dorsal rays also have the largest average number of anal rays.) 



There is considerable variation in shade in freshly caught specimens, and the 

 color pattern is more distinctly defined in some than in others, but it is basically 

 the same in all. When it is well defined, two-score ocellate and unocellate dark 

 nuclei on body and fins may be easily picked out, which are clearly homologous 

 with those of S. papillosum. 



Gulf of Mexico. W. H. L. 



Cyclopsetta fimbriata (Goode and Bean) 



Nine specimens, up to 280 mm. in length, were taken in four hauls at depths 

 from 10 fathoms on the west side of White Shoal to 65 fathoms south of Tor- 

 tugas. The fin-ray formulas of two examples are, D. 84, 86; A. 61, 65. The 



