i 94 i CATALOGUE OF FISHES OF TORTUGAS 203 



a black spot narrowly margined with blue, little variable in size, less variable in 

 position, and only rarely absent on one side in the many specimens examined. I 

 observed it first in fish 90 mm. long, though it may appear in some a little 

 smaller. In large fish it lies in the posterior third of a rosy patch about 5 scales 

 long and 3 deep. Another secondary sexual character of the male is the long 

 ventral fin, of which the tip may extend to base of 4th anal ray. 



The male and female are both variable in shade, as well as in pattern. They 

 may swim in self-color (apart from the male's distinctive spot), or rest in bands 

 of two-toned bluish green, with the black spot falling in one of the bands. 



W. H. L. 



This seems to be a smaller fish than the other local species, as a specimen only 

 1 10 mm. long is a mature male with high anterior profile and greatly produced 

 ventral ray. Specimens of similar size of the other species evidently are still im- 

 mature. 



West Indies to Florida. S. F. H. 



Xyrichthys martinicensis Cuvier and Valenciennes 



Xyrichthys martinicensis Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist. nat. poiss., vol. 14, 1839, p. 49 — 

 Martinique. 



^Xyrichthys lineatus Cuvier and Valenciennes (not of Gmelin), ibid., p. 50. 



Xyrichthys modestus Poey, Repertorio, vol. 2, 1867, p. 238 — Cuba. 



r Xyrichthys venustus Poey, Enumeratio, 1875, p. no — Cuba. 



} Xyrichthys rosipes Jordan and Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 7, 1884 (1885), p. 27- 

 Key West, Florida. 



Xyrichthys infirmus Bean, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm, vol. 8, 1888 (1890), p. 199, pi. 29, 

 fig. 2 — Cozumel Island, Yucatan. 



W. H. L. 



The synonymy given was prepared by Dr. Longley, though it presumably is 

 not as complete as he intended to make it, as is shown by marginal notes. The 

 following discussion (condensed) concerning synonymy was found among his 

 unfinished manuscripts. It may not be as complete as he would have made it, 

 yet it seems worthy of inclusion, as it is based on specimens, including some 

 types, examined in museums in America and Europe. 



As the tips of the ventral fins in Poey's Xyrichthys modestus reached at least 

 the base of the 3d anal spine, the possibility that it is the female of X. psittacus is 

 excluded; the females of every known West Atlantic species of Xyrichthys are 

 excluded by the same character. With equal certainty the red iris alone excludes 

 either sex of X. psittacus. The simple pattern of vertical lines on the head is an 

 additional similarity, and reference to the occasional occurrence of a dark area 

 on the middle of the side of the trunk, and to a pinkish axillary stripe, makes the 

 identity of the fish as certain as may be without access to the type. 



Before Poey named his X. modestus, Valenciennes had the same or another 

 from Martinique. The types are 125 and 145 mm. long. Their colors have faded, 

 but a trace of the original pattern can still be seen. The basal two-thirds of the 

 caudal has three diffuse bands, separated and bounded by four pale hair lines. 



