2 j PAPERS FROM TORTUGAS LABORATORY vol. xxxiv 



Apparently rare at Tortugas. All I have seen were taken from Lithodomus 

 burrows in eroded coral heads in the great northern shoal on Loggerhead reef. 



According to Jordan and Evermann, the type of Entomacrodus nigricans was 

 collected in Barbados by Theodore Gill. This fish seems to be registered in the 

 U. S. National Museum as number 34625. Though the original description gives 

 D. XI,i5; A. 17, its fin formulas are D. XII, 15; A. U,i6V 2 , which is perhaps the 

 commonest combination for Salarichthys textilis. This type specimen seems at 

 first to be a slighter fish than S. textilis, but the difference probably is due entirely 

 to shrinkage. The tentacle on anterior nostril and a pair of small ones on nape 

 are demonstrable, and a small supraocular tentacle appears to be branched. 



Of characteristic color markings of S. textilis this specimen still shows a streak 

 of blue down and forward from orbital margin to preorbital border, a distinct 

 Y-shaped mark under lower jaw, three pairs of dark spots under soft dorsal, and 

 bars on caudal. There is a transverse row of teeth on the vomer. Therefore, it is 

 apparently impossible to maintain either genus or species. 



Of Salarias margaritaceus there are 3 specimens (no. 12513) in the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology, which were sent by Poey. In fin formulas these differ 

 slightly among themselves, showing D. XII, 14 or 15; A. 15% to 17% . None 

 approaches the combination (A. 1,14) which is said to have characterized the 

 type. It is clearly by oversight that the species is denied nuchal tentacles. There 

 are teeth on the vomer. These specimens, too, are normal examples of S. textilis, 

 which Poey's description of the color markings of S. margaritaceus fits well. 



Poey's Entomacrodus decor atus was based on a type 50 mm. long, which has 

 apparently been lost. In the original account of its color there is nothing to dis- 

 tinguish it from S. textilis, and much to identify it with that species. There is no 

 reason to believe that it lacked cirri on eye and nape. The fin formulas, except 

 for an anal spine overlooked, have only 1 ray more in the dorsal fin than Poey's 

 own specimens of S. margaritaceus. On such slight grounds it seems impossible 

 to accord recognition to E. decoratus. W. H. L. 



The collection contains 5 specimens, 27 to 46 mm. long. The following propor- 

 tions and enumerations are based on these specimens: Head 4.2 to 5.0; depth 5.0 

 to 6.0. Eye in head 3.0 to 3.75; maxillary 2.75 to 3.6; pectoral 1.0 to 1.1. D. XII,i5 

 or 16; A. II,i6 to 18; P. 13 or 14. 



Bermuda, Florida, West Indies, Panama, and probably southward. S. F. H. 



Rupiscartes atlanticus (Cuvier and Valenciennes) 



(Plate 31, figure 2) 



Salarias atlanticus Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist. nat. poiss., vol. 11, 1836, p. 321— Atlantic 



Ocean. 

 Blennius truncatus Poey, Memorias, vol. 2, 1861, p. 424 — Cuba. 

 Rupiscartes macclurei Silvester, Carnegie Inst. Wash. Year Book No. 14, 1915, p. 217 — 



Guanica Harbor, Puerto Rico. 

 Alticus macclurei Silvester, Carnegie Inst. Wash. Pub. 252, 1918, p. 24, pi. 3, fig. 2. 

 Rupiscartes cubensis Mowbray, in Breder, Bull. Bingham Oceanog. Coll., vol. 1, art. r, 



1927, p. 85, fig. 35 — Cayman Pit, Cuba. 



