274 PAPERS FROM TORTUGAS LABORATORY vol. xxxiv 



wide, and the urogenital papilla is conical and distinctly free from the anal 

 rugae; whereas in the female there are about 12 folds, that is, several more than 

 in the male, radially disposed, and emarginate at the ventral border, surrounding 

 the vent with a brush of fleshy processes in two concentric rows of about a dozen 

 each. Just between and behind the posterior members of this series of processes is 

 the genital or urogenital opening, with 2 additional conspicuous papillae stand- 

 ing just behind it in a transverse plane. 



The coloration in both sexes is highly changeable. It is usually very dark, and 

 may be nearly black in the male if it is partly under cover. But on bare gray 

 bottom, they may become very pale with only a faint mottling of darker color, 

 with the vertebral axis, with evident patches of pigment on it, visible through 

 the transparent tissues. In intermediate phases the head is mottled, the ground 

 color of the body flecked with light and dark spots; with an irregular light patch 

 under the anterior dorsal spines extending on the opercle, and nine light dorsal 

 saddles equally spaced and growing lighter posteriorly. The dorsal fin is light in 

 color to the 8th spine in the female, and to the 15th or so in the male, being 

 marked in both sexes with four or five parallel dark lines, running down and 

 back from its anterior border, and transparent and colorless posteriorly except 

 for minute white points. 



The breeding season includes at least June and July, but perhaps not much 

 later, as on August 10 I no longer found the breeding fish on bottom they had 

 earlier occupied. During that season the females are often seen in the open in 

 their lightest bottom-matching colors and patterns, but the males are in their 

 dark colors and stay much more at home, many of them having eggs in their 

 care. In one instance about 250 eggs were found on the wall in a clam-boring in 

 a piece of coral the size of a baseball. These eggs included at least two stages of 

 development. Repeated visits of the female were noticed. The eggs are grayish 

 in color, and 0.75 to 0.80 mm. in diameter. 



From time to time a male guarding eggs thrusts out his body till the dorsal 

 fin is largely free and then elevates and depresses it rapidly. He may even come 

 wholly out and, "standing" vertically in the water a few inches up, go through 

 the same motions. The plunger-like thrust of the body entering the burrow seems 

 to change the water very well. The males were removed from two nests. The 

 eggs in one disappeared by hatching, or otherwise, within 12 hours, and in the 

 other nest they were still developing normally. Therefore the fishes' actions may 

 not be significant. If a small fish comes near the male while he is guarding eggs, 

 he may move out a little, elevate his great fin, and "stand" fast. If the intruder 

 does not move away, he may proceed next to wigwag and finally dash at him. 

 Mantis shrimps, which hunt such burrows as this blenny holds, greatly provoke 

 him. W. H. L. 



The collection contains 20 specimens, 27 to 50 mm. long. The following pro- 

 portions and enumerations are based on the largest specimen: Head 3.6; depth 

 5.75. Eye in head 5.7; snout 6.0; pectoral 1.75. D. XXII,i6; A. 11,24; P. 13. 



Puerto Rico and Tortugas, Florida. S. F. H. 



