i94i CATALOGUE OF FISHES OF TORTUGAS 249 



related species, are recognizable by their external genitalia or associated struc- 

 tures. In the male a well marked urogenital papilla is visible, which has 12 to 15 

 folds in the mucous membrane. In the female the folds are so strongly developed 

 that the urogenital papilla is lost in a brushlike tuft composed of the cilia on 

 their free margins. 



Included in the diet are copepods, amphipods, and delicate algae. Eggs of 

 Abudefditf on coral faces are freely eaten when the guardian male is absent for 

 a moment. 



I have seen the female pursue the male, or female pursue female, the two seiz- 

 ing each other by the jaws and twisting them viciously. 



As early as the first week in June the ovaries are well developed. In mid-July 

 two males seemed to be guarding eggs, as they dashed repeatedly at approaching 

 Halichoeres bivittatus, but their activity was too diffuse to permit me to find the 

 eggs in their charge, if any were present. W. H. L. 



This species is represented in the collection by 42 specimens, 26 to 82 mm. long. 

 The following proportions and enumerations are based on 2 specimens, 50 and 

 60 mm. long: Head 3.5, 3.5; depth 4.3, 4.1. Eye in head 3.1, 3.5; snout 3.1, 3.3; 

 maxillary 3.1, 3.4; pectoral 1.0, 1.05. D. XX,i2, XX,i2; A. II,2i, IL21; P. 14, 14; 

 scales 55, 58. 



West Indies to Florida. S. F. H. 



Labrisomus Swainson 



Labrisomus Swainson, Nat hist, classn. fishes, vol. 2, 1839, p. 277 (Clinus pectinijer Cuvier 



and Valenciennes = Clinus nuchipinnis Quoy and Gaimard). 

 Lepisoma De Kay, New York fauna: Fishes, 1842, p. 41 (L. cirrhosum De Kay = Clinus 



nuchipinnis Quoy and Gaimard). 

 Gobioclinus Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 12, i860, p. 103 (Clinus gobio 



Cuvier and Valenciennes). 

 Ericteis Jordan, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., vol. 22, 1902 (1904), p. 543 (E. \alisherae Jordan). 



Ericteis was proposed to receive species differing from nearly related ones in 

 having teeth on the palatines. The misconception is as old at least as Jordan and 

 Evermann's definition of the genus Labrisomus (Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 47, 

 pt. 3, 1898, p. 2361), which stated that the genus has no palatine teeth. In L. 

 nuchipinnis, xanti, gobio, and others, however, they are stout and strong. 



The reasons for placing Gobioclinus in synonymy are shown in the discussion 

 of Labrisomus gobio. W. H. L. 



Labrisomus nuchipinnis (Quoy and Gaimard) 



(Plate 30, figure 2) 



Clinus nuchipinnis Quoy and Gaimard, Voy. Uranie, Zool., 1824, p. 255 — Rio de Janeiro. 

 Blennius herminier Le Sueur, Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 4, 1825, p. 361 — St. 



Bartholomew. 

 Clinus pectinijer Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist. nat. poiss., vol. n, 1836, p. 374 — Bahia 



(female). 

 Clinus capillatus Cuvier and Valenciennes, ibid., p. 377 — Martinique (male). 



