1884,] NATURAL SCIENCES OP PHILADELPHIA. 225 



sionally ranges northward, a specimen from Virginia being in 

 the National Museum. This is evidently Hemirhamphvs fila- 

 mentosvs of Poey. The scanty description of H. pleii of Cuvier 

 and Valenciennes seems to refer to it, at least in large part, as 

 this is the only species so far as known that has the upper lobe 

 of the caudal red or yellow in life. This is also the H. marginatus 

 of Le Sueur, but not the original H. marginatus of Forskal. 



5. Hemirhamphus balao. 



? Eso.r maxilla inferiore producta Brown, Jamaica, 1756, 443, t. 45, f. 2 

 (Jamaica). 



Esox brasiliensis Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1758, 314 (in part ; refer- 

 ence to Brown ; not Timucu Marcgrave, which should be regarded 

 as the Linnsean type, as having given rise to the name brasiliensis). 



Hemirhamphus brasiliensis Giinther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., vi, 1866, 

 270 (based on Hemirhnmphus broicni Cuv. and Val.) ; ? Jordan and 

 Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 109 (Panama ; name only) ; 

 ? Jordan .and Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 624 (Panama). 



Hemirhamphus balao Le Sueur, Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., ii, 1823. 

 135 (Lesser Antilles). 



Hemirhamphus broicni Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xix, 

 1846, 13 (Guadalonpe ; Martinique). 



Hemirhamphus macrochirus Poey, Memorias, ii, 1858, 299 (Cuba) ; 

 Poey, Enum. Pise. Cub., 1875, 121 (Cuba). 



Habitat. — Coasts of tropical America and West Indies ; 

 Jamaica; Lesser Antilles; Guadaloupe ; Martinique; Cuba; 

 Panama. 



We have not seen this species and are not entirely certain of 

 its distinction from H. pleii. In Hemirhamphus pleii the upper 

 lobe of the caudal is always bright orange-red and the number of 

 scales in a longitudinal series is about 56. The description of 

 H. balao, H. browni and H. macrochirus all refer to a fish with 

 smaller scales, with both lobes of the caudal bluish, and H. 

 browni and H. macrochirus have smaller scales than H. pleii. 

 The specimens obtained by Professor Gilbert at Mazatlan, 

 Panama, we refer provisionally to this species, but they may 

 prove different on actual comparison. The oldest tenable name 

 for this species seems to be H. balao Le Sueur. 



Esox brasiliensis Linnaeus is based on Brown's description of 

 a Hemirhamphus from Jamaica, and Marcgrave 's account of a 



