THE CATTISHES OF VENEZUEI/A — SKXHULTZ 211 



Description: — Body naked; two pairs of mental barbels, the outer 

 reaching to middle of length of pectorals, the inner barely to the 

 insertion of the pectorals; one pair of maxillary barbels that reach 

 almost to anal origin; nostrils widely separated, the anterior pair 

 tubular; mouth subterminal, the snout projecting a little beyond 

 lower lip; gill membranes extending far forward, free from the isthmus 

 except where they join it; supraoccipital process extending backward 

 a distance equal to postorbital length of head almost reaching the 

 predorsal plate but not joining it; orbital rim free from the eye; pec- 

 toral spine with 9 or 10 teeth on posterior side, the distal third with- 

 out teeth; anterior side of pectoral spine with a few low serrations on 

 distal third; anus closer to base of caudal than tip of snout by a dis- 

 tance equal to diameter of eye; first ray (spine) of dorsal elongated 

 with a filamentous tip, the soft portion of ray extending twice the 

 length of the spine beyond tip of the spine; upper lobe of the caudal 

 fin elongate, 2^ in standard length and almost twice length of head; 

 a wide band of villiform teeth on premaxillaries and at front of den- 

 taries; no teeth on palatines or vomer; adipose fin about 3 in the 

 standard length; eye 1.8 in snout, 1.2 in interorbital, and 4.4 in head; 

 head 4.2 in standard length; depth 5% in length. 



Detailed measurements of the holotype are presented in table 4. 



Dorsal rays I, 6; anal v, 8; pectoral I, 9; pelvics i, 5; caudal with 

 15 branched T&ys. 



Color. — Grayish above, with a black lateral streak from snout to 

 base of caudal peduncle; back a little more heavily pigmented than 

 upper sides. 



Remarks. — This new species differs from all other species of Pimelo- 

 della except P. griffini Eigenmann in having the first ray of the dorsal 

 fin filamentous and extending beyond the spine and all branched rays. 

 The adipose fin of griffini is less developed, its total length contained 

 3.5 to 4.5 times in the standard length instead of but 3 times in linami; 

 also the barbels are longer in linami than in griffini, the maxillary 

 reaching almost to anal orighi, the outer mental to middle of pectorals 

 and inner mental almost to insertion of pectorals instead of the max- 

 illary barbel to middle of pelvics, the outer mental barbel a' little 

 beyond base of pectorals and the inner mental not to insertion of 

 pectorals in griffini. 



Named linami in honor of Henry E. Linam, of Caracas, general 

 manager of the Standard Oil Co. of Venezuela, who extended the 

 formal invitation for me to stay at their camps and study the fishes 

 of the Maracaibo Basin. 



PIMELODELLA GRACILIS (Cnvier and Valenciennes) 



Ptntelodus gracilis Ctjvier and Valenciennes, Histoire naturelle des poissons, 

 vol. 15, p. 181, 1840 (Buenos Ayres, Parandat Corrientes). 



