322 



PROCEEIDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM 



VOL. 94 



Table 22. — Measurements and counts made on 6 specimens of Plecostomus 

 watwata Hancock from the Maracaibo Basin 



Characters 



Standard length (in mm.) 



Dppth in standard length 



Head in standard length 



Width head in standard length 



Width head in its length.. 



Snout in head 



Eye in head 



Interorbital in head 



Ramus lower jaw in interorbital 



Depth caudal peduncle in its length 



Scutes in lower lateral series 



Scutes dorsal to adipose fin 



Scutes anal to caudal fin base 



Number of teeth 



73 



2% 

 3^ 



m 



2H 



2% 



Z% 

 28 



7 

 15 

 2%» 



171 

 5 

 3Ho 



m 

 7^ 



2'/2 



3 

 4 



28 



15 



2^e 



181 

 5Vj 

 3Ho 

 3M 



1^0 



2 



8H 



2'A 



2^28 



290 

 6 

 3'/4 



m 



IH 

 



2% 

 25<o 

 5 

 28 

 7 

 15 



m3 



4.'» 



m 



IH 



im 



2H 

 3Mo 



5-K 

 28 



15 



mt 



There is considerable variation in the fusion of the plates bordering 

 the supraoccipital ; in the young the plate at the apex of the supra- 

 occipital is in two parts, but on the large specimens 300 to nearly 490 

 mm. these plates appear to be fused into a single plate. 



When alive, this species is yellowish brown, with numerous black 

 spots all over its body and fins. 



HYPOSTOMUS EMARGINATUS Cuvier and Valenciennes 



Panaqtje 



Hypostomus emarginatus Cuvier and Valenciennes, Histoire naturelle des 



poissons, vol. 15, p. 600, 1840 (Brazil). 

 Plecostomus emarginatus Regan, Trans. Zool. Soc. London, vol. 17, pt. 3, p. 210, 



1904 (Brazil to Colombia).— Ribeiro, Arch. Mus. Nac. Rio de Janeiro, vol. 



16, No. 4 p. 42, pi. 24, fig. 1, 1911 (Venezuela). 

 Plecostomus villarsii Lutken, Vid. Medd. Naturh. Foren. Kj0benhavn, pts. 12-16, 



p. 211, 1874 (Caracas, Venezuela). — Eigenmann and Eigenmann, Occ. Pap. 



California Acad. Sci., vol. 1, p. 408, 1890 (Caracas). 

 Plecostomus horridus Peters, Monatsb. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1877, p. 471 (Cala- 



boza, Venezuela). 



Genus LORICARIA Linnaeus 



Loricaria Linnaeus, Systema naturae, ed. 10, p. 307, 1758. (Type, Loricaria 

 dura Linnae'us= Loncana cataphracta Linnaeus.) 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF LORICARIA " REPORTED FROM VENEZUEI A 



la. Upper lip narrow with a single row of Imrbels around its margin, and without 

 or with not more than a single row of rudimentary papillae between row of 

 barbels and rami of upper jaw, the latter protrusible and bearing 7 to 13 

 small bilobed teeth; barbel at comer of mouth not reaching gill opening, 



« Pellegrin, Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, vol. 5, p. 158, 1899, reports Loricaria maculata Bloch from the 

 Apiu-e River. Cuvier and Valenciennes, Histoire naturelle dcs poissons, vol. 15, p. 479, 1840 (Orinoco), and 

 Gunther, Catalogue of the fishes in the British Museum, vol. 5, p. 2C0, 18G4, both mention LoTicaria brunnea 

 from the Orinoco. I have not included these species in the key because of the uncertainty of just what 

 forms they might be. 



