334 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



I). 32 (?). Osseous rings 17 + 32. 



The specimen corresponds closely with Giiuther's description. Its prin- 

 cipal points of distincMon from »S'. fuscus are the low, somewhat short 

 dorsal fin and the short snout. 



BATRAOHID^. 



6. Batrachus tau, IJiuuimis. suhsp. beta, (iiinthcr. 



A specimen (]S'o. 23541), 22 centimeters hmg. was collected by Dr. 

 Velie at Punta Russa, the most southern locality on record for this spe- 

 cies.* 



This fish, like all other (iulf of Mexico specimens inspected by us, 

 agrees closely with var. fj, as defined by Giinther,t in the tendency 

 to expansion of the dark areas; the presence of small whitish spol« 

 upon the body; the greater average number of bands on the anal, 

 approximating in number those of the dorsal, and the marking of the 

 pectorals and caudal in white spots upon dark ground, lather than in 

 brown upon whit(\ The coloration of the southern specimens api)ears 

 to be due to a tendency toward melanism, the dark arCJs being intensi- 

 fied as well as exi)anded. In the Punta Russa specimen (No. 23511) the 

 main color is nearly black, the lines and marblings being of light shades 

 of brown and brownish white, sharply and beautifully defined against 

 the dark body-color. In the Pensacola specmien, No. 21477, he me- 

 lanistic tendency is l^ss evident. We consider the Gulf specimens as, 

 for the present, constituting a distinct subspecies, founded entirely upon 

 color. 



Radial formula of No. 23541, D. Ill, 24. A. II, 10. The first and 

 second dorsal fins are continuous in 23541, but this is evidently' acci- 

 dental. 



That the number of bands on the finsandtheir tendency to confluence 

 is a character of little importance is shown in the following color notes: 

 No. 4637 fi. Beesley's Point. S. F. Baird. 



Light brown, finely marbled with darker, and not white spotted (a 

 and b). Dorsal with eight bands. Anal w^ith seven bauds. Caudal 

 ■with six bands. Pectorals irregularly brown spotted. 

 4637 h. Beesley's Point. S. F. Bakd. 



Light brown, coarsely marbled with darker. Dorsal with six bands, 

 anal with six bauds, caudal with four bands, pectorals with the brown 

 spots arranged in four bands. 



* The National Museum has a specimen from Pensacola, Fla., collected by Silas 

 Steams in 1878 (No. 21477) ; another from West Florida, collected by Kaiser and Martin 

 (No. 5149), and two collected at Indiauola, Tex., by J. H. Clark (No. 746), No species of 

 Bati-achus is now recognized from the eastern coast of South America, though it seems 

 certain that some species, closely allied to B. tau, or perhajts even this very species, oc- 

 curs in Brazil. Compare Batrachus Gronovii, Cuv. & Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., xii, 1837, 

 p. 482. — Batrachus cryptoccntrus, Cuv. & Vai-., 1. c, p. 485, from Bahia, rejected by 

 Giinther as incompletely described. 



t Cat. Fish Brit. Mus., iii, 1861, p. 167. 



