100 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxxv. 



Family GOBIID.E. 



HETERELEOTRIS ARENARIUS, new species. 



Head 3.5 in the length ; depth 6.5 ; depth caudal peduncle 9.2 ; snout 

 4 in head; eye 7.2; interorbital space 4; D. VI, 12; A. 10; scales in 

 lateral series 35; transverse 12. 



Head rather long, broad and flat; eyes located high up, their rims 

 projecting above contour of head, directed upward more than side- 

 wise ; interorbital space flat ; cleft of mouth broad, oblique, falling 

 far short of a vertical through anterior edge of orbit; lower jaw 

 slightly projecting. Jaws with simple teeth in bands: no canines; no 

 teeth on vomer and palatines ; tongue truncate. Gill opening restricted 

 to the sides, extending downward somewhat below base of pectoral. 

 Nostrils tubular, the anterior one near tip of snout. Head and nape 

 naked ; 5 large mucous pores behind eyes ; snout with several fringed 

 dermal flaps ; side of head with 4 beaded dermal ridges, the lower- 

 most of which bears a few elongate barbels and extends from chin 

 backward, curving upward in region of edge of opercle ; throat with 

 barbels. Body with large cycloid scales, somewhat ctenoid pos- 

 teriorly; about 35 in a lateral series, 12 or 13 in a transverse series; 

 abdomen with scales; scales of sides and ventral surface partly or 

 entirely concealed in fresh specimens; no lateral line. 



Dorsals separate, the anterior with 6 slender spines, the posterior 

 with 12 rays; anal of 12 rays inserted below base of third dorsal 

 ray; no membranes connecting posterior rays of dorsal or anal with 

 body ; both fins extending an equal distance posteriorly when de- 

 pressed. Caudal obtusely pointed, 4.5 in the length. Pectoral simi- 

 lar in shape, 4.8 in the length. Ventrals united, free from the 

 abdomen, the rays slender, the longest contained about 5.5 times in 

 the length; membranes of fin thin and frail. 



Color in spirits pale yellowish; dorsal region of head brown; back 

 crossed by 4 brown bands, the first above bases of pectorals, the 

 second through base of spinous dorsal, the third and fourth through 

 base of soft dorsal ; side of body with a broad brown stripe which 

 unites with the dorsal crossbands and sends 4 or 5 projections down- 

 ward on the sides, and extending on base of caudal fin abruptly 

 widens to form a narrow vertical band. 



Type.— Cat. No. G2237, U.S.N.M., an example 270 mm. long, from 

 Naha, Okinawa. Cotype, Cat. No. 21104, Stanford University collec- 

 tion, from Tanegashima. 



The species, represented by 2 specimens from Okinawa and 3 from 

 Tanegashima, was found in sandy pools, and appears to be rare. 

 It is referred with some doubt to the genus Hetereleotrisf and is 



°Bleeker, Arch. Xeerl. Gobioides, p. 30G. 



