672 fill lie tin 4J, U?iiteii States JSTational Museum. 



length of body. Dorsal moderate, in females as high as the length of its 

 base, in males much higher; origin of dorsal midway between base of cau- 

 dal and end of snout ; base of fin IJ- to l;^ in length of head ; longest ray 

 (in male 2 inches long) reaching halfway from base of fin to base of caudal, 

 the anterior rays e(|ualing length of head and extending beyond tips of 

 posterior rays when the fin is depressed; in females the longest ray about 

 \\ in head ; origin of anal under eighth or ninth ray of dorsal, the fin very 

 small, and much higher than long; length of base about equaling snout; 

 longest ray half length of head (less in females). No external oviduct. 

 Caudal truncate or slightly emarginate, 1:^ in head ; ventrals, in adult 

 males, reaching front of anal, 2\ iu head ; in females reaching vent ; pec- 

 torals long, reaching middle of ventrals, \\ in head. Scales large, tuber- 

 culate in males, arranged in regular series ; humeral scale much enlarged, 

 its height nearly half length of head ; 26 or 27 obli(|ue series of scales from 

 opercle to base of tail ; 13 scales in an oblique series from vent to middle 

 of back. Color : Male olivaceous ; from dorsal forward above pectoral to 

 head deep, lustrous steel blue, the color very intense and conspicuous in 

 life ; rest of upper parts with rather greenish luster, becoming dull slaty 

 blue, and on cheeks, opercles, sides anteriorly, and belly deep salmon 

 color ; lower lip and preopercle violet ; dorsal blackish, the anterior mar- 

 gin of fin orange ; caudal dusky olive, with a jet-black bar at tip, and a 

 narrow black cross-streak at base; anal dusky at base, bordered entirely 

 around with bright orange; ventrals dusky, bordered with orange; 

 pectorals dusky orange, darker below. Smaller specimens show some 

 orange shading on the sides, and sometimes also traces of the cross-bands 

 of the female. Female very light olive ; lower half of sides with about 

 14 alternately wide and narrow vertical, dark bars, those anteriorly nar- 

 rower and closer together ; usually 7 or 8 dark crossbars on the back, 

 alternating with the wide bars below ; these bars are of various degrees 

 of distinctness, sometimes almost obsolete; a dusky area below eye; young 

 with broad greenish cross shades wider than the interspaces ; belly pale 

 or yellowish ; lower jaw largely blue ; cheeks brassy ; dorsal dusky, 

 with an intense black, faintly ocellated spot near tip of last rays; cau- 

 dal faintly reddish, with a black bar toward base ; other fins pale orange, 

 with some dark points. Length : Male 3 inches ; female 2 inches. Cape 

 Cod to the Rio Grande, in brackish waters, entering streams, very abun- 

 dant southward, the males more highly colored southward, but the 

 southern form (called gibbosus) not otherwise diflerent. {variegatun, 

 variegated.) 



Cyprinodon variegatus, LAcfipfiDE, Hist. Nat. Poiss., v, 486, 1803, South Carolina; GCnther, 



Cat., VI, 305, 1866; Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis, 329, 1883. 

 Esox ovinits, MiTciiiLL, Trans. Lit. and Pliilos. Soc, i, 1815, 441, New York. 

 Lebias elUpsoidea, Le Sueur, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., ii, 1821, 6, Florida. 

 Lebias rhomhoidalis, VALENCIENNES, Humboldt's Observ. Zoiil., ii, 100, 1817, Lake Pontchar- 



train, Louisiana. 

 Cyprinodon gibbosus, Baird & Girard, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1853, 390, Indianola, Texas; 



(Coll. Clark); Giraed, U. S. Mex. Bound. Surv., Ichth., 67, 1859; Jordan & Gilbert, 



Synopsis, 329, 1883. 

 Lebias ovintts, De Kay, N. Y. Fauna: Fishes, 215, 1842. 



