408 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. 50. 



characters due to age. There is also a specimen 11 cm. in total 

 length in the Stanford University collection, which is intermediate in 

 these respects. The fin lobes in the small specimens are shorter and 

 the mterorbital space much less convex and turgid. Counts and 

 measurements correspond, as does the general appearance, but until 

 specimens of equal size are compared the identification is considered 

 provisional. 



11. PERONA SIGNATA (Jenyns). 



One specimen from Montevideo market. 



12. DUXES AURIGA Cuvier and Valenciennes. 



Numerous specimens from stations 2764 and 2765, immediately 

 to the south o^ the Rio de la Plata, in 10 or 11 fathoms. 



13. ?MULLUS BARBATUS Linnaeus. 

 Mullus barbatus I>erg, Eimmeracioii de Poces Marines, p. 59. 



Four specimens of a mullet from station 2766 and two from sta- 

 tion 2765, just south of the Rio do la Plata, are referred to this spe- 

 cies with a great deal of hesitation. The largest specimen is 82 mm. 

 in total length, and the smallest 54 mm. Berg ^ records a specimen 

 from the Mar de la Plata as Mullus harhatus Linnaeus, but this 

 appears to be the sole preceding record. On the Atlantic coast of 

 the United States Jordan and Gilbert have recorded Mullus aura- 

 tus, which is not as sharply separated from the European form as is 

 desirable. Our specimens are too small to compare with those from 

 Europe at our disposal. 



The largest shows tlie following characters: 



Dorsal rays VII-I, 8; anal rays II, 6; pectoral 2, 14; head 3^ in 

 length to base of caudal; depth of body 3.j; eye 83 in head; maxil- 

 lary extending to below anterior edge of orbit; depth of preorbital 

 equal to eye diameter; barbels equal to head without snout, extend- 

 ing to center of operculum, not to its edge; teeth very minute in 

 lower jaw, absent in upper, present on vomer in coarse, rough patch; 

 first dorsal spine longest, equal to liead without snout; longest soft 

 dorsal ray equal to head behind center of pupil; longest anal ray 

 equal to head behind posterior edge of pupil; color entirely faded; 

 silvery, save for black blotch on distal edge of membrane of first 

 spines and a horizontal pale bar below it; scales all lost, presumably 

 33 in lateral series, 2J + 7 in transverse series below msertion of 

 spinous dorsal. 



The smallest specimen at hand is very nearly the same Icngtli as 

 that figured by Fries, Ekstrom, and Sundcval as a young nmllet^ 

 after Mahn.'' The preorbital is, however, markedly different, being 



1 Enumcracion de Peces Mariiios, p. 59. 



' A History of Scandinavian Fi.shes, ed. 2, edited by Smitt, Stockholm, 1S93. 



» Ofvers Vet.-Skad. l"orh., 1852, p. 224, pi. Ill, fig. 1. 



