414 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. 50. 



theses are given in terms of hundredths of the body length, without 

 caudal : 



Dorsal rays 58 to 65; anal ra^^s 38 to 45; scales in lateral line 80 

 (in one case 86) ; head 3^ (0.31 to 0.32) in body length to base of caudal; 

 depth 1^.(0.64 to 0.69) in same. 



The scales are rough, more so on the C3^ed than on the bhnd side; 

 the cross hues are narrow, yet distinct and about 11 in number; there 

 is a row of threadlike tentacles along the snout and lower side of 

 the head, the two on the tip of the snout being longest. 



21. SYMPHURUS BERGI, new species. 



Plate 2, fig. 2. 

 ? Symphurus plagusia Berg, part. 



Numerous specimens from Montevideo, longest reaching a total 

 length of 195 mm. The type is Cat. No. 76852, U.S.N.M., and is 186 

 mm. in total length. Paratypes are in the United States National 

 Museum and in the Stanford University collections. 



The species of Sympliurus are poorly known and as a rule inade- 

 quately described, and much doubt exists as to their distribution. 

 The species of the eastern coast of South America are known through 

 the descriptions of Sympliurus tcssellatus (Quoy and Gaimard) from 

 Rio de Janeiro, and SympJiurus hrasiliensis (Agassiz) from an un- 

 known locality. Recently Evermann and Kendall have described 

 Sympliurus jcnijnsi. The characters given by Quoy and Gaimard and 

 by Agassiz are those of the northern S. plagusia (Bloch and Schneider), 

 Jordan and Goss. The latter regarded S. plagusia as identical with 

 forms from Rio de Janeiro. The present form apparently differs 

 from all of these. 



Described from the type, 185 mm. in total length. 



Head 5^^ in length to base of caudal; greatest depth of body 3J; 

 postocular length of bead 8^; long diameter of lower orbit 9 in head; 

 length of caudal rays 2|; middle dorsal rays 2|; ventral 3}, maxillary 

 41; dorsal rays 109; anal 91; caudal 10; scales in longitudinal series 

 from upper angle of opercle 105; in transverse series upward and 

 backward from near anal insertion 51; vertebrae 9 + 48 = 57. 



Distance from posterior margin of lower eye to vertical from ante- 

 rior margin of upper eye contained twice in snout; cornea of eye 

 without indications of flap; lower eye extending forward only as far 

 as anterior third of upper eye; maxillary ending under posterior half 

 of lower eye; lower jaw not markedly wider than upper, much 

 shorter than snout; teeth lacking in eyed side of lower jaw; upper 

 jaw with a series of four or five present anteriorl}^ on the eyed side, 

 those on blind side in a series of four or five rows; teeth on bhnd side 

 of lower jaw forming a prominent oval patch; nostrils of eyed side 

 with tubules of moderate length; anterior nostril of blind side tubu- 



