ON CERTAIN GENERA OF ATHERINE FISHES. 



By David Starr Jordan, 

 Of Stanford University, California. 



The writer, with the cooperation of Mr. Carl L. Hubbs, has been 

 engaged in a general review of the Atherinidae of the world. The 

 present paper contains preliminary notes on certain interesting forms, 

 with figures of two American species. 



Genus XENATHERINA. 



Under the name of Menidia lisa, Dr. Seth E. Meek,^ has described 

 from the streams of the State of Vera Cruz, a small Atherine fish 





WV^. 



■v^ 



y^\. 



Fig. 1.— Xenatherina liza (Meek). 



showing certain remarkable traits. It has been made the type of a 

 distinct genus by Mr. C. Tate Regan ^ under the name Xenatherina. 



With a general resemblance to the American genus Menidia, it 

 differs from all other Atherine fishes by having the anterior part of 

 the body largely scaleless. Unlike Menidia, however, it has the rami 

 of the lower jaw slender and not elevated behind, agreeing in this 

 respect with Hepsetia. The jaws in Xenatherina are very slender 

 and long, the belly is not compressed, and the pectoral fins are short 

 and obtuse. 



The squamation of Xenatherina has been carefully described by 

 Mr. Carl L. Hubbs, from whose manuscript notes I take the fol- 

 lowing : 



The caudal peduncle behind the middle of the second dorsal is covered with 

 scales of moderate size, more or less crenate, there being about twenty-five 



1 Field Museum Zoology, ser. 5, p. 182, 1006. 

 « Biologia Central! Americana, p. 64, 1906. 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum. Vol. 55— No. 2273. 



309 



