1886.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



LIST OF FISHES COLLECTED AT HAVANA, CUBA, IN DECEMBER, 

 1883, WITH NOTES AND DESCRIPTIONS. 



By DAVID ti. JORDAN. 



In the Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum for 1884, pp. 103- 

 150, is given an account of the collections of fishes obtained by me 

 at Key West in December, 1883. After finiyhing the work there de- 

 scribed I spent ten days in Havana, devoting all my time to making 

 collections of fishes in the various markets of the city. Two hundred 

 and five species were obtained. These are enumerated in the present 

 paper, with such notes as seem to me Avortliy of preservation. 



In connection with each species I give the Spanish names as heard 

 by myself in the market, and in all cases where the s])ecific name ad(^^ited 

 by me is different from that used in Professor Poey's excellent " Enu- 

 meratio Piscium Cubensium," I have given Poey's name in the syn- 

 onymy. 



I have had especial opportunities to be sure of my identifications of 

 Poey's species, as I spent almost every evening of this time at the 

 professor's house, and my list of the day was counnented on, and in all 

 disputed cases specimens were compared directly with the descriptions 

 and drawings of his MSS. Ictiologia Cubana. 



In some cases I have not been able to agree with Professor Poey, who 

 has regartled the Cuban fauna as in some degree distinct from that of 

 the Antilles generally. This has been almost unavoidable on his part, 

 as the descriptions extant of fishes from other parts of the West Indies 

 are very unsatisfactory. There can be no doubt, however, that Cuba 

 forms, with the other islands of the West Indies, A (•ontiiiuous fauna, 

 the differences being, as a rule, ou]j those due to differences in the 

 character of the bottoms and the shores. 



In some cases I have regarded species of Poey as nominal, two or 

 more of them, perhaps, referring, in my opinion, to one species. As to 

 this i)oiut I may here quote from a sketch of the work of Professor Fe- 

 lipe Poey, published by me in the Popular Science Monthly for 1884, 

 p. 549. 



"Of late the types of the new species described by Professor Poey 

 have l»een, after being carefully studied by him and represented in 

 life-size drawings, mostly sent toother museums. * * * Duplicates 

 have been rarely retained in Havana, the cost of keeping up a perma- 

 nent collection being too great. As a result of this. Professor Poey's 

 work has sometimes suffered from lack of means of comi)aring specimen^ 



