ART. 20 NEW AND IMPEEFECTLY KNOWN FISHES — GINSBUEG 9 



very diffuse blotches on body sometimes indicated, in rows along 

 bases of dorsal and anal fins and between those and lateral line, some 

 of these blotches faintly ocellated; an ocellated spot on middle of 

 caudal about one-third distance from base to posterior margin 

 usually present, often most marked blotch, with one or two trans- 

 verse rows of smaller spots behind; vertically elongate, narrow, dark 

 spots, spaced rather widely apart, on dorsal and anal fins . 



Material studied. — Off Aransas Pass, Tex.; 5 to 10 fathoms, March 

 5, 1917; Grampus; 21 specimens, 89 to 120 mm in total length. 

 Eleven miles SSW. off Heald Lightship, Tex.; 10 fathoms; March 16, 

 1917; Grampus; 27 specimens, 65 to 111 mm. Off Galveston, Tex.; 

 4.5 to 10 fathoms; February 26, 1917; Grampus; 10 specimens, 87 

 to 126 mm. About 30 miles off Grand Isle, La.; August 6, 1930; 

 Martin D. Burkenroad; 1 specimen, 124 mm. Twelve miles SE. off 

 Barataria Light, La.; Gordon Gunter; 2 specimens, 109 to 123 mm. 

 Mayaguez, Puerto Rico; Fish Hawk; 4 specimens, 89 to 101 mm 

 (U.S.N.M. No. 63047 being part of the material recorded as Syacium 

 micrurum by Evermann and Marsh ^) . Total number of specimens 

 examined 65, 65 to 126 mm in length, of which 50 were studied in 

 detail, including the 3 specimens from Louisiana and the 4 from 

 Puerto Rico. 



Holotype. — U.S.N.M. No. 92800. One of the specimens taken by 

 Gordon Gunter oft' the coast of Louisiana, 123 mm in total length, is 

 designated as the holotype. 



Remarks. — This is evidently a common species in the Gulf of Mexico. 

 In its deep body and comparatively small number of fin rays the 

 present species closely agrees with (Rhofnboidichthys) Syacium cornu- 

 tum Giinther ^^ and differs from the latter in the absence of spines on 

 the snout. From its common congener in the region of the straits of 

 Florida, currently designated as Syacium papillosum, probably incor- 

 rectly, the present species may be distinguished by fewer fin rays, a 

 deeper body, and by its smaller size, the interorbital in the present 

 species becoming comparatively wide on reaching a size at which 

 specimens of " Syacium papillosum" still show the narrow interorbital 

 characteristic of the juvenile. Mr. Gunter, who sent me two speci- 

 mens from Louisiana for identification at a time when I made a 

 preliminary study of the species, also noted the deep body and the few 

 fin rays of his material as compared with current descriptions. How- 

 ever, there is more or less intergradation between the two species with 

 respect to those characters, and individual fishes are sometimes difficult 

 to refer to their proper species. Material is now being gathered for 

 a revision of the genus Syacium in order to take up in greater detail 

 the difference between the several species. This species is named after 



» The Fishes of Porto Rico, p. 324, 1900. 



11 Voyage of H. M. S. Challenger, Zool., vol. 1, p. 7, pi. 2, fig. B, 1880. 



15802&— 33 2 



