114 NEW SPECIES OF PIPEFISH— EVEBMANN AND KENDALL, vol. xviii. 



Description of male. — Head, 7^; depth, 22^; snout, 2\; D. 33, on 

 4+4 rings; its height 2% in its base, which equals head. The male 

 differs from the typical female in the much less depth, lower dorsal fin, 

 and in the coloration, all of which characters are those of the shallow 

 females. There is in the male, as in the female, considerable color 

 variation, but there are never any distinct white or silvery marks on 

 the sides. Of the 130 specimens, 114 are females and young, 16 being 

 adult males. Some of these were called by us Sipliostoma fuscum, in 

 the "Fishes of Texas and the Eio Grande Basin." ^ 



A re-examination of these specimens and of another lot of the same 

 kind which had been misplaced at the time of the first examination 

 shows this identification to be incorrect and the fish probably identical 

 with Siphostoma affine of Jordan and Gilbert and subsequent authors. 

 But the range of characters in the large series examined by us seems 

 insufficient to permit the identification of this species with Sygnathus 

 affinis, Giinther.2 



The specimens from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico referred to 

 Siphostoma affine by most recent writers, belong apparently to this 

 species rather than to the Sygnathus afinis of Giinther. While the 

 differences between the two are not great, they appear to be constant 

 in a large series of specimens. 



In the following table we give the results of detailed examination of 

 29 specimens of this species : 



Table showing variations in specimens of Sijyhostoma scovelli collected in Texas. 



' Bull. U. S. Fisli Comm., 1892, 109. 

 2 Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus., 163, 1870. 



