BRANNER-AGASSIZ EXPEDITION TO BRAZIL 1 73 



extending to the middle of the anal fin in some of our younger speci- 

 mens. Whether the difference may be sexual is not evident. There 

 is no apparent variation in the length of the axillary scale, which I find 

 to be the same in one of the types of E. die7icceus and in the specimens 

 of E. fuscus with which the authors compared it. The apparent dif- 

 ference in the height of the vertical fins and in the forking of the cau- 

 dal was due to the circumstance that the specimens of E. fusctis 

 which the authors used for comparison had lost the tips of all the 

 vertical fins, these being brittle owing to preservation in strong 

 alcohol. 



Ten young specimens from the coral reef near Maceio vary greatly 

 in general tint, some being uniformly blackish with the margins of the 

 scales still darker, and all of the fins except the pectorals blackish. 

 Others have the hinder half of the body much lighter, this being in one 

 specimen distinctly yellowish. The spots are as given in current 

 descriptions. 



61. Abudefduf saxatilis (Linnaeus). 



Stone reef at Rio Goyanna, at Mamanguape, and at Pernambuco. 



62. Iridic poeyi (Steindachner). 



Jidis crotaphus Cuv. & Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., xiii, 395; not of Cuvier, Regne 



Animal. 

 Iridio kirschii Jordan & Evermann, Fishes of North and Middle America, p. 



1598, 1898. 



One specimen, 145 mm. long, from Pernambuco. The colors in 

 alcohol (after prolonged immersion in formaldehyde) give doubtless 

 but a faint clue to the colors in life. The sides of head and body are 

 dull brownish violet, a line along middle of sides dividing into a darker 

 dorsal and a lighter ventral half. Each scale on the back and sides 

 has the basal half dusky (perhaps blue in life). There ai-e two darker 

 spots between the lateral line and the middle of the sides, one just be- 

 hind the head, another beyond the tip of the pectorals, the latter most 

 conspicuous. These may be the lower ends of dark bars from the 

 back, or they may not have existed in life. The dark spot behind the 

 eye is conspicuous. Behind it, on the uppermost part of the opercle, 

 is a lighter spot, probably brightly colored in life, with a narrow dark 

 crescent above and below it. Below this is a diffuse darker shade on 

 the opercle. A darker shade proceeds from the postocular spot in a 

 curve toward the angle of the mouth, a second similar streak from the 

 corner of the mouth backward across the cheek. The narrow curved 

 streak on the base of the pectoral is very evident. The opercular flap 

 and the axil of the pectoral are greenish. No trace is evident of the blue 



