334 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



D. 32 (?). Osseous rings 17 + 32. 



The specimen corresponds closely with Griinther's description. Its prin- 

 cipal points of distincliou from S. fuscus are the low, somewhat short 

 dorsal fin and the short snout. 



BATEACHID^. 



6. Batrachus tau, Linnaeus, suhsp. beta, Giintlier. 



A specimen (No. 23541), 22 centimeters long, was collected by Dr. 

 Yelie at Punta Eussa, the most southern locality on, record for this spe- 

 cies.* 



This fish, like all other Gulf of Mexico specimens inspected by us, 

 agTces closely with var. ^g, as defined by Gunther,t in the tendency 

 to expansicn of the dark areas; the presence of small whitish spots 

 upon the body; the greater average number of bands on the anal, 

 approximating in number those of the dorsal, and the marking of the 

 pectorals and caudal in white spots upon dark ground, i ather than in 

 brown upon white. The coloration of the southern specimens appears 

 to be due to a tendency toward melanism, the dark areas being iniensi- 

 fied as well as expanded. In the Punta Russa specimen (No. 23541) the 

 main color is nearly black, the lines and marblings being of light shades 

 of brown and brownish white, sharply and beautifully defi.ned against 

 the dark body-color. In the Pensacola specimen, No. 21477, ^he me- 

 lanistic tendency is less evident. We consider the Gulf specimens as, 

 for the present, constituting a distinct subspecies, founded entirely upon 

 color. 



Eadial formula of No. 23541, D. Ill, 24. A. II, 19. The first and 

 second dorsal fins are continuous in 23541, but this is evidently acci- 

 dental. 



That the number of bands on the fins and their tendency to confluence 

 is a character of little importance is shown in the following color notes: 

 No. 4637 «. Beesley's Point. S. F. Baird. 



Light brown, finely marbled with darker, and not white spotted (a 

 and h). Dorsal with eight bands. Anal with seven bands. Caudal 

 with six bands. Pectorals irregularly brown spotted. 

 4637 h. Beesley's Point. S. F. Baird. 



Light brown, coarsely marbled with darker. Dorsal with six bands, 

 anal with six bands, caudal with four bands, pectorals with the brown 

 spots arranged in four bands. 



*The National Museum has a specimen from Pensacola, Fla., collected by Silaa 

 Steams in 1878 (No. 21477) ; another from West Florida, collected by Kaiser and Martin 

 (No. 5149), and two collected at Indianola, Tex., by J. H. Clark (No. 746). No species of 

 Batrachus is now recognized from the eastern coast of South America, though it seems 

 certain that some species, closely allied to B. tau, or perhaps even this very species, oc- 

 curs in Bra;^il. Compare Batrachus Gronovii, Cuv. & Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., xii, 1837, 

 p. A&Z.—Batraclms a-yptoccntrus, Cuv. & Val., 1. c, p. 485, from Bahia, rejected by 

 Giinther as incompletely described. 



tCat. Fish Brit. Mus., iii, 1861, p. 167. 



